Lathe for Christmas! Location?

[Andy Hoyt]

Welcome to spinworld, Aaron.

Build a wall, but not for the lathe. Build it around the furnace and stuff as you'll soon discover that elbow room has value.

[Joe Melton]

You should also be concerned about vapours from finishing, I would think. Is there a way to put a 4" pipe through the wall to the outside of the house? You could rig up a box fan and this pipe to exhaust dust and vapours to the outside atmosphere. That would be better for your skin and lungs, too.
Joe

[John Miliunas]

My last shop was about that size. You can accomplish pert'near anything in there. $30 for studs...$30 for drywall...$36 Door.....$10 Door knob.....5 hours of work. Hideaway in the basement....priceless.

First, congrats on the great gifts, Aaron! I just hope you DO realize that this is just the begining!!! As for what/how to keep things squared away, I'm with my namesake on this one. Relatively cheap to do, quick and effective!

[Mark Pruitt]

Aaron,
Congrats on the new lathe! I like Andy's idea of enclosing the furnace and appliances and making the rest work space. I would look closely at my options for heating the garage as an alternative. Keep us posted!

[Pat Doble]

Welcome and congratulations. I'll second (or third) the idea to build your own stand - built one from scrap 2x4's and plywood for my Rikon mini - works great. (You'll find other necessities for any $$ you may have spent on a stand...) I went through somewhat of the same decision on the indoor/outdoor choice, though I don't have quite the size of indoor space you have. I decided on the garage route - I just didn't want to fight the noise and dust in the house. For now I'm using a kerosene torpedo heater for the garage when I'm out there. Of course now my car is going to sit outside all winter because of everything (wood, grinder, etc..) in the garage - that and the vortex decided it needed to take some cash out of my pocket last month and replace it with a band saw... I'll be looking to add on to the garage next summer - geez this is getting expensive...

Enjoy the gifts...