If there’s one universal law of the workshop, it’s that there is never enough space. That’s especially if you’re working in a typical home garage that also holds the family bikes and lawn equipment. But as the owner of a shed-built ’69 Charger showed us, a small shop shouldn’t keep you from achieving your dreams.
But imagine having a complete fabrication shop within the confines of your home garage, centered around an 8-foot workbench. Here we’ll show you how, with a little planning, your garage can become a haven for your DIY dream project. In fact, the right tool selection can turn your modest workbench into a versatile fabrication hub.
In this example, we’ve gathered an assortment of compact tools that can handle several common restoration and fabrication tasks. These include parts clean-up and reconditioning, sheet metal fabrication, and basic machining. All take up a small overall footprint and are generally portable, allowing you to store them when not in use. And we’ve assembled them on an existing 8-foot by 2-foot steel workbench that’s been in our shop for years.
Clean-Up and Reconditioning
The ability to clean up greasy mechanical parts is essential to restoring and repairing all kinds of machinery, from carburetors to door latches. A benchtop parts washer allows you to run either solvent or aqueous cleaning solution through a brush for a thorough cleaning.
Removing corrosion and paint require more aggressive means, and that usually means abrasive blasting. When a full-size unit is too big for the shop, a benchtop blast cabinet is perfect for smaller parts. Engine parts, underhood brackets, and hardware are ideally suited to the smaller cabinet. (Pro tip: even if you have a full-size blast cabinet, a benchtop unit is convenient for smaller jobs and for quick changing blast media.)
Sheet Metal Fabrication
During body repair or a full restoration, the ability to make small sheet metal repairs can be essential. This 3-in-1 shear, brake, and slip roll can cut, bend, and roll up to 12-inch wide material. It’s compact design can be bolted to the bench or simply clamped down for occasional use.
When you need to make longer bends, this vise-mounted sheet metal brake will handle material up to 20 inches long. It can also be outfitted with a forming brake for greater precision on long bends up to 90 degrees.
Other bench-mounted sheet metal tools include a combination shrinker/stretcher and a bead roller. The shrinker/stretcher lets you form both internal and external curved profiles on bent metal such as windshield channels. The bead roller is a great way to add structure to flat panels as well as roll contours onto edges.
Finally, there’s no substitute for an English wheel when it comes to contouring complex surface. A mini English wheel bolts to the benchtop to help create small patch panels and other unique shapes.
Light Machining
Sometimes you need to turn a new shaft or machine a bracket from scratch. There’s no substitute for a mill and a lathe. A mini lathe is ideally suited to turning steel, aluminum, or brass stock into all kinds of new parts. A 3-axis mini mill lets you fabricate your own parts or make precision modifications to existing items.
Of course, making parts from scratch first requires cutting stock. A benchtop bandsaw provides the cutting strength and precision of a larger freestanding saw in less space. And because it’s so compact, you can take the saw to the material when it’s more convenient to do so.
Together this assortment of tools adds a ton of versatility and capability to your home workshop. Everything is compact and portable, giving you the flexibility to use your limited space as efficiently as possible. As you can see, building a full fabrication shop on an 8-foot workbench can be a game-changer.
Mounting Eastwood equipment is currently my greatest concern. A table is not a good answer. Eastwood (and most other tool vendors) need to come up with ways to employ device specific mounting solutions that have wheels that can be both deployed and retracted on demand. Deploy the wheels to roll it out of the way or bring it into the workspace. Retract the wheels to provide a solid platform on which to work.
In all honesty, it’s not really a kit or a package. We just sat down to discuss a cool story idea and pulled the tools that fit the story.
whats the current $$ pricing for this entire package, or piecemeal?
That covers more than what I’ve ever done. About 50 years too late for me.