Working in a 1 car garage that's been turned into a wood shop is often not easy. Space continues to exist as a commodity item. Several years I purchased a Jet cabinet saw with the nice long 50" rails. It was pretty nice. I could put a whole sheet of plywood on that. I had this big table that was also a nice assembly area.

But ... There's always a but isn't there. It's one thing to have a saw you can put a whole sheet of plywood on. It's another thing to actually have the room to lift the sheet onto the saw and make a full cut. I'd run into the problem of not having enough in feed or out feed room. And then there came the need for more space.

I had to keep the saw arranged lengthwise in the garage. That meant my out feed couldn't be out through the garage door. If I tried to turn the saw crosswise the rails were so long it was hard to walk by - and still have machines along the walls.

So, I purchased the 30" rail kit (not much, about $170 USD) and swapped out the long rails. Why not just cut the rails? Well, if I do end up moving in the future to a larger shop I will probably put the long rails back on. With the short rails I can easily turn the saw width wise in the garage with plenty of room to get around. Plus, since I'm doing smaller work these days the long rails never were necessary - I just don't cut anything that big anymore.

So, I have more floor space, it's easier to walk around, I can still do all my normal work and I don't need the extra legs to hold up the table (and lose valuable storage!). I guess sometimes downsizing is a win (well, except for when it happens to you - and it did happen to me).

Of course now I need to get some new dust collector hose because what I had doesn't reach the saw now that I moved it. It never ends.

Amidst all the shop changes I also somehow managed to finish the puzzle boxes and the linkage hinge boxes. More posts about those are upcoming, along with new work. Now that I have some more space I'm eager to put it to work.