New guy with a new workshop on the way

[Chuck Isaacson]

Hi there. i am one of the newer guys around here. I have been reading for a while now and not really posting too much. I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. My name is Chuck Isaacson and I am just getting into the hobby a little. Actually I have become rather obsessed with it to be perfectly honest. A little bit about myself....

I am 29 yrs old and I am currently retired from the Army. I served in the Wisconsin National Guard for 5 1/2 yrs before I joined regular Army. It did that for just over five years when I was medically retired due to an injury I received while serving our country in Afghanistan. I was in a helicopter crash in Feb. '07. I am now unfortunately stuck in a wheelchair and am unable to walk. But enough of this crap, life goes on and I am starting a new hobby.

I am building a new garage/workshop!!! A big one!! My addition to my house is going to be 24x61. 27ft. of that will be used for a parking garage. The other 30 or so ft will be the workshop. Then shop portion will insulated with energy start rated material and be heated with a Modine HotDawg heater. I have made sure to bring in lots of natural light as well as artificial. I plan on incorporating a dust collection system. I think that I am going to go for the Grizzly 2HP cyclone and a JDS 750 air filter.

I just got my new table saw a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it is 220 and I dont have a place to use it yet. It is the only wheelchair accessible table saw on the market. It is a General AC650-T50. It is absolutely awesome. Looking anyway. I plan on going to the Grizzly tent sale in June to see if I can score on a planer and jointer, and whatever else is a good deal.

I have a large interest in cabinet making. I plan on making all of the cabinets for my garage. I plan on making them all lower of course. It will be an all wheelchair accessible workshop. I would like to start raise awareness for the issue. When I forst started looking for information about wheelchjair accessible workshops, I found none. So I want to make information about it.

I just pulled my building permits yesterday and am hoping to break ground soon. I will post pictures as I go. I would appreciate any advice that anyone has to give. Thanks in advance and I look forward to participating in the board. Later.

Chuck

[Al Barale]

Hey Chuck firstly welcome to the forum.

Look forward to seeing the pics of your projects and your new workshop.

Good on you for putting together information to help others that may be in a similar situiation.

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Chuck,
welcome to the creek, it is an addiction, but a good one. Sounds like you will have plenty of room in your new shop, just try to make as much as possible mobile. You will move things around while you get a feel for the layout. As you already know, we like pictures, so post plenty.

Thank you for serving our country.

[Clay Crocker]

Chuck,

First of all, thank you for your service to our country. You have paid a high price to keep all of us safe.

Second of all, welcome to the forum and the world of woodworking. You will find many kindred spirits here that share your "obsession". I'm sure you will find some members here that can give you the advice that you seek. Sounds like you will have a real nice shop space; my garage shop is about the same size (24 X30), although I share it with the LOML's car. I have had HotDawg heaters in my last two shops and really like that unit. I have never seen the General AC650-T50, but I have had the standard General 650 for about five years now and love it. A real quality piece of machinery. Best of luck.

Clay

[Hal Peeler]

Thank You for your service! Good luck with your new addic.....hobby.

[Chuck Isaacson]

Chuck,

First of all, thank you for your service to our country. You have paid a high price to keep all of us safe.

Second of all, welcome to the forum and the world of woodworking. You will find many kindred spirits here that share your "obsession". I'm sure you will find some members here that can give you the advice that you seek. Sounds like you will have a real nice shop space; my garage shop is about the same size (24 X30), although I share it with the LOML's car. I have had HotDawg heaters in my last two shops and really like that unit. I have never seen the General AC650-T50, but I have had the standard General 650 for about five years now and love it. A real quality piece of machinery. Best of luck.

Clay

Hi Clay. The AC 650 is the same as a regular 650 except that the table height is at about 29". Mine is the newer one so it also comes with a riving knife. I cant wait to start playing with it. General also makes other tools that are "Accessible." Unfortunately they are a lot more expensive then the saw. The 15" bandsaw is like 3500 along with the 8" jointer. Maybe someday.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Chuck,

Welcome to the Creek!

Thanks for your service!

A lot of great folks here. I discovered them when I started building my shop 5 years ago.


Since most of us aren't bound to a wheel chair, excuse our ignorance if we ask questions in our effort to give you some opinions.

One of the best recommendtions I received here was placing my outlets 50'-52 inches above the floor. You can lay a 48" piece of sheet goods against the wall and still have access to the outlets.

Though I started it 5 years ago, I'm still not finished with the shop. I'm still building cabinets and need to build some benches and wood storage shelves. Seems the crazy turners here decided I needed to turn and as a result I got delayed...waylayed...detoured.....

Good luck on your shop building endeavor!

[Rod Sheridan]

Chuck, welcome to the forum, sounds like you're well on your way to a great shop.

I saw the AC General at a woodworking show last year, what a great saw.

Of course being Canadian I'm biased because, well I'm Canadian, and I own a General 650 saw.

I look forward to reading more of your posts, regards, Rod.

[Charles Shenk]

Thank you for your service Chuck. You deserve a cool shop IMHO. Perhaps you could develop some kind of ceiling track system that could help you move larger pieces around?

[Phil Thien]

Ken C. at the woodnet forums has modified tools/stands for wheelchair access. Check some of his posts out.

And I, too, would like to thank you for your service to our country.

[Raymond Gerdes]

Welcome to our world. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Those of us who have served know how important your service was (and is)..........

As you begin to plan your shop-----first you will need saw horses, a minimum of a dozen. Are you mobile enuff to pickup freebies? If U R pallets demoled make great sawhorse, cheap. second when U plan your wall cabinets, I think you should design the with out a kickspace, Give URself as much space down below as possible....----....third-- when U design the cabinets make UR drawers to a standard size or sizes. That way you can make multiple cuts the rule, not the exception.

If I was UR neighbor I would be rite along side of you. I would luv to make U a dozen saw horses.

Keep us aware of U and UR progress.

Ray Gerdes in beautiful Texas

[Chuck Isaacson]

I will break ground on Tuesday. It would have been sooner but we had to wait for diggers hotline. Oh well. I will post some pics when I get them.