A New Adventure

[Mikerodrig27]

Pretty sweet! Looks like some good upgrades. I want to set up a 160 sqft shed in my back yard to empty my garage into. I need the space for my woodshop just like you did.

[Steve Manning]

Well after much moving of stuff, I now had some room to start the rework and upgrade process in the garage.

With some of the new design concepts we had been discussing it made sense to do an upgrade on my table saw to something with a little more oomph. This is what I decided on after much research.




With help from my neighbor and a whole lot of grunting, we were able to get it out of the car so I could start assembly.




You can see in this shot I now have room to work with.




Saw finished ...... I was also able, with a few tweaks, to use my existing out feed table.




One addition I had been wanting to do with my old saw was to add a digital readout on the saw fence. Makes life a lot easier for repeating cuts.

[Steve Manning]

Thanks for the comments guys.

[TEK]

Congrats on making a bold choice Steve.
I wish you all of luck and hope your adventure will be a great success!

[JonMarsh]

I think I'm going to want one of those up in Idaho some day.... but I'll insulate and drywall the interior!

[Steve Manning]

So this the reason for the hole in the fence .....




The new shed is 12' X 16' with loft areas and gives us a ton of extra space for that "stuff".








Of course the hole in the fence had to be closed.

[Steve Manning]

So, what has transpired to this point in getting that process moving …... Once the decision to do this was out of the way, I did an evaluation of my shop and how well that functioned. Even though I already had a decent setup for tools it was certainly not very efficient. With having to share space in my garage with bikes, painting supplies, coolers, pet supplies and all the other things that make one’s life go, I was restricted to having tools on wheels. Also, the basic mode of operation was set up a tool, use it, move it, set up the tool for the next operation, etc.

Looking at a few options and working with a limited budget, a new 2000 sq. ft was not in the cards, bummer. :cry: Though it was clear I needed to get “stuff” out of the garage. I opted on getting a larger shed in the backyard to help with the situation.

This was our existing shed, 8' X 8' which already had a fair amount of "stuff" in it already.




Before anything could be done with the shed it had to be emptied. Which pretty much halted all woodworking in the garage.






The old shed was taken apart and given to some friends, though there was some demo work that my wife rather enjoyed. :W



A rather large hole had to be made in our fence to make room for the new shed to be delivered. No I did not build a new one myself.

[Steve Manning]

Jon's such as tease.

[ergo]

DIY getting a higher priority on your list will sure make everyone around this forum very happy I'm sure 8)

[JonMarsh]

Hey, Ergo, I resemble that remark! (the one about lacking time).


But you just might be surprised at what I choose to prioritize. There was a test crossover being assembled yesterday for Steve's "proof of concept" build. More I cannot say... yet.

[ergo]

Very interesting Steve, keep us posted. Once your ideas solidify you might consider starting a Patreon account for example to help support the efforts. I would be happy to chip in. Jon is probably lacking time more than anything, but for you this side of it is probably an important aspect too.

Best of luck! (or a "Stone into your bag" as Estonian proverb would say instead )

[Alaric]

You certainly have my attention.

[csmielke]

Steve,
Good luck on the new adventure, can't wait to see what you guys come up with.
Chris

[Steve Manning]

I wanted to share with you all what I’m calling a “New Adventure”. I’m sure you’ll have it figured out prior to the punch line, but I’ll give you a why, what and how this has all come about and why it might be of interest to you.

As some of you know I have been a member of the forum for a while now and have shared a number of my projects with you. Like many of you I strive to build the best speakers, cabinets, etc., that I can, while trying improving my skills along the way. Sometimes things turn out as planed and sometimes not so much. During these projects I’ve discovered I like designing and building these speakers as much as I do listening to them when I’m finished.

As a result, I’ve had a constant supply of thoughts of wouldn’t it be cool if …… I could make that better if …... To make matter worse I’ve been adding fuel to that particular fire with many conversations with Jon Marsh and the Sith Lord himself, ET. We have formed a collaborative group and have been working on a number of concepts and designs geared towards the DIY enthusiast. Much of this has been developed from lessons learned and what we feel are unique construction concepts.

I’ve also had the opportunity last year to do some work for a couple of our forum members in helping them out on a couple of Ardent builds, which was a lot of fun. Having also been laid off from my job a while back and discovering that despite what the government tells us about the low employment rate, getting a new job that doesn’t require the question, “do you want fries with that?”, especially as you get older, has proven to be an exercise in extreme frustration. So, I’ve decided to take the leap as many others seem to be doing these days and do something for myself that I can enjoy and that’s make stuff.

With that in mind, if you will, envision the concept of herding cats …... Our little collaboration has been looking at some smaller system designs, ET has been muttering something about “tiny technological terrors”. Jon is trying to ride heard on him, but most of you know how that goes, he’s almost as bad! We are looking at the possibility of kitting out some more modestly focused designs as well as pushing forward with some high-end construction techniques adaptable to a wide range of systems - more as this develops.



To be continued ……