Trimble Towers Workshop Tour (Beware, lots of big pics)

[TrimTheKing]

Good afternoon all

Well aftermoving into our new place in November last year, then having a baby in December (SWMBO did that bit, but I was there ) my workshop time has been limited, and the workshop was more of a junk yard and general storage facility.

Now here we are, a mere 8 months down the line, and now I have mastered father/parenthood :^o I have a bit more free time. So with the blessings of the missus (she is a real gem) I have spent a couple of hours a night (after bathing and putting little one to bed) waging ferocious war on the mess, and finally last night I emerged victorious, with a fully organised workshop just waiting to be photographed and posted on here.

So without any further preamble (or just plain ramble) from me, please form an orderly queue at the door and prepare for your tour. Admittance costs no more than your comments/opinions and advice on certain elemnts which are still up in the air, such as best placement/configuration for table saw & P/T.

I hope you enjoy your tour, feel free to ask any questions along the way, our fully trained tour guides ar only happy to help, and once you have had a thorough look around if you leave via the gift shop...

Firstly, on entering the WorkShop you will notice the Bandsaw immediately in front of you. This is a fine example of the species standing well over 6' tall and with extremely sharp (M42) teeth, 6tpi if I remember correctly..

As we move inside the doorway if you take a look to your left you will see what we call 'junk corner'. This is due to there being nowhere else to dump this rubbish, and this impinges least on the working space

Heading forwards with Bandsaw to our left, to your left after bandsaw and drill press you will se clamp storage.

And to your right you will notice the main predator in the Workshop, the feared Foxus TableSaurus. With his smaller and less fearsome crosscut sled.

Ahead of you is the puniest of animals in the collection, the workbench, sporting the as yet homeless BS Chisels and some Axy specials.

Let us take a moment to savour the views from the bench window...

...ah, that's enough of that. Turning round to take a look into the workshop from here, and moving on in a clockwise direction...

...we have the tool cabinet to our left with my planing box below (I'm quite tall so this was easier than jacking the bench up).

And behind us from here we have the front view of the TableSaut and P/T

Carrying on we have 'boxed up discount, probably never get used Fox Spindle Moulder' corner, along with timber storage and morticer.

And turning round we get the view from this corner.

Moving on we have an old unwanted fitted wardrobe which works very nicely for finishes, fixings, drills, powertools etc...along with rubbish that I haven't found a home for yet, like the 1,000,000 allen keys...

Looking left we have the new addition which SWMBO got me for recent birthday, and a box project in stick which will be ressurected at some point...

And finally we have the view from this corner.

And just for fun, an aerial view...

I do hope you have enjoyed your tour, please feel free to mock or comment as you see fit. This is still very much a WIP and will surely change as I work in it and see what does/doesn't work. As I say, any suggestions on better locations for TS and PT please let me know.

Anyway, the shop is on your way out, donations are welcome

And bring on the next bash...

PS I used Canon Photostitch for some of the pics, hence why they look a bit on the wee wee but you get the gist.

 

[Waka]

Very nicely laid out, and I do like the roof beams, are they curved or is that the camera?
The other important thing I notice is that it very clean, also you've run out of plane slots so you'll need a new cabinet.

Thanks for the tour, very enjoyable.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Cheers Waka

Beams are straight, just camera squint distorting them.

Clean eh? That's literally because I only finished it last night, and pics are from last night/this morning. It hasn't seen any real action as yet. Just wait until I actually get in there and do some butchery...

 

[head clansman]

Hi trim theking


nice clean & spacious, It no good us trying to tell you where to put what , over time you will develop you own stile and layout . hell I'm in the middle of fitting mine out with machinery , now I'm moving everything about for the third time.hc :wink:

 

[Shultzy]

If only I had a double garage, I'm envious :lol: .

 

[NeilO]

Thanks for the tour , Mark
excellent shop for your toys, err tools :wink:
could I ask the dimensions of said workshop?
hope you have plenty of time in there, now you have the hang of parenthood.

 

[OPJ]

Bloody hell, Mark, that's huge! :shock: Can't see a lot wrong with the layout, either. Don't leave it looking too spacious or else your missus may start thinking she can get her car in there!! :wink:

Is the Jet air filter fixed in place? One tip someone gave me was to fixed it to a long beam so you could slide along to the area of the workshop you are working in.

It's almost a shame there's such a great span between two walls, otherwise you could have put some more joists in and created an overhead roof space for storing timber... I'm not saying it can't be done (Mike Garnham would have the answer! :wink, it just looks like a long way for timber to go...

 

[TrimTheKing]

Thanks for the tour , Mark
excellent shop for your toys, err tools :wink:
could I ask the dimensions of said workshop?
hope you have plenty of time in there, now you have the hang of parenthood.

Hi mate

It's just shy of 7m along the bandsaw wall and just shy of 6m along the tool cabinet wall.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Very nice, Mark 8)

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[wizer]

Looking good Mark. It's come on leaps and bounds since I was there. Deeply Jealous of your space. Just think how happy my lathe would be in there

 

[Mr Ed]

Looks excellent - nicely laid out and tidy as well.

Only thing I would add is a combined outfeed / assembly table at the back of the tablesaw. I have this setup and find it very versatile.

Thanks for sharing

Ed

 

[cutting42]

Great job, I am very jealous of the space (see my post from yesterday in a single garage) but it looks lovely with all the white walls. Makes me think I should have painted my storage racks white as well.

Can I get a bandsaw from the giftshop please?

 

[Fergus]

Looks a lovely workshop-and what a wonderful view outside 8)

 

[Escudo]

Great workshop space Mark, with all the appropriate machinery and tools as well.

Perfect set up for woodworking,

Tony.

 

[ste_5150]

As I say, any suggestions on better locations for TS and PT please let me know.

They'd look much better in my garage, I think. :wink: :lol:

Seriously though, that is a fantastic space, I'm sure you'll be able to make the most of what little time kids leave for you with it! From the looks of the view from the bench, it seems you're well away from anyone who'd mind the noise, so that must be really good too.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Cheers for the comments guys. In reply...

no good us trying to tell you where to put what , over time you will develop you own stile and layout .

Hoping so mate, that's the idea, get everything in there and it will work itself out over time, hopefully

Bloody hell, Mark, that's huge! :shock:

Why thank you kind sir, but don't tell everyone or they'll all want a piece

Don't leave it looking too spacious or else your missus may start thinking she can get her car in there!! :wink:

Tell me about it, SWMBO is in the process of startin a new career in photography and is already making sneaky (joking, I hope :shock: ) comments about how good it would be as a studio...

Is the Jet air filter fixed in place? One tip someone gave me was to fixed it to a long beam so you could slide along to the area of the workshop you are working in.

Yep it's fixed with the wire mounting kit, eye bolts screwed into the beam, but that's not to say it can't move over time...

It's almost a shame there's such a great span between two walls, otherwise you could have put some more joists in and created an overhead roof space for storing timber... I'm not saying it can't be done (Mike Garnham would have the answer! :wink, it just looks like a long way for timber to go...

That is precisely what I want to do, but obviously it needs some planning. I think you're right, hopefully Mike will comment, where is he...

Looking good Mark. It's come on leaps and bounds since I was there. Deeply Jealous of your space.

Yeah, it's probably unrecognisable from when you were there! It's taken a lot of slog, and ditching loads of rubbish we have hoarded over the years, but most of hadn't been out of the packing cases since the last house move in 2006, so it can't have been that important to us

Just think how happy my lathe would be in there

Couldn't agree more mate, and that's one of the things I'm lacking. I'm more than happy to look after it for you...

Looks excellent - nicely laid out and tidy as well.

Only thing I would add is a combined outfeed / assembly table at the back of the tablesaw. I have this setup and find it very versatile.

Thanks Ed. I remembered your workshop post when I was writing this thought exactly that. There is plenty of space there so I think that will be one of my first projects.

Great job, I am very jealous of the space (see my post from yesterday in a single garage) but it looks lovely with all the white walls. Makes me think I should have painted my storage racks white as well.

I checked yours out when you posted it, I really like it, everything well laid out and complimentary. This is going to sound ridiculous and probably patronising (but it's definitely not meant to) bearing in mind how much space I have, but I found it really difficult. Because there's so much space it feels that if everything hasn't got 5' of arm swinging space around it that somethings wrong

I know that's ridiculous, and I'm sure I'll get over it sometimes it's better to have only one option, I'm rubbish when it comes to making a decision onbetween more than 2 things :roll:

Can I get a bandsaw from the giftshop please?

Absolutely. And would sir like that gift wrapping?

My main conundrum at the moment is what to do about the table saw and PT. Currently the fence of the PT comes up higher than the table ofthe TS, so ideally I need to get the TS up higher.

I can get a little bit of height back by taking the PT off its wheel base and having it on the floor, but I lose the ability of a quick move around then.

Other though was, taking TS off its wheel base and using some of the 4x2's I have knocking about to make a raised plinth for it to sit on. That way it's easier to get underneath to tighten up extraction, solves the height issue with PT and also brings it up to a better working height for 6'3" me and my crippled spine

Any thoughts on this idea, and if this is the best way to do it?

 

[TrimTheKing]

As I say, any suggestions on better locations for TS and PT please let me know.

They'd look much better in my garage, I think. :wink: :lol:

Seriously though, that is a fantastic space, I'm sure you'll be able to make the most of what little time kids leave for you with it! From the looks of the view from the bench, it seems you're well away from anyone who'd mind the noise, so that must be really good too.

Wrestle you for them!

That is my problem now, changing my entire mentality of 'let's go in there and see what happens' and to start having a plan of what I need tp do to make sure I make the best of the little time I will have.

We line in a converted barn on an old farm, so there is only us and the farmhouse, which is about 30yds away. I have tested it with the neighbour by chopping some big lumps of oak, with extractor on and window open while he was stood in the courtyard and he said he could hardly hear a thing. Happy Days :lol:

And also, with the door shut (it's a nice thick fire door) I can do anything, even at 11pm and still not disturb SWMBO watching telly 2 rooms away

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Trim,

Thanks for sharing. That is a FANTASTIC space you've got there. Worth the wait I'm sure.

My TS is up on hardwood blocks to raise it to the height of my bench (which doubles as the out feed table) I find it works really well. I'm 6'1" so having things so I don't stoop all day is nice!!

I think it would be nice to be able to walk around both machines but I have both of mine against a wall so not the end of the world.

You just make sure you have lots of fun in there won't you!!!

Richard

 

[Karl]

Nice one Mark - looks ready to host a decent sized gathering............

I agree with Waka about that plane cabinet though.

Cheers

Karl

 

[woodbloke]

Mark - can't see pics at the moment but will look tonite...I'll have to ponder on something to take away from the giftshop :lol: - Rob