New workshop for 2020

[Sheptonphil]

Started planning the layout.

Starting with an central island workbench. I don’t find it as easy working on a workbench placed against a wall.

I positioned the larger tools, bandsaw, pillar drill and lathe. Then taped the floor to see where the side benches would go. I think I have a very workable plan, and will be building a continuous bench on the left side to hold the pillar drill, vice on the tangent and flowing into a 400mm bench to mount the Proedge and morticer with open space for storage under. On the right past the band saw will be three and a half metres of 500my bench with thirty shallow drawers. This will lead to the CNC router table as a continuation of the worktop. This leaves me a large space inside the door for floor build projects, a seven foot by three foot island workbench which extends over the table saw a further two feet at the same height.

 

[MikeG.]

20mm drawers sides? That's way over the top. 10 or 12mm is more than enough.

 

[Marineboy]

I used 12mm for my kitchen drawers and they are fine. The Blum slides I have used are rated to 30kg and so some of the drawers are stuffed full of heavy crockery.

 

[Noggsy]

Looks good Phil. Is there enough space to run things through your bandsaw without shifting it?

 

[Inspector]

I like the invisible lathe. :lol:

Pete

 

[DBT85]

Looking good Phil, I envy you having already finished the outside before the rubbish weather descended!

 

[Sheptonphil]

20mm drawers sides? That's way over the top. 10 or 12mm is more than enough.

Have ordered Two sheets of 12mm ply now for the drawers, 18mm cabinet sides 6mm bottoms. I’m going to have a go at the 1/4 1/4 1/4 method of drawer construction. In total I shall be making 34 drawers, 136 corner joints. Hoping to batch produce them after the first trial one.
Should really make the stable door first though, I’ve ordered joinery grade pine to construct it, so will crack on with that when it turns up next week sometime. Wanted to use hardwood, but that was £370 dearer, and the pine was already at £160

I used 12mm for my kitchen drawers and they are fine. The Blum slides I have used are rated to 30kg and so some of the drawers are stuffed full of heavy crockery.

Slides won’t be Blum, but they are rated at 25kg. The drawer sides will only be 75mm max.

Looks good Phil. Is there enough space to run things through your bandsaw without shifting it?

the output from the bandsaw passes the cabinet, so about 1.3m. I can angle if required for the odd larger job, or make mobile.

I like the invisible lathe. :lol: Pete

I managed the legs, couldn’t even start to lift the bed on my own, that’s still in the garage, it weighs 120kg+ :?

Looking good Phil, I envy you having already finished the outside before the rubbish weather descended!

I’m very fortunate, what should have been the wet time was very dry, and now when it should be fine, it’s perfect for indoor working. Also while wet, I’m not expected to do anything in the garden, perfect.

 

[Westwood]

Can I ask a few questions related to the Hardieplank cladding which you finished a few pages back.
I've got an insulation and over cladding project coming up as you know .
Best way to fix the cladding planks, i.e. hammer and nails, nail gun or pre drill and screw ?
I guess nail gun is the easiest but I'm not desperate to buy one having never used one and would need help in choosing one.
For fixing the Tyvek membrane and EPDM, staple gun , stapler tacker hammer or what ?
I'm hoping if you were doing yours again, you've now worked out your favourite fixing methods.
Thanks to you, I'm sorted on the gecko clamps - this will be a one man job

 

[Sheptonphil]

Can I ask a few questions related to the Hardieplank cladding which you finished a few pages back.
I've got an insulation and over cladding project coming up as you know .
Best way to fix the cladding planks, i.e. hammer and nails, nail gun or pre drill and screw ?
I guess nail gun is the easiest but I'm not desperate to buy one having never used one and would need help in choosing one.
For fixing the Tyvek membrane and EPDM, staple gun , stapler tacker hammer or what ?
I'm hoping if you were doing yours again, you've now worked out your favourite fixing methods.
Thanks to you, I'm sorted on the gecko clamps - this will be a one man job

Hi Westwood

I used a first fix nail gun with 51mm ring shank nails, this is the recommended fixing method, there is no need to predrill, and it certainly works. On the first course, I pre drilled with 3mm HSS drill and hand nailed half way in initially to give me the option of adjustment of this course to get it spot on as you have to do a bit of measuring, marking, chocking, and fixing and is easy to misalign. There’s a lot of nails to do, and a lot of beating about of the frame if using a hammer, although I did pop a couple of ring shanks in without drilling, it took a fair amount of whack to bust through the face surface. I have seen a vid of a user drilling every hole and screwing, that is just not really viable or necessary on a decent size job, you’d take three or four times as long. You can hire a gas or battery first fix gun for the one job, they’re not difficult to learn to use. Don't entertain an air line one, you shouldn’t be dragging an air line around up a ladder.

For the Tyvek, I used a stapler to position it, a hammer tacker would work as well, it’s only to hold it temporarily. The main fixing is done with the counter battens that go on top the membrane and fixed to your studs. You’ll also be better off with the first fix nail gun for the counter battens as well, using 63mm ring shank.

The EDPM strips are just stapled on the counter batten, they say 50mm wide, but I used 100mm as that is the roll of EDPM tape they sent. Of the 50m roll, I bet I’ve got over 40m left.

If I was doing it again, I would pretty much do as above, hand nail first course, Gecko clamps for gauging and support, first fix gun. For cutting them to length, the 5” grinder with a cheap (Aldi) diamond blade is perfectly ok. A little dust, but damp the surface and wet cut and it’s not a problem. Wear PPE of course. The guillotine is a waste of money on a single job. It wouldn’t have cut my verge angle cuts or full length cuts for top or door reveals.

I used a Swindon company and bought their aluminium end and corner trims, made a big difference to fit and finish. An expensive tube of their silicone, colour matched to the Hardie Plank was also a worthwhile purchase.

For such a strong product when it is fitted, it really is quite delicate when in the 3.6m lengths, it has to be carried on edge.

 

[Sheptonphil]

I have to balance off the work to be done with the facilities available at any given time to do the work. So continuing the fit out, I have started the construction of the right hand side benches. I do not have the setup yet for a lot of sheet material work, so I decided to base it on kitchen carcasses as they are amply strong enough, no dearer (or cheaper) than buying 18mm ply to construct and will give me a good base to build my 30 drawer storage system. End panels and three joining panels are of 18mm ply. The final end support when creating a place to store the sander and its dust extractor will be twin 18mm ply.

The far end is 1000x11300mm wide to accommodate the CNC then dropping down to 600.

When setting out the bench top, it is set accurate enough to split the horizontal laser line. Perfect.

The tops are made from 2400x1200x 44mm thick solid core firedoor blanks. These are stupid heavy, absolutely flat and will be lipped with a hardwood edging. The cut out in the top will be to hold a lowered mitre saw, not a mitre station as such, but a permanent home for a mitre saw for all cross cut work. This will also encourage me to keep the benches clear of cr@p that just seems to accumulate on every horizontal surface. I have been gifted three sheets of 12mm ply to construct the drawer sides, I think as the drawers will be shallow, 75mm for the most of them, 150mm for the bottom drawers, 6mm ply will be strong enough for the bases I think. The top drawers may only be 30mm deep.

 

[flying haggis]

I see you have skimped on the sockets then..............................................

 

[DBT85]

I bet moving 1220*2440*44mm fire door blanks was great fun Phil!

I see you have skimped on the sockets then..............................................

I've got 20 doubles in my basket for about 22m of wall!

 

[Sheptonphil]

I see you have skimped on the sockets then..............................................

There’s three more doubles on that wall out of shot :shock: including one above the tall cabinet to power the radio. I can’t work anywhere without the radio on. In total there are twenty seven doubles and three fused outlets. As the sparky said on Tuesday “ you’ve got more sockets in here than the whole of the house”. (Not true now, as when I redecorated the main bedroom I added four new doubles, some with USB). The new kitchen will be well socketed too

I bet moving 1220*2440*44mm fire door blanks was great fun Phil!

Like you, doing the build on your own, you just invent methods of material handling that may not pass H&S, but certainly work. I will be using a whole 7ft x 3ft for the new workbench top as well. I’ve also been given several offcuts 2400 x 400. Gotta be a use somewhere for it.

 

[Westwood]

Thanks Shepton , really informative and helpful post.
I've found a Paslode first fix gun that I can hire by the week for £60 or so, so I'll give that a go.
The guy in the shop felt that the first fix gun would be massive overkill for Hardieplank and suggested a finishing, smaller gun by Paslode but this only fires headless pins so that'll be a no. I see that Hardieplank's own videos feature the bigger nail gun , so that'll do for me.
I'm fixing into 44mm log cabin outer walls, so the 51mm ring shanks should be fine.
The geckos have arrived , thanks for your help with those. Just have to get them across the Channel next #-o
I'll also use the guillotine - got one secondhand for £25 and its fine and almost dust free for all the straight cuts, not sure about the angled verge ones and the more fiddly ones- think I'll try my jig saw for those I think.
Seems we have other things in common. I'm a sucker for second hand fire doors and have a similar long bench down one side of my small shop. Mitre saw half way along but not lower like yours; I prefer the small surface level mobile fence or stop as on The Gosforth Handyman set up and need the bench for other things.
I have an attic level study worktop to renew , L shaped on plan and this will need three fire doors.
The fun part will be lifting them up three stories including a spiral staircase.
I've done that before but that was 25 years ago
Will be watching the next stages on your build with interest, best of luck and thanks again.....

 

[Sheptonphil]

Seems we have other things in common. I'm a sucker for second hand fire doors and have a similar long bench down one side of my small shop.
Will be watching the next stages on your build with interest, best of luck and thanks again.....

No problem you’re welcome. The firedoor blanks are new, I only bought two, but I have been given loads of ‘offcuts’ many are 2440mm long 400mm wide so perfect for the left hand bench construction which will be 400mm.

I have had to commit a bit of time to the garden for a couple of days, but managed to get back in to do a bit more bench work. The right hand is constructed and topped off, but I ran out of lipping, so will pick some up tomorrow. I’ll wait to make the drawers for both sides all in one go. Wood for the stable door should arrive Thursday or Friday so that will take priority over drawers.

Work has started on the left side as well, a new platform for the pillar drill which will run into the bench for a vice, sander and Proedge, with drawers and storage underneath for thicknesser etc.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Left side coming together. Pillar drill stand is made and the base support is set and tops cut to size. Will trim of the pointy bit and join them together in the morning, fasten them to the base and trim of with the lipping. Just the drawers and shelves to make for this side.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Spent a couple of days finishing off the bench build. Tops are joined and fitted to the supports, lipped with mahogany and sealed with three coats of polyurethane varnish, denibbed, waxed and buffed. Water and waste is connected to the sink, and have been gifted fifty Metro tiles to put around the sink worktop.

The heavier tools have been brought up from the garage and placed in the workshop, the final positions of them will evolve over time. The lathe has already been reorientated 90 degrees, it just lent itself to going on the left wall. The dust and chip extraction will be harder to setup on this wall, but perfectly achievable.

Pillar drill is its final place, and sits nicely on the lowered end of the left bench.

All the wood has arrived to make the stable door, so that will be the project for early next week to make and fit it. Then unfortunately, the workshop will be on hold for two or three weeks whilst the garden raised planter walls are built, and filled ready for planting. This will get me enough Brownie points to get in the workshop and play again.

Always remember, you slide further on Bull S*** than you do on gravel.

There’s the full drawer system to construct on the right and drawers and shelves under the left bench.
Oh, and shelving above the left and a cleat system on the right to construct, new top on the workbench and finish off the dirty room cupboards and tiling. Air line to be run round the workshop, skirting board to be fitted and painted, trunking capping to put on, top coat paint the door frames, then finally clear all the hand tools from the garage to the workshop.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Whilst the door is in glue up, I thought I had a bit of down time to start the drawer system. The first sixteen 2.5inch made and fitted, will add the drawer fronts in one go so the grain flows from a single sheet. Whilst the saw is setup I’ll finish the two larger drawers in each cabinet. The old Fern table saw has been repurposed as a grooving saw with the addition of a 6mm kerf blade. It’s made the job of making 1/4 1/4 1/4 joints quite efficient with 12mm and 6mm ply.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Rained off for the patio and garden walling project , so another eight drawers assembled for the first four cabinets. Struggled to keep a straight face when apologising for delaying Mrs S’s project.
Did manage a third of the work but I think the garden looking like a building site is wearing thin.

Too wet, so back indoors.

 

[Noggsy]

That’s great patioing mate. Looks very modernist!