I came over today and got the wood shop cleaned and set back up with the help of Brad (sorry if I got that wrong, only got your name the once and may have misremembered)
I did some minor rearranging from what it had been:
1) The jointer and planer are now set up on either side of the small power pole so that long lumber can be fed through them without hitting other equipment and the jointer won't have to be moved to reach power
2) I moved the Vacuum Former across the hall so it is next to the screw rack so that it won't be collecting as much dust and to make room for more equipment near the vacuum pole.
3) I swapped the router table and band saw so long lumber can be fed through each easier without running into other equipment. Should make it easier in particular to route long trim
4) I put the scroll saw on the hamburger table next to the vacuum pole so it's at a comfortable height to walk up and use, and to free up the rear table for the new miter saw.
Some recommendations for discussion and possible future shop furniture builds:
1) the planer, jointer, and drum sander are all equipment that frequently have long workpieces fed through them, and the currently have poor dust collection. We could build a common cabinet for them to be mounted to side by side with dust collection built in so that the table saw dust collection can be plugged in to the cabinet to provide collection for all three pieces of equipment. This would also get the drum sander off the rear bench to clear for the miter saw.
2) A new router table could be built that has much better dust collection, has a standard miter slot, and and adjuable split fence. A built cabinet would also be a lot heavier and more stable than the current folded metal table. The sahper could also be built into such a table if we want to make it available for use (I understand the shaper is a dangerous tool if not careful, but if it is going to stay laid on a pallet, why take up the space keeping it?)
3) the lathe could use a cabinet base with a chip collection tray and backsplash with a dust collection scoop, would make using the lathe require much less cleanup effort afterwards.
If anyone is interested in making those improvements real, learning some simple and cheap basic cabinetry, or just participating in a build day, I'd be happy to plan it out and lead. Let me know if you are interested or have input on potential designs.
Thanks,
Kevin