Building my garage workshop

[Chernobyl85]

Recently I moved into a house with a decent sized garage, I immediately took the garage for my space and started to build a little shop. Basically I'm sick of working in a cubicle on a computer 8+ hours a day, so I am trying to expand my horizons and hopefully work from home or at least develop a fun hobby. I don't plan to work on cars or anything in here, it's going to be aimed more at making movie props/items from video games, or making any other sort of neat thing I see and can't afford (which is a LOT).

To be completely honest, I don't have much experience with tools or garages, but I have to start somewhere. I will update this thread with my progress as often as I can. Thanks for taking the time to look, any feedback/questions/criticisms are very welcome, like I said I am very new to all of this, and I'm sure there will be mistakes made along the way.

I don't have any "bare bones" pics of the garage, so I will start with the pics I have and take more going forward. The makeshift work area I made to start on projects, I am currently in the process of making a 8'x4' workbench though - Here is my little poker table and tool cart

Here is my electronics/soldering area, it's a mess I know, but I'm working on getting it all cleaned up

The view from the electronics desk, I have a lot of plans to tidy/organize, but it's been slow going for now

The storage area, going to get a bunch of nice boxes to store all my spare parts/materials in with labels, I'm going for something like the Mythbusters wall of boxes

Added a few shop lights, plan to add one more as well

That was the state of the garage about a month or so after moving in, I hurt my neck pretty bad and wasn't able to really do much, but now I'm on the mend and will be hopefully chugging through the rest of the stuff quicker.

 

[Chernobyl85]

I'm starting work on my massive workbench, needed to buy a ton of lumber

Wanted a masonite top, so I glued one on top of a 3/4 inch piece of particle board, layed the masonite on the garage floor first

Then I put glue and the particle board on top, then I piled on a TON of **** to weigh it down for the glue to cure

While the glue was curing I decided to use some of the wood I bought and an old kitchen counter top to build a table on the wall, started with a 2x4 mounted on the wall

Then I added some legs

Then mounted the kitchen counter top on the legs and set up my drill press on it, the white panel is a piece of whiteboard stuff from Lowes, so I can use dry erase markers on it, and it will help bounce some light around

Finished off the table by gluing a few meter rulers on the side so I can get quick measurements without digging for a ruler, also put my scroll saw on top

Also built a paint drying rack

Here are a few of my tools, I lucked a few times on craigslist and got some killer deals on tools. First up is my favorite tool so far, my 14" delta bandsaw, met an older workworker who had to sell off some tools, got this and the scroll saw for a very fair price

Next up is the deal of the century, found a guy moving who had to get rid of all his tools quick, picked up a Craftsman circular saw, jig saw, a brand new nail gun, a small shop vac, and a bucket full of random tools all for $20

And a few tools that I bought at the store, a table saw

and a miter saw

Also, because I love tool pictures, here is my tool cart (best $27 I ever spent)
Top of cart

Bottom rack

And that's where I am currently, the glue is cured will slowly work on the desk throughout the workweek and hopefully, if it's not done by the weekend, finish it then. Any questions/comments/feedback is much appreciated, thanks for looking

 

[HSpencer]

Welcome to GJ. Looks like your pretty well into woodworking. Lots of nice tools. You have a great place to work. I will be very interested in seeing how you set the whole shop up!!!

Best Wishes
Herb Spencer

 

[Zeke]

^^^ What Herb said.

Any reason you didn't splash a quick coat of paint around before starting in?

 

[Chernobyl85]

Welcome to GJ. Looks like your pretty well into woodworking. Lots of nice tools. You have a great place to work. I will be very interested in seeing how you set the whole shop up!!!

Best Wishes
Herb Spencer

Thanks for the kind words! I took woodshop many years ago in high school and loved it, kind of fell away from it though when I got my office job, trying to rekindle the love again and hopefully pursue that as a job and get out of my cubicle lol. I'm lucky to have this space, have many ideas planned out too, will try to keep this thread updated with my progress. Thanks again for looking!

 

[Chernobyl85]

^^^ What Herb said.

Any reason you didn't splash a quick coat of paint around before starting in?

Thanks! I planned on painting, but as this is just a rental it was more expense that I wanted to put into the garage. I'd have to prime it first then a few coats of white. If I can talk the landlord into offsetting some of the cost, or buying the paint and I'll do the work I might go that route. Thanks for looking!

 

[Zeke]

Meh, one coat of high hide Zinser and it would look 10X better. Tell the landlord that paint seals the drywall and helps preserve it (it does). Roll a wall at a time and bury the roller in the bucket between sessions for no cleaning.

 

[Chernobyl85]

Meh, one coat of high hide Zinser and it would look 10X better. Tell the landlord that paint seals the drywall and helps preserve it (it does). Roll a wall at a time and bury the roller in the bucket between sessions for no cleaning.

True, I'm sure it would look way better that way and it might happen in the future. I haven't heard of Zinser before, I'll check it out, thanks.

 

[Chernobyl85]

Made some progress in the garage, got around to building my workbench this last weekend. It's the first bench I've ever built, think it came out pretty good. Learned a lot, had a good time doing it, and so far it's holding up just fine. I saw a a picture online of this table and really liked how it had one side open, for a shop vac/trash/table saw..etc, so I decided to use that design for my build.

Need to cut the bottom shelf out still

Added a shelf in the back for materials, plastics/woods/electronics..etc, I plan to get boxes to fit 3 per shelf on each, and organize/label everything

Wasn't going to put any pegboard, but got a piece really cheap, so far I am really liking it though. I might add some to the side of my workbench for the more quick grab type items.

Got a belt/disc sander as well, this thing has been great so far well worth the money. Also picked up a vice for a decent price, nothing special but it will work for now.

any comments, questions, and suggestions are much appreciated