What should I put in my Workshop

[JohnPeel]

OK, here is the problem. I have £20,000 to spend on equipment for my workshop. My workshop is not limited on space, as I haven’t built it yet. I will be building the workshop on some spare land on my land, so I will build it as big as I need to.

I plan on making garden furniture and solid rustic furniture. I will also make small items such as bird tables and kennels.

My skills are not extensive at this stage, but I am retired, so will have plenty of time to learn.

I only have small drill, saws, router, and other hand tools at the moment, but will need bigger workshop tools.

What should I spend my £20,000 tool money on?

John Peel

 

[Blister]

Hi John

Do you intend to make things by hand or machine ?

 

[woodbloke]

OK, here is the problem. I have £20,000 to spend on equipment for my workshop. My workshop is not limited on space, as I haven’t built it yet. I will be building the workshop on some spare land on my land, so I will build it as big as I need to.

I plan on making garden furniture and solid rustic furniture. I will also make small items such as bird tables and kennels.

My skills are not extensive at this stage, but I am retired, so will have plenty of time to learn.

I only have small drill, saws, router, and other hand tools at the moment, but will need bigger workshop tools.

What should I spend my £20,000 tool money on?

John Peel

Good grief...not often we see someone with £20k to splash out!! :shock:

Here's my 2 euro's worth. Firstly, spend some of that cash on a really decent bench as it's the heart of your hand tool work. I'd go for a Maguire (sp) or one of the heavy duty LN benches...make sure that the top is as thick as possible all the way across and not just at the front. You can then spend a lot on a decent set of hand tools...a selection of good planes, chisels, marking out kit, cramps and saws etc

The two basic machines you ought to have are a big bandsaw and table saw with a slider (to fit the size of your intended 'shop) A sander of some sort would be good (disc, belt or a combo) together with a router table and bits. Don't forget that you'll also need sharpening equipment of some sort and a grinder (Tormek) for the primary regrind on chisel and plane blades) Power tools can be bought as well...I've just started down the Festool slope :evil: but the quality of them is hard to beat.

An essential part of the 'shop which you must take into consideration is dust extraction...allocate quite a lot of your budget to make sure that your DX system is adequate to remove the dust from your intended machines. Heating in the winter is also something to consider...oil filled rads or woodburners are popular.

With that amount of money for tools, I'd strongly recommend a visit to somewhere like Axminster and speak to the guys down there as the help and advice that they'll give you will be invaluable - Rob

 

[JohnPeel]

Thanks, I have just sent off for the Axminster Tool Catalogue. I never really thought much about dust extraction, but yes, that should have been one of my first considerations in the design of my workshop.

 

[WoodMangler]

OK, here is the problem. I have £20,000 to spend on equipment for my workshop.

That's a problem ??? wish my problems were all like that...

 

[Max Power]

Firstly, is the £20k something you can afford to splash, because youll never see it again from making those kinds of items

 

[woodbloke]

Thinking about it a little more, the types of stuff you intend to make could be knocked up with kit costing far less than £20K. I'd be inclined to broaden my horizons a little, p'raps a bit of blue sky thinking, push the envelope a tad (any more? :lol: ) and think about making fine furniture. To that end, how about spending a goodly part of that wedge on a decent, long term course? Plenty to choose from, but our own David Charlesworth is an excellent place to start - Rob

 

[JohnPeel]

I plan to make things by machine. I think £20,000 for a pair of gloves would be a little too much. Honestly, I would like to think I would be able to develope some skills that would see me capable of machine work and by hand.

 

[JohnPeel]

I am thinking of it like this. Having worked in the building industry all my life, I am at a point where I need to slow down. I still want to use my workshop as a business though. I don't need to earn a lot, so any profit will come off my original tool capital, and so I will be paid back for what I spend. I am then able to use all my tools on any work around the house and as a continued hobby.

I like the idea of a seeking training, and I will look into that for sure. What make of machines should I buy. Which are the more reliable and easy to get parts for.

 

[woodbloke]

What make of machines should I buy. Which are the more reliable and easy to get parts for.

Most of machinery at the bottomish end of the market is either made in Taiwan or China. It's generally fairly good these days, but needs fettling to get the best out of it. With the capital you've got to play with, you could probably go for European machinery which be made and finished to a higher standard. Hammer, Rojek, Felder and Robland are a few names to conjure with, but you might also like to consider our own UK brand of Sedgwick (sp?) which is built like the proverbial brick wotnot :-" and are sold by Axminster no less - Rob

 

[Dodge]

I'm surprised Jacob hasn't had anything to say on this thread yet! #-o #-o

 

[johnf]

Have you thought about planning permission for this workshop . 20K is a lot of cash but good quality machinery is also pricey
I think you will need all of your budget for this hobby .

I plan on making garden furniture and solid rustic furniture. I will also make small items such as bird tables and kennels.
Things like this are very difficult to sell at a profit

Good luck

 

[chunkolini]

Fridge, decent extractor fan and a decent stereo.
Oh and whatever tools you think you mighe need.
Be careful of buying fancy stuff you wont need, easily done if you make a big shop of it.
I wuld buy as I go along.

 

[Lowlife]

...the problem. I have £20,000 to spend

Yes I can see how that would be a problem, wanna swap for a few of mine...?

Seriously though, I would try to visit a few small professional workshops and see their setups, they're in it to make a profit so should have a well thought out set of machinery, and they're unlikely to have machines that are unreliable, unneccessary, or not up to the job.

My own workshop at work is not fancy, mostly older second-hand machines all of which could easily be bought with half your budget, but we can turn out pretty much anything you can think of to a high standard. I could certainly make the kind of products you're thinking of with what we have.

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Fridge, decent extractor fan and a decent stereo.
Oh and whatever tools you think you mighe need.
Be careful of buying fancy stuff you wont need, easily done if you make a big shop of it.
I wuld buy as I go along.

+1 Buy as you go and as second hand offers or new deals come to light. However to plan your DX you need to know what machines you plan to use.
Personally I would buy these machines first.

Planer / Thicknesser ( 2 individual machines are better )
Table Saw (10" does me fine - 3 phase ain't cheap and 16amp sockets can be an added expense when looking at 12" machines)
Bandsaw
Dust Extractor that will power these 3 plus a couple more.

The dust extractor is more expensive then it looks as the pipes, gates and accessories are not cheap. My extractor cost over a grand yet the extracting machine only cost £200 ish.

For your needs Axminster white machines will do you fine, they do me more then fine. Axi will do there up most to help and fix your machine, they stock parts and are an English based company. The list above fetched me £5.5k. Over the years I have gathered an array of power tools worth 10k and hand tools worth about 2.5k. 95% of them all used weekly or at least monthly as I brought them as I needed them.

After buying them machines I would make my own bench, good self rewarding project that you gain good experience from, will also show you a few of the tools that you will need. Then make a saw station for a radial arm saw or sliding mitre saw, again rewarding and experience. You can plan this before hand. I knew I would be cutting up timbers up to 4.6m in length so marked out space in my shop for a 5m long saw station. After this build your own router table, one of the most rewarding projects you can do for your own shop.

Invest some of that money into clamps. I have over 100 and still don't have enough. Not sure what there worth but its close to if not over a grand.

+1 for a wood burner, something I wish I had.

 

[The Wood Butcher]

With that amount of cash to hand I would be looking at one of the Hammer multi-machines and bandsaws. You could also look at second-hand Felder. They don't get a lot of love on this site but I like them a lot.

 

[JohnPeel]

Thank you all. There is some really great advice here. And from who seem to be knowledgable people. I think the idea of "buy as you go" is a good one, as I can imagine starting a project then adding what I need to complete it. I also like the idea of buying machinery that is built here in the UK so that I can easily get parts and service.

 

[dddd]

Do you have 3 phase power and access to some heavy lifting/transport equipment? If you do then there are some fantastic bargains to be had on ebay and other auction sites for old, solid, cast iron machines (Wadkin etc) that will serve you at least as well if not better than anything you can buy new these days and they'll still be going long after the new machines have packed up and gone to rusty heaven!

N.

 

[Tony Spear]

a decent stereo.

So he can play "Teenage Kicks" over and over again?

Bit obtuse, bur somebody will get it! :mrgreen:

 

[Lowlife]

I always suspected he'd done an Elvis and faked his own death, now we know...