Very limited shop space, hobby sized tools?

[Dave Diefenderfer]

I have all the fullsized tools in the garage, or boat/shop/tent. But Maria's car also resides in the garage, so everything is on wheels and tucks away. This makes a quick cut or a quick drill a PITA.

My decoy shop is small, and already over crowded. I typically can only do one activity at a time. I don't have space to be making molds, and casting, or restle coating and painting. I usually clean up one step, and then start on the next.

That being said, I am beginning of researching small power tools to make decoy making easier. I would like a benchtop drillpress to ensure I drill perpendicular when drilling through foam bodies. I need to cut Plexiglass and composite decking for molds and keels. A mini bandsaw might be nice too. I have the oscillating band/spindle sander, and the 30" belt sander already in the shop.

I have no experience with a tilesaw, could I wood blade be installed and cut and rip small pieces of Plexi and decking?

Thoughts? Other than taking over the entire space and doing it right?

 

[Don Mintz]

I feel your pain, it sounds very similar to my situation. My shop is a 3 car garage, but I don't for the life of me know how we could park two cars on the two car side, not even our Kia Soul. The single side is my shop, I have two table saws, a 4x8 bench where I do a lot of work such as burlapping, assembling woodworking projects like landing net building, I've got a mitre saw with extended sides making it 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. Another shelving unit holds a kreg foreman drill table while another table on wheels holds a spindle/belt sander and disc belt sander. Then there is the carving/airbrushing booth. That's probably the most difficult space to deal with, sawdust and airbrush doesn't go together. Cleanup with carving wood or foam is an hour process with broom and vacuum. If I'm carving foam, it's the end of the day and shower time when I finish. Like you, the wife has her car in the garage, I don't have a vehicle. Currently I have several things going on at the same time, designing decoys for production, making custom carved foam decoys, probably near 20 going in various stages right now, painting steel wildlife night lights, probably 100 of those going right now. It's pretty cramped like aisles in walmart. Any solution is money, overhead I can't and don't want to pay. I just have a little ryobi band saw and scroll saw. I won't be building any canoes in my shop, but I'd like to. I feel like I'm moving stuff around more than I'm working sometimes, but I'm unwilling to go into debt to find a bigger space. I did talk my wife into letting me use the craft room to make molds and hand paint stuff, but my molds are small. Too Many hats, too little room. My table saws and sanders are on wheels. I have no solutions.

but this should make you feel like you are not alone. This is my entire shop.

 

[HenryHawthorne]

It should be clear to both of you the problem. It isn't shop size. It's the wife's car. It really shouldn't be parked in the shop.

For what it's worth, I've found the smaller sized drill presses and bandsaw to be flawed enough I didn't end up using them much. That's how I started, and when I upgraded to full-size I realized how easy and fun woodworking could be. My point is, if you have full size now, you'll likely be frustrated with the table-top versions.

For the saw, I'd be tempted to consider a nice scroll saw - they take up less space than bandsaws and you'd be adding some additional capability. Foe your specific purposes, I suspect you could make a jig for your cordless drill that would be as accurate as a table-top press - but if you want to go with a dedicated tool I'd consider a mini-mill rather than a drill press. I think these are made to slightly better standards than mini DPs and, again, you'd be adding some capabilities you dont currently have (in addition to getting the ability to drill squarely). An x-y table on a small mill really has lots of value. Little Machine Shop is a good place to look.