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The Workshop
All his life, Don has wanted a place outside of the house and separate from the garage where he could work with wood, plastic and metal to his heart's content, without worrying about making a mess (sawdust, etc.) that had to be cleaned up right away. A place with a sturdy workbench and vise, and where a drill press, band saw, grinder, table saw, welder, and several other permanent placement type tools could be set-up without having to be 'stored' that night so the cars could be pulled back into the garage. Slowly, one piece at a time, his dream is coming true at Starview Ranch because we now have the physical space to actually create a semi-permanent workshop. At first, it will be located in the 1-car side of our 3-car garage, with a wall and door separating the two sides, and it's very own overhead door. Some of the larger tools, like a table saw, will need to be set-up in the barn. So, the workshop will eventually be re-built in a portion of the barn, or the larger tools will be set-up in the barn by themselves. The first workshop project was to Construct a Workbench, and then to have some fun making a goofy, home-made anemometer (see the Wind Projects category) just to have something moving in the wind, which we get a lot of out here. Other projects to follow will include more anemometers, wind turbines, wind-art and eventually some wood cabinets, shelving units, and if he gets real worked up, maybe even a custom-fit computer desk. So far, the new workshop has been the place for repairing things like our lawn mower, weed- whacker, tractor and implements; truck and trailer repairs for a friend; grinding nice new clean edges on our wood chisels and screw drivers; several minor repairs; and electric motor/generator testing. There's even an in-progress wind project that has only gotten as far as disassembling an old bicycle we picked up at Goodwill and cleaning / rebuilding the pedal crank. You'll see more about this project in the months to come, on it's own page in the Wind Projects category. Take a good, long look, because this is as clean and organized as this man's workshop will ever be, except for maybe once or twice a year (laughing)! If you're interested in seeing what kinds of tools we have so far, check out the Photos of our Shop Tools page. |
(2-28-00)
'Before' photo. This is the 1-car part of our 3-car garage, which will become a wood, plastic and metal working shop. It isn't much right now, but will take shape over the coming months. |
(3-23-00)
'After' photo. Wow, it looks like a workshop! |
(3-23-00)
Multiple, table-top work-centers. |
(3-23-00)
Material storage - mostly wood right now. |
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