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Take a good look at this picture.... because it's a rare beast! It's a "bought new" machine. It doesn't matter whether it's photography, computing, audio/video, or wood-working. I rarely, and actually kinda hate buying new. This came about because of Christmas and my wife, demanding that I list something she could go out to a store and get me for a present!
Now.... this is more like it..... I'm about to drive across the metroplex to outside Weatherford (far opposite side of Dallas/Ft. Worth from me) to pick it up. Reason? It's free..... kind of....
Actually; I'm driving out there to buy the Bosch RA1181 router table and the Delta BS100 bandsaw for $125 and I'm getting the grinder thrown in for free. Let me explain what happened here. People who do a fair amount of woodworking use both the bandsaw as well as the router. One allows you to make cuts that are simply not possible on a table saw and pretty much look like crap when done with a jigsaw. And the other allows far greater precision when working with a router. Yes, I'm aware that, it's kind of a cheap little bandsaw, but that's kind of where I am right now, in my level of needs and ability to store it. The other one is a little more complex. I've been needing a router table ever since I started using this versitile tool, but I don't really have room for a "free-standing" one, nor do I have benchtop space for one like the Bosch above (it's the bigger of the 2 you can buy at Lowes). That doesn't make sense? Let me explain.
People like me are left with one of two ways to exercise another option...... that of attaching a table "extension" to one side (or wing) of our table saw. One way to do it is to pay several hundred $$$ to purchase a Peachtree (above) or Benchdog extension table made of cast iron to attach to your saw. You guys know that is obviously a no-go for me.
The other option to to cut wood (or MDF) to fit that space and make your own. This was what I was planing on doing until I ran into option 3 above. Typically, before I even start planning something, I watch as many Youtube videos as I can to see what others have done and what ideas are out there. One of the videos didn't involve any building. Quite the opposite. The guy took apart his table like the Bosch shown above and drilled holes in the side, then proceeded to bolt that to his table saw! I was a little stunned. I never thought of that! So I started looking around to see if there were any pre-made ones that was the correct width to span the 27" that I had. And sure enough, some of the bigger models were exactly that size. Unfortunately, they were about $175 new...... 😰 Back to self-building! Then, while I was scanning Craigslist, I saw that a guy out in Weatherford was selling an inexpensive Delta bandaw, the big Bosch router table I needed and some other things as well..... like a grinder. You may ask yourself, why would I try and buy another grinder? Apparently, a grinder isn't just for grinding. People often grind, then polish on them, or use a brass wire brush to scrub away stuff. If you only have one grinder, you end up having to take off your grinding stones to mount the other stuff. So people will often set up more than one so that can just move from machine to machine to get everything done saving lots of time and aggravation. So, if a guy from whom your trying to buy a router table and bandsaw from has a nice grinder listed for $25, why not bargain? He was asking $50 for the bandsaw and $75 for the router table. We settled on $125 total.
So yeah.... I'm going to jump in the car after school, and driving an hour and a half to pick up these tools!
Between, this stuff, the $325 I paid for the table saw currently selling for $600 at Lowes and the planar I got last week for $85. I've created a pretty decently equipped shop for not much over $500! I guess that's Frugal..... Carpentry?
There's a downside of working in/with technology..... No this isn't my office, but it does often takes on a similar look. When a machine goes down and/or is simply replaced, that doesn't mean that it isn't of use. There are many parts that can be quite valuable. Just last month, I took a screen out of a broken laptop to fix another, and a small plastic lever out of a printer to repair another. However, this stuff takes up room. Even keeping something temporarily before I get rid of it requires space. Even though, I have the office inside the house, it can't look like a warehouse! It's also the guest bedroom, so theirs a bed AND it's in the house and needs to look presentable..... I am married! So, how does this have to do with my "other" hobby?
You might remember, about a month ago, I picked up this Delta table saw, the 36-725. A fairly heavy duty 10" "hybrid" saw. This is the agent of change. With a fence accurate enough so that I can set a width on the scale and it'll cut to that measurement over and over again. It's also powerful enough to take my dado stack and therefore giving me the ability to do joinery. This is the "game-changer" in my garage. Over the holiday break, I made a couple of smaller, but important projects.
I started smallest, with a cabinet similar to this one, that holds my collection of cordless tools. This took care of two things. One; it helped me organize these important and often-used tools in a location for quick access. Two; it cleared space on the peg-board above and off the top of my workbench. It also offered me the opportunity to practice making joints. This is a skill that only comes through a lot of practice. It was also great because it only costs a couple of cans of spray paint since I had enough scrap wood to get it done.
Then I built something akin to this. If you'll imagine just the top part without the clamps below and mounted where the upper 12" of the pegboard above my workbench used to be. This came about because I realized that I couldn't reach anything on the last foot of my pegboard so there was nothing there but wasted space. However, I figured that if the tools up there were big and protruded, I could get them down. This plus the space on top of it cleared off two shelves of wire-shelf stack I have...... which brings me full-circle back to the computer parts that I need to keep, but also need to get out of my office.... TA-DA!!!
Of course, that's by no means the end of it. Two other necessities that will happen also is a "lumber cart" for the wood that taking up half the other wall in the garage and a cabinet that I can use to hold smaller "bench-top" tools for which I don't have a bench where they can permanently live!
But, very likely the next item to be built with be a small, but important addition to my office. These are variously called "tech-benches" or "test-benches", but are simply open-air test-beds that provide easy access for testing computer components. This will make my life lots easier in the office!
