Small shop ...Big Ideas

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Location
Hamilton, New Zealand
:dunno: Recently we moved to a new home. A much nicer house but unfortunately little in the way of workshop space.

We own a Honda CRV 4 x4 and its too tall to fit into the garage with the current tilt door.

It became evident fairly quickly that this space would make a small and cosy workshop. Its 3.6 metres by 6 metres or roughly 12' x 18'6". Its almost exactly half of the size of my previous workshop.

When we arrived it was a bare walled tin shed, too hot to work in, in summer and too cold in winter.

I have since lined it with 7mm ply and have only the roof to line and things will be much nicer. The wall color is white so it throws back a lot of light at night. Its much cooler now in the hot weather and warmer in the cool.
The tilt door will be replaced with a solid core set of doors as will the side entry door. Thats the project for over the winter months. Fortunately where I live we dont get snow, just very severe frosts, and fogs.

So thats the basics now on with the show. :)
I apologise for the fuzzy nature of the photos. For some reason the settings on the camera seemed to have changed, still investigating that:dunno:
 

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Tour

The first of the pics shows the exterior and you can see what I mean about the tin shed and door. The path immediately to the right of the shed leads to the side (main) entry door with rubbish drums and wood racks at the rear.

Photo two is looking through the side door.

Photo 3 is the left rear corner, and houses the screws and hardware section with saws wall hung with other odd tools.

Photo 4 shows the current library area as well as engineering tools and the mobile router station.

Photo 5 shows the mobile planer station utilising an old computer desk , with the 1st of several timber racks along the wall. Once the tilt door is gone another 4 racks will be put up.

Photo 6 shows the sawbench on a mobile cabinet with the waste drum and dust collector to the rear of the saw bench.

Photo 7 shows the mini cyclone I made (via Bill Pentz website) for use with the powertools, as well as the mobile sander.

Photo 8 shows the mobile drillpress and assembly table (mobile too).

Photos 9 & 10 show the main workbench with the very recent cabinet now fitted, as well as wall racks for tools, radio and of course the workshop mascot Xmas Dog, cos every time I'm in my shop its Xmas :D :thumb:

And to complete the tour...

Photo 11 is the area behind the side entry door and provides a neat and tidy space for clamps. axes and other odd things

Photo 12 shows the utility bench and through the windows the wood storage area at the rear of the shed.
 

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Hi Ralph! :wave:
Looks to me like you have done very well with what you have.
Nice going! :thumb: I've had many shops smaller than that one and I didn't seem to have them set up that well. :(

Maybe next year you can add a big double door to replace that window on the yard side and add on if you need to.

DT
 
.... Welcome aboard Ralph. I must admit I viewed your photos first and while viewing I had the distict impression you were from a long way off. I didn't see any insulation to speak of and too much sun light :D.

:dunno: Recently we moved to a new home. A much nicer house but unfortunately little in the way of workshop space.

We own a Honda CRV 4 x4 and its too tall to fit into the garage with the current tilt door.

It became evident fairly quickly that this space would make a small and cosy workshop. Its 3.6 metres by 6 metres or roughly 12' x 18'6". Its almost exactly half of the size of my previous workshop.

When we arrived it was a bare walled tin shed, too hot to work in, in summer and too cold in winter.

I have since lined it with 7mm ply and have only the roof to line and things will be much nicer. The wall color is white so it throws back a lot of light at night. Its much cooler now in the hot weather and warmer in the cool.
The tilt door will be replaced with a solid core set of doors as will the side entry door. Thats the project for over the winter months. Fortunately where I live we dont get snow, just very severe frosts, and fogs.

So thats the basics now on with the show. :)
I apologise for the fuzzy nature of the photos. For some reason the settings on the camera seemed to have changed, still investigating that:dunno:
 
LOL its early autumn now but still reasonably hot.
I havent bothered with insulation in the wall cavities as the ply makes a good insulation barrier.

The sun on the outside of the shed can make the tin too hot to touch even momentarily but the wall on the inside is only slightly warm. There will however be insulation in the roof as thats where all the heat tends to disappear anyway. Hopefully that will be done before the full onset of winter. It just depends on how much alteration there is to the shed before then.
 
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