October 12, 2011 - Shop Upgrade
It gradually occurred to me over a period of years -- I'm not the quickest study but I do get there in the long run -- that my basement workshop does not have enough light. I can remember building the RV working with the headlight during an entire session. As you can see, I have one light in the center, and another -- out of sight -- over the workbench on the right.
So after the second Xenos wing was complete, I was resolved to light the place up before the next project. The books and blogs on building airplanes were unanimous that there was no such thing as too much light. Some posters went into great detail calculating how many lumens -- or some such metric -- were required. I just figured I'd cover the ceiling in lights.
So I finally got it done and installed new lighting. I ended up putting in eight new lights. In addition, Bruce sprayed the ceiling and walls white for me, and we both rolled the floors. I had to move everything out of the workshop beforehand, which was no easy task.
But the result was worth it as you shall see.
Before.
To get some experience with the Tablesaw I built the "Portable 4-Way Work Island -- I call it a Tool Table -- below. This space-saving device will hold the Drill Press, Band Saw, Grinder and (to be acquired) Belt Sander. I got the idea from the extremely useful book "The Sportplane Builder" by EAA legend Tony Bingelis. The book did not have detailed plans, though, but an article in the EAA Sport Aviation magazine January 2010 issue did. The article detailed how to build the famous EAA Workbenc. The Tool Table is basically a square EAA Workbench on caster wheels.
It only took me about five hours to build the table. The new Tablesaw made it easy. The precision and cut quality of the table saw is awesome.
