1K Workshop

The goal is to design a workshop soup-to-nuts, that can be built for 1K$. While the goal is 1k$, the approach is going to be working fully through an approach to see what the total would be as well as the convenience.

I would also like the pin the value at 140-person-hours at minimum wage, so that the costs can be adjusted over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P14zJ2mkL8o

Look at

• David Gingery
• http://opensourcemachine.org/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul-7F5plzJw

Tools

Unpowered Hand tools

• Hammer
• screwdriver ratchet bitdriver (like I have)
• wrench
• pliers
• box cutter
• measuring tape
• square
• clamps
• sand paper

Powered Hand Tools

• rotary tool
• circular saw ???
• hand drill
• impact driver ???
• orbital sander ???
• plunge router ???

Table/Bench Tools

• band saw
• table router
• belt sander
• drill press
• miter saw
• table saw
• jointer
• planer
• shopvac

And a work bench to work on and system to store everything.

For hand powered tools, I may be able to drop everything but the drill. I'd really like the keep the impact driver, but I may be able to do that with the drill. That really frees everything else up, because I can get a decent AC cord drill for less than $40.

Motor

Almost all plans require a large motor. Pneumatic motors are built by Gast and Speedaire. For pneumatic it looks like 1hp is about 30Nm of torque.

The Gast 4AM-NRV-92 might work for hand tools. It's just about the right size(4" wide, 4" diameter, 1.1" shaft). Also about $150.

The Gast 6AM line of pneumatic motors provide 4HP and generally go for $150-200.

A large 3HP electric motor is going to be right around $200.

A large 5HP electric motor is about $350.

I did find the motor armature for a circular saw. Actually, looking for "120V Armature" turned up a lot, and they're pretty cheap. Now I just need to figure out what the stator looks like. It looks like this one matches the previous one. It's just called a "field". The set looks like they cost about $120 together, with a little poking around, I can probably find something workable in the $80 range.

So either way, it looks like something around $300 for power systems.

Another option is to use a plunge router as the powerhouse (at least for the smaller tools). They run anywhere from $90 to $220 (for what we're looking for).

One more option, just use the large motor, and use a Bowden cable as the transmission to hand tools. For something like a circular saw that can jam, it might be worth adding a transmission. Finding torque ratings seems difficult though. It doesn't seem like you can just buy the type I would be most interested in. It may be possible to construct one though, steel cable for the center, wrapped in nylon (to reduce friction) and use a hydraulic hose as the outside. It looks like the best bet is to step up the RPM really high for transmission, then step them back down and use a small transmission.

A 6.5HP 4 stroke gas engine is around $125, I think that's the winner.

For electric motors, look at the Grizzly H5388 (3HP) or H5390 (5HP), approximately $350 / $400.

Motor Builds

• Design Build

Parts

• Hammer $6
• screwdriver + bit set $24
• wrench $5
• pliers set $12
• box cutter $8
• measuring tape $10
• square $9

Total: $74

Powered Hand Tools

• circular saw blade $15
• drill chuck $15
• router chuck $15

total $45

Table/Bench Tools

• band saw blade $10
• sanding belt $10
• jointer cutter head $50
• trash can (for shop vac) $30

total $100

Electronics

• soldering iron: ~50
• multi-meter: ~20
• breadboard2: 3x$2

total: $100

grand total: $314

So between the must-haves and the power plant, it's almost at $600. The remaining $400 gets spent on wood, cement, screws, bearings and the various metal framing pieces.

Bootstrapping

One of the challenges is that there will be a limited number of tools to start with, and the order building up is important.

We can use some creative solutions to get around this - a plunge router can be used as a saw.

It also would be with in the rules to rent tools. But need to keep timing in mind, if someone was trying to replicate this, they may not go as fast.

Stand Alone Compressor

• Air compressor $60 @ Harbor Freight

All hand tools run off the air compressor. All big tools run off an induction motor.

Constructed Compressor

• Tank $40
• Pump $70

Could work well with the gas engine.

Deconstructed Compressor

There is a 3.5HP 10gal air compressor for about $150. I could get that and pull the motor out, converting it to a modular system.

However, I'm not sure how much I trust that considering the motor would be worth more than the whole thing (if it's actually a 3.5hp motor).

CNC Centered Build

I could drop the jointer and planar and add a cnc program.

Electronics Lab

Cheap solder station build: need to bootstrap, probably build this on a breadboard, use the breadboard version to solder a permanent model, then fine tune that

Tools

• soldering station
• wire cutter / stripper
• laser printer
• Atmega programmer

Parts

• wire
• solder
• desolder braid

Small CNC

Something like homofaciens build. Threaded rod, linear guides. X and Y are low and ride on weight bearing rails. The tool grip can be exchanged for either a router (rotary tool) or a printer. This can then be used to print a collection of pieces that fit together into different hand power tools. A handle and trigger, a motor body, a drill chuck, an impact driver chuck. I can also print a gears so each tool runs at the correct speed.

Motors

A drill motor will be the small motor, a router motor will be the medium motor and probably a 3HP motor will be the big motor.

The large motor will need a complex housing and driver. It needs a 3 phase driver, which gives a lot of control over speed and power. Connecting it's output to the drive shaft will be a set of belt driven pulleys. I'd like to put in a derailer so that it can mechanically change the drive ratio. There should be optical position measurement on both pulleys. Getting this data from the output allows for closed-loop feedback. Comparing the two would allow for slip detection.

Forge

A small forge can easily work with aluminum. I can use the small CNC machine to cast wax pieces, do a plaster mold then cast aluminum. The larger machine can be built up from smaller aluminum pieces.

Big CNC

A larger (and hopefully better) CNC will come next. I think it should be 5-axis. A classic 3-axis, plus the ability for the large motor to rotate, though it may be better to have that be manual process, and simply mount the motor in a balanced position.

The larger CNC can act as any number of machines. With almost no alterations, it can act as a drill press with manual controls. It can also act as a manual mill or router (though inverted). By turning it sideways and attaching a circular saw blade, it could act as miter saw (and a very precise one). If the blade attachment is flat, it could be use as a two-pass saw mill. If the gantry can drop below the table, it could be used as a table saw, this feature would also allow for a more traditional router table. Swap out the blade for a wheel and we can run it as a bandsaw.

It should also have a vacuum bed, those are really cool.

Tool Bed

We'll build one tool bed that can house the larger tools. It will have folding "wings" to take up less space in storage. It will have two work areas; the center for a table saw and the edge for, well everything else. The edge spot will also have a mounted arm that can hold up the drill press or band saw.

Central Powershaft Build

The idea here is to have a work bench that holds the high power motor. The motor is coupled to a drive shaft, the larger tools can engage the drive shaft, making it faster and easier to switch between tools.

I'd also put a blower at the end of the work bench with a dust collector, that serves as the shop-vac.

This can be coupled with the CNC build, we just make sure the workbench is large enough for the CNC machine. Probably add a winch mechanism (useful anyway) to help raise and lower it on and off the surface. Alternatively, the CNC machine could just be built in, as part of the machine, it could even function as the drill press and router.

Flexshaft

One thing I was looking at was building a flexshaft. Use ball bearings for the end, steel cable as the drive mechanism and tough hosing (probably air hose)to contain it. There would be two layers of hosing, one in the other, sealed and filled with oil. That should let us transfer quite a bit of power. Would particularly be useful for a drill press and to run the CNC mill off the large motor.

Drillpress Mount

Rather than having the motor under the cabinet and figuring out how to transfer power up to the drillpress, the motor (and a variable transmission) can be up in the drill press and to use anything other than the drill press, it can be moved to the lowest position and connected to a transmission shaft.

Standardization

This will be important to keep the cost down. The simplest, but probably most important case will be to choose a standard bolt size and get a tap for that.

MillPress build

This would be another take on the CNC build. The workbench is built with aluminum guides on the long edges. The large motor is mounted in the gantry, allowing for 3 degrees of movement. This can be done free-hand, manual milling or cnc milling. The motor can be swapped out for a printer (or plotter)

Some mechansim will allow us to lower the gantry under the bench and rotate the whole thing by 90°. Then it can be connected to a shaft to drive the whole thing.

Kiln

Use an electric kiln element as the heat source, refractory cement for the walls. It will only be good for aluminum, but that's still really useful. I may be able to get enough control to use it for reflow soldering.

In combination with a 3D printer, this has a lot of potential. Molds can be cut from plaster or steel. Or parts can be cast in plastic or wax and used to cast a plaster or sand mold.