The Benchtop Workshop

Welcome to my workshop.

This page shows images of my current workshop setup and jigs / setups that you may wish to use for your workshop.  Feel free!

Any comments?  Email me.

First, below, you can see from the front of my garage looking towards the back of the shop.  I have a 900 SQ FT, 9' high garage with a section in the back dedicated to the workshop.  I plan on stealing more room in the future to expand the workshop with an assembly table and more tools, but for now, I'm using that back corner which is a 20' x 14' space.

Below is a closer look at the back of the shop where you can see my table saw station and band saw behind it.  The Band saw is a little 9" Delta but it has done well for my needs so far.

Here is the heart of my shop, my table saw station.  I started woodworking last year and my wife bought me this portable saw for fathers day.  I quickly outgrew it's capabilities and was researching on outfeed tables, extension tables, etc.  I toyed with a few setups, but none worked very well.  Finally, I came across plans from the New Yankee Workshop for the table saw station and decided to adapt it.  I built mine on store bought sawhorses, with 3/4" melanmine for both the carcase and the top.  The top is a full 4' x 8' 3/4" thick sheet of melanmine.  I decided on melanmine because it is a cheaper alternative to High pressure laminate, it slides well, and if I ever feel the need that the top has had too much of a beating, I can replace it at little cost.

You can also see my router table attachment and my 6HP, 22 gallon shop vac in this pic.

Here is a closeup of the table saw station.  I added miter slot extensions for my crosscut sled.  I have also added a dustport underneath the saw to accomodate dust collection. 

Here is my Router Table attachment to my table saw.  I figured this would be a perfect spot to add a router table because of the size of the table top and ease of setup.  I have a Rosseau base plate with zero clearance inserts attached.  The router is a simple American Tool Exchange 2 HP plunge router, picked it up for $35 on ebay.  I'm planning on upgrading to a variable speed router soon.

This is another look at my table saw station with my makeshift fence attachment.  This fence was actually quite simple to assemble.  I bought a 50" back to back bench clamp from woodcraft.  These clamps are generally used for clamping to panels for crosscutting with a circular saw.  I mounted a box around it made of melanmine, making sure it was square.  Mounted a "T" underneath for squaring the fence when clamping and whala!  Home made rip fence that works wonders!

Here is a pick of some of my benches that I have built in the shop for all of my power tools.  You can see the miter saw station that I built extensions for.  The saw itself is a '91 model Delta 10" chop saw.  Works quite well for my needs.

Here is my early '90's model Craftsman 8" drill press with extension table.  I'd like to upgrade to a floor model at somepoint but this has done everything I've asked it to do so far.

Here is my Ryobi OSS and a little 6" bench grinder.  The OSS I had to break apart and fix the bearing that holds the spindle belt.  But finally got it all back together and it works like a champ!

Here is my wall of tools. 

This is my workbench.  It was my grandfather's for a long time.  Steel framed, drawers and shelving underneath.  It's 1 1/2" maple butcher block with 1/4" hardboard top.  You can also see my Central Pneumatic 18 gauge brad nailer.  I plan on upgrading the workbench top soon with a new wood vise, and sanding and refinishing it.

Here's my clamp rack.  Simple 2x4 mounted to the wall.  Don't know why I didn't think of this one earlier!

This is a cabinite my wife found at a garage sale.  Stores things like glue, finishes, biscuits, etc.  Above it you can see my new $15 garage sale find 100,000 BTU torpedo heater.  This will work wonders come winter!

Here's a look from my shop towards the front of the garage.  You can see all the unused space here!