One of the most frequently asked questions is whether or not extensive shop tooling is required to fabricate our products. The answer is no; you don’t require high end tools due to the simplicity of our designs and the repeated common measurements used throughout the fabrication process.
These were by necessity, since we started our business with only a minimum of tools, and still use minimal upgraded tools to this day. For a competent wood worker who understands basic fabrication fundamentals, it’s not so much the quantity and complexity of tools you have at your disposal but rather making use of what you have as efficiently as possible.
Jigs and repeatable processes make this possible, and when you onboard with us, part of the guidance materials you receive includes not only the important jigs to make fabrication easier, but also some custom solutions that are well suited for a small solo operation or smaller startup.
We understand investing in a new business process can be daunting, (been there) and we want to give you the best support and knowledge we have to offer to make your venture both rewarding and profitable.
Below are some practical guidelines and advice for those individuals who are considering taking advantage of this opportunity with the minimum tools they already have.
In addition to the common tools any wood worker has, such a power saw, drill, hand sander, various hand tools, and associated drill bits and the like, here are some items you may or may not have that will greatly speed up your fabrication and give you more consistent results.
You can acquire any one of these over time, and a good strategy is to reinvest some of your early profits into one new tool per month until you reach your goal.
- Table Saw
- A table saw is invaluable when it comes to ripping plywood for some of the components of our Benchwork and Table Kits as we recommend in the material guidelines. It gives you superior results over other ripping methods such as the ordinary circular saw and straight edge method, or track saw. With the addition of a homemade table saw sled, it can also be used for cutting multiple identical length pieces if you have the room width-wise to fit your stock on the table saw surface.
- Miter Saw
- A miter saw will give you fast, accurate and repeatable cuts (using a stop block) and is worth considering having, especially if you plan on doing other wood working requiring varying angles of cuts. We highly suggest a compound sliding type, its versatility is unmatched. For fabricating our products, we use a simple circular saw that slides along a raised platform and is kept in line using guides on either side of the table. It sits 1″ above our cut table to allow the stock to slide underneath, and a long back fence with a measuring tape/stop block system is used. Simple, yet effective, and costs next to nothing to make.
- Drill Press
- Having a drill press is not only a real timesaver, but it also drills perfectly perpendicular holes to your material, which is essential to a quality product, and also allows drilling through multiple pieces at one time to eliminate steps or additional marking of locations. Adding a back fence to your drill press makes alignment consistent, and we even include our shop made version in our guidelines that features a quick back spacing adjustment using purpose made spacers for common edge of stock measurements.
- Router Table
- Having a router table at your disposal will make easing the edges of your material faster and more consistent versus doing it by hand. You can purchase them, or make one yourself like us, and so many other wood workers do. If you build one yourself, our suggestion is to either omit the back fence common in most designs or make it removable. You will get greater freedom of use as i allows you to ease the end grain when needed without having to rotate the stock a complete 90 degrees when a back fence is present.
- Bench Top Disk/Belt Sander
- Having one of these in your shop can speed up cleaning up minor splinters and such left over from crosscutting your stock. Usually only helpful for smaller parts, but much easier and faster than using a palm sander.
- Down Draft Sanding Setup
- Though commercially made ones are available, building a simple box frame with a perforated top will eliminate a lot of sanding dust accumulation when sanding by mechanical means. Adding a vacuum hose creates just enough suction, combined with the vibration of the sanding, to cause about 75% of the sanding dust to fall through the holes. It can be set onto a flat surface for use, and after use, the accumulated sanding dust can be collected and disposed of. Some homemade designs incorporate sloping baffles underneath to more positively direct the dust toward the vacuum source and may be worth considering.
Adding the above items, if you don’t already have them, will increase your efficiency and accuracy, but none of them are essential for fabricating our products.
In fact, we produced many orders using just a circular saw and drill with the aid of cutting and drilling jigs, and careful work habits. And you can also see that we come up with our own purpose-built solutions to building our products.
So don’t let the lack of a specific tool deter you, the fabrication process is straightforward and simple. As mentioned above, you can always add them incrementally over time as your business expands.
James-owner, The Model Railroad Benchwork Store.
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Last Updated on 2 months ago ago by James from Model Railway Techniques
