Tight, but it fits!

With colder weather, and in accordance with my condo's rules, the car has to be garaged overnight in our one-car garage. We put all the tools on mobile bases, and although it's a tight fit, it works. Shows what you can do when you're really desperate for your own shop.

Working in the summer heat

One of the downsides of my new home workshop is that it has no ventilation, unless I open the garage door. Although this is usually not a problem, I keep seeing little chipmunks scampering across the door opening, and have an occasional visiting wasp. I use a wall mounted fan to get some air flow, which helps a little. I'd love to start work by 7AM to take advantage of the early morning coolness, but I'm in a cul-de-sac of a condo, and 8AM is about the earliest I can start.

If any of you have dealt with a similar situation and have come up with some solutions, I'd love to hear them. Meanwhile, it's still better than working in air conditioned comfort in a noisy shop with poorly maintained tools.

Shop is up and running

Well, the tools are finally in place and I've started living in my new "home". Only the bandsaw remains to be assembled, but all my basic tools are up and running. The space we're using is a one car garage which must still be usable to park a car (condo rules), so we put all the heavier stuff on mobile bases and can get the car in without difficulty. We rigged up an adapter for the sanders so we can use the shop vac for dust collection, and we're using a box fan with two filters for the drill press. Here are some pictures of the main wall.

A shop of my own, at last!

After several years of using a community woodshop, I'm finally cleaning out our one car garage so I can get my own tools. Fortunately, for the work I do, all I need is a scroll saw, drill press, spindle sander, and vertical belt-disc sander combo.

Having my own "shoplet" will also let me shoot videos more easily. Videos made in my kitchen are OK, but sometimes just a little limiting. I'd love to be able to make videos "on demand" to answer any questions that come along.

I'm starting to research drill presses and sanders, so if any of you have any good (or bad) experiences with particular pieces of equipment, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Same for any good ideas for working in a limited space.

I'll post pictures in a few weeks--wish me luck!