A few shop projects that needed doing. - MORE PHOTOS ADDED

[Erin Burke]

Have you ever had a simple project that set off a cascading chain of events in your shop?

A while back I saw some photos of a cool multi-purpose knife-making fixture that Nick built. It was such a cool design that I wanted to blatantly copy it.
This project was going to require a bit of welding... unfortunately my fancy new Millermatic 211 (bought with 2009 tax return money) was sitting next to the weight bench in my gym due to an overall lack of space in my shop. I decided that I would need to make a new bench/cabinet to house it. Now my shop is fairly small (approximately 9'x21') and most of the wall space was already occupied with other tools, benches or alternate forms of storage.

If you look in the background of the photo below (taken about three years ago after I finished mounting my KMG) you'll see a set of multi-level wooden shelves.

Storage on these shelves was fairly random, so I decided to replace them with my new welding cabinet. Good idea huh.

So I made my way down to a store in south Seattle that carries a healthy selection of used cabinetry and pick up a double-door base unit. You can see it in the lower-left of the photo below (with thick plywood top).

I took this photo mainly to show off the additional 240v receptacle that I had to install because my welder's power cord is too dang short to reach the cabinet. But you'll also notice, however -- as did I -- that my grinding-belt storage system could use a bit of improvement. I figured, "since I've gotten rid of those tall ugly shelves, I can build better belt storage on this wall"... so that's what I did.

I'm sure that I stole this idea from one of my fellow forumites, but by bolting a handful of $0.80 pvc couplings to a board with a handful of $0.60 L-brackets, you can make a fairly decent belt storage solution.

Ahhhhhhhh.... much better.

So now I had to focus on modifying the lower cabinets to house my welder... plus make room for some additional storage. This is what I ended up with.

Yeah... that's right, the welder rolls in and out of the cabinet. Sweet. There was just enough room above it to build a shelf for my spool gun (the black case) and I could stack some storage bins on the other side.
I'd still like to get a nice steel plate for the table top... but it's looking good so far.

So while I'm reorganizing some of the overflow items that were misplaced during this construction project, I notice this bucket.

Yup... I'm using a 5-gallon Home Depot bucket to store my spare grinder tooling arms (as well as some extra clamps apparently). Now that I've got my welder set up the way I want it, I obviously need to build an out-of-the-way storage solution for my tooling arms. Here we go.

Awesome.

And the end result of all of this?... here's a blurry panorama of the southwest corner of my shop.

It probably doesn't seem like much to y'all, but this represents a big improvement in the usability of my space. And one day, I might even get around to building the knife-making fixture that kicked this whole process off.

Erin

EDIT:

Finally built the multi-use base and a couple of fixtures... ideas pirated from the famous Wheeler WIP threads. Nick says I owe him $12.73 for rights ... well worth it in my opinion. :thumbup: My welds are nowhere near as nice as his... but I'm excited to have a dedicated hand-sanding station (rather than a piece of wood clamped in a vice) and excited to give it a try.

 

[P.K.Hansen]

My shop could use some work too - just never seem to have the time, nor the right ideas.
I really like what you've done :thumbup:

 

[Matthew Gregory]

I think the first three years of knifemaking were the most difficult because I just didn't know how to place anything to have a good workflow. I still don't think it's ideal, but there's certainly been an evolution like yours - sometimes you've got to tear it all down so you can build it all up!

Holy COW is your grinder mounted low. Do you sit while you're grinding, or are you diminutive? ; )


Nice work, man - strange to be able to find stuff when you're in the shop without having to move six things first, isn't it?

 

[Mark Behnke]

Looks good, time well spent, you'll be able to spend more time in the Zone now.:thumbup:

 

[watercrawl]

Nice!!

It really is amazing how a simple rework of shop space can make one feel so much better while in there.

 

[Erin Burke]

Thanks guys. I'm hoping that this long-needed mod will inspire me to get back to work. The improvements may be as much mental as they are physically practical given the space.

One thing I notice as I read through my original post is how my English and grammar seem to decline (perhaps even exponentially) as the clock continues past 7pm. Up at 4:30am and brain shuts off by 7pm apparently.

Holy COW is your grinder mounted low. Do you sit while you're grinding, or are you diminutive? ; )

Matt... I suppose that diminutive is a matter of perspective, but I wouldn't use that term to describe myself. I'm about 5'-10" (and-a-half ) in height... though as I've put on weight over the past few year, I've likely compressed my spine a bit. The center of my tooling arm is about 2" above my belly button. This leaves my arms hanging naturally with ~90-degree bend while grinding. Those are standard kitchen cabinets raised by an additional 3.5" (sitting on a 4x4 base). I wonder if that panorama view is giving a skewed height perspective. {shrug}

 

[Matthew Gregory]

I wonder if that panorama view is giving a skewed height perspective. {shrug}

Must be - it's not like you're Spangler's height or something. I think he's 4' 1" or so...

 

[12345678910]

I've got a whole cascading waterfall of projects to do.


The trick is picking out

the most important ones
the cheapest ones
the ones I can do first that won't be undone by others on the list
the ones that will be the most fun
the ones I can get done quick
the ones I'm in the mood for

the first one
the next one.

 

[Michael J. Spangler]

.....

 

[Erin Burke]

Fixture photos added to end of original post.

 

[Patrice Lemée]

Fixture photos added to end of original post.

Somebody's been watching The Dreamy One's fixture threads I think.

Shop is looking good. I think I'e spent more time on the hop then e knives and still have a million improvement planned like Sam.