12x12 shed morphed into a decent little shop

[Don Alexander]

12x12 shed morphed into adecent little shop
shop project

when we started it was nearly impossible to get inside and shut the door (the door opened in for some crazy reason )

here is what it looked like at first ...........................





then we got busy ...........................
then several months lots of changes (no pictures for awhile ) .....
during this time we jacked the roof upto go from from 8' to 10' ceiling height inside, added 2" rigid foam insulation board to the ceiling, and found the time to enclose our little utility trailer swapped the door to open out , added a back door (also opens out) and probably some stuff i am forgetting

 

[Don Alexander]

then today after a few more changes i finally took some more pictures

as you can see we added a drill press to the bench
the base of which is mounted on a slide out shelf so that the top of the base is almost tight to the bottom surface of the benchtop

added a porthole in the wall to accomodate the moter saw station

storage cabinets above ....
sheet goods storage and a few more shelves..

band saw got a new base .......
so did the table saw ......
as well as a new outfeed table..
we got interested in turning and and added a Rikon Mini lathe first and yesterday a Grizzly 16x43 joined the arsenal
a Rikon 12"disc sander , and more storage

 

[Don Alexander]

some lumber storage and a quieter location for the DC

the white square is a vent for the DC exhaust
added a small AC unit (it gets HOT in North Carolina ) you can also see the now enclosed trailer in the background
what it looks like ATM looking in the front door

in addition to what is readily visible in these pictures we have a Dewalt 12" planer tucked under the bench till its needed, 3 shop vacs (1 dedicated to the tablesaw , its in the cabinet directly under the saw; 1 dedicated to the miter saw , directly under the saw and one for the disc sander and general cleanup)

the Grizzly lathe is mounted on a very heavy mobile work bench that i made from some oak commercial doors that became available for the right price .... FREE ! The end of the Griz lathe/mobile bench setup can tuck under the workbench at the right end to allow use of the backdoor and/or make room for ripping/planing long stock ...... the Rikon lathe is also mounted on a bench made from the same doors however that bench is fixed band saw and table saw are on mobile cabinets with double locking casters
there is a french cleat on the wall between the disc sander and the sheet goods storage there are 2 assembly station surfaces that can be hung on that cleat when needed just have to rearrange the bandsaw and tablesaw orientation when in use
almost forgot the grinder setup for sharpening the lathe tools ...... that is on a waist high shelf , the back of which is the outside face of the sheet goods storage
there is also the predicatable collection of drills, routers, circular saws, and all the accessories and jigs to go with it

about all thats left to do is sort /organize to utilise the storage we have created in the past week and to add the air filtration at some point when the funds become available

my uncle (we share the shop) claims that we are tryingto see how many tools we can stuff in a 12x12 shed and still get in it to work hehe

there is a surprising amount of working space in there i can cut up full sheets of plywood in there when i need to

thanks for looking at our little piece of the pie

 

[erasmussen]

You got that shop stuffed

 

[Don Alexander]

:rotflm: yupper :rotflm:

surprisingly enough though we have more floor space than we have ever had in there
go figure :gar-La;

 

[Bob Alexander]

Don, your Uncle Bob is proud of the work you've done in our shop. It has come a long way since the day I bought the little shed. Thanks, a bunch. Looking forward to a lot of happy woodworking with you. In case some of you wonder why we opted up and for such a cozy shop, it is in a mobile home park where the rules won't allow us to increase the footprint. The sides of the trailer were the largest items fabricated inside and that was a tight fit.:gar-Bi

 

[Bob Alexander]

I just remembered. We are looking for a way to increase the CFM's on the Penn State 1 1/2 hp DC or replace it wth one that will do the job. It does not such enough to put in a thimble. Outside the shop a ways we stacked our treasure of spalted, root balls, and trash wood that we scrounge for their character. Don, has made a jig to cut sheet goods with a circular saw outside also, since the shop is too small to accomodate full sheets. Ok, Don, time to come over and dedicate a day to sorting out and deciding what we are going to part with. We have a lot of portable tools both hand and power that are duplicates because we have combined them from several sources over the years.

 

[Sealeveler]

You got a house full,thanks for the pics.You still got some more room yet to add to.Tony

 

[Joe Scharle]

Amazing to me. First I had a 16 X 20 that I couldn't turn around in, now a 25 X 30 that after a couple of years is just as tight.
Wonder if it has something to do with my organizational abilities!:gar-Bi

 

[drw]

Fantastic job! It is obvious that you put a whole lot of thought and planning into this project, resulting is some very novel approaches to maximize the available space. A big thumbs up! :thumbs_up

Thanks for sharing!
Donn

 

[dave]

Very impressive!! I especially like the scroll saw storage! I may have to borrow that idea. :gar-Bi

 

[Bill Clemmons]

The shop is looking really good, Don. The "after" definitely looks better than the "before". :icon_thum I especially like the way you did your drill press, without loosing hardly any counter space. Wish I'd thought of that.

Bill

 

[mikeacg]

Don,

Some great ideas to 'borrow' for those of us with similar space limitations! The scroll saw is a definite go here! Thanks for sharing!

 

[NCGrimbo]

Great use of limited space. It's always nice to see how others maximize their use of space no matter how big or small it is. Good job!!

 

[Glennbear]

Thanks for sharing Don, lots of great space saving ideas. I am always looking for ways to better utilize space in my 24x24 shop.:wwink: My theory is that like the aerosol sealant Great Stuff, our tool collections will continue to expand and fill any given space no matter what size we start with. :rotflm:

 

[jhreed]

Thanks for sharing. You are a great planner. You have plenty of tools and just the right amount of organization to be able to use them all. And air conditioned to boot.
I am jealous.
James

 

[Bryan S]

You have been seriously busy organizing, and tossed in a stealth gloat as well. Now is that the lathe recently in our classified section? The one I kept looking at and going back and forth as to whether or not to contact Earl with an offer, and was not in the classifieds this morning. :eusa_booh

Looking good :icon_thum

 

[Don Alexander]

the drill press idea occurred to me when we set it up on the bench next to the miter saw to get it out of the way while we built a mobile cabinetto put it on :gar-La;

turned around looked at the bench and thought " that wouldbe a great place for it if i can just get it out of the way of the miter saw " :rotflm: the solution to that occurred to me about 5 seconds later and we used the plywood that was going to be the mobile cabinet to solve some other storage issues :gar-Bi

sometimes the best/most useful ideas just happen i've often wondered if i everwould have thought of that if we hadn't setthe drillpress on the bench to get it out of the way

prolly not :gar-Bi:gar-Bi:gar-Bi

 

[Bob Alexander]

Today Don and I began cleaning out the shop and tore down the DC. Don is designing a new impeller for it and we'll let you know how it works when it is complete. The original left more air space at its sides and around the edges than it moved. No wonder it wouldn't such dust. We also have plans to put the compressor outside in an insulated cabinet attached to the wall of the shop for noise control. It was quite a job removing the old impeller without pullers.:gar-Bi

 

[Don Alexander]

yes that is definitely the Grizzly lathe that was in the classifieds here now i just have to figure out something useful to do with the cast iron legs that came under it hehe

anyone need a boat anchor? :rolf: