Looking to start my shop but what larger purchases are most important first?

[Thompmd]

Thank You both for the help, I’ll definitely check into them.

Sorry for the hijack. I definitely enjoy these types of threads as I’m also doing a very similar thing.

 

[Birdhunter]

When I bought my lathe 22 years ago, I knew zip about turning. So, I hired a pro turner to come to my shop and teach me lathe safety and enough to start turning simple spindle type objects. He returned in about a month to teach me to turn bowls. Each lesson took about 3 hours and gave me a huge jump start.

Table saws, band saws, even hand tools can be tricky to set up and to use safely. Bringing in a pro to help you get started might be worth considering.

 

[cubevandude]

If you study the festool system and use the ideas off this forum, You can be quite creative with minimal floor space.  I would start with a 3X5 MFT slab and get a track saw, with the SS Parf Dogs from Lee Valley.  You could put three of these top together to have a marvelous work table for cutting.  You can do a lot with a setup like this.  I have makita.  Watch Peters videos on the Parf Guide system and the Parf Dogs.  I just got a 14 tooth blade for my track saw to do rough lumber edges with the track saw.
The 20 mm system is brillant.

 

[savsuds]

Electrical.

It is the one thing I would have done before I starting filling my garage with tools/benches. My garage's electrical limits determined my purchases. My projects should have driven the purchases instead.

 

[DeformedTree]

The 20 mm system is brillant.

Everything looks good when you have a sexy spokesperson.

 

[ToolGuy42]

Thanks for all the tips!

I think my next project is building some shelving for our living room so I was able to justify to my wife the purchase of the MFT/3 table and a TS-55 track saw. Also have an 1400 router and LR-32 kit on the way. Gonna use some plywood for the cabinets and shelves from my local shop. I'll post some pics once I get them done. Also have some ideas for storage in my kid's room. So many ideas! Really glad to finally have these tools to make them a reality  [big grin]

 

[sancho57]

[member=73549]ToolGuy42[/member]

Before you go out and start buying tools you mentioned you were going to add on to your garage. The very first thing you need to do IMO is figure out how much room you actually will have. From that point you can decide what tools to buy be it a large band saw, 5HP table saw with a 50 Inch fence or a contractors or jobside table saw.

Once you get the space dialed in then figure out your electrical needs are you going to have enough power in the shop 1,2 3 circuits a 220 circuit... where yer gonna put the outlets.

Then you can decide on what tools size etc to get.

Dont for get everythng else that goes along with a shop to all the jigs, screws, squares hand power tools etc. You have to make room for them to.

I already had my tools and I designed my shop around the tools I already owned.

Hope this helps

 

[Mini Me]

The first thing you should buy before anything else is dust extractor, preferably a cyclonic type.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

As a guy who works in a large cabinet shop, with every way there is to cut materials from sheet goods to rough lumber...if I were working from home, a track saw, a table to work it on, and a 14" bandsaw are a versatile combination.
Planers/jointers are far more useful for those who are working mostly with solid wood and essentially useless to a guy who is building sheet goods projects.
Drill presses shine in production oriented situations, but there really isn't anything you can't drill by hand.
Routers, either in a table or by hand, are extremely versatile, but I wouldn't consider them to be large stationary tools, for the purpose of this discussion. They are not expensive enough to consider a major purchase.
So, as a few others have said, "it depends" on several things. What you make being first on the list. Available space, power access, and even level of commitment are also factors.
Safety glasses and dust collection are also extremely important. The glasses should always be used. Dust collection is somewhat dependent on the equipment you end up choosing. Small (hi velocity) extractors are great for many of these tools, but there comes a point where a larger volume system is needed. There again, dependent on tool choice.
Jointers/planers and table saws don't deal so well with smaller units.
This totally leaves out things like a lathe. Some guys do a lot of turning, some almost exclusively, and others never touch one. Some do a lot of carving, others none. There are guys who are almost exclusively using hand tools like planes, chisels, and saws. While others see these as minor trimming and only slightly used tools.
Wood working is a very broad term that includes a lot of different segments that range from artwork to construction of household needs.

 

[Michael Kellough]

“Wood working is a very broad term that includes a lot of different segments that range from artwork to construction of household needs.”

Great summation!

 

[Bob D.]

"The glasses should always be used."

AND hearing protection. Do not overlook this. Just like your sight you can't get your hearing back.

 

[Wood_Slice]

I would have to agree for a beginner into the hobby a miter saw would most likely be more usefull than a table saw. When you first start you are most likely to buy pre-dimensioned lumber from big box store which you mostly need to cut to length. Table saw would def be a huge asset but I highly recommend watching some safety tips when operating them. I first started with the job site contractor table saws (Ryobi/Skill) and while I didnt notice the danger then i later got myself a hybrid cast iron top table saw. Now you cannot pay me enough to go back to a job site table saw.

 

[dashboardpws]

This is admittedly self serving, but along with all these great and appropriate suggestions for safety gear and tool resources I'll add that if you have all of that and no suitable surface on which to use them, you'll struggle a lot more than necessary. You need a good, sturdy, versatile work surface.

 

[online421]

This really depends on what you make, Looking back if I was going to start again I would buy the following:

Bandsaw - I didn’t have a bandsaw until very late
Jointer/planer combo
Table saw
Dust collection system
Drill press, some projects require better drill press, I still use the $199 drill press I bought from local hardware store 10 years ago.
Belt Sander - you might need 2
Router table or a spindle moulder, I never owned a router table.

Chances are you will upgrade later, so buy an economical version first, try it out, you will develop your skills, you will make different things, and you will find yourself use certain tool more than any other. I found myself using a spindle moulder very often so I invested a slightly above average spindle moulder.

 

[Bertotti]

I started with a table saw and added a 14" bandsaw with 6" risers a few years later. In hind site for what I was doing the bandsaw saw and still sees more work than my table saw. I would think hard about what sort of projects you want to do and what materials you will use the most. I work with chunks and wedges and blocks of wood more so resawing on my bandsaw is the most common thing for me to do. I use the ts55 to break down sheet goods. I only use the table saw if I have a lot of repetitive rips to make of the same width. Thins about your needs that will help you deicde.

 

[Packard]

When I was setting up my shop the answer was easy:  Table saw.  But that was 22 years ago. 

Since then I first fell into the trap of seeing something that appealed to me, convincing myself that I needed it and they buying it and having it sit idle.

Now I wait until I need the equipment before buying. 

The interned (and YouTube especially) promote the earlier behavior. 

 

[squall_line]

Since then I first fell into the trap of seeing something that appealed to me, convincing myself that I needed it and they buying it and having it sit idle.

Now I wait until I need the equipment before buying. 

The internet (and YouTube especially) promote the earlier behavior.

Quoted for truth.  This can't be emphasized enough.

It's a shame that when others see this behaviour, they treat the buyers as "trust fund woodworkers" when it's really sometimes just a trap into which we can all fall fairly easily.

 

[Packard]

In the early 1970s my younger brother became a "hi-fi fanatic" studying all the available literature on high-end stereo equipment. He saved his money and bought a really superior setup including the latest in tape cassette recorders. 

The day he received his equipment he cancelled all his hi-fi magazines.  He said if he continued to read the magazines he be in a constant cycle of buying new and selling old. 

Unfortunately the internet makes that isolation impossible.  [big grin]

 

[mino]

When I was setting up my shop the answer was easy:  Table saw.  But that was 22 years ago.
...

I would say there still are "essentials" you simply need - functionally:

- handy drill driver /12V class like CXS/
- strong drill driver /18V+ like the PDC, but preferably even stronger and with impact/
- vac
- track saw + some rails
- router
- 2-3 mm stroke orbital sander
- jigsaw
- drill stand for a corded drill or a drill press

And that is about it for sheet goods.

The, when moving to process some raw lumber:
- thicknesser /can be combined with jointer /
- jointer

And that is about it overall.

One needs all these "basic" tools by type, but does NOT necessarily need all to be top quality. A crappy jigsaw a crappy drill press and a crappy thicknesser will most of the time be "good-enough" for DYI and hobby use. While not having ones "breaks" the thinking freedom to make stuff the "normal" way.

Beyond that, I would agree. Do notice I put no big tools in that list.

For a novice - one *needs* a tracksaw, a vac, a router and a sander to be able to even understand/figure out what they are /and are not/ good for. Same with a jointer-thicknesser in the raw lumber space.

A skilled tradesmen may skip some as would already know his way about. But a skilled tradesmen is not gonna ask where to start anyway.
[smile]

 

[Packard]

If this was not a Festool site, you could swap that track saw for a table saw.  [big grin]

I grew up with a table saw, so the track saw is still secondary to me, (but gaining in usage.)