[Graham08]

Hi! This is my first post here...been lurking for a while. Great site!

Anyway, I've been heavily into fabrication and have been collecting tools and equipment for about 12 years or so. Mostly I build pavement sprint cars and supermodifieds. You have a great list of stuff there. A few things I've learned and would probably do differently if I had to to do it all over again are:

1. You can fabricate almost anything in the way of brackets with a drill press, vertical band saw, and a belt grinder. A drill press was one of the first pieces of equipment I bought, and I have had a couple since. I tried only having a milling machine for a while when I downsized to an attached garage, and I work a lot better having both. When you just want to poke a hole in something, or you're doing second ops like reaming or countersinking a drill press is much faster than doing multiple setups in the mill for simple stuff.

I have a Kalamazoo 2" x 48" belt grinder, and I should have bought it long before I did. It's no Burr King, but it is a quality piece that I use pretty much every time I'm in the shop.

I also have an old Walker-Turner 16" metal cutting vertical band saw. Again, it was something I should have bought long before I did. This greatly simplifies making tabs and brackets.

2. You're right on the air compressor. It opens a lot of doors up in terms of using air tools. My bender is air over hydraulic, and having the right compressor makes it so much nicer to use. I have 5 HP Champion that puts out something like 19 cfm at 90 psi. I don't have to wait for the compressor to catch up when running the bender anymore!

3. The bender and notcher sort of go together. JD2 makes nice stuff. I had a manual Model 3, and upgraded to a Model 4 when I was doing a bunch of bending 2" x 0.120" DOM for paying work. Definitely look at a hydraulic upgrade because you can put your bender on wheels instead of having it bolted to the floor. If you can afford it, an electric/hydraulic setup is really nice, but if you have a good compressor, the air/hydraulic system works well, too.

I've had a couple different notchers. My current setup is Baileigh's TN-250. I really like it. It has done everything I've asked of it and works great if you're doing a lot of notching around bends.

3. I made a lot of stuff with a 9" South Bend lathe. They're still out there for reasonable prices, and are about the smallest "real" machine I've run into. I later upgraded to a 13" Sheldon, which mostly gained me speed because it's a more powerful, rigid machine. A lathe would probably be my first addition after the band saw/drill press/belt grinder combo if I was doing things over because there's always something round that needs a hole in it and the ends square to the sides.

4. As far as sheet metal equipment goes, I made a lot of stuff with a set of Milwaukee electric hand shears and a 3' Harbor Freight brake. I later added a 4' x 14 gauge Chicago box and pan brake (well used) that was a major improvement in capabilities. After I finished building my new shop, I lucked into the right deal on an 8' x 18 gauge Niagara jump shear. If you're looking to get a shear, don't get anything shorter than 4 feet. Sheet metal normally comes in 4' wide sheets and one of the handiest things about a shear is the ability to cut large sheets down to a manageable size...which you can't do with a three footer.

5. I got a lift in a trade, and I wasn't real wild about it. Man was I wrong! Definitely one of the handiest things in my shop. I have a two post Eagle that needs nearly all of my 13' ceiling height. There are tons of lift discussions over on Garage Journal.

Good luck with your purchases, and congrats on the new shop! Sounds like you need to consider an addition.