I know it may seem like a major gloat, and I will admit to being
proud of my shop, and love to show it off, but that's not the
real reason for featuring my shop here on the website.
The real reason is to show my customers that I'm not just a guy
working out of a garage. In this internet age that we
live and work in, looks can be deceiving. Showing the
details of my shop in such a transparent way offers credibility to
my business and justification for my prices.
This is just how I do business.
So here's a picture-tour of my shop. Scroll down below for a video
presentation as well. Have fun!!
Coming in the entry into my shop, this is what I call the "auto" part of the shop,
which is where my old Porsche lives during the winter. Over in the corner, you
can just barely see where the red stripe is on the floor, a working pit, which was
original to the building built in 1933. But since I started Volti, this
part of the shop has been over-run with speakers!
I built a plywood cart to store my plywood and then I'm able to roll it into the
woodshop when I need it.
I've built cabinets for storage using the same rough pine that is on all the walls
of the shop.
I've got a little kitchenette. (I don't know why, but I feel like
I'm doing a Benny Hill impression when I say that!)
Here's one of my parts cabinets.
This is what it looks like when you come through the double doors into the
woodshop. This area is sealed off from all the other outlying rooms of the shop with
doors with automatic closers to keep dust contained in this room.
Looking back from the opposite corner, you can see the little shop stereo system.
I used a pool table as a work table, and I could remove the top to play pool.
But just tonight I sold this pool table, and I'm going to replace it with a
perfectly flat work table made with a torsion-box top. The staircase leads up
to my loft storage areas.
One of the new additions to the shop, a Grizzly oscillating edge sander.
Another new addition, a Laguna LT18 bandsaw, made in Italy.
The heart of my shop is the table saw. This beauty, a Felder K700S,
was made in Austria. 1800lbs of precision sliding table saw!
From a woodworkers perspective, owning this is like owning a Porsche.
I finally built the bench that I wanted to build along the back wall of my shop for the
cutoff saw. By enclosing the sliding compound miter saw in an alcove, sticking
out the window, I was able to locate the bench right up against the back wall, saving
a lot of shop space. The ductwork for the dust collection is Nordfab, and is
hung with springs all along under the bench, to reduce noise and vibration.
I made a special base for the saw that has channels built in that go through the
base and up into the backside of the workbench on each side of the saw, pointing
into the alcove. In theory, the dust collection system would suck up the
dust from the saw, out of the alcove. It sort of works.
The table saw is at the end of the duct run, and the long hose makes it so I can
pull the saw out for cutting long material.
At the other end, the ductwork disappears out a hole in the concrete wall and into
a shed behind my shop, where the noisy dust collector and air compressor live.
I have a separate paint room.
Here you see the cabinets are mounted away from the wall, leaving space behind for
storing wood.
This is the door to the enclosed upstairs storage area, where I secretly keep a lot of
old Klipsch speakers.
This is a storage unit I made to hold bits and pieces of lumber, and longer tools
that didn't fit well in my cabinets.
I have three large cabinets like this for holding power and hand tools.
I needed a place to store the pallet jack that I use to move the table saw, and other
things, so I raised the MCM system up in the air a few inches.
I have a great bathroom in my shop. The walls are all tiled, which makes
a nice shower, and it makes it very easy to clean the bathroom with a spray of cleaner and
hot water through a hose.
The heating system has a Rube Goldberg feel to it. When I built it, I decided
to take the gas boiler out of the case and expose the working parts. It
makes for interesting viewing while on the john!
More of the little shop stereo system. Active three-way stereo.
One of my storage rooms. I built six of these mobile shelf units that tuck away neatly,
but can easily be pulled out to access the shelves.
My little living room area for listening to music. Not much in there
at the moment.
Well that's about it. I hope you enjoyed the photo tour!
Here's a video tour.
Well what can I say. I had one down on the ground during the campaign season, and
someone stole it. I don't know of any liberals who will work hard enough to get
this one down!
