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I haven't really had much time in my shop since last fall. During the spring, our church's youth group was having a yard sale, and someone donated a C'man RAS. It didn't sell. I offered to buy it to help the youth group and drug the thing home. It has sat in my shop for at least 5 months and never plugged in.
A couple of months ago, a Winn-Dixie in Columbus, GA closed and auctioned off all the contents of the store. On a whim, I placed bids on 2 items, a server rack, and a set of cabinets about 8' long. With fees and tax, I won both for less than $15, and they threw in a 4x8 bulletin board for free. I donated the bulletin board to my kids' school.
My son and I took the trailer to Columbus and spent the better part of a morning trying to detach the cabinets from the block wall. We finally got them loose and apart (3 units screwed together). We got everything home, and wound up dropping and damaging the server rack. I was more interested in the contents, so no harm. I will sell it for scale and get my money back.
So, recently I ripped out the old 2x workbench my wife and I built about 10 years ago. It came off the block wall a little too easy! Since the new cabinets were a little taller than I expected, I cut the bottoms off and built some frames on the floor out of scrap PT lumber. I leveled the frames and put the cabinets on them. I split the cabinets up to act as a miter saw bench, and cut the original countertop from Winn-Dixie to fit. I recycled part of my old bench and used it to mount the miter saw. 1 cabinet on the left, and 2 on the right, with the miter saw's surface lining up almost perfectly with the countertop. You would need a feeler gauge to really tell the difference where they meet. However, I do need to re-level the other end since it settled a little. I did attach the cabinets to the block.
Over the weekend, I decided to finally fix the water issues I've had for years. I tore out the original, 55 year old door, and started walling in the opening since the door wasn't usable. A block layer, I am not. It didn't help that the original blocks were slightly longer than the ones I bought. However, with help from SWMBO (who has done some block on missions trips), we got everything done with the exception of one block to create a rough opening for a window. I was going to wall in the whole thing, buy my FIL said he would spring for the window since I saved him from calling for mower service recently. That offer was quickly accepted, because I was ready to smash all the blocks with my truck.
Now, to finish up my story. I rough cut the PT 2x8 for the framing with my circular saw, and since I've also been rewiring my table saw to 240V, and it's now a temporary workbench with moving everything around, I decided to use the RAS to cut boards to length. I was successful, and didn't hurt myself, but it is definitely a tool to respect. I don't think it has a negative tooth blade on it, because it felt like it was trying to climb cut every time. I also really need to tune the saw, but it was fine for what I was doing. Oh yeah, one of the reasons why I bought the RAS was to see if I could get the recall money if it couldn't be retrofitted. The previous owner had already taken care of the recall.
So, here's a summary of what I've done and have left to do:
Done:
Replace breaker panel to handle more than 2 circuits
Wire table saw for 240
Dedicated 15A 240 circuit for the TS
Install and level base cabinets
Install and mount miter saw
Remove unusable door and wall up the opening
Dedicated 15A 120 circuit for outside weather protected plug and street light
To Do:
Build new 6'6" x 9' sliding door to replace existing entrance doors. Style similar to NYWS
Buy sliding barn door hardware for door.
Clean the shop.
Sell collection of salvaged doors on CL or social media for the etsy/pinterest folks
After door is built and hung, pour 1" to 1.5" lip inside the door to block water from entering
Tar/seal the block and concrete where water tends to seep in.
Disassemble router station and use the wall cabinets the router table sits on as wall cabinets. Build new base for Bosch router table.
Build clap racks, etc.
Paint exterior of shop.
Also, I have FINALLY figured out a way to reframe the roof to eliminate my center post. All the math works, except the math getting the money to purchase the materials. Maybe Santa will help. Once the shop isn't so embarrassingly messy, I'll take a few photos to show.
A couple of months ago, a Winn-Dixie in Columbus, GA closed and auctioned off all the contents of the store. On a whim, I placed bids on 2 items, a server rack, and a set of cabinets about 8' long. With fees and tax, I won both for less than $15, and they threw in a 4x8 bulletin board for free. I donated the bulletin board to my kids' school.
My son and I took the trailer to Columbus and spent the better part of a morning trying to detach the cabinets from the block wall. We finally got them loose and apart (3 units screwed together). We got everything home, and wound up dropping and damaging the server rack. I was more interested in the contents, so no harm. I will sell it for scale and get my money back.
So, recently I ripped out the old 2x workbench my wife and I built about 10 years ago. It came off the block wall a little too easy! Since the new cabinets were a little taller than I expected, I cut the bottoms off and built some frames on the floor out of scrap PT lumber. I leveled the frames and put the cabinets on them. I split the cabinets up to act as a miter saw bench, and cut the original countertop from Winn-Dixie to fit. I recycled part of my old bench and used it to mount the miter saw. 1 cabinet on the left, and 2 on the right, with the miter saw's surface lining up almost perfectly with the countertop. You would need a feeler gauge to really tell the difference where they meet. However, I do need to re-level the other end since it settled a little. I did attach the cabinets to the block.
Over the weekend, I decided to finally fix the water issues I've had for years. I tore out the original, 55 year old door, and started walling in the opening since the door wasn't usable. A block layer, I am not. It didn't help that the original blocks were slightly longer than the ones I bought. However, with help from SWMBO (who has done some block on missions trips), we got everything done with the exception of one block to create a rough opening for a window. I was going to wall in the whole thing, buy my FIL said he would spring for the window since I saved him from calling for mower service recently. That offer was quickly accepted, because I was ready to smash all the blocks with my truck.
Now, to finish up my story. I rough cut the PT 2x8 for the framing with my circular saw, and since I've also been rewiring my table saw to 240V, and it's now a temporary workbench with moving everything around, I decided to use the RAS to cut boards to length. I was successful, and didn't hurt myself, but it is definitely a tool to respect. I don't think it has a negative tooth blade on it, because it felt like it was trying to climb cut every time. I also really need to tune the saw, but it was fine for what I was doing. Oh yeah, one of the reasons why I bought the RAS was to see if I could get the recall money if it couldn't be retrofitted. The previous owner had already taken care of the recall.
So, here's a summary of what I've done and have left to do:
Done:
Replace breaker panel to handle more than 2 circuits
Wire table saw for 240
Dedicated 15A 240 circuit for the TS
Install and level base cabinets
Install and mount miter saw
Remove unusable door and wall up the opening
Dedicated 15A 120 circuit for outside weather protected plug and street light
To Do:
Build new 6'6" x 9' sliding door to replace existing entrance doors. Style similar to NYWS
Buy sliding barn door hardware for door.
Clean the shop.
Sell collection of salvaged doors on CL or social media for the etsy/pinterest folks
After door is built and hung, pour 1" to 1.5" lip inside the door to block water from entering
Tar/seal the block and concrete where water tends to seep in.
Disassemble router station and use the wall cabinets the router table sits on as wall cabinets. Build new base for Bosch router table.
Build clap racks, etc.
Paint exterior of shop.
Also, I have FINALLY figured out a way to reframe the roof to eliminate my center post. All the math works, except the math getting the money to purchase the materials. Maybe Santa will help. Once the shop isn't so embarrassingly messy, I'll take a few photos to show.
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