When I asked my wife what she thought of the new workshop cabinet, she said it looks “workshoppy.” Okay, I’ll admit, the joinery is not as nice as I would like, but you’ve gotta love those 4″ deep drawers, and the big cavern behind those doors is sized for a future Sherline mill. I’m also pretty chuffed about having found the drawer slides at ReStore … Continue reading The heavy shop takes shape
Anyone who owns their home will be familiar with the way jobs stack. You just want to change one little thing, but before you can do that, you must move that other thing, and replace the bit there. Before you know it, fixing a light bulb has turned into replacing the drain tile. So it was with installing the paint booth. The ledge where the … Continue reading Paint booth installed
I seem to spend a lot of my time making turntables. Given the amount of stress I feel when I fire up the air brush, I’ll take anything that helps. I left a hole in the fold-down leaf for the spray booth to allow for a zero-height lazy Susan that’s sure to make painting more enjoyable. The turntable itself is made of 1/4 inch plywood. … Continue reading Paint booth turntable
It seems a hundred years ago that I bought that range hood for a deep discount at Rona. It sat for all those years beneath the pile of junk in the heavy shop, awaiting its moment to be installed. I’d bought it early so I could be sure of the vent location, and it seems to have largely paid off. When I held it … Continue reading Test fitting the spray booth
It’s time to admit it: we have a small house. When we bought it, 1800 square feet (167 m²) felt like a palace. Indeed, we turned down larger homes because we felt we would rattle around in them. Now that this one is filled with two kids and a dog, there is little hope of rattling around. So it should be no surprise that shoehorning a space for … Continue reading Plans for the Heavy Shop
For a little over a week, I’ve been pecking away at the huge pile of boxes that has filled the part of the basement that has always been tagged for the “heavy shop.” They’ve literally been packed for years, and occasionally I’ve come down to find another heaped on the pile. Now that the cabinets in the rec room are completed, I was able to … Continue reading The heavy shop emerges
I’ve wanted a lathe for about as long as I’ve been able to spell the word. Even before I got into Proto:87, I knew one would be a part of my workshop someday. Since getting into the finer scale, it’s been inevitable. My friend, Andrew Hutchinson, has more machine tools than a single person should really own. Yet, he always seems to be on the … Continue reading A lathe joins the workshop
