I'm posting to share the journey I'm on, and maybe give someone some ideas and possibly to get ideas from others. This thread is about setting up the workshop to make it the productive space I need it to be.
This shop build and the purpose of the new router is my product design project. To give a brief history of my project, 4 years ago I started a new job and after taking that job I quickly started to experience knee pain. I managed it by searching for a knee pad that gave the right kind of knee protection, but after 1.5 years, the only knee pad I could find that worked for me was fairly expensive ($60/ pair) and lasted me 3-4 months. So I decided I would make my own knee pads. How hard could it be, right? That was nearly 2 years ago.
This first photo is from last fall when I was installing the electric furnace. This is pretty much how the shop/ garage was set up when I was building the first prototypes. It worked really well in the beginning, and I'm glad I had this kind of space to work in. But as the project started to grow, and as I realized what I needed to do to take it to the next level, I realized I needed to make some significant changes.
My garage is ~575 sqr feet (53 m^2) total, which includes the space my car takes up. The photo above should give you an idea about the "original" setup. I had benches running the full length on both side walls, and the benches were always completely covered. It wasn't a great use of space. Back then I had no idea I would buy a CNC router, but I knew I needed to find a way to manage my space better.
This next photo is from a 3 months ago. Now all the built in benches are gone, there is a new shelf unit on the right side, and I built a new free standing bench out of metal. Again, I was still expecting to hire out the CNC work, so making space for a router wasn't part of my plan.
The wood table on wheels in the middle is my new cutting table, an the space underneath is storage of fiberglass cloth, vacuum bagging materials, etc. These typically come in 60" rolls, so storage can be a pain without the proper solution. And the big blue cabinet in the corner is specially designed to hold plastic bins--the bins attach to the back wall and to the doors. It was a craigslist find, and it is pretty dense storage, keeping all my small parts like bolts and screws easily accessible. It wasn't cheap, but I don't expect I will ever sell it.
I'm proud of the new work bench. I like the fact that these plastic drawers hold everything that was previously hung on the wall, which freed up valuable wall space. (Later I added leveler feet and painted it.)
Then I got a deal on these industrial ovens, also on Craigslist. New price would be $2000 each, but I paid $350 each. When I picked them up the guy said his company had like 20 of them that they just threw away. So apparently I paid too much? But really it was amazing luck, because these ovens are perfect for what I need. I will use them for curing epoxy and urethane rubber.
Getting the ovens onto the stand was an adventure. The platform in front of the one oven and the chain hoist should give you a hint. In a previous photo you can see part of a red chop saw on a table--that chop saw (with a couple other saws) lives on a table that rolls underneath these ovens. (I still didn't know I was buying a CNC router when I built this, but it turned out to be a critical space saving measure.)
Alright, to the present day. This next photo is this last weekend with my newly completed stand for my new router. Router has a 30"x40" bed, so the rack under the table is 30.75" high to accomodate material for the router. I used MDF and sealed it with epoxy. I would have used ACX playwood, but was nearly double the usual price, at $100/ sheet!
And this is what I did yesterday. My new router. It is a ShopSabre 23. It is a hefty Boi. The shipping weight says 800#, and I think that's about right. Oh yeah, you can see the filter for my new dust collector in the background. I installed that last week. And as I type this, ductwork is scheduled to arrive tomorrow!
And it wouldn't be complete without showing the dust collector. It's an Oneida 5hp High Vacuum cyclone. To make it fit I had to raise the roof, well, the rafters atleast. So far everything has been a tight fit, but so far things are working out, if only just.
That's about all I got for the moment. I'm typing this on my laptop in the the dark, because the electrician showed up a week early to install the new electrical service. My old electrical service was a 120A fused panel from the 60's. That isn't enough for what I have in mind. But when he leaves, I'll have a brand new 200A service--that's a full 200A available to my garage. (The house will be on a 100A breaker.) Oh yeah, and he's wiring in the dust collector and the router's VFD, so maybe I can fire up the router here in a few minutes!
The long wait was a little depressing, but now everything is happening at the same time. Literally. It's kind of amazing, really. My last day at my old job last Friday (I gave them 2 weeks notice), and by coincidence I was notified on Friday that my router was ready to pick up. So I picked up the router Monday. Today (Tuesday) the electrician called at 6am to say he is coming out today, a week early. Tomorrow the ductwork arrives. This leave me with 1.5 weeks of free time to run duct work and get everything sorted out before I have to go back to work. I couldn't have made things to work out better if I tried!
I'll update as I go. Maybe I'll get the first chips on video?
This shop build and the purpose of the new router is my product design project. To give a brief history of my project, 4 years ago I started a new job and after taking that job I quickly started to experience knee pain. I managed it by searching for a knee pad that gave the right kind of knee protection, but after 1.5 years, the only knee pad I could find that worked for me was fairly expensive ($60/ pair) and lasted me 3-4 months. So I decided I would make my own knee pads. How hard could it be, right? That was nearly 2 years ago.
This first photo is from last fall when I was installing the electric furnace. This is pretty much how the shop/ garage was set up when I was building the first prototypes. It worked really well in the beginning, and I'm glad I had this kind of space to work in. But as the project started to grow, and as I realized what I needed to do to take it to the next level, I realized I needed to make some significant changes.
My garage is ~575 sqr feet (53 m^2) total, which includes the space my car takes up. The photo above should give you an idea about the "original" setup. I had benches running the full length on both side walls, and the benches were always completely covered. It wasn't a great use of space. Back then I had no idea I would buy a CNC router, but I knew I needed to find a way to manage my space better.
This next photo is from a 3 months ago. Now all the built in benches are gone, there is a new shelf unit on the right side, and I built a new free standing bench out of metal. Again, I was still expecting to hire out the CNC work, so making space for a router wasn't part of my plan.
The wood table on wheels in the middle is my new cutting table, an the space underneath is storage of fiberglass cloth, vacuum bagging materials, etc. These typically come in 60" rolls, so storage can be a pain without the proper solution. And the big blue cabinet in the corner is specially designed to hold plastic bins--the bins attach to the back wall and to the doors. It was a craigslist find, and it is pretty dense storage, keeping all my small parts like bolts and screws easily accessible. It wasn't cheap, but I don't expect I will ever sell it.
I'm proud of the new work bench. I like the fact that these plastic drawers hold everything that was previously hung on the wall, which freed up valuable wall space. (Later I added leveler feet and painted it.)
Then I got a deal on these industrial ovens, also on Craigslist. New price would be $2000 each, but I paid $350 each. When I picked them up the guy said his company had like 20 of them that they just threw away. So apparently I paid too much? But really it was amazing luck, because these ovens are perfect for what I need. I will use them for curing epoxy and urethane rubber.
Getting the ovens onto the stand was an adventure. The platform in front of the one oven and the chain hoist should give you a hint. In a previous photo you can see part of a red chop saw on a table--that chop saw (with a couple other saws) lives on a table that rolls underneath these ovens. (I still didn't know I was buying a CNC router when I built this, but it turned out to be a critical space saving measure.)
Alright, to the present day. This next photo is this last weekend with my newly completed stand for my new router. Router has a 30"x40" bed, so the rack under the table is 30.75" high to accomodate material for the router. I used MDF and sealed it with epoxy. I would have used ACX playwood, but was nearly double the usual price, at $100/ sheet!
And this is what I did yesterday. My new router. It is a ShopSabre 23. It is a hefty Boi. The shipping weight says 800#, and I think that's about right. Oh yeah, you can see the filter for my new dust collector in the background. I installed that last week. And as I type this, ductwork is scheduled to arrive tomorrow!
And it wouldn't be complete without showing the dust collector. It's an Oneida 5hp High Vacuum cyclone. To make it fit I had to raise the roof, well, the rafters atleast. So far everything has been a tight fit, but so far things are working out, if only just.
That's about all I got for the moment. I'm typing this on my laptop in the the dark, because the electrician showed up a week early to install the new electrical service. My old electrical service was a 120A fused panel from the 60's. That isn't enough for what I have in mind. But when he leaves, I'll have a brand new 200A service--that's a full 200A available to my garage. (The house will be on a 100A breaker.) Oh yeah, and he's wiring in the dust collector and the router's VFD, so maybe I can fire up the router here in a few minutes!
The long wait was a little depressing, but now everything is happening at the same time. Literally. It's kind of amazing, really. My last day at my old job last Friday (I gave them 2 weeks notice), and by coincidence I was notified on Friday that my router was ready to pick up. So I picked up the router Monday. Today (Tuesday) the electrician called at 6am to say he is coming out today, a week early. Tomorrow the ductwork arrives. This leave me with 1.5 weeks of free time to run duct work and get everything sorted out before I have to go back to work. I couldn't have made things to work out better if I tried!
I'll update as I go. Maybe I'll get the first chips on video?