Workshop

I’m putting together my new workshop and was hoping to pick people’s minds for some clever tools or ideas that I haven’t thought of.



I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions for workshop tools/equipment. I’m not talking about your “basic/standard” stuff (drill press, scroll saw, dremel, etc) I’m looking for less obvious stuff. Anything you weren’t sure about buying but now that you have it or have used it you find it to be a big help, maybe a jig or something you built to help with a specific task, stuff like that. For instance I do a lot of electronics work so I bought a logic probe which has made debugging electronics a whole lot easier and faster.

No limitations on simple or complex, expensive or cheap, etc. just things that have been good additions to your workshop or even just stuff you’ve used in the past at a friend’s that was a great idea and made life easier.

Thanks!

 

a dang large table vise.... one with a mini anvil on it... or just get a 15 pound anvil. nothing beats that solid steel surface that you don't care as much if it gets marred and a good vise helps hold many many things.

if you do alot of Fiberglass work or want to make your own fiberboad(considering it myself) an air conditioning reclaiming vac pump make a good cheap vac bag system.

and second a shop vac. plumbing in air with access points every few feet is really handy as well if you like using air tools.

boroscope for getting down inside hard to see sections of hulls when skin is still on.

 

Tuggy, what do you use a router for? The lip in the subdeck? (I'm sure it's handy for a ton of random shop projects just trying to figure out where it comes in with the boats. Dust collection is a great idea, I'll have to put some thought into that, hopefully dust wont be a HUGE issue in the primary workspace.

Ish311, You're right a good hunk of steel has a ton of uses (I have a mini one with the tools I take to the lake), I've got a vac pump that im planning on using for molding and stuff, probably wont get into fiberglass but I can see the value. Putting in a air compressor and plumbing the shop for air sounds like a great addition but I can't think of what I would actually use it for, What kind of air tools do you find useful when doing hobby work? I guess if I got a higher pressure air line I wouldn't have to use CO2 to test guns, is that what you'd use it for? The boroscope is a fantastic idea for a piece of kit, I can see that being useful in a lot of ways.

 

Newer version is out there, but you get the idea. This way you are pushing the material and not the jig saw, safer and more control
Rockwell BladeRunner RK7321 Table Jigsaw

 

Get more captains to the build session in your new workshop

 

i like air sanders more than electric as they tend to keep the sanding area free of debris that the electrics put down. that and a air blaster is useful for cleaning up messes.

harbor freight has this little bitty belt sander that is just perfect for cleaning up detail areas.

 

Can the BladeRunner rip/cross cut full sheets of plywood/mdf?

The shop will have some sort of fridge/cooling device, gotta keep the solder paste cold when in storage...I could keep beer in there but I'd rather have that by the arcade(if/when it gets built) than by the power tools....

An air sander, makes sense that it could exhaust the dust pretty well. is this the tiny belt sander? (3/8 in. Belt Air Sander)

 

that exactly. they have an electric version that is rather nice as well.

 

Sears 60 Gallon air compressor that can do 160+ psi, plus an extension to the drain on the bottom of the tank that lets you drain water out without reaching underneath where all the spiders like to hang out, and a copper pipe fed through a pressure regulator and filter/oiler running along the back of the workbench with female quick connects every 2 feet, drain at the far end of the pipe. Need to put compressor in a closet or something, it is loud.
In window air conditioner/heater unit.
Couple of kids armed with brooms to sweep up piles of metal shavings.
Harbor freight 4" belt/disc sander.
One of THESE except built stronger/heavier and with bigger motors.

 

that little cnc mill is half as much as a real one....

 

Motion control is rapidly becoming a commodity market. There is no substitute for machine mass though, really need to be 400 lbs plus to be stiff enough for moderate work.

 

I contemplated backing that, couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe once it gets some real world use and has improvements based on feedback from life in the wild. Still it is pretty awesome. Machine new parts at NATS...hotel staff would love us.

Kids armed with brooms might happen but that will have to be a future "upgrade" for me.

 

It looks pretty though. I would want one slightly larger with more spindle horses and capable of using 10-12.7 mm end mills, just trying to rough cut a decent sized part with a 3 mm end mill would take too long. Might design one later after I get done with the printer.

 

So you cut then with the saw de jour.
Rout them to near net shape
Do a final sand? or is the router the last step?

Using it for notches might be useful enough by itself, those can be pretty annoying...

 

this. no clue why it took me as long to get one as it did. keeps things out of your eyes and lungs.

 

DON"T FORGET A...

 

ish - do use use that just for painting or what? fiberglass work? sawing?

WillCover - F that noise, only two types of cats are worthwhile, those bigger than me and those on a stick cooked over an open flame, but seriously not a fan of cats.