And so it begins...

[Pete Harbin]

We had a garage door repairman come over to fix the torque assist on the garage door yesterday. Before coming over he informed us that he needs at least three feet of clearance all the way along the door...doh!

Well, we've been wrangling home projects for some time now so the shop was not in it's most oganized state anyway, so compressing it all back and giving up about 60 square feet of space was really going to be a mess.

The garage door now works perfectly again...smooth and quiet. Now this seems like a great time to redo my whole shop layout and organization. I've never done this...just sort of grew along with the upgrade or acquisition of new tools. My big wants are to paint the walls white and provide lumber storage. I got to the point where I was constantly moving small piles of stock around to make room to use a machince or...yes, to add something else to the mess. I'm also looking to add mobile bases to my jointer, planer and band saw, and I'll be building a mobile clamp cart to reclaim wall space for other storage.

How involved will it be? You decide...here are the pics of the current chaos!

[Pete Harbin]

One more pic of the mess and one of my favorite shop "decorations"

Go Stars!

Pete

[Jason Tuinstra]

Pete, looks like you have a bit of a job in front of you. But fear not, it will be worth it in the end. I painted my garage and added a bunch of light and it's a joy to work in day or night - except when it's 110 out, but that's another story.

[Bill Simmeth]

Ahhhhhh, thanks. I feel much better now about my place! I'm coming down the home stretch of a similar project for a similar reason. Had to add a panel to the garage door to get the bandsaw in. After moving everything for the garage door contractor, I put in more lights, heat and a/c and painted the walls bright white. Much better. You'll like it. Have fun!

BTW, go O's...

[Brett Baldwin]

Finally! A shop that looks more like mine! Not that that's a good thing for you Pete but it makes me feel less isolated.

In any case, I'd come up with your layout scheme; move everything out (if practical); paint your walls/ceiling; put up your shelving, cabinets and wood storage racks (which it really looks like you need badly, again like my shop); then put everything in its new spot. I think you are right on track with mobilizing those tools. You have more space than me but you can't really go wrong by freeing up the floorspace.

Good luck with this project and be sure to let us know how it's going.

[Pete Harbin]

Thanks guys.

I should have some good opportunity to pull much of pile out of the garage. It's been such a mild winter here, and I don't remember the last moisture we received.

In the interest of saving some time, I'm considering picking up some of the quick and dirty cabinets (like the ones already in the shop) and putting more of them up for storage.

As far as making my BS, planer and jointer mobile, do you guys prefer the pre-made versions, or have you had success with shop built bases?

I'm also planning on rebuilding my worktable at some point. My compressor is the horizontal model (33 gal) and I'm thinking of building the table to allow the compressor to slide underneath at the far end, so that nailers are available right at the table without having to wheel the compressor around.

Some more outlets and lights are also part of the plan.

I'll keep you guys posted on the adventure.

Pete


P.S. Bill, you gotta love those O's! Will they take off like rockets again, only to slide in the second half of the season and lose just enough games to miss the playoffs? Or, will they start out in the dumps, only to break loose in the second half of the season and win just enough games to miss the playoffs? God bless 'em!

[Jim Dunn]

Uhhh. I don't see no lathe??? There's plenty of room now for a lathe. Come over to the spinny side. It's soft in here. Smell the exotics, caress the bowl gouge

[Tom Horton]

Pete,
I echo the sentiments of the other guys... Thanks for showing the pics! I don't feel so bad about my mess... umm... shop, either. The best part of a forced "jamming" is clearing out the "un-necessities". When you get some more order, let us see some more pics!

Tom

P.S. - How 'bout dem O's, eh? They got the pitching coach Mazzone from Atlanta, so at least the pitching should do much, much better this year!

[Michael Gibbons]

Maybe the "Clean Sweep" tv show can help you with your shop?

[Pete Harbin]

Yikes!

Those Clean Sweep guys scare me. I could just hear the organizer (The Aussie...I don't remember his name) telling me that I need to pare down the number of tools in the shop by 50%...keep those guys away from house!

When painting your walls white, did you guys go flat or semi-gloss? I'm thinking that a semi would repel dust a little better than flat, but would I get any anoying glare?

Pete

[Tyler Howell]

Hey Pete
There's a shop in there someplace. I've had worse.
I see you've found the perfect use for a RAS in a shop. To stack stuff on
Picture Police Seal of Approval

[George Conklin]

"Now where did I set my pencil?"

George

[Matt King]

Isn't that what the shop is supposed to look like? \

Have fun rearranging... I'm *SO* hoping to be able to build a 'real' shop in the next year or two. I'll build benches, shelves, and cabinets before I move a single tool in the space, I'm thinking - lot easier to plan it all out at once and put everything in its place than to figure it out on the fly in the space available!

[Josh Goldsmith]

Wow that looks like my shop! Everything is nicely put away on to something else that was nicely put away. I have a problem of getting caught up into what i am doing rather than taking the time to put the stuff away. Pete however you rearrange your shop the only way it will remain nice if you over concquer the "I'll put it away later syndrome". I haven't conquered it yet so i have been going to meetings with my wife. She is teaching me or so she says. Good luck with your quest!

[Jim O'Dell]

Isn't that what the shop is supposed to look like? \

Have fun rearranging... I'm *SO* hoping to be able to build a 'real' shop in the next year or two. I'll build benches, shelves, and cabinets before I move a single tool in the space, I'm thinking - lot easier to plan it all out at once and put everything in its place than to figure it out on the fly in the space available!

Yeah, that's a great thought...one that many of us thought we had figured out, too. My bet is you find out just like the rest of us, or maybe it's just me ,that getting the equipment in the shop changes so many things. I thought I had measured everything, planned it all out, only to find that when one thing changed slightly, it made 1000 other changes necessary. You do need to have a plan, and it gives you a basis to figure everything else out. But unless you have set up a shop before, and have real word experiences with how much room you need around a given set of tools, there are just too many things that having the equipment in "place" makes you see that are just not visible on paper or computer screen. I'm fighting with the DC drop for my BS and future Jointer right now. And I've had the BS sitting there for 9 months and not been able to see the complications that a 6" piece of rigid plastic pipe could create. Maybe others can think better abstractly than I can.
But start with the plan...just be ready to make some changes. Jim.