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My new workshop is finally done! Well, of course it is not actually finished, as we all know it is an ever evolving project. I am putting some more cabinets under the bench, installing I door between the two rooms, I still have to build the down draft table, finish the separate room for the DC and the ductwork etc. Details! (I know, I know...)

So here it is. The new shop consists of two separate rooms, one bench room and one machine room. The machine room is new; I used to have everything crammed into the room that is now the bench room. I wanted to separate the dust and debris of the big wood processing machines from the ‘clean’ work. The whole shop is 9 x 4,6 m (about 30’ x 15’).

Here’s the plan.


The shop is in a semi basement, and about half of the shop is below grade. I have a bit of daylight, mostly from north, and I oriented the benches so I can position my work to take advantage of the light in many different positions. I also put some insulation and OSB on the walls, built new benches and shelves. Most of it is recycled from the old shop, cabinets are leftovers from various house renos and the bench tops are solid beech from IKEA (cost the same as a double 20 mm plywood bechtop would have, believe it or not). The drill press is the only big power tool in this room.

In the bench room I have a central work station that I can work on all from all 4 sides.





A pipe clamp guitar holding vise is on one end, and clamps are stored along another side.



An old workbench is on one side. About the bench... they are very common in these parts, and this specimen could be 50 or 150 years old ; wooden bench screw are uncommon on more modern benches. I got it from a friend some year back, but I haven't had a chance to fix it up yet. Up here, these traditional benches are usually quite humble and utilitarian in their appearance, I have never seen any of 'trophy' Scandinavian style benches that exist in the US. I'm going to flatten the top a bit, that's it. I have another (larger, but nicer) bench that I just didn't have room for any more.



The hand tool cabinet above it I quickly made from an discarded pine book case and some plywood. I like to put the tools away after use, but still have them easily accessible where they will be used so a normal clamshell type cabinet seemed like a good idea. These are more general woodworking tools than guitar making tools.


Here’s the bench along the opposite wall for routing, sanding, go bar clamping and so on. Sharpening station and 'wet work' on a high pressure laminate bench top at the far end.


Some more chisels above this bench

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Storage…


More storage, routers and trimmers here.


New zoot shelf…


As I mentioned I haven’t finished the ductwork for the DC yet, and the machine room is a bit dusty. Anyways, here are a couple of snapshots. First the large bandsaw. This one is 24” and 3 phase motor, works wonderfully. I have a s 12” too, but it’s not in the picures.


Some more heavy metal…


Thanks for looking!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Arnt, that's really great. You must be in "Hog Heaven". You have really put a lot of work into getting that shop up to your standards. It's just going to be a great place to build instruments.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Congratulations Arnt. Here are a few blossom's from my shop to Yours. We'd all love to come hang out for a week, help you celebrate and break in the new digs.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Wow Arnt my friend this is a wonderful shop and you did a GREAT job building it. I see lots of ideas that I may borrow from you, if you are OK with this, when I get around to the construction of my new shop.

Most of all I see some real cleverness and a great deal of thought that went into your design and execution.

Very well done!!!

Sweeeeet!
I'm a big fan of separating machine areas from bench space. I like island benches/work tables too.
I look forward to seeing it in person one day.
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

Man, I'm in envy. That looks about perfect Arnt.

Dogwoods are blooming eh Bruce? Little early yet here in Mich.

Cheers

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Horton, MI

I really like the idea of a separate machine/dust room. My space is 15x15 and currently has everything in this one room. I have to plan what work I can do so as not to have projects at different stages. It kind of forces me to complete one before starting the next.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Thanks, guys!

Bruce, wonderful blossoms. My lawn is still covered with ice and snow, tomorrow we are skiing up to the cabin in the mountains to stack a pile of firewood that my cousin with the snowmobile left for us. Spring in Trondheim...

Hesh, you are most welcome to use any ideas you find here in your new shop, I'd be delighted. How is the planning going?

Chas, you know you have a standing invitation. BTW, on of things that I haven't gotten around to building yet is a down draft table. I'm planning to base mine on the model you showed in a thread here a while ago and incorporate it in the long bench along the wall.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

VERY nice space, Arnt! You're my new role model!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Beautiful design amd execution, Arnt. It's obvious that a lot of thought as well as a lot of experience went into the layout.

OK...now it's time to build guitars!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Arnt:

Looks very good! I will steal the file rack and IKEA ideas on first look and then study your other organizational strategy at length. Thanks for posting.

Do I see a lathe on the plan? Are you a turner as well?

Danny R. Little

Classy shop Arnt. I really like it, especially the racks for wood storage. I've still got one small snow drift in the yard otherwise it's actually spring in MN-finally!
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Very nice arnt
I am inspired to do something to my old messy shop

John

No lathe on the plan, Danny (not anything that was intentionally meant to look like one, anyways!). Perhaps you are seeing the belt sander? However, I do own a mini lathe for tool handles and such, but I'm no wiz with it, believe me.

Here are a few of more:

Built in go bar deck


Drill press


Here's how the chisel rack looks up close. With these slotted board holders there is always the danger of the chisel falling out if it's not seated properly. My solution was to recess a hole for the the ferrules so the chisel seats more securely. It is more important on the chisel rack over in the cabinet door of course, but you really don't want any falling chisels on any part of your work area!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

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Great looking new shop Arnt! I like your central island bench.
I made one similar and it is very nice to have access to all four sides.
Your tool cabinet and Zoot shelf are nice too! I'm envious,The whole shop is really
set up great! Time to build some beautiful guitars now.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Arnt, I'm with Bruce and Charles...we need to have an OLF gathering at your place. Then we could all select our own Norway spruce for tops before returning home.

Man, that sounds like fun.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Nice shop! I like the clam shell tool cabinet! Good design on the over all!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Very impressive Arnt!! You have created a fabulous "happy place"....good on ya!

Arnt, it looks great. I have to confess that I'm going to be join all the others in stealing, ah, borrowing ideas from your shop. I'll be starting with the wall cabinet. I really like its layout. It will be a great addition to the new bedroom~shop.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

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Aoibeann

You have 3 phase in Norway, or do you have to use a converter? I the USSA it's kind of a problem!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Hi Billy, over here all new residential houses get a main 230V 3 phase power line. It is then split so we can draw the single phase in 3 main “pairs” from there (and split those into separate circuits), and we can establish true 3 phase circuits as well. I can tell you it makes a huge difference; the 3 phase motors run noticeably smoother, they have a very high starting torque and much better efficiency than single phase motors. They are also more compact, and will usually last longer. Love it!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Arnt, how deep is your hand tool cabinet? The more I look at it the more I like your layout.

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Aoibeann

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Rub it in!

Over here it's split before the tranformer so to get true 3 phase you have to have another line run. It's a pain! A friend of mine has a Bridgeport and an ID/OD grinder in his garage as a business and he has to run a big motor converter to be able to run the machines. All the advantages are lost!

His electric bills are through the roof. Not to mention, he gets a friendly visit from the police who think he might be growing pot in his attic because of it. He's like 68!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)