The beginning of the end


rodger.

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Well, I started dismantling the shop tonight, in anticipation of moving.  Took all my handplanes apart and cleaned them, then boxed them up.  Took down my "tool wall", and boxed up most of my hand tools and hand held power tools.  Good thing I stored most of those blow molded tool cases, they came in handy.

 

So, I decided that I would tackle one machine a night to disassemble, clean, and box up.  Last night was the router table, and tonight I did the planer.  Cleaned all the gunk out, cleaned the rollers, took the pitch of the blades, etc.  All clean and ready to reassmeble/use in the new, soon to be, shop.

 

Anyways, all this down time in the shop has really made me notice how much space I have wasted these past years.  Not a big deal in the monster garage I have now, but it certainly will be an issue in my new shop space.  I;m gonna have to be much more efficient with space.

 

The first item to go is my power planer stand.  I have had it on a standard metal tool stand for years, and all the space underneath has been wasted.  I need a plan for a new planer "cart".  I dont like the flip-top idea, so I need to "spitball" a few ideas.

 

Any cleaver ideas for a planer stand/cart that is not a flip top model?  The planer I use is the ridgid TP1300 (13" lunchbox planer).

 

 

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Custom cart to fit your needs!  What I mean by that is that you may want it to fit under or over something, purpose built to hold something in particular, maybe it's mobile, maybe it's stationary?????

 

I hope you're taking lots of notes and creating a "to do" list..  This is a time you won't get back!  You recognize your current shortcomings, now you have the chance to improve it.

 

Just don't jump into something because it looks cool, make it purpose fit for your shop.  Lots of peeps here can offer suggestions but, in the end, it's your shop and your money.

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Well, tonight's tool of choice to disassemble, clean, and pack was the jointer. It took a while to take apart the fence, unmount the bed from the cabinet, etc.

Man was that thing dirty. All the normal spots were clean, but the dark and hidden spots were mega gummed up with pitch, dust, and old lubricant. Took a few hours to really clean it up.

Also, when I removed the back of the cabinet to get at the motor there were a few inches of chips built up. I sucked those up and moved onto wd40, 0000 steel wool, and some topcote.

Phew! Tomorrow is the dust collector's turn.

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   Hate that you have to move into a smaller place, but the upside is you'll have tools that are like new and ready to get to work right away. As for space saving, that's a matter only you can work out. There are a lot of ways to use space, some take a little money and some are a matter of construction. We all know, that you'll come up with good ideas, and we're looking forward to see how you accomplish it!

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Dust collector got it's cleaning yesterday. Not too difficult to clean it. Simply took it apart, dumped the chips, and shook out the filter bag. They I turned the filter bag inside own and I vacuumed it. Man was it dirty.

Since that was a quick one, I went on to the table saw. This was a really big job. I took off the rails and wings, cleaned them up, and then removed the blade. Man there was a lot of dust in the cabinet. Cleaned it all, and oiled the moving parts. Packed it all up and it's today to go.

Only a few machines left to go. Almost there.

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A while back Wood magazine had a plan for a tool cabinet for your bench top machines. The jist was to put each machine on it's own base and build the cabinet to slide them in and a separate mobile base so you could interchange the machines as needed. I could look for the issue if you would be interested in taking a look at it. Good Luck on your move. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Franklin. The thing with lunchbox planers is they can tip over if the piece of timber you feed into them is too long, acting like a lever. Why not make a cabinet that you can keep the planer in and also another tool as well. Not a flip over design. If no to this idea, make a rolling cabinet that is around 4 feet long and 2 feet wide, mount the planer permaently on the top in the centre but facing along the 4 foot length. Create two storage spaces underneath with drawers or doors for the other gear you have or even a sa storage box for short lengths of stock. The idea is to creat as much mass under the planer to keep it steady. Put the whole thing on locking casters and you can wheel it away from the wall when needed.

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Hi Franklin. The thing with lunchbox planers is they can tip over if the piece of timber you feed into them is too long, acting like a lever. Why not make a cabinet that you can keep the planer in and also another tool as well. Not a flip over design. If no to this idea, make a rolling cabinet that is around 4 feet long and 2 feet wide, mount the planer permaently on the top in the centre but facing along the 4 foot length. Create two storage spaces underneath with drawers or doors for the other gear you have or even a sa storage box for short lengths of stock. The idea is to creat as much mass under the planer to keep it steady. Put the whole thing on locking casters and you can wheel it away from the wall when needed.

Great suggestion.

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