Bill Lantry
Member
- Messages
- 2,663
- Location
- Inside the Beltway
Hey, folks,
Someone said "there's no sliver lining without a cloud," and that's turning out to be true. My shop is 12x24 feet, and it's getting awfully crowded in there. Looks like I've got some decision points in front of me.
Do I really need *two* 6 inch jointers? Of course not. Which to keep? I haven't even brought in the drill press or the bandsaw yet. Those two are easy: my present bandsaw is better. On the other hand, the bandsaw stand I overbuilt *would* accommodate two, if I set them up right. Not sure I get enough use out of a drill press to double up.
There's a lathe to consider as well. I like mine, but it has one problem: It won't go under 600 rpm. Roughing a big, unbalanced blank gets pretty exciting. The one I'm getting has a third pulley, so I *could* slow it down, maybe way down, so I could start a blank on there, then move it to the good lathe. But where will I put the new one?
Here's the real problem, though. Years ago, I built a large cabinet. I've got my tablesaw in there (a ridgid 3650) and my router table. The darn thing's huge: a full 4 x 8. The base is a torsion box between two full pieces of 3/4 ply. It was a bear to build, and I've loved having it. It doubles as an assembly table. And yet...
It's heavy as heck. My floor's uneven, which is one reason why I built it. The thing rides on ten 6" casters. But the transition from shop to driveway is uneven, and the casters drag. One of them has buckled. Long story short: it's a bear to move. Not only that, but one reason I built it was so I could get 48" to the right of the blade. And I can, comfortably. But I never do anymore, haven't for years, not since I got the festool track saw. I keep thinking the cabinet's a white elephant.
And yet, I've bought stuff for it. Most notably the incra fence. When I want to switch to routing, I just flip the fence over, and I'm off. If I break up the cabinet, I can't do that. I'd have to cut the incra rails. Luckily, I got the long rails, so I guess that's an option.
Then there's the question of whether I really need a full sized router table any more. It's always been a bit oversized, but I like that. On the other hand, most routing can now be done on the shaper (I assume... although I can't say I'm certain about my comfort level running a shaper. And I've got some large cabinet doors I have to buld, for which I've already bought the bits. Buying the same form factor bits for the shaper would be a waste, and out of reach anyway. But besides those doors. I could make do with a much smaller router table. Who has a four foot by four foot router table? It's crazy.
So that's my problem. I have storage troubles as well, but I could clean out the shop attic, and store some seldom used stuff up there.
Any thoughts on this? It's likely, as usual, the answer is somewhere in the question, but I'm not seeing it...
Thanks,
Bill
Someone said "there's no sliver lining without a cloud," and that's turning out to be true. My shop is 12x24 feet, and it's getting awfully crowded in there. Looks like I've got some decision points in front of me.
Do I really need *two* 6 inch jointers? Of course not. Which to keep? I haven't even brought in the drill press or the bandsaw yet. Those two are easy: my present bandsaw is better. On the other hand, the bandsaw stand I overbuilt *would* accommodate two, if I set them up right. Not sure I get enough use out of a drill press to double up.
There's a lathe to consider as well. I like mine, but it has one problem: It won't go under 600 rpm. Roughing a big, unbalanced blank gets pretty exciting. The one I'm getting has a third pulley, so I *could* slow it down, maybe way down, so I could start a blank on there, then move it to the good lathe. But where will I put the new one?
Here's the real problem, though. Years ago, I built a large cabinet. I've got my tablesaw in there (a ridgid 3650) and my router table. The darn thing's huge: a full 4 x 8. The base is a torsion box between two full pieces of 3/4 ply. It was a bear to build, and I've loved having it. It doubles as an assembly table. And yet...
It's heavy as heck. My floor's uneven, which is one reason why I built it. The thing rides on ten 6" casters. But the transition from shop to driveway is uneven, and the casters drag. One of them has buckled. Long story short: it's a bear to move. Not only that, but one reason I built it was so I could get 48" to the right of the blade. And I can, comfortably. But I never do anymore, haven't for years, not since I got the festool track saw. I keep thinking the cabinet's a white elephant.
And yet, I've bought stuff for it. Most notably the incra fence. When I want to switch to routing, I just flip the fence over, and I'm off. If I break up the cabinet, I can't do that. I'd have to cut the incra rails. Luckily, I got the long rails, so I guess that's an option.
Then there's the question of whether I really need a full sized router table any more. It's always been a bit oversized, but I like that. On the other hand, most routing can now be done on the shaper (I assume... although I can't say I'm certain about my comfort level running a shaper. And I've got some large cabinet doors I have to buld, for which I've already bought the bits. Buying the same form factor bits for the shaper would be a waste, and out of reach anyway. But besides those doors. I could make do with a much smaller router table. Who has a four foot by four foot router table? It's crazy.
So that's my problem. I have storage troubles as well, but I could clean out the shop attic, and store some seldom used stuff up there.
Any thoughts on this? It's likely, as usual, the answer is somewhere in the question, but I'm not seeing it...
Thanks,
Bill