Shop Equipment

[Flyover]

I am in the process of setting up a shop in my garage. I was wondering if anyone had advice on equipment. I am considering a Grizzly 10" table saw, a 14" band saw, and a 12-13" wide planer and a belt/disc sander to start. Any advice on the minimum horsepower that would be adequate for the saws? Does anyone have suggestions on a good planer or sanding machine? I have been waiting seemingly forever to do this and I would like to do it right. I will be constructing at least one canoe form, canoe(s), and some furniture.

As always, I appreciate any advice.

Thanks

 

[greatlakes]

Good List

Most of the machines you listed come in with 1 Hp motors. That'splenty of power. You have a pretty good list as it is. I would add a good router and a router table.

If you're going to get into some furniture or cabinetry, you'll need a jointer also.

You can't go wrong with Delta and DeWalt for the major machines.

Good luck.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

"Doing it right" is a moving target.

Before you buy anything, take a read over at the OWWM site.

One could argue that DeWalt on longer makes machinery. (and their service is terrible)

With that said, it really doesn't take much machinery to build W/C, for most folks, just about anything will do. If you plan to do a lot and build as a business, then you might want better stuff.

Dan

 

[bob goeckel]

IF you can go to a larger bandsaw, that is one thing i would recommend. since getting a 3hp 20" grizzly i have really enjoyed cutting and resawing much more. and i can resaw small(up to about 15")logs for other projects. it really has been the tool improvement i like the most.
ps. and look at the woodslicer bandsaw blades from highland hardware you'll never look at another blade.

 

[knubud]

A dust collector would be a good addition.

LAter-Bud

 

[Dan Miller]

Well discussed recently, here: http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=2709

 

[rakwetpaddle]

How will you heat your shop?

 

[Flyover]

Thanks for the input, good discussion. I should have the basics in the next couple of months, a table and band saw, a planer, a sander, and a routing table. I will also get a dust collector. I am going to have the larger equipment on moving bases. I have a decent collection of hand tools, but will need planers and spoke shaves.

I heat with a portable propane heater. It gets the garage to 65 or 70 degrees fairly quickly.

Thanks again.
Mike

 

[rakwetpaddle]

shop heat

I tried your method. Problem was that it was always cold in the morning and everthing in the shop had to warm up each day. Very inconvenient and smelly and noisy. It also blows any dust into the air. My solution was to buy a gas furnace. I keep the thermostat at 52 overnight and can get to 66 in a short time. Plenty warm to work and everything works fine. Maybe Iowa winters are much milder than in Michigan but staying warm has become a priority for these old bones. Good luck with your project.

 

[Gary Willoughby]

First if you plan to do much ripping on the table saw I don't think you will be happy with a one horse motor.
Second a unvented gas heater in your shop will cause a lot of condensation and look out for the rust.

 

[greatlakes]

Gary,

You've been at my shop at Woodland Springs. I have a 1Hp Delta table saw w/ Beismeyer fence. I've ripped lots of oak, ash, cedar, pine, popple, etc. If you have a good blade and belt tensioned correctly, there's no underpower concern. I agree with you on the heating comment.

I suppose you're down here on PI. Send me a PM if you'd like to go out and catch a fish or two.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Well....maybe if the 1 Hp is an old IR motor on a Uni, but new ones are very undersized.

I have a 3 hp on my Delta Contractor w/a new 10" blade. I was ripping some SYP at an angle last night, about a 1 3/4 wide cut, and I had to slow down on occasion as the motor started to "bog" down.

For years I had a TS with a 3/4 HP motor, due to lack of power I usually had a 7 1/4" blade on it, and even then it would bog down.

Get as much power as you can supply current to, and 220v is better, just to reduce the current.

Dan

 

[greatlakes]

Correction...

Correction:

My saw has a 1.5 Hp motor and is wired for 240v. It is very adequate for all the work I've thrown at it using a 10" blade as stated above. As others have noted: bigger is better -- if you'd want to spend the money...

 

[Flyover]

Still looking, and I'll get as much power as I can afford. I'm a little worried at the heat issue though, any better suggestions than a portable propane heater out there? I don't think I can afford to heat the garage when I'm not using it (11 below this morning), but maybe there is an affordable part time heating option that is better about condensation, or is that due to the temperature changes and independent of heating method?

Thanks

 

[Andy Hutyera]

Empire makes some really nice through the wall heaters that will work on either propane or nat. gas. The advantage is that you don't get all the moisture in the shop since the unit vents to the outside and draws combustion air from the outside as well. The non vented units create huge amounts of H20 and consume oxygen as well. They sell units with blowers on them to help move around the heat. They are very easy to install and only require about a 7" hole through the wall.

 

[Greg Nolan]

You say you are considering a Grizzly 10" saw. Are you considering one of their contractor saws (1 hp), their hybrid saw (2hp), or a cabinet saw (3 hp).

Several years ago my Craftsman 1 hp 10" saw died, and I got a Grizzly 3hp cabinet saw -- and the performance difference was quite remarkable. With the 1 hp saw, I regularly tripped the circuit breaker when sawing harwoods, and even when not tripping the breaker, had to cut at quite a slow rate. It was fairly easy to stop the blade if I fed stock (maple, cherry, oak) at anything but a slow rate. With the 3 hp Grizzly, I've never had that kind of problem.

A 1hp motor should handle ripping softwood with no trouble (canoe ribs and planking, for example), but if you are planing to handle much hardwood (canoe rails or furniture), I would recommend the more powerful motor. It does, however, require a 240 circuit, but IMHO worth the trouble of running a new circuit as I had to do.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Fly,

If there are auctions down there, on-line or in person, keep an eye on them. I picked up a roughly 100k gas unit that hangs from the rafters for $12. Though most of the others I've seen go for between $25 - $75, either way it's a cheap heater. If you don't have natural gas and have LP instead, you would have to convert it over, but that shouldn't be too hard. (?).

You could also go the infrared heater route, assuming you have the elec power.

Ames, I got a nice Penn Yan down there a few years ago. It seemed kind a out of place though. (The owners moved there from NY, bringing the canoe with them.)

 

[pklonowski]

As far as table saws go, if you use a "thin kerf" blade, you'll put less strain on the motor. Also, keep the blade CLEAN and SHARP! Built up pitch & crud on the blade causes more strain on the motor, as it ruins the blade's cutting ability. It also creates more heat (friction), which shortens your blade life, thus requiring more frequent sharpenings.

 

[Bill Mackey]

Ripping blade

I added a Diablo ripping blade to my table saw, and am I happy with the results. Available at Home Depot, I ripped 400' of stock 2.5" thick, the last ran as well as the first. I switch this blade out of the saw for general work, but it goes back in anytime I have to rip anythiing special, (8' or longer) After 4 years without sharpening it still does a great job.

 

[MikeCav]

As far as table saws go, if you use a "thin kerf" blade, you'll put less strain on the motor.

In addition to your saw running more effeciently with less strain, a big advantage to a thin kerf blade is less waste - especially if you are doing repetitive ripping stock for a canoe's ribs or planking/strips. You can get about 25% more stock from a given board. Less sawdust = more boat!