Official Luthiers Forum!

Rich that is a good idea and one that I know something about since I just did my new driveway 2 weeks ago. Thanks man!

hmmmmm......not sure I agree with the advice you were given Hesh, particularly if it's as dry as you say. I had regular old concrete floor paint (I would have thought epoxy would be better, if anything) in my basement shop for years....never flaked or peeled up (& it was in my shop/laundry room, so even periodic water on the floor). I dragged my bandsaw around sometimes to do long stuff - you saw marks the pads left but the paint was fine. I'll abrade with traffic so I'd redo it every few years, only in areas I could get at with a roller.
A new room is a prefect opportunity. Un-treated concrete is a constant source of dust, as Rich says, and it's NOT NEAT! (...think of a Formula 1 garage, where you could eat off the floor!)

(ps...you realise we are living vicariously though your shop build, so we want it to be right.)

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Dave
Milton, ON

Dave my friend I hear ya and when you said "IT'S NOT NEAT" I shuddered to think of the darn dust.....

OK I it looks like I may have screwed up in not painting the floor. But even though it will be more difficult to do I can and will put it on the list and see about it doing it later.

I don't get it - when I paint a guitar top you guys get mad at me and when I don't paint a stinkin floor you guys get mad at me.....

But for now I am chomping at the bit to get back to building. It's been 6 months since I glued a brace so I am sure you can relate.

Thanks again for the very good suggestion.

BTW this is the first post that I have ever made from my new office right outside the shop! It feels great to have my trusty old office chair back in service.

Hey! I finally had the camera downstairs when one of these threads is going on. Here is my setup. I am definitely on the tight side with just over 150 s.f., 17x9 feet. I am also in an old bedroom and have a ground floor window and door and my neighbors are constantly peeking in on me (city sidewalk). It's great! I can do most things without taking more than 2 steps in any direction which could be good or bad depending. A guitar is certainly the largest thing I can do in here but for me I love it.

Here are some hard earned mantras I try to keep an eye on.



Turn a little clockwise and next to that is the table saw



Another little turn and there is downdraft table. It definitely works a little and that is it. It is better than nothing and makes a comfy nook to sand in but I still wear the mask. You can see that the wood is beginning to jut into my standing space. This is an ongoing problem.



Another little turn and you are at the bandsaw and belt sander. My little bandsaw is mostly a toy but I have done some great things on that little guy.



On to the next post.........

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

And here we keep going!

Going down the bench and you get to the mini router table, thickness sander and drill press. I built the thickness snader into the bench and gave it a little more table and it works great. The collection hose snug fits on when I am using it.



To the other side of the door there is my desk space and some storage for fingerboards, extra wood and bodies and things. Below that is some larger storage space all filled up. It is a really nice spot to sit and suss stuff out or do inlay or other small tasks.



And then completing the circle (almost) is the main work area. The melamine top is supported underneath and this is where most of everything happens. You can see the electronic equipment is out, I was doing some Chladni tuning over the weekend. This whole bench is also filled with wood underneath so it is pretty solid. You can see the fan in front of the humidifier and that really helps keep it on track in terms of the room RH. Getting all of the cam clamps suspended up top really helped with clutter also.



And then last is the above area. I had some decent size ceiling space so I built a attic of sorts and keep all of the resawn wood up there. There would be no way to not have this space (and there is still a little room up there).



That's it! Thanks for looking. If any of you are ever in Boston for anything you are welcome any time.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

The nicest thing about painting the floor would be dust control. An unsealed concrete floor will always be dusty, the concrete just naturally chafes into a fine dust if it is not sealed. The paint would also make clean up of your regular work dust easier. A piece of old carpet underneath the things you drag would go a long way towards protecting your painted floor. That being said...ya gotta do what ya gotta do

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Jeremy Vonk

I've got a bunch of that exercise matting in my shop. I lay it down where I will be standing for any length of time. I wish that I could lay my whole floor with it! It really is great to stand on.

The trouble is that I am constantly moving heavy stuff around, several times daily. It gets pretty tired to have to lift and replace the mats that often. If the equipment and tables would roll better over the mats, you bet I'd have the whole floor done as fast as you can snap your fingers.

I've been thinking that maybe I should do the whole shop floor anyway, and just put all my equipment on bigger wheels!

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

OK I'll show you mine. I built it myself and did everything but the rendering on the outside. The workshop is the part on the left, the part on the right is supposed to have the car in it! My one big mistake was not making the workshop part twice as big. It's about 12'6" by 10'0" inside.


I know that windows are a waste of wall space but the French window was the only way I could get the combination machine in. It's a bench saw/jointer/thicknesser/spindle moulder/mortiser/etc. Never used the spindle moulder (dangerous things) but I could perhaps convert it to a pin router...


It's fully insulated and heated but there's no RH control as yet. I ought to get a dehumidifier (the other day it was warm and 'muggy' and the meter read 60%. The next day there was a cold snap, the heating came on and it went down to 42%) but where the hell would I put it?


The 'engineering' corner. The little lathe was my retirement present from work.


The milling machine was my retirement present to myself!


My workbench. When they threw out all the old drawing boards at work, I rescued my draughtsman's chair. I wouldn't be without it.

Great looking shop Dave! It must be nice to be able to take a break and step right outside. Very cool!

I've wanted to post some pics of my place for a while, but never seem to get around to it.

Here's a look from the front door.



The new spray booth / go-bar deck to the left.



In the back corner is my bench area.



Down the back wall are the big drill press, milling machine, band saw and small lathe.



A few grinders looking back at the front door.



And my best employee!!!!

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

Hesh, I'm tellin' ya it just aint fair for no one to have a shop like that.
It just ain't fair.
Nelson

My shop was just getting on track after a year in the house...then I had the bright idea that I needed another hobby! So, yeah, one half of the shop is for building, the other is where my 68 Camaro sits. Needless to say, I haven't been doing a lot of building since August when I got the car! Thankfully, I have a big garage, and an understanding wife! Now I just need to convince her I need a purpose built shop, hmmm...

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Jamie M

Louis my friend GREAT looking shop!!!!

Well I had another busy day with only one break to go vote... but I got a lot done and wanted to share some pics.





I just can't believe how much stuff we accumulate in this craft...... If you ever have to move your shop I feel very sorry for you..... I am NEVER moving again!!!!

I just put these Lowes steel shelves together last evening. I plan on stocking up on zoot so I needed more room.







This is the last building that I did in the last shop in Ann Arbor. This OM is for my bro Billy. The body currently weighs 1 pound 12 ounces and is Cuban and either Adi or Carp - I can't remember.......



And I am always writing myself reminders to help me avoid mistakes and accidents........

Great shops everyones...
I had an open door in September... which gave me the opportunity to take pictures while the place was almost spotless... You will like these pictures Hesh!

My shop is used to make my XXL guitars but is also the home of other Montreal luthiers such as Steve Calder and Vincent Latulippe. I rented the space and we pooled our ressources together for the power tools and the shop set-up.

Here it goes.

This is the view from the door.

The shop is roughly divided in two, a first room is used for handwork, assembly and set-up while the second biggest room is used for the power tools.

Entering in the handwork room, this is my main work space.

This is a better view of the wood hanging over my head as I work!

Of course other tables are required... we are sometimes 5 or 6 working at the same time.

I've built this rack to hold guitar bodies waiting to go to the paint shop! The bottle of scotch is also safely stored there!

The necks have their own red carpet drawer.

The machine room... The two band saw are respectively set-up with a 1/4 and a 3/4 blade.

A copying machine that I've built... I should have bought one! Did not save money and the arms are not strong enough. A rebuilt is in the to-do list!


Stay tuned, seven more photos to go...

The sanders are all in the same area, near the dust extractor!

The little room in the corner is the dust room... the only un-cleanable place of the shop!

This is where the dust comes to die!

We were short on tables, so we built a 16 feet worktable for rough assembly

And yes, I have WAS (and TAS) and I am NOT seeking professional help!


Finally, the shelving where all the others put their wood!


Thank's for watching!
Marc

Wow Marc that is a GREAT shop!!!

This idea of pooling resources with other Luthiers is also a very cool idea. And the bottle of scotch is safely in it's place too....

Very cool shop Marc!

Yeah, that is a great shop space. And you're lucky to find other luthiers to share the space and cost with, and it seems that you get along, too! Its good for everyone.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I just moved in to a bigger place. Coming from a 1 car garage at home.

Nice shop!

You had all that in a one-car garage?!

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

OMG, how did you move the milling machine? I don't see wheels.

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Aoibeann

For Rod True: What are the dimensions of your finishing room and how do you find spraying in a relatively small space? Something similar to what you have done might be a solution for me.

Thanks

Scott

Hey Scott, It's 6'x4'. It's tight but works just fine. The only thing in the booth when spraying is me and the guitar so there's actually adequate room to spray a full size guitar body effectively.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Haha thanks. Yea i did have it all in a one car garage at home. It was a really tight fit! I hired someone to move that milling machine in. Believe it or not i got all those machines moved in for $400 from some small company near by. They basically moved the milling machine with a heavy duty dolly. HAHA! pretty crazy guys. I took em out for a drink afterwards so its all good.