# Mike's workshop tour (Big pics)



## Sawdust (4 Oct 2006)

I've just about got my new workshop setup so I thought I'd post a few pics and see what people think. 







Bandsaw and planer.

I was very lucky to have the bandsaw given, to give a sense of scale it stands about 7 feet tall and has 24inch wheels and a 181 inch blade. I don't know how much it weighs but it's a lot and I don't move it unless I have to.

To the left is a roll around cabinet made from some drawer units which were heading for a skip where I work. The top is some spare kitchen worktop and gets used for everything from gluing up to supporting boards going through the table saw.






Another view of the bandsaw and planer

Looking to the right, this pic shows all of the side wall, most of which is taken up with a table for the radial arm.






It's not really crooked - just a wide angle lens! The storage boxes hold screws and nails, plus all the other bits and pieces one accumulates. Next to it is my extensive hand tool collection! To the right are some old shelves saved from the school my wife teaches at which house a few power tools. Finally to the right is my Sealey piller drill.

the wood racks are usually a lot fuller but I've just finished making a few things and stocks are low.

A closer shot of the RAS






This machine, a Ryobi, has worked pretty hard for about 15 years and is still going strong and has actually been a really nice machine. The only downside is that having a brush motor, it's very noisy.

To the left of the saw and out of the way of the bench is my router table housing a B&Q PP Pro router - real top class kit and due to be replaced with a Triton as soon as possible!






A view of my workbench






The keen observer will note that it's made of finest beech and mahogany, inlaid with ebony, OK you noticed, it's made from some old junk which once lined the bottom of a boat to stop the real wood getting wet but in its favour, it's flat and strong and I don't care about cutting through it or screwing/nailing things to it as needed.

To the right is my sander and dust extractor. The extractor is on wheels and gets moved around as needed although I would like a more permenant setup.






On the other side is the table saw:






It's a Fox machine bought on special offer from Rutlands and I'm really pleased with it. The outfeed table is about 6 feet long and if i need to cut anything longer than this I can open the door and move the quad bike.

The workshop (ok garage) as about 20 feet square and the cars stay outside!

More pics here of you're not already completely bored: http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m180/mike_rawlings/

Cheers
Mike


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## Newbie_Neil (4 Oct 2006)

Hi Mike

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us. You seem to have it set up very well.

I'm not in the least jealous of all of that space. :^o 

Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers
Neil


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## wizer (4 Oct 2006)

excellent Mike, we haven't seen a workshop tour for a while. Nice to see how someone else works. Actually it's a few of the things you haven't mentioned I find interesting. The ceiling mounted power cord, the desk lamps you've used for lighting the RAS and TS, the fire extinguisher and no less than 2 radios! All clever stuff!

I'm also jelous of all that space... 
:?


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## Alf (4 Oct 2006)

Mike, excellent - thank you. I love a workshop tour.  

Cheers, Alf


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## CYC (4 Oct 2006)

Thanks for showing us, it's always nice to see other's workshops :wink:


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## Anonymous (4 Oct 2006)

Hi Mike  
no need to be apologetic about your bench at all. It looks solid as a rock which is what a bench should be, not so much a flimsy fashion statement :wink: . All the exotic specis woods and fancy inlays etc wont help you chop mortices or plane up. I like its character. 8) Nice (wedged? my eyesight not as sharp as it could be) through tenons instead of the usual screws or bolts. Does it rack about when you hand plane on it?
Cheers Mr Spanton  

PS a tip My first bench (about 1992) was solid (no racking) but small and a bit light, it tended to move a bit when scrub planing or other heavy cuts. It ocurred to me to use pieces of medium soft rubber matting (industrial conveyor belting?? out the skip) and staple it under each leg. Consequently no movement


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## Sawdust (4 Oct 2006)

mr spanton":120ribv3 said:


> Hi Mike
> no need to be apologetic about your bench at all. It looks solid as a rock which is what a bench should be, not so much a flimsy fashion statement :wink: . All the exotic specis woods and fancy inlays etc wont help you chop mortices or plane up. I like its character. 8) Nice (wedged? my eyesight not as sharp as it could be) through tenons instead of the usual screws or bolts. Does it rack about when you hand plane on it?
> Cheers Mr Spanton
> 
> PS a tip My first bench (about 1992) was solid (no racking) but small and a bit light, it tended to move a bit when scrub planing or other heavy cuts. It ocurred to me to use pieces of medium soft rubber matting (industrial conveyor belting?? out the skip) and staple it under each leg. Consequently no movement



Thanks for the compliments, it is rock solid and heavy enough to prevent it moving around. The rails are held together with touble wedged tenons and it doesn't rack at all when planing.

When we moved in, the previous owner had left loads of floor tiles so I stored them under the bench which also adds weight. In fact when I needed to lift it to level it (sloping garage floor) I needed to use a trolley jack.


Cheers
Mike


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## dedee (4 Oct 2006)

Mike, thanks for sharing.

What do you do for heat? With all those bare block walls, uninsulated door and high pitched roof it looks a bit cold.

Andy


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## wizer (4 Oct 2006)

dedee":bdq6pl0o said:


> Mike, thanks for sharing.
> 
> What do you do for heat? With all those bare block walls, uninsulated door and high pitched roof it looks a bit cold.
> 
> Andy



I think I spy a woodburner


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## Sawdust (4 Oct 2006)

dedee":2ss9i1nz said:


> Mike, thanks for sharing.
> 
> What do you do for heat? With all those bare block walls, uninsulated door and high pitched roof it looks a bit cold.
> 
> Andy



Andy,

We only moved into the house in May and so far the weather has been warm!

I do have a woodburner which just needs the chimney installing and I plan to do that pretty soon before the weather gets bad. I'm thinking about what to do with the doors. I don't need to bring the cars in but do like to be able to open them when the weather is good and for deliveries.

I'm also considering putting a ceiling in and insulating above it.

As it's a fairly new build (1998), the walls are built the same as the house walls, brick outer, rockwool insulation and then block inner so they are actually very well insulated.

I'll see how it goes as the weather gets colder and let you know.

Cheers
Mike


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## PowerTool (4 Oct 2006)

> Mike, excellent - thank you. I love a workshop tour.



Same here  



> I'm not in the least jealous of all of that space. :^o



Same here  


Andrew


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## Colin C (4 Oct 2006)

Nice workshop tour thanks and did some one say jealous of all of that space.
Not me :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :shock: :wink:


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## Les Mahon (4 Oct 2006)

Mike,

Nice tour - I'm in the process of doing exactly the same type of set-up in my new ex-garage.

In fact looking at the first few pictures I thought you had broken into my house!

I guess you bought the house the same way I bought mine 
"Well dear my part of the house looks fine, how is your part?"  

Les


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## Sawdust (4 Oct 2006)

Les Mahon":2uiu1z7d said:


> In fact looking at the first few pictures I thought you had broken into my house!
> Les


Damn - I didn't think you'd notice!



Les Mahon":2uiu1z7d said:


> I guess you bought the house the same way I bought mine
> "Well dear my part of the house looks fine, how is your part?"
> Les



Well let's just say the houses which didn't have a double garage or equivalent ended up pretty low in the priority list :wink: 

Cheers
Mike


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## Mcluma (4 Oct 2006)

very nice if you do not have to share your space with the famely :wink:


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## OPJ (8 Oct 2006)

You say you have a floor space of 20 square feet - but surely, you must mean metres or something???

My garage-cum-workshop measures 5.4m x 3m, and yet, yours looks HUGE in comparison.  

I'm also very envious of that pitched roof you have, truss rafters and everything. And you're not fighting for space with a load of garden tools and household junk either. :twisted: 

If I hadn't left a load of sawdust all over the floor during the terrible storms of recent weeks then I'd have walked in to one giant puddle I presume! Corrugated asbestos - really, what on Earth is it good for???
Sometimes, I think I'd be better off with 6mm MDF on that roof!


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## Sawdust (8 Oct 2006)

Oswaldo!":3jg01pn5 said:


> You say you have a floor space of 20 square feet - but surely, you must mean metres or something???


20square feet isn't much - it's 20 feet square which is 400 square feet. It's just a standard size double garage though.



Oswaldo!":3jg01pn5 said:


> I'm also very envious of that pitched roof you have, truss rafters and everything. And you're not fighting for space with a load of garden tools and household junk either. :twisted:


The roof is great for storage. I plan to create some more permanent storage space by 'flooring' part of it and then putting a plaster-board ceiling in with insulation above.

There is a fair bit of garden junk in there; grass cutter, all the spades and shovels, forks and other rubbish hedge trimmer and chain saw. There is also a quad bike and a aga sized oven waiting to be put into the kitchen! However I have never even thought about leaving space for cars - they can stay out side - that's why they paint them!



Oswaldo!":3jg01pn5 said:


> If I hadn't left a load of sawdust all over the floor during the terrible storms of recent weeks then I'd have walked in to one giant puddle I presume! Corrugated asbestos - really, what on Earth is it good for???


It does flood a bit next to the left hand door so at the moment the cooker and a tool cabinet sit there. They are both on wheels so not too bothered about a bit of water. 

Cheers
Mike


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## Colin C (8 Oct 2006)

Sawdust":2txskbr0 said:


> [
> 20square feet isn't much - it's 20 feet square which is 400 square feet. It's just a standard size double garage though.
> 
> 
> ...



:shock: 20square feet isn't much :roll: .
Try working in 18x10 full time  ( you have more than twice my space [-( :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :wink:


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## Paul Chapman (8 Oct 2006)

Oswaldo!":3etmq4qp said:


> If I hadn't left a load of sawdust all over the floor during the terrible storms of recent weeks then I'd have walked in to one giant puddle I presume! Corrugated asbestos - really, what on Earth is it good for???
> Sometimes, I think I'd be better off with 6mm MDF on that roof!



I had a corrugated asbestos roof on a garage in a previous property. The garage roof used to leak and I found that the bolts holding the roof on had rubber or nylon washers that had disintegrated. If that is the problem with your roof, mastic around the bolts will provide a temporary fix until you can replace the washers :wink: 

Paul


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## Sawdust (8 Oct 2006)

Colin C":118w3gwp said:


> Sawdust":118w3gwp said:
> 
> 
> > [
> ...



I meant 20 square feet compared to 20 feet square - big difference.

Before i moved I had 16 x 10 shed which I built and I had to make everything in it. I managed to build a kitchen but could only build one cabinet at a time!

Cheers
Mike


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## Colin C (8 Oct 2006)

Hi Sawdust,

I dont do too bad for space but a bit ( lot ) more id alway nice :roll: :wink: .
I have just finished two units that I will be fitting soon [-o< and will post pic's


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