Tyler G Shop Tour – Article Tour & Video Tour

I recently asked Tyler G from DIYTyler.com if he would be interested in giving us a peak into his workshop. Above is a video tour of his shop and below is a written tour. Any of the links you see below are videos videos pertaining to that area so be sure to click the links and check out the videos. Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel if you like what you see and leave him a comment down below as well.


The DIYTyler shop is located in the basement of our house, taking up roughly half of the basement and is conveniently sectioned off keeping the dust in and the kids out (when I am not in there anyway). People ask if I have any trouble getting lumber and supplies into the shop but I have gotten 10’ boards in with no issue and full 4’x8’ sheet goods are not too awkward. It is not easy to get bigger tools into the shop so that could be fun if I ever upgrade to bigger stationary tools.

I spent a lot of time, before setting everything up, thinking about the location of the tools setup and how they would work best for my work flow. I tried to setup where big items would come in the door and either be stored or chopped to a shorter length and go around the perimeter of the shop from tool to tool ending up at the heat of the workshop…the assembly table.

I am going to include the price that I paid for all these machines, not to show how great I am at finding deals but to show you guys that you can also have a shop like this if you are patient and put a little effort into upkeep and restoration. Almost all of the stationary machines were purchased off Craigslist and the total cost is about $550 for those that I paid for. We won’t talk about how much I’ve spent on hand power tools, let’s just say… I like tools!

As soon as you open the door into the shop you are greeted with this view, which for any of you who watch our videos, will recognize as a common angle and familiar view.
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Just inside the door to the right is a hanger for the ear protection for the kids and anybody who visits the shop, and a nasty old shelf that houses all my finishes and paints. Right now this shelf also holds all my adhesives; epoxy, glue and CA gel and other items associated with gluing things. I am going to move the adhesives over to my work area ASAP since at the moment I have to cross the entire shop any time I need them and it is an inefficient use of my time.
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Just inside the door on the left is my sheet goods storage and lumber rack. The sheet goods lean up against the wall and I can store full sheets without interfering with the shop space. Above the sheet storage is a simple EMT lumber rack to store typical lumber.
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While we are in this corner you can see my fold up worktable that holds the Inventables XCarve and also houses my sticker collection. This was the only convenient place to store this machine but it has turned out to be a great place since it’s out of the main workflow and I can have the machine cutting away without having to walk around it. Inventables gave me this machine so I didn’t spend a penny on this tool.
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Turning back to the right of the door I have my miter saw set up with dust collection. I have a 12” miter saw and I use it all the time…..hope to upgrade to a 12” gliding saw one of these days but we will see! The dust hood is built in this video but it’s only a small section of the overall dust system and I really wish that I had made its own video as it generates a lot of questions. This is one of the first tools that I bought when I first got back into woodworking and I spend $179 on the saw and the stand.
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Moving down a bit is my 14” bandsaw which I use all the time. It has 6” vertical capacity and so far it has been able to handle anything I have put through it with no issues. A larger rip capacity would be super nice but we will get to that someday. I do need to replace the table as it’s not perfectly flat and add a rip fence. I built the rolling tool stand to replace the piece of rubbish metal stand that came with the tool. This tool will be given a new home as soon as I get rid of a bit more workbench that was in the shop when we bought the house, will see that in a few. This saw was given to me so not a dollar spent.
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The new location for all my cordless drills, chargers and drill bits. It is within easy reach of my drill press and very soon the fastener storage shelf, as soon as I get rid of that pesky old workbench. This shelf is awesome, wish that I had built it a long time ago.
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Right next to the drill bit storage is a floor standing drill press, such a massive upgrade over the old benchtop model that I used to have. This is located right next to the drill bit organizer shelf so everything is within quick and easy reach. This was another craigslist purchase for $120, new in the box.
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That pesky workbench I keep mentioning. When we bought the house it covered pretty much the entire back of the workshop wall and it was terrible! It is has a very high table height and is very deep, combine those two and you cannot reach the back of the workbench and any of the wall space behind it. Took most of it out and used the lumber for many of the smaller projects you see in the shop. This is what’s left and I can’t wait to get rid of it, just need to make sure I have appropriate locations for what is left in and on it at the moment.
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For the moment I have the fastener storage shelf on a French Cleat behind the assembly table. I want to move it over by the drill press and drill storage area so that everything for fastening is in one location. Also, where it is now I am pretty sure I have accidently knocked a few boxes of screws into the trash can which is right below it.
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Also located behind my assembly table is my pocket hole jig and clamp rack. I like to have the pocket hole jig very handy because who doesn’t need to drill that quick pocket hole? Having the clamp rack an arm length away is a must for the fast glue ups that we love so much.
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In the furthest corner from the door is the shop dust collection system. I modified a harbor freight dust collector into a two stage system using a cyclone and cartridge filter. I have only had this completed for a few months and I have been super pleased with the results so far. I do want to come up with a clever CAM system to hold the bucket in place, another time.
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Continuing around the perimeter of the shop you will run into my 13’ portable planer on a rolling stand. The planer has got to be one of my favorite tools, what it changes on a board in a single pass is pretty cool. This particular model has been really good for me, almost no snipe at all which plagues most planers. I purchased this on craigslist in one of the best deals I have ever found, the planer, dado blade, the table saw we will see soon, and a 12” band saw all for $175. I then refurbished the band saw and sold it for $175….so basically the tools paid for themselves.
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Occupying the space under the planer is my Ultimate Box Joint Jig , this is John Heisz design and I absolutely love it.
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Above the planer station is a storage box shelf and this houses all the miscellaneous items that you use in a shop and around a house. Very nice to have but I need more space.
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Turning the corner you will see a messy wall with all sorts of items. In the corner I have the shop vac accessories and several FastCap safecut rulers that all need their own home, the shop vac and clear vue cyclone combo, jig wall and jointer.
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Close up of the jig wall. Have a belt sander platform that I made to allow for 90° sanding and edge sanding, quick spline jig and a miter sled for the table saw.
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6” Jointer that I use way more than I thought I would. Hope to get something a bit bigger someday but it’s absolutely better than no jointer. I bought this on craigslist for $175 and it was in immaculate condition, haven’t had to do anything to it yet.
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The heart and soul of every workshop… the table saw. I have the table saw in the middle of the shop cutting off towards the main work area and onto the outfeed/assembly table. This is a contractor saw running on 220, it has its downsides since it is a contractor saw but it has plenty of power for anything I have tried to cut with it and the fence is as accurate as can be. Bought this on craigslist as part of that great $175 deal.
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Under the wing of the table saw I have a cabinet with a few drawers that hold my push sticks, bevel gauge, inserts and blades. This keeps all these items within quick reach and out of the way the rest of the time. Also have a bin for cutoffs under the drawers, a necessity by any table saw.
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Under the left wing of the table saw I keep a cross-cut sled and a small air compressor. There is an air line running up into the garage where I have a bigger compressor but it’s more of a hassle than it’s worth to run up and turn it on.
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Outfeed/Assembly table. I absolutely love this table and wish that I spent the time a long while ago to build this, such a joy to have and use.
There are 4 drawers on one side of the table that house the handheld power tools and most of the hand tools.
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I have the hand tools in FastCap Kaizen foam, it looks amazing!
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On the other side of the assembly table I have a homemade vice made using quick-clamps. Use this much more often than I thought I would, and I am surprised at how well it works. I’d build it again with very few modifications.
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Under the assembly table, opposite the drawers, is a shelf that is available to odds and ends. I keep my super cheap router table under here for now until I can build a dedicated router table.
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As for lighting in the shop I have six 8’ fixtures that hold 2 T12 bulbs each. I couldn’t tell you exactly what temperature the lighting is but I do think I would like to change the bulbs at some point to something a bit brighter.
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Lastly, there are always a few items that are always on my person when I go into the shop, stuff that I always need and am reaching for so it simply saves time to have them on me.

Carry Belt (affiliate link) (edit: Tyler’s affiliate link, not Jay’s)
Fascap Tape Measure
Phillips and Flat Screwdrivers
Various Pencils
Utility Knife
Ice Pick
Fastcap Long Nose Marker
Scissors
Small Square
Leatherman Wave
Ear Plugs
Pencil in my hat loop for quick access (This is the reason I wear a hat in the shop.)
Safety Glasses
Hat

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Thanks for checking out our shop, if you want to find out more about me and the workshop, you know the drill….links below.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TylerGiannattasio
https://www.instagram.com/diytylerg/
https://www.DIYTyler.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DIYTyler/

11 COMMENTS

  1. This was great Jay (and Tyler). Love this idea, and thanks for sharing. Lot of really good tips for shop layout. It’s always nice to see what others are doing in their shop. Keep up the good work guys!

  2. I like the wall mount for the CNC router, but I do wonder why no-one seems to run them in the vertical position. Might need some work to counter balance the vertical axis, but for space saving and dust collection it would seem ideal.

    Derek

  3. Great tour…thank you!

    I am in the process for working on my shop and the current project is the vacuum system. I didn’t notice grounding for the PVC on yours. Did you run wire down the inside of the pipes or did not ground it?

  4. ENJOYED THE TOUR TYLER, I ESPECIALLY LIKE THE WAY HOOKED THE TABLE SAW AND THE OUTFEED TABLE WITH THE SLIDES ROUTED INTO THE TABLE TOP FOR THE SLED RUNNERS .
    THANKS FOR THE TOUR.
    JOHN MORRISON

  5. Jay I love the direction that you taking. Honest woodworkers on video. This guys shop is what I started out with; in the basement and a wife and family. I like that he has a color scheme (orange);
    Best to you-

  6. Nice. Would it be possible for future tours to have a simple floor plan showing the location of the items described? I have tried to do that for Jay’s workshop using the various views from the videos. I am still to finalise it.
    Thanks for sharing Guys.
    RMM.

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