Dr. Hacker’s Unique Workshop

Shop Tour - Submitted by Dr. Robert Hacker from Long Island, NY
Added on April 2, 2012

Who doesn’t love a lot from a little. So this is my shop; its the corner of the front room of a one bed room apartment in NY. With a little creativity, I have turned it into a full cabinet shop. The space is 8 feet by 10 feet.
1- saw stop
1- Powermatic drill press
1- Powermatic band saw
1- Festool table
1- Powermatic 6″ jointer 52″ bed
1- router table
1- lather
5- sanders
2- Festool vacuums attached to 2 cyclone filtration canisters inline for max suction and dust removal
1- air filter
1- tool chest, and all the festoons you can imagine as well as a planer (I roll that outside) and a compound miter saw.

Behind the saw is the couch and TV to the living room. So when its work time, I pull that tarp up and turn on the air filter to isolate the room and create a laminar flow into the filter. I’ll tell you for the last 2 years the system has worked! Thanks Marc for the lessons. Time to make some dust!

And check out my walnut coffee table to see what you can really do in a small space.

Discussion

Tasha Russell April 3, 2012 12:11 am

This is fantastic and a real inspiration to people like me who don’t have lots of space , but do your neighbours mind the noise when you are machining? And where does the sawdust go?

Reply
- Wim April 4, 2012 12:06 pm
  
  Yes, how do you handle the noise?!? If I dare to turn on one machine after 10pm my shop is closed forever :(
  Love the table, magnificent creation in a creative shop.
  
  Reply
- Robert April 5, 2012 11:17 am
  
  So the dust goes into two Festool powered Oneda filters in sequence so as to create levels of dust extraction. Almost NONE makes it to the vacs themselves. These two vaccumes create enough suction to keep the saws clean too.
  
  Reply
Jchon Paradise April 3, 2012 6:01 am

Wow – makes me VERY grateful for my garage workshop!

Clearly space won’t keep you from what you love!

Reply
Robert April 3, 2012 6:24 am

Ok I promise to never complain about how small my garage ..aka shop … is ever again. Very nice Dr.

Reply
Jason Young April 3, 2012 12:42 pm

That’s unbeleiveable! I love how you have all cabinet size tools in such a small shop. Very high quality stuff. Whenever I start to complain about my shop size, I’ll have to remeber this post.

Reply
Brad_PA April 3, 2012 4:35 pm

I guess I need to stop complaining about my 300 square foot shop — Very nice use of the limited space. I am guessing you are single? If not I would be interested in how this conversation would go – “Honey, you know the living room part of our one bedroom apartment, well I need that space for my hobby.”

Reply
- Robert April 5, 2012 11:20 am
  
  So I am married and the conversation goes ” Honey I am watching House wives of….” and my reply is with the flip of a switch…any switch on any machine :). No I have a very understanding wife. in fact having the shop in the front room allows her to watch TV me to work and US to talk while were doing the evening routine. It works out really well. With DVR she just pauses when I need to do something loud.
  
  Reply
- Charles April 8, 2012 4:45 am
  
  Hey, You are Funny.
  
  Reply
Craig April 3, 2012 4:50 pm

What an amazing use of space Robert. How do the neighbors handle all of the racket coming out of the apartment?

Reply
Mattias in Durham NC April 3, 2012 5:26 pm

Wow. That is awesome.

Reply
Chris April 4, 2012 5:41 am

Wow Dr – that is an amazing shop. I think you have invented a new category of shop though – the living room shop.

Reply
Jeff April 4, 2012 7:50 am

very impressive. I am amazed at what you can do in a small space!

Reply
Dan Drabek April 4, 2012 8:09 am

I can imagine the expression on your landlord’s face when you were moving the equipment into your apartment.
I thought my shop was the tiniest, but you’ve got me beat by -20 sq. ft. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

DD

Reply
William Hall April 4, 2012 12:57 pm

I applaud your finding any way possible to work your craft. Your work is amazing!

Reply
Robert April 5, 2012 11:32 am

THANKS EVERYONE!!

I appreciate all the kind words.

I usually only do the loud stuff from noon – 8pm. The apartment were in is all concrete so very little noise gets out. Add portable air conditioners to the other apartments and that helps too.

Never a complaint from the neighbors about me :)

Reply
Christopher Landy April 6, 2012 11:42 am

Hey Dr.!
Very impressive! I am interested in what model Sawstop/table size you went with. I also have a small shop.
I’m in Brooklyn BTW. Where on the island are you?

Reply
- Robert April 9, 2012 11:20 am
  
  I did the 110V 52″ version. Plenty big and if you use the right blade (rip to rip and cross to cross) its been powerful enough. I have been getting a lot of screaming though so I am considering a different blade.
  
  Reply
Heath April 6, 2012 12:32 pm

Talk about maximizing your space. Makes me think I should stop complaining about my space.

Reply
David April 6, 2012 9:26 pm

Very impressive, quality machines help I suppose for accuracy in such a tight space.

Reply
Yolanda Sinclair December 7, 2012 4:57 am

Wow, you have used your small space so effectively. Amazing!

Reply
Christopher Stahl January 4, 2013 5:51 pm

Robert, this is so small, but I must admit it’s pretty awesome!

chris

Reply
Georg January 29, 2013 3:08 pm

Hey this reminds me of my “shop” during my studies: living in a 15 sqm appartment but a complete Shop in it :-D. Now I use my Living room as a shop. But Noise is always a Problem. In Germany it’s only allowed 9-12 am and 3-6pm. not on sundays. So my projects are allways taking a long time.

Reply
Billy August 26, 2013 4:38 pm

Hey I have a decent size garage here in Long Island you can move some of that stuff into. LOL

Reply

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Dr. Hacker’s Unique Workshop

Advertisers