Gil's thread (see here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...workbench.html) featuring a nice looking home made workbench got me thinking as I'm in the initial stages of planning out a new shop.

I know almost all of us have made a home made something or other for use in our shops to make things easier, so how about sharing some of them with the rest of us to make our lives less miserable as well.

I'd also love to see what kind of layout some of you have used if you built your own shop and the pros/cons of what you'd do different if you did it all over again.

I plan on utilizing Gil's hitch receiver idea in my shop. It's one of those little things that is an excellent idea, really easy to do, and can cure a few headaches.

So let's hear it guys, let's see some of those ideas!

 

I don't have anything to add, except storage shelves that I love. I do want to subscribe to the thread.

 

I do have a few other garage ideas, if you look up in the picture i have a mesanine on each side (this side is a small one) underneath it is a sheet of plywood on hinges that folds up out of the way, this is where i store all my small engine gaskets, screwed in some screws or you can use nails to hold the gaskets in place, i do have other stuff i built but have no pics of them right now.

 

I think storage has to be one of the biggest things to consider. I used to get banker's boxes from work, which are a standard sized heavy duty box. Because I have "spare parts" (crap too precious to throw away) for each of my cars/motorcycles, I decided to make a heavy duty storage system for this stuff. I spaced the shelves based on the banker's boxes. Some of this stuff is real heavy, for instance my raw metal stash and engine parts (like 8BA crankshafts), so I decided to forego wooden shelves and use unistrut for the frame.

Unistrut isn't that expensive, nor are the millions of different clips available to connect them, and they are super strong. This shelving system I made allowed me to put all my stuff in one place, organized and easily retrievable. Costs was right at a hundred bucks, with some parts left over.

I also was lucky enough to score a bunch of unistrut floor posts, which are "double-back" unistrut with a 1/4" plate welded on the end, at a local salvage yard for 10 cents a pound! They cost a fair penny new. I use them as shelf brackets, each one will hold more than the wall will.

 

Don't have a photo but took a old gas grill off of its carriage put a plywood top on it and made a rolling workbench.mounted my ventless gas heater to it and used the gas bottle mount and regulator for a portable heater.

 

I'm always working in situations where I don't have the tools that I would really like to have. I occasionally go to help friends fabricate brackets and such for their cars and they never have anything to work with. The one thing they usually have is a vice so I threw this "low-no-tech rig" together to help me dress up rough cut parts.



I used a ten dollar HF grinder and fashioned brackets that are bolted in the holes that the grinder handles fit into.





I added a cross brace and a piece of 1/8" plate for a rest.



Just loosen the 2 bolts and the rest pivots so that the flap disc can be changed.



It's convenient for me since I can throw it under my work bench when not needed and just clamp it in my vise when I need it.







Not pretty, but it has been handy.

I know that HF tools are frowned on, but I have 3-4 of the cheap grinders and I haven't been able to kill any of them. I figure they're cheap enough to just throw them away when they finally give up. A 4 1/2" grinder is probably one of the most used tools in my shop. I keep different wheels on each one of them. Seems to save time over having to change the wheels on one grinder.

 

What i would most like is about 3000 more sq.ft. (shop can never be to big)
Allan

 

Damn, that's clever!

 

I agree... That makes a nice table top grinder...

 

Shop is 24' x 24'
Contents is 30' x 30'

you got to get organized ! here's some stuff I did..

hang anything that you can instead of letting it lay around to get covered up

all the tools...wrenches, sockets/ratchets, screwdrivers and pliers etc in tool boxes... you can't have enough

shelves... put them up high for seldom used stuff..put them anywhere you put something down... warning...all horizontal spaces fill to 3x capacity overnight

drawers... man, I love drawers... I have 20 - 15 drawer plastic cabinets for small things... elec connectors, screws, switches, nails..whatever

two sets of the nice metal slide out drawers for specialty stuff... SS bolts, brass screws, etc

5 5drawer craftsman roll arounds permantly under benches for tools

floor to ceiling bolt cabinets and letter files for storage... this was one of the best things I ever bought

scrap metal rack... makes those small pieces much easier to find and so easy to overload

I have zero wall space available now. I got a nice Ford truck poster from Dan Carpenters booth last year 20x30... no room to put it up... there is even a bulletin board on the back of the door !

oh yea... then you got to use all those clever ideas you came up with... that gets a little tricky sometimes..


john

 

more

there is also a forum on garage and shop that has a lot of good ideas

Garage & Workshop - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

 

Man i love this grinder idea, definately on my ``to do `` list!

 

this is my new welding set up, built a cart with a homeade tig cooler at the bottom, place to store my grinders, a slidout shelf with all my consumeables





Definately see some great ideas and talent from members of FTE!! keep the pictures coming! i love these type of threads!!!

 

Bump, more cool pics please!!

 

Gil I like that welding cart, Ive been planning a "custom" cart to hold my plasma, mig, spoolgun, and all the accesories, plus the argon, and mixed gasses tanks.

Gonna "steal" a few of your ideas!