Task lighting
4. Buying premium wood. I have always said, its either sawdust or furniture. There usually not much in the middle ground. If you are new to woodworking I always suggest easy projects made out of “found” wood. Its always good to salvage wood to learn a new technique than it is to practice on a nice piece of cherry.
You will need at least one regulator and a water trap in line before it. These are not expensive. A regulator allows you to set the correct air pressure for the tool you will be using (say, 80 PSI) instead of tank pressure (say, 175 PSI).
Finally, to complete all necessities for a safe and efficient workshop, you’ll need to actually choose the tools you’ll use as well as a good work bench for the space to actually work. You’ll likely need two or three good solid work benches. You may be able to find a really nice used one in the classified section of your newspaper, or certainly an excellent one at a home hardware store.
The type of electrical power required by an air compressor is another consideration. If you have three-phase power available at your location, fine. Three phase motors tend to use electricity a bit more efficiently than single-phase motors. Large air compressors will all require 3-phase power but the 5 HP models come either way. If you do not have 3-phase power available, you can manufacture it with a rotary or electronic phase converter as I did in my smaller shop. Whether you use single or three phase power, you will need 230V AC power for single-phase motors and 208 or 220V AC for the three-phase variety. Be sure to check the voltage and amperage requirements of any air compressor before you buy it. Electricians can be expensive.
Every woodworking shop should have a good table saw, because so many different jobs rely on the use of a table saw. It is probably the most integral part of any shop. Important features to look for when choosing a table saw are a strong motor along with a good sized heavy duty table with a solid fence.
The size of the compressor’s air tank is an important consideration: The smaller the tank, the more often the compressor will need to cycle on and off, This is hard on both the motor and compressor pump over time and it uses more electricity. I would not even consider an air compressor used to power an air sander with less than a 60 gallon tank and I would feel much more comfortable with an 80 gallon tank.
If you have ever tried to build a woodworking project you know that you need a shop or area to work on your project. Having an organized shop will help you be more productive and keep you safe while building your design.
Before making a plan for the lighting fixtures in the workshop, plan and layout where all of the woodworking tools will be arranged in the workshop. This will make planning the lighting needs much easier and will help prevent dark zones and casting shadows over the work surface of the tool.
The first table to be discussed can be called the drawing table. This table is used for drawing or sketching project designs, tracing with templates, doing math calculations, and resting and thinking. It is best placed in an open space in the shop so that the user can easily work from any side of it. What is unique about this table is that its height can be custom-made to fit the woodworker’s height. The goal in constructing this table is to make the height of the top such that the user can comfortably stand at it with his/her elbows on it. By adding a second shelf or shelves below the top, templates, drawing paper, a calculator, rulers, etc. can be stored and are ready for use when needed. The top can also be used for assembling small projects such as bird houses. This author easily and inexpensively made such a table for himself by using used 4 x 4 fence posts, a few 2 x 4 ‘s and a 4 x 8 sheet of press board cut in half, one half for the top and the other for a shelf underneath. When you have visitors, this table can also serve as a center point for your wood shop.
