That didn't matter
to Ed. He went ahead
and built and outfitted
his power shop
anyway.

In 1979, he bought
an Ultimate Shop
Package from
Shopsmith, which
included a MARK V,
Bandsaw, Belt Sander,
Jointer, Jigsaw and
dozens of other
accessories and
attachments. Then he found a way to house them all without spending a fortune .

Ed's solution? Take advantage of the MARK V's compactness and mobility to solve his storage problem by keeping his entire workshop contained in a small storage shed at the rear of his carport. When he needed to use his tools, he'd just wheel them out and go to work.

Ed's Shed is 96" long, 33" deep and 54" high at the front (50" high at the back). The frame is made from standard 2 x 4's (non load-bearing members could be 1 x 4's). The back and sides are 1/2", exterior grade, A/C plywood. The front doors are 3/4" exterior grade, A/C plywood. The top is plywood decking, overlaid with roofing felt and 70# roofing.

The door opening is 72" x 48" with two 36" wide doors. They're hung on heavy "T-hinges" and locked closed with a hasp. One of the doors should have a drawbolt on the inside, near the top. When the door's closed, the bolt can be pushed up into a hole drilled in the frame, above. This will help keep the doors from being pushed in or pried open when the hasp is padlocked.

If the shed is to be set on the ground, it should be up on blocks or a suitable foundation. Ed decided to set his directly on top of the concrete carport floor. He made all bottom frame pieces from pressure-treated lumber and to allow for ventilation, he screwed ten 3" pipe flanges to the bottom of the frame. This held his shed about 1" off the floor and allowed Ed to actually scoot the whole shed around the carport to another location, if necessary. Isn't that a nifty idea ?

Entering Ed's Shed, there are three shelves - two to the left and one to the right. Each shelf is supported by 2 x 4's and decked with 3/4" plywood. The shelves are used to store Ed's Shopsmith Special Purpose Tools (Bandsaw, Jointer, etc.) and other Accessories. Across the back wall of the shed and near the top, there's a runner , with a horizontal crossmember below that can both be used for hanging certain accessories.
Today, of course, Ed could always add Shopsmith's all-new Steel Storage Cabinets
. They slip between the MARK V's legs to hold hundreds of pounds of additional tools and accessories. They're mounted on casters, so
they'll roll in and out easily for use or storage.


Continue...