Got to agree. Its amazing how many bandsaws have aluminium alloy castings instead of steel tube. However, its nice to use a bandsaw to its full capacity and resawing a 10" board to get veneers for instance needs all the power it can get.
Tools and machines for my workshop?
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Got to agree. Its amazing how many bandsaws have aluminium alloy castings instead of steel tube. However, its nice to use a bandsaw to its full capacity and resawing a 10" board to get veneers for instance needs all the power it can get.
Ttrees
Iroko loco!
Hello again
Bob (myfordman) has plans for those castors if you want to make some up for cheap, I copied his design.
I think the best design on the internet is Carl's though, and another similar design on imported machines probably thousands of years old, I made up two versions of this in metal, both could be improved, but the principal is there.
Wheels could be larger on this one, or closer to the edge on the left set,
could make a sprung latch instead of by gravity.
The same thing with a actual spring and hook to latch might be of use here,
it is kind of a safety feature though this way on steeper ground.
Handy to have a welder if space will be a concern, I make do with these small jobs now with a Lidl welder, It was 50 euros new, I could have got a better one about half the size of the big red one secondhand, if I had the space, defiantly would,
but this Lidl one in the workshop is really teeny not much bigger than a shoebox.
Used machines can be bought for half the price of new, and three phase half the price of that again.
Matt Estlea is one youtuber I forgot to mention earlier, maybe you reminded me by your comment, he might be of interest to watch.
Agreed it is difficult to get an impression of what is what by fancy edited woodworking these days,
Try getting an honest bandsaw video actually seeing how the machine actually copes with resawing, instead of the first inch and the last.
There was a thread titled your favorite youtube woodworker that might have some lesser clickbait channels trying to sell you things,
that would be helpful in sorting out your core machinery, because you can't trust a company selling the thing.
This might put a halt to any mass acquisition of tooling that might be unsuitable in the end of the day.
You seem to say you're not in a rush, but your electron powered shopping list suggests otherwise.
I've gotta still think the former, so going to suggest the youtube thread to find out what you're really after, some are really good.
That router setup is the price of a kitted out spindle moulder.
I have neither a router table nor a spindle moulder, and would think hard about
what would be best not just for the job at hand,
but for the future
One tool at a time, find the Achilles heel in each, figure out if you can make do with that compromise before you buy.
Tom
Bob (myfordman) has plans for those castors if you want to make some up for cheap, I copied his design.
I think the best design on the internet is Carl's though, and another similar design on imported machines probably thousands of years old, I made up two versions of this in metal, both could be improved, but the principal is there.
Wheels could be larger on this one, or closer to the edge on the left set,
could make a sprung latch instead of by gravity.
The same thing with a actual spring and hook to latch might be of use here,
it is kind of a safety feature though this way on steeper ground.
Handy to have a welder if space will be a concern, I make do with these small jobs now with a Lidl welder, It was 50 euros new, I could have got a better one about half the size of the big red one secondhand, if I had the space, defiantly would,
but this Lidl one in the workshop is really teeny not much bigger than a shoebox.
Used machines can be bought for half the price of new, and three phase half the price of that again.
Matt Estlea is one youtuber I forgot to mention earlier, maybe you reminded me by your comment, he might be of interest to watch.
Agreed it is difficult to get an impression of what is what by fancy edited woodworking these days,
Try getting an honest bandsaw video actually seeing how the machine actually copes with resawing, instead of the first inch and the last.
There was a thread titled your favorite youtube woodworker that might have some lesser clickbait channels trying to sell you things,
that would be helpful in sorting out your core machinery, because you can't trust a company selling the thing.
This might put a halt to any mass acquisition of tooling that might be unsuitable in the end of the day.
You seem to say you're not in a rush, but your electron powered shopping list suggests otherwise.
I've gotta still think the former, so going to suggest the youtube thread to find out what you're really after, some are really good.
That router setup is the price of a kitted out spindle moulder.
I have neither a router table nor a spindle moulder, and would think hard about
what would be best not just for the job at hand,
but for the future
One tool at a time, find the Achilles heel in each, figure out if you can make do with that compromise before you buy.
Tom
heimlaga
Established Member
It is possible to make very good products using only the most basic tools if you have time enough to first get skilled with those tools and then apply that skill plus even more time to the product.
If you think your products turn out mediocre even with a good set of hand tools it is either down to your skill level or to a shortage of time and patience or down to too high expectations. Neither of those three possible shortcomings will be cured by spending more money on tools.
Life is a learning curve. My 83 years old uncle told me "right when you have learned to make most of the things you need to make with barely tolerable results and finally reached the stage when you can spend some time learning a few things you have always wanted to learn only because it is interesting then you will realize that you are past 80 and not psysically fit enough".
We learn every day and that is how we keep our brains from getting old prematurely. Learning is a good thing and never bash yourself or anyone else for not having learned enough yet. Only bash yourself and others for not bothering to learn.
All machine tools are essentially there just to increase productivity. Speeding up what took too much time by hand.
I think you started out with very good intentions but got sidetracked by the influence of marketing. They want us believe that we need all those things while in fact we don't.
Personally I don't think a bandsaw is that important in a hobby workshop. Most of what it does can be done with simple hand tools wihout loosing too much time. For many years I used and axe for most of the work typically done on bandsaws. Only when my woodwork became a side income and production runs started to appear I bough one to speed things up. Then I went for a suitably sized one for the work on hand. A 24" E.V.Beronius.
Personally I think a planer/thicknesser is important. Few people theese days have the time to hand plane everything accurately. Times have changed and we must change too. However one can still hand plane the odd piece with particularly difficult grain or which is just too large for the machine.
My opinion is that a planer thicknesser is a machine worth spending money on. Cast iron tables and a solid and accurate frame are important features. I have never used a spiral cutterhead and only rarely felt the need. It is easy enough to plane a bit oversize and take off a shaving with a hand plane if the grain is difficult. The timbers I use don't normally have difficult grain. If you are going to use a lot f difficult grain this will be another matter.
A good table saw saves lots of time. Once again times have changed and we must change too. I would suggest a cabinet saw like a Rapid or Wadkin-Bursgreen AGS or Ejca L18. In my humble opinion cheap benchtop models demand a lot from the user. I am unable to produce a decent result on a lightweight tablesaw and motors under 3kW burn out too easily with ordinary cuts.
An angle grinder is totally unecsessary if you aren't branching out into metal fabrication. If you are going to branch out into metalwork you need a corded one which can be used more efficiently. You also need a welder and a heavy duty drill press........ I think you got sidetracked didn't you?
Spending 2000 pounds on a router and a router table seems way overkill.
I bought my first ever router a couple of years ago. A rather small Makita secondhand for 20 euros. Mainly for fitting hinges. I had no use for a router until I started working wood for profit.
Last year I built myself a super heavy duty professional router table. A Suchner router motor mounted in a cast iron table from an old wood framed spindle moulder whose frame had disappeared decades ago. All on top of a cabinet stand made from 8mm hot rolled plate. Everthing top notch for significantlt less than 1000 euros in total. It is rarely needed but nice to have. However once again I had no need for a router table when I was a pure hobbyist. If you want one you can surely build a good enough one from plywood.
Cramps.
Yes we all need sash cramps. However there are a good supply of rather inexpensive secondhand Record and Woden sash cramps on UK e-bay. If I was living in the UK I would not spend money on anything else because they give the most quality for the money.
Some of my sash cramps are recondhand Record or Woden purchased locally at a higher cost. Some are old cramp heads purchased from the UK and fitted to 25x50x3mm rectangular tubing. I see no need for those expensive parallel cramps.
If you think your products turn out mediocre even with a good set of hand tools it is either down to your skill level or to a shortage of time and patience or down to too high expectations. Neither of those three possible shortcomings will be cured by spending more money on tools.
Life is a learning curve. My 83 years old uncle told me "right when you have learned to make most of the things you need to make with barely tolerable results and finally reached the stage when you can spend some time learning a few things you have always wanted to learn only because it is interesting then you will realize that you are past 80 and not psysically fit enough".
We learn every day and that is how we keep our brains from getting old prematurely. Learning is a good thing and never bash yourself or anyone else for not having learned enough yet. Only bash yourself and others for not bothering to learn.
All machine tools are essentially there just to increase productivity. Speeding up what took too much time by hand.
I think you started out with very good intentions but got sidetracked by the influence of marketing. They want us believe that we need all those things while in fact we don't.
Personally I don't think a bandsaw is that important in a hobby workshop. Most of what it does can be done with simple hand tools wihout loosing too much time. For many years I used and axe for most of the work typically done on bandsaws. Only when my woodwork became a side income and production runs started to appear I bough one to speed things up. Then I went for a suitably sized one for the work on hand. A 24" E.V.Beronius.
Personally I think a planer/thicknesser is important. Few people theese days have the time to hand plane everything accurately. Times have changed and we must change too. However one can still hand plane the odd piece with particularly difficult grain or which is just too large for the machine.
My opinion is that a planer thicknesser is a machine worth spending money on. Cast iron tables and a solid and accurate frame are important features. I have never used a spiral cutterhead and only rarely felt the need. It is easy enough to plane a bit oversize and take off a shaving with a hand plane if the grain is difficult. The timbers I use don't normally have difficult grain. If you are going to use a lot f difficult grain this will be another matter.
A good table saw saves lots of time. Once again times have changed and we must change too. I would suggest a cabinet saw like a Rapid or Wadkin-Bursgreen AGS or Ejca L18. In my humble opinion cheap benchtop models demand a lot from the user. I am unable to produce a decent result on a lightweight tablesaw and motors under 3kW burn out too easily with ordinary cuts.
An angle grinder is totally unecsessary if you aren't branching out into metal fabrication. If you are going to branch out into metalwork you need a corded one which can be used more efficiently. You also need a welder and a heavy duty drill press........ I think you got sidetracked didn't you?
Spending 2000 pounds on a router and a router table seems way overkill.
I bought my first ever router a couple of years ago. A rather small Makita secondhand for 20 euros. Mainly for fitting hinges. I had no use for a router until I started working wood for profit.
Last year I built myself a super heavy duty professional router table. A Suchner router motor mounted in a cast iron table from an old wood framed spindle moulder whose frame had disappeared decades ago. All on top of a cabinet stand made from 8mm hot rolled plate. Everthing top notch for significantlt less than 1000 euros in total. It is rarely needed but nice to have. However once again I had no need for a router table when I was a pure hobbyist. If you want one you can surely build a good enough one from plywood.
Cramps.
Yes we all need sash cramps. However there are a good supply of rather inexpensive secondhand Record and Woden sash cramps on UK e-bay. If I was living in the UK I would not spend money on anything else because they give the most quality for the money.
Some of my sash cramps are recondhand Record or Woden purchased locally at a higher cost. Some are old cramp heads purchased from the UK and fitted to 25x50x3mm rectangular tubing. I see no need for those expensive parallel cramps.
Ttrees
Iroko loco!
Sebastian, I tried finding that favourite youtube woodworkers thread and couldn't find it which is a shame.
There are many folks on this forum who are in the same boat as yourself, so it would be a shame to leave over taking offence over other folks comments
None of us know your work, or the work you strive to achieve, as the perfectionist is never happy.
Do you have a decent workbench to use those handtools on?
Quite a different beast to whats normally used with electron tools.
I would suggest you watch some of Phil Lowe's videos, he's not a youtuber, but some publication made a great series of him on youtube.
Its a good mixture of hand and machinery and you might change your thoughts about hand tools and powered hand tools.
Other folks whom use hand tools and machinery to make refined stuff might be
to sift through Rob Cosman, but avoid the sales pitch,
Ishitani funriture, Doucette and wolfe, to see the emphisis is on hand tools .
If you still wish to go that more speedy route then you might like
Guys woodshop, or Jay Bates for example
I suspect if you only followed the latter then that might lead to failure without needing a jig or something else to do a critical step.
Hope you stick around
Tom
There are many folks on this forum who are in the same boat as yourself, so it would be a shame to leave over taking offence over other folks comments
None of us know your work, or the work you strive to achieve, as the perfectionist is never happy.
Do you have a decent workbench to use those handtools on?
Quite a different beast to whats normally used with electron tools.
I would suggest you watch some of Phil Lowe's videos, he's not a youtuber, but some publication made a great series of him on youtube.
Its a good mixture of hand and machinery and you might change your thoughts about hand tools and powered hand tools.
Other folks whom use hand tools and machinery to make refined stuff might be
to sift through Rob Cosman, but avoid the sales pitch,
Ishitani funriture, Doucette and wolfe, to see the emphisis is on hand tools .
If you still wish to go that more speedy route then you might like
Guys woodshop, or Jay Bates for example
I suspect if you only followed the latter then that might lead to failure without needing a jig or something else to do a critical step.
Hope you stick around
Tom
billw
The Tattooed One
Has he made a bench hook yet?
Hey Sebastian, just quoting a post at random to reply to you.
First of all, well done for staying patient for so long I read the start of the thread this morning over breakfast and I would have snapped at that point but didn't have time. By the time I got in from golf it's just become laughable. You'd be well within your rights to not come back but please bear with it as the forum can on occassion be helpful. I personally prefer to linger now and again than ask for help.
Don't apologise so much in future for "being unclear". You were perfectly clear, it's just you got responses from people answering a question they wanted to answer, rather than the question you've asked. I'm going to deflect a bit of the fire away from you; firstly by criticizing the arrogant, unwelcoming and patronising approach of others and secondly by saying I've spent over £30k on my workshop in the last 6 years and an average of about what you've done. I'd have spent it in one year if I'd had the money, I'm 24, family not minted, all money I've earned and paid tax on and not come out of some carpentry business pre tax write-off. There's no rule that you have to spend a certain amount or that you're any less of a woodworker if you haven't chopped a mortice out with your teeth before graduating to a chisel, what a joke. You're not crazy for spending that much in a year, it's only £400 a month, people spend that on car finance. It's your money, and working to the assumption that you've earned it through legal means then it's also nobody else's business. The mistakes you've made in cheaper tools you're dissatisfied with is something the majority of people do, and only a certain number of those actually learn from it. It's all part of the education - and as I can see you've said you've learned a lot so far and are looking to keep progressing with that.
About 15 years ago, the generally accepted figure for setting up a workshop was £10k. While possible, there's lots of things even back then that were excluded from calculations. If you were wondering, the amount you've suggested you're looking at spending seems about right. Bear in mind, that this is start up, of course every now and again you'll tinker and change your mind on stuff and it'll creep up.
In between all the patronising there were some good questions asked, but you may not know the answer to it yet. What do you make and what would you like to make? If this is just a hobby (which is absolutely fine by the way) it may happen that you change every now and again in terms of what you make. As a result, a "general approach" workshop might be best.
If you perhaps attach a diagram with your garage layout dimensions please including doors, we can all work together to see how you're doing for space and what a good layout will be. For what it's worth, I also have a large single garage but I've also built an extension to house my dust extractor and wood lathe. If it helps, here is what I have:
In the garage:
Wadkin CK Radial arm saw
JET 3hp 18" bandsaw
Wadkin AGS10 Table saw
Sedgwick MB planer thicknesser
In the extension:
JET some kind of dust extractor, I don't even know what
Myford ML8 lathe
Also an entire wall of my garage is dedicated bench space. Bench tops are festool mft style (you can buy them cnc cut in 8x4 sheet sizes). These are pretty useful for tracksaws for cross cutting, makes it pretty easy to build in a router table and make fences up for a the radial arm saw.
All the above in the main garage area I think would be good candidates for machines for you. I bought everything there second hand and I did spend a long time looking around to work out prices before pulling the trigger on any - I'm confident I'd recoup any investment if I sold them, which I won't. The radial arm saw I bought because I wanted it, that's all. I picked up a second hand Festool Kapex 120 for £450 recently. That was definitely worth the money, I was a bit dubious because I'm actually not a festool nut and even on the owner's group a lot of people do say they can take it or leave it. I prefer it to the Bosch GCM12 I've also used, but that's a good option. I've still got a dewalt 216mm mitre saw which gets used for framing whenever I do that as it's light enough to lug around. When I get round to my loft conversion, it'll be the cheap old 216 that will be used. The Kapex is accurate enough for cutting shoulders for tenons - horses for courses.
If possible, please have a think about buying second hand equipment. I am a bit of an enthusiast for old british stuff (only bought the JET stuff as it was available for a very low price, but I am delighted with the bandsaw). The main things to check for are that surfaces are flat (check using a thin straight edge across many different lines), things that move do, and things that shouldn't don't. Also, if stuff is missing it can be very expensive to get machined up as parts can be hard to come by - even then it'll still be cheaper and outlast most things that can be bought new. That said, if you want to buy new, you do you. Record Power bandsaws are well regarded I know that, and I'm sure you'll be happy enough with the axminster stuff. As for the stuff you put on your want to have list I can't really speak for much of it, as I've no experience personally. For me, the Festool router is the power I'd want in a 1/4" router. I'd like to own one for their superior dust extraction but I'd only use it for detail stuff, or things without massive power requirements. I use my router to make mortices so for that I find the Makita RP2301 ( I think it is anyway) to be dead useful. For my router table I use the Triton TRA001 (again I think, it's their most powerful one anyway). It's a weapon but I think it's too much to be used free hand and it isn't weighted or handled correctly for that. As for router tables, I've made them myself, all sorts. Once you've priced up all the MRMDF, formica, aluminium t tracks, etc etc that you'd use to make it (and your time you could use to make something you want to make) you may feel it's better off buying. If you make one built into a long bank of benches it's pretty efficient and will work well for 95% of what you want to do. I also have the Trend PRT as if I'm going off to do a job for someone, paid or a friend, or I'm renovating my house, it's so easy to move around and is also great quality, unquestionably flat. Again, I bought it second hand. The festool vacuums are worth the money - bought one second hand for £150.
If you use your track saw a lot, it might be worth upgrading. I bought the Makita and it's okay but I've been having issues lately with blade wobble - haven't got round to checking it against a thicker blade to see if it's just that it's deflecting. When I do upgrade, it will be for the Mafell. It's made tonnes of mdf fitted furniture and paid for itself many times over so if you do use yours a lot, I think you'll reap the rewards of upgrading. Again, these do work exceptionally well when paired up with mft style tables.
The spiral thicknesser - have a look into this and weigh up if it's definitely what you want. I bought my sedgwick mb off someone who had "upgraded" to a helical cutter, he regretted it. You can't take off as much stock with a spiral cutter at once. A good quality PT with sharp blades I would say gives you a great finish for most applications - occassionally I'll burnish the pieces with the chips on the floor, no real sanding required. Spiral thicknessers work great on stuff like figured maple. Again, if it's what you want then go for it.
Cordless angle grinders are great for quick jobs, on site or working on a car. If it's only getting used in the workshop for carving work I'd just buy a used one from a brand like Makita, Dewalt - it's not a precision tool and £30 will still get you a good condition used one I'd imagine.
I don't know if you mentioned it, but have you had your electrician out to tell you how much power you can get out to the shop? If you can do more than 32A, try to do that. Start up currents of machines can be quite tasty, and if you've got a dust extractor running at the same time, a 40A supply would be much better. I think you might be aiming a little low on your £300 for electrics. I dug my own trench to my garage, and installed all the sockets and conduit for the spark. I'd have glady wired it myself but you need an electrician sign off anyway. My electrician underpriced his labour woefully so it cost me less than £450 all in to do and £300 was materials. All dependent on number of sockets of course, but £1000 would have been perfectly reasonable in the south east, even with the amount of work I did myself.
Feel free to private message me or reply on here if you can face it if you've got any questions, I know what I've written doesn't give you much advice on everything you've suggested buying as I just can't give you personal experience.
Hopefully the router set up you've attached will come through. This is fact and not my opinion: that router table is better than anything you or anyone else can make themselves. I thought about buying it myself. The only reason I didn't is because I don't have the space in my garage for a standalone router table without sacrificing some other functionality. In buying the PRT I found I could get close enough and have portability. The festool router you've attached is great, but for a router table, something like the Triton/Hikoki is a better option.
2 grand on this set up is not stupid. Again, sorry people who should have known better made you feel it was. Yes, a spindle moulder set up can be had for about this price. For this though, you need the space and power to run them. I'd have a spindle moulder if I could, they are cool. But the reason they are cheap is because there are more about than the hobbyist market can support (I think most of the older ones breach health and safety requirements without modification for a multimanned commercial outfit based on stopping speeds hence why there isn't huge commericial interest in them).
I've never spoken to anyone who regretted buying that cast iron table. I know a lot of commerical outfits who get by on a self made unit. As before, I'm a big fan of long bench integrated routers. They work so well, and you may find you can get by with this set up while you prioritise other things in the workshop. Space allowing, I wouldn't cross the cast iron unit off of your list just because of a couple of internet bullies
Jump right to the end game.
Consider spending £2,000 apiece for a fully (properly) restored Wadkin / Startrite / Sedgwick table saw and another £2,000 for a similarly restored Sedgwick PT 10" planer thicknesser. Those machines are better than anything you will buy new at that price.
Hopefully those would be lifetime buys of two of the most useful tools and biggest investments. They would also hold their values if you look after them.
Then continue saving for the dust extraction (when you want to work with the doors closed / reduce the sweeping up) and whatever is your next priority.
Consider spending £2,000 apiece for a fully (properly) restored Wadkin / Startrite / Sedgwick table saw and another £2,000 for a similarly restored Sedgwick PT 10" planer thicknesser. Those machines are better than anything you will buy new at that price.
Hopefully those would be lifetime buys of two of the most useful tools and biggest investments. They would also hold their values if you look after them.
Then continue saving for the dust extraction (when you want to work with the doors closed / reduce the sweeping up) and whatever is your next priority.
MikeG.
Established Member
Wonderful machines, but do you honestly think he's got room for them in a single garage?
Hi all
Are you setting up a business or is this just a hobby and whats your end product.
When I started I brought a few basic tools and then as I came across different problems or needs I either purchased the relevant tool or found jigs that allowed me to use existing tools. I like yourself work in a garage and so all tools need to be essential otherwise you run out of space, leaving the world of metal and trying a new interest in the scary world of wood I have realised that with wood it is the final look/finish that is important and not the final dimension, so you do not need elaborate tooling and fancy router tables to deliver good quality work. Also wood requires some odd skills that even having the best machines available will not resolve.
The one thing you will soon find is that unless you pay really good money for industrial grade machines then you will be looking at many rebranded clones that come from the far east and many will not deliver straight out of the box. Look at getting some of the videos that are out there on setting up bandsaws etc as it will ease the frustration and give you a better start.
Are you setting up a business or is this just a hobby and whats your end product.
When I started I brought a few basic tools and then as I came across different problems or needs I either purchased the relevant tool or found jigs that allowed me to use existing tools. I like yourself work in a garage and so all tools need to be essential otherwise you run out of space, leaving the world of metal and trying a new interest in the scary world of wood I have realised that with wood it is the final look/finish that is important and not the final dimension, so you do not need elaborate tooling and fancy router tables to deliver good quality work. Also wood requires some odd skills that even having the best machines available will not resolve.
The one thing you will soon find is that unless you pay really good money for industrial grade machines then you will be looking at many rebranded clones that come from the far east and many will not deliver straight out of the box. Look at getting some of the videos that are out there on setting up bandsaws etc as it will ease the frustration and give you a better start.
AJB Temple
Finely figured
Re space....As I have pretty much finished my quite large (10m by 8m) kitchen that was for a while my luxury temporary workshop, and now need to fit out the adjacent utility, I have just shifted my temporary set up to an oak framed, oversized, double garage I made. In there I have my big assembly table (2440 sheet), my 12" chop saw and a small cast iron table saw. Plus a number of wheeled racks to hold all the random stuff I need and a couple of trestles to hold some of my immediate use wood stocks.
I barely have a path around the assembly / cutting table. There is no way I could operate with a PT, saws, assembly table etc in a single garage unless I was just making small things. I am handling for example 2440 x 1220 heavy (24mm) sheet BB ply and 4 metre planks of hardwood. You need space to work, whatever anyone says, or it is hazardous and slow.
I barely have a path around the assembly / cutting table. There is no way I could operate with a PT, saws, assembly table etc in a single garage unless I was just making small things. I am handling for example 2440 x 1220 heavy (24mm) sheet BB ply and 4 metre planks of hardwood. You need space to work, whatever anyone says, or it is hazardous and slow.
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Doug B
Shy Tot
Yes,
MikeG.
Established Member
Really? It's not like they're easily movable. With all his other kit, and a bench, and bearing in mind where they'll need to stand to be able to take longer boards, you honestly think he's got the space in 15 sq m?
Doug B
Shy Tot
It’s just a case of being organised & it helps having machines on casters, I have far more gear than the OP was talking about & I will admit when making multiple units I have to store the made up units out of the workshop but it’s never hazardous & with a clear plan not slow.
At the minute I’m making 4 large frames from 9x4” redwood I’d like more space but I’ve managed with what I’ve got for the last 16 years so I doubt I’ll change it now.
Doug B
Shy Tot
Both my planer thicknesser & table saw are bigger than those mentioned by Sideways so still yes.
heimlaga
Established Member
This was pretty much my point though I didn't make it clear enough.
There are certain machines that add so much efficiency thereby allowing one man to make what three men made with hand tools in the past that they are worth spending money on. Usually rather basic machines. Tabe saw and planer and thicknesser are prime examples.
Then there are machines intended to make people believe that they can buy their way up the learning curve. Get that machine and always get good results without learning.
My oppinion is that one should always try to not spend a single penny on the second group and focus all the purchase power on the first group.
Ttrees
Iroko loco!
Floor smoothness (as in tamped concrete with ridges)
makes a big difference in moving machines, as does
castor size and machine shape.
I chose to make it difficult to wheel away my tablesaw with 55mm castors but both are still easily movable.
Bandsaws are easiest pushed from a low point compared to a TS, but will be easy to keep going on quality 75mm castors (I chose not to buy quality ones that might wheel out of my workshop)
More easily movable 95mm castors on the curve cutter saw, moves nearly too easy actually, and will run over chips and ridges.
Its the stacks of timber that takes the time, if moving things about.
makes a big difference in moving machines, as does
castor size and machine shape.
I chose to make it difficult to wheel away my tablesaw with 55mm castors but both are still easily movable.
Bandsaws are easiest pushed from a low point compared to a TS, but will be easy to keep going on quality 75mm castors (I chose not to buy quality ones that might wheel out of my workshop)
More easily movable 95mm castors on the curve cutter saw, moves nearly too easy actually, and will run over chips and ridges.
Its the stacks of timber that takes the time, if moving things about.
Coyote
Established Member
What you've said, right in the title of this post, is that you need to spend north of £9k on a workshop in a year.
Your original post contained very little information for others here to begin giving particularly helpful advice and it really did sound like you were just wanting someone to help you spend your money, perhaps unnecessarily.
If you've got that much disposable income to spend on tools then fair play. It's your money, spend it how you like. I wish I had half that much.
However this is a forum where people often look for ways to achieve what they want without dropping big money on shiny new hardware, so rolling in "flashing the cash" jars a bit with the general tone.
I think the best way to approach advice here is tell people what you want to achieve. What is the end result you want to get to, and why can't you don't with what you've got? That way the people with a staggering depth of experience on here can actually provide some useful advice. If you've been on here a while you'll notice that "what tool shall I buy" threads appear multiple times a day, and most of them never reach a useful conclusion for the OP, because it's all just opinion.
It's like asking the army for help in a crisis. You don't tell them you want a helicopter, you ask them how they can move 50,000 sandbags from one end of the country to the other in 12 hours, then they give you some options of the best way to achieve it.
This forum is an amazing resource, for free. Don't junk it after a bad start.
Your original post contained very little information for others here to begin giving particularly helpful advice and it really did sound like you were just wanting someone to help you spend your money, perhaps unnecessarily.
If you've got that much disposable income to spend on tools then fair play. It's your money, spend it how you like. I wish I had half that much.
However this is a forum where people often look for ways to achieve what they want without dropping big money on shiny new hardware, so rolling in "flashing the cash" jars a bit with the general tone.
I think the best way to approach advice here is tell people what you want to achieve. What is the end result you want to get to, and why can't you don't with what you've got? That way the people with a staggering depth of experience on here can actually provide some useful advice. If you've been on here a while you'll notice that "what tool shall I buy" threads appear multiple times a day, and most of them never reach a useful conclusion for the OP, because it's all just opinion.
It's like asking the army for help in a crisis. You don't tell them you want a helicopter, you ask them how they can move 50,000 sandbags from one end of the country to the other in 12 hours, then they give you some options of the best way to achieve it.
This forum is an amazing resource, for free. Don't junk it after a bad start.
AJB Temple
Finely figured
Doug, I salute you. I am clumsy with wood and if it is possible for me to bang a plank against something, I will.
silz
Established Member
- Joined
- 24 Aug 2020
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@DOUG
I don't know why some people are worried about the space in my garage, there's plenty of space for 4 large tools and a bench.
Even with an empty garage, how realistic is it to be dealing with full-sized sheets inside the garage itself? I always pull out the saw horses in the driveway to handle that and if a project ever gets too big I just overflow into the driveway.
I currently have about ~19sqm with a driveway that would easily fit 3 cars which is more than enough space and we plan on moving to a bigger house with a double garage or room for a dedicated workshop in ~1.5 years anyway. But even if we don't, I'm content with the curent space.
I don't know why some people are worried about the space in my garage, there's plenty of space for 4 large tools and a bench.
Even with an empty garage, how realistic is it to be dealing with full-sized sheets inside the garage itself? I always pull out the saw horses in the driveway to handle that and if a project ever gets too big I just overflow into the driveway.
I currently have about ~19sqm with a driveway that would easily fit 3 cars which is more than enough space and we plan on moving to a bigger house with a double garage or room for a dedicated workshop in ~1.5 years anyway. But even if we don't, I'm content with the curent space.
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