Space Saving Ideas - I

When you have a shop as small as mine, you start to look for creative ways to maximize the use of your floor space and your storage.

I do have a few bench top power tools that have taken up most of my storage or counter top space. The bandsaw, drill press and scroll saw are the 3 that occupy 1 counter. The lathe takes up the other. The remaining bench top tools (Planer, Mitre Saw and Spindle Sander) are stored in the space below my workbench as they are used less frequently or only for specific stages of projects (initial milling only or refining only).

However, the only tool that I don't seem to have space for is the Router Table. It's a Wolfcraft model that ends up either sitting on top of the table saw, the workbench or hanging off a wall somewhere.

I also didn't feel safe using it as the height that it sits at while on a work surface puts the workpiece at my mid chest level and either unable to see the spinning bit or having the shavings shooting towards my neck at mach 1.5. NOT FUN!

So, I trashed the legs and attached it to one of my counters with a piano hinge and added a couple of oak legs via hinge brackets so that I could fold up the legs and let it hang down out of the way when not in use.

Router table in the up position

Fench and mitre gauge ready to go!

Yay! Some floor space returned to me! Time to clean up!

The counters don't have any doors on the front, so the router just sticks into the storage space underneath.

Do you have a small shop? What sort of things do you do when you find the number of tools you have are eating up valuable real estate? Leave a comment below and let me know your woes and triumphs.