$5000 to spend on machinery.....what would YOU do??

[Matt Sollars]

I've been near woodworking for a long time and thoroughly enjoy it myself.
I am a new homeowner...with a large basement. I'm also going to be selling a motorcycle soon....approx. value: $5000.00.

So, without sounding abrasive, avoiding all of the 'life lesson' type responses...

what would you spend the money on?
i'm looking for specifics....

brand and model of table saw......brand and model of jointer.....brand and model of planer.....etc.

i have quite a few of the necessary hand tools....clamps....portables (circ. saw, jigsaw, etc.


so....set up a basement shop with $5000 budget.

thanks for the suggestions ahead of time guys.

matt sollars

[mark page]

Just my 0.02 cents worth. Table saw, band saw, joiner, planer, router table, dust collection, and drill press. Brands, quality, sizes, etc depend on what you want to do in your shop. I would think that you could outfit a good shop for a hobbyist with your funding. I don't dare go into details on specifics as opinions here vary greatly. But with these basic machines, you could do almost any project you wanted to within reason.

[Don Abele]

Matt, I agree with Mark. With 5K you could completely outfit your shop with ALL the tools necessary at a hobbyist-level. You don't say what you have already or what you interested in making. But as I said, with that kind of budget you could easily fill a shop - or you could blow it all on one (or two) really nice professional grades pieces of equipment. It's really up to what you already have and what you plan to do with your shop.

Sorry, I know this doesn't really answer your question...but with more detail on what you expect from your shop we can provide a better answer.

Be well,

Doc

[Ian Roth]

Matt,

I agree with the others but with 5K, you can also really outfit a shop with some high quality used tools. For example instead of spending say 1000 on a hybrid type table saw you can get a really nice used cabinet saw for the same or less money. You would then have a lot left over for all of the other incidentals you need with new tools.

Just a thought!
Ian

[Don Bullock]

Fine Woodworking did your homework for you last year in Issue # 195. If you subscribe to their site the link is: http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworki....aspx?id=29828 If you don't subscribe to their site I'd like to suggest that you do. It's full of useful information.

Personally I faced a similar situation of having about $5,000 suddenly available for tools. I chose to buy a SawStop cabinet saw and don't regret the purchase one bit.

[Matt Sollars]

i see what you are all saying...about opinions varying, etc.

one of the things i failed to mention....

i'm looking for things that can be portable. i.e. rolled on a cement floor.

currently the shop would be in the basement and my main interests lie in furniture. upcoming cribs, tables, chairs, tv stands, beds, etc.

i'll eventually have some dedicated space (a workshop building)...but for now i'm limited to about a 20ft x 30ft area of the basement.

so the consensus is the following...
Table Saw
Band Saw
Joiner
Planer
Router Table
Dust Collection
Drill Press

honestly...the only thing i've looked at is the table saw. i really like what people have to say about the Grizzly 1023 line.
have yet to look at the other tools, specific brands or otherwise. i guess i've been talked into the table saw as being the first big deal in the shop. though i'll be purchasing a few machines at once...i feel like for furniture...the table saw can do most of what i'm looking for.

any additional thoughts?? also.....please.....give some specifics...they're only opinions....i understand that, but i'm asking for them.

keeping the budget in mind....what specific machines, brand and model, would YOU suggest. i really appreciate it.

thanks
matt

[Jamie Buxton]

Rather than buying tools, and then seeing what you can build with them, I'd do it the other way around. Ask yourself what you want to make, and acquire tools which help you make that.

One other bit of advice is to buy used. In my area, I fairly regularly see good solid machines (eg 10-year-old Unisaw) for half the new price. It takes some patience, but you save a bunch of money.

[Peter Quadarella]

What Jamie said. Seriously, if I were you, I would pick a project and then buy the tools I needed to make it. You can more thoroughly research your purchases, and take more time learning each machine.

You may even find yourself with a slightly unorthodox shop - for example you could find that based on your work some type of sander would be more helpful than a jointer, or maybe you make all bandsaw boxes and don't need a table saw - just some examples. Or worse yet, you end up with a lathe

[Clancy Courtney]

Buy a Powermatic 3520B lathe. Jump in head first!
Great opportunity, listen to other advice about what kind of projects you are interested in.

[Matt Sollars]

i'll have to pass on the lathe. maybe a lathe for the shop though. if i can find a cheap/good one.

[Rob Russell]

For $5K, with some careful shopping, you could get a good used european combination machine like a Felder or Minimax.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
$5K goes quick. Real quick.
A quality 10" blade for a table saw is going to set you back ~ $100.00 alone. Router bits, at anywhere for $25.00 to $200.00 a pop, chew up a lot of money also. I won't even begin to delve into the incidentals like fasteners & assorted hardware (hinges & knobs).

My wife put the brakes on tool buying this past May & limited me to only the barest of necessities. I still managed to go through nearly $700.00 between May and now. Honestly - I really did keep it down to the most basic of the basic.

Right off the bat/out of the gate, IMHO and also IMHExperience the most basic decisions you need to make:
- Are you going to run a 120V shop or a 220V shop?
- Spray apply finishes or not?
- How much are you going employ the use of sheet goods?
- What joint or joints to you plan on using for your projects?
- It's in a basement, will sound be a factor? If you have the pitter patter of little feet in the future, will that change?

[Tim Thomas]

Matt, I was in your position about a year ago. About the same amount of budget and the same desire to be able to move the tools around. I have been happy with my setup and tools, so I'll just list what I have...

Tablesaw - Shop Fox W1726 (2 hp, contractor style, left tilt)
Jointer - Ridgid 6 inch jointer (I got this used from a yard sale and cleaned it)
Planer - Ridgid 13 inch thickness planer
Drill Press - Delta 17-950L
Dust Collector - Jet DC-1100CK
Air Filter - Jet AFS 1000B

With just that list of tools you can make an awful lot of stuff. If you bought all of these tools new it would run to only about half of your budget. BUT, you still have to buy a lot of other stuff. I also have a Bosch router kit that cost me about $200 as well as various drills, hand sanders, router bits, drill bits, saw blades, a miter saw, miter saw stand, dust collection hose, hose clamps, blast gates, hose fittings and a huge pile of clamps. Not to mention a healthy heap of non-powered hand tools that you need to adjust and set up all of your power tools. And then you have your consumables like glue, sandpaper, stains, various chemicals, rags, paintbrushes, etc. Then you are going to want to probably buy or make shelving/storage and create work tables. And I also bought mobile bases for all of these large tools at about $50 a pop. Setting up a shop takes a lot more tools than just the big ones, and a lot more time than you think. I'm still working on setting up my shop, and I've been at this for well over a year. (Of course, I've been making a few projects along the way too...)

So I guess if I could caution you about how you spend your money I would say this: Don't spend all of your budget on just the big power tools, or you will wind up with a shop that is frustrating to work in. A big table saw is a great tool, but at the end of the day all it can do is cut wood. It can't make it smooth, hold it together while glue dries, provide storage, apply stain, or buff out a coat of wax. In the end, if your $5000 budget is a hard target, I would recommend that you spend about half of it to get the big, basic tools and then buy all of the dozens and dozens of "accessories" to get your shop outfitted in proper working condition. If after that you still have enough money left over to buy another large tool or two, go for it.

Enjoy working on your shop, and prepare yourself mentally for the fact that you will probably do a LOT of work to get it set up before you really "make" anything. But I assure you that the journey is worth it. I've just about finished getting my shop set up, and all the hard work is starting to pay off. Have fun.

[Matthew Voss]

Rather than buying tools, and then seeing what you can build with them, I'd do it the other way around. Ask yourself what you want to make, and acquire tools which help you make that.

Sage advice.

[Prashun Patel]

I bought a Jet Proshop Tsaw which is all the saw and fence I need, but I almost pulled the trigger on the 1023.

In your budget, account for running 220v power to key locations.

I'd also budget for killer accessories. You can spend a good $1500 on stuff like:

good dado stack
Freud Fusion tsaw blade (or a good ripping, and cross cutting blade)
Freud router bit set
Kreg Miter gauge
Kreg Master Pockethole kit
4x24" Bessey K clamps
4x50" Bessey K clamps
Toggle clamps and t tracks and UHMW strips for jigs.
Mast-R-Router lift insert (Rockler)
Shark guard
GRRRipper push block or board buddies holddowns.

Put all yr stuff on mobile bases. You might be able to save some $$ by making your own. Wood Magazine had good plans for mobile bases: http://www.binkyswoodworking.com/TblSawCab.html

Yr gonna need good dust collection in a basement shop. You might get a cyclone.

The tablesaw is one thing it's possible to spend 'too much' on (IMHO). The features of the more expensive saws are fantastic, but can be overkill and can be overcome on 'smaller' saws with good jigs and cheap after-market upgrades and a good blade. The ONLY reason to buy a bigger saw IMHO is if you're routinely cutting thick large stock and need that power. But saw north of 1.5hp will be good for 90% of the ops you'll do as a hobbyist (I had a 1hp saw that served extremely well).

You might also like a good compound miter saw. I'd get the Makita 10" sliding compound miter saw and build a good stand for it. For crosscutting long stock and trim, there's no beating a good chop saw.

I also highly recommend the Bosch 1617EVS plunge/fixed router combo with a good table.

The Grizzly G0555 bandsaw is probably the best value 14" bandsaw out there, but if you can spend more, you might get the G0555x or jump to a 17".

Oh yeah, get 2 Makita LiIon Compact 18v cordless drills. I'd buy a new set and then get a 2nd drill body on ebay.