[tedly]

Hi!

This is my first woodworking forum membership.

I'm up in a rural spot in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. Over 8000ft altitude. Cold windy snowy winters. But that is the price to pay for heavenly summers.

I finally finished my workshop space last August when I added power/water/network to the building. No heat yet, but soon! I have been slowly gathering tools, used or on sale, for the last few years and I finally feel like my setup is near complete (functional).

And, as part of my gathering tools this winter, I've finally added a real router! I had some old ones given to me but they were in such poor shape and missing parts that they were discouraging to learn on. But I caught a Ridgid R29303N router on sale and finally feel like I'm ready to learn.

Hopefully I can read up before asking too many dumb questions. Because I have LOTS of questions about what I'm getting into.

Thanks for having me!

Ted

 

[Jake229]

Welcome from the cornfields of Iowa! Good folks here, willing to help out.

Jake

 

[jw2170]

G'day Ted, welcome to the forum. We visted forum friends in Littleton in 2012. Great trip.

 

[tedly]

Welcome from the cornfields of Iowa! Good folks here, willing to help out.

Jake

Hey! That's where I come from! Cedar Rapids. But hasn't been home for a long while.

 

[tedly]

I found and then subsequently lost a big post with lots and lots of router starter information. I think it was safety and jigs and many other topics. Like 20 documents.

Anyone know where that is? I think it was a moderator post.

 

[tedly]

I found and then subsequently lost a big post with lots and lots of router starter information. I think it was safety and jigs and many other topics. Like 20 documents.

Anyone know where that is? I think it was a moderator post.

Typical of me. Asking questions when a little looking can find the answer. This is what I found earlier. Welcome to the Forums...

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum Ted

 

[DesertRatTom]

Glad you joined the fun. We LOVE questions. I think you might find the attached pdf useful as you get goimg, it's the 18plus things that helped me get going with woodworking. It's long with lots of detail and hopefully, will help you avoid a few expensive mistakes I made along the way. This is a great group of folks.

I bet you'll really like having heat in your shop. But dust collection takes some special effort or it will just pump the warm air right outside. You don't want the unfiltered sawdust back in your shop. I solved that for cold winters by enclosing my dust collection in a little fully enclosed lean to next to the shop shed.

The air flow from the hose connected to a tool, passes through the wall, then through a cyclone, which drops most of the sawdust and chips down into a 30 gallon barrel. The much cleaner air then goes through a blower on the Harbor Freight dust collection unit and spins around, dropping nearly all the remaining sawdust into a collection bag. The air then exits through a 1 micron drum filter, and exits into the chamber. Finally, the clean, still warm air, returns to the shop through a 20x20 filter. Low heat loss, cleaned air. Here's a picture of the setup.

 

[tedly]

I like that system. I don't have dust collection yet. Other than a shop vac and cyclonic pass-through. I'd be afraid that the filter would let the cold air back in too much.

The entire building is just studs and siding, no insulation (yet). I planned to heat the place with a wood stove. (You can see the wood stove in the back left of my profile pic). But I'm fighting the silly insurance/county rules about that. Figured heat would come first. (Firewood is abundant and I already cut,split,dry it for the main house.) Insulation can come in later years.

My point being, that leaking cold air isn't a deal breaker to me. But I try to keep it in mind.

There's a professional carpenter about a quarter mile from me that vents out his garage and just into an empty lean-to. Dust right on the earth floor. I'm not sure how it's propelled / sucked out the wall.

I'll started through your PDF but it is work hours so I'll need to resume later.

 

[DesertRatTom]

I like that system. I don't have dust collection yet. Other than a shop vac and cyclonic pass-through. I'd be afraid that the filter would let the cold air back in too much.

The entire building is just studs and siding, no insulation (yet). I planned to heat the place with a wood stove. (You can see the wood stove in the back left of my profile pic). But I'm fighting the silly insurance/county rules about that. Figured heat would come first. (Firewood is abundant and I already cut,split,dry it for the main house.) Insulation can come in later years.

My point being, that leaking cold air isn't a deal breaker to me. But I try to keep it in mind.

There's a professional carpenter about a quarter mile from me that vents out his garage and just into an empty lean-to. Dust right on the earth floor. I'm not sure how it's propelled / sucked out the wall.

I'll started through your PDF but it is work hours so I'll need to resume later.

Woodstove in a sawdusty atmosphere could be a problem. Don't know for sure. The shop vac fills with sawdust very fast, which is why the dust deputy and bucket are best because they take out nearly all the sawdust. You can put an exhaust hose on the exhaust and blow it into a box with a decent filter on one side. That would help reduce the dust floating around and still keep the warmed air inside. Good insulation will really help more than you think. I also laid in radiant barrier between the outer wall and insulation and man, it really helpls by reflecting heat back in in winter. I live in the high desert so it's really hot in summer, but very cold in winter.

Good luck with the city.

 

[tedly]

Woodstove in a sawdusty atmosphere could be a problem. Don't know for sure. The shop vac fills with sawdust very fast, which is why the dust deputy and bucket are best because they take out nearly all the sawdust. You can put an exhaust hose on the exhaust and blow it into a box with a decent filter on one side. That would help reduce the dust floating around and still keep the warmed air inside. Good insulation will really help more than you think. I also laid in radiant barrier between the outer wall and insulation and man, it really helpls by reflecting heat back in in winter. I live in the high desert so it's really hot in summer, but very cold in winter.

Good luck with the city.

I've not heard of issues with a woodstove and sawdust in the air. (Build up on the ground, yes). I've met a number of carpenters with one in shop. For what that's worth.

National Fire Protection Agency (doc 211), which many states follow, forbid solid-fuel heaters in any garage - due to chemical vapors such as gasoline/paint/etc. So I'm working with the county to reclassify the building as a workshop. That way if it burns down then insurance can't say i violated code. (and I say County, not City, cause the is no local municipality here.)

The only other rule I have to follow for it to be a solid-fuel heated workshop is to place the heater on a pedestal 18" off the ground.

Yes, insulation will come in time. Too many other home projects this summer. I'm hoping that comes in summer 2023.

 

[DesertRatTom]

I've not heard of issues with a woodstove and sawdust in the air. (Build up on the ground, yes). I've met a number of carpenters with one in shop. For what that's worth.

National Fire Protection Agency (doc 211), which many states follow, forbid solid-fuel heaters in any garage - due to chemical vapors such as gasoline/paint/etc. So I'm working with the county to reclassify the building as a workshop. That way if it burns down then insurance can't say i violated code. (and I say County, not City, cause the is no local municipality here.)

The only other rule I have to follow for it to be a solid-fuel heated workshop is to place the heater on a pedestal 18" off the ground.

Yes, insulation will come in time. Too many other home projects this summer. I'm hoping that comes in summer 2023.

I understand about projects to get done.