Not been too active recently, with Holidays, illness, remodeling the workshop and the most recent work (painting & decorating) there has not been much of interest to post.

I have a another person joining me in my workshop in a few weeks, so two people trying to use a small workshop is not going to be so easy.

This is the workshop before the reorganization started - November 2008

I have had to re-organize the space, which surprised me as to how much usable space I have gained in the first part of this makeover.

This is the workshop after the first reorganization - December 2008

As you can see from the drawing, I have achieved a lot more floor space, but still not enough space for a second workbench yet. You will note that lathe has also gone, I have found another place to store/use this.

This is the old house we have, it has not been lived in for 15 years and is best part of 70 years old made from timber.  I updated the kitchen area about 3 years ago to accommodate my finishing room (dust free environment), but that is as far as it went.  Now I have removed the sauna and shower (there is no water in the house anymore) and combined the lobby and sauna into one room to accommodate my lathe. The living room is reserved for another use in the future.

The space for the lathe is a real bonus, the down side is it is not a part of the main workshop and I feel a little lonely there.  I guess that will change as I get more time to use it.

We made another change to workshop in January and February this year and achieved even more space.

The lumber storage area has been reorganized, the chop saw station and storage has been moved -  dust collection system has been rerouted (10' less of 6" pipe and more efficient) and most of the heavy machines (all on mobile bases) repositioned.  A lot more space available, but not quite enough for 2 people yet.

My original plan was to use a firewood storage space at the back of the workshop and remove the back wall and place the work benches in this area.

The final solution - or so I thought!

Our local government had other ideas.  Our village has recently been amalgamated with a larger town and now the bureaucrats say we need full planning permission, a full set of architects drawings and, and, and ..... the list goes on and this small space (13m² /140'²) was going to cost me over $1000, before I even started any work or any bought materials.

So I have come up with an alternative, which is going to cost me a lot less, but not quite as convenient as the first plan. I also have to undo a lot of work we have already done and move about 4 tons (2500 BF) of dried wood into a very small space.  On the plus side, we get two new large windows in the hand tool area, this will be great bonus.  And as I am not changing the exterior or making any structural changes to the building, planning and $1000 can be used to buy some more goodies to fill up the workshop even more

The pictures of the shop are quite low resolution, to reduce the loading time - if you want the high-res picture or Visio file, just contatc me and I will give information or the link.

Tags: workshop

Categories: Workshop | Workshop