Assume empty two-car garage....

You, (yes, YOU) and everyone else who wants to chime in are going to assemble a theoretical garage with the tools you feel are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to any starting garage. We're not looking at CNC mills, etc. The idea is to enable the broadest capability for the least money. Let's assume we have a floor drain and a 220v capability just to get that out of the way. You can suggest support devices (e.g. circulation fans and lighting) but it's probably not worth it for the purposes of the thread.

I'll start with:

Solid work bench

Solid bench vise

Set of SAE and Metric wrenches plus sockets

Hacksaw plus blades

Hand files (your suggestions for type/brand and quantity)

Wire Brushes (type?)

Hammers (type and size)

Battery charger

Electric drill (cord or cordless?)

Angle Grinder/s (suggested brands/sizes?)

Measuring devices (tape or straightedge? Both?)

Tin snips (quantity and type?)

1st Aid kit

Fire extinguisher

Bench Grinder

Clamps (type, quantity and size?)

Drill press (does this meet the absolutely essential criteria?)

Welder (does this meet the absolutely essential criteria?)

Welding table and essential hand tools for welding?

Once we're done with this one let's go on to the second level of stuff that's really nice to have (band saws, etc.)

Go

Compressor and related air tools of choice

Floor Jack, Jack Stands, Ramps

A good set of screwdrivers. A straight claw hammer, a few sizes of ballpeen hammers. Angle grinder and sawzall (milwaukee is my prefrence)

Assortment of c clamps and vice grip type clamps, tape! Depending on your budget a good good flaring tool and tube bender for brake lines.

Hacksaw? No, no, no. Sawzall man. Does the same thing but takes 5 secs.

Also: cheap led shop lights from Home Depot. They are like 35$. I have two in my two car garage, incredible brightness, it's like peering into heaven when they turn on.

Wood blocks, and an electric impact will save you a ton of money so you don't have to buy a ton of air tools and a compressor that will run all those air tools. The HF electric 1/2" is what I got, its bulky, but does everything. No air tools for me.

I'd skip the drill press and go with a mini mill.

You can still do all the drill press stuff, but have the flexibility to do small milling work to modify or fab brackets, etc. in the same space as the drill press.

On edit: add a small machinists vice and parallels to go with the mini mill and to take advantage of the x-y table.

jstand wrote: I'd skip the drill press and go with a mini mill. You can still do all the drill press stuff, but have the flexibility to do small milling work to modify or fab brackets, etc. in the same space as the drill press. On edit: add a small machinists vice and parallels to go with the mini mill and to take advantage of the x-y table.

I diagree with this. I have a drill press and a gun mill and they do very different jobs. Yes, the mill can Drill, but it does not have the work surface of the drill press. Taller objects cannot be worked on the mill. Also, the mill is typically setup with very different tooling than the drill press. If you are looking to combine these two tools I would get a really good drill press with a large working surface and add an x/y table. Generally, you will use it as a drill press much more often than a mill.

A welder is one of those tools you don't know you need untill you own one. Yes get one. We can go down the road of type. Voltage mig tig etc in another thread. For starting out I would get a 110-220 unit that can mig and tig. If it has the option to add a plasma cutter that is great as well. Start with the basic flux core mig for basic garage starter and you can add to it as your needs evolve.

Also (and others may disagree). I would get a good set of oxi acc torches. I actually use that way more than a welder when working on cars. The little blue wrench us a fantastic tool!!!

Oh ya. Fire extinguishers. You can never have to many. I like to have one with in four steps of where I am working. I also like to have what I call the floater that moves around the shop for high risk jobs.

In reply to dean1484:

The other week, I was under Quantum #1 with my newly-acquired angle grinder, cutting various fasteners off, throwing sparks on the sheet of cardboard I lay down on when sliding under a car, and I realized... yeah, fire extinguisher be very good idea.

Didn't set fire to anything THIS time.

Lights, lights, and more lights. Even the cheap 4' shop lights, space them about every 6'. In the smallish 2 car, I had 8 4' lights hanging...

More square footage is absolutely essential. 2 car is too small.

Is this a hobbiest garage, or do you mean a garage to do work for others?

Do cars need to park in the garage regularly?

This list has already consumed 1 bay of the garage.

"Broadest capability for the least money" means everything should perform at least 2 tasks.

I would eliminate the workbench in favor of the welding table.

A lift. That way you can park two cars in there now that you've filled one side with so much crap that there isn't room for a car on it. :)

I will agree with jstand. Get a benchtop mill drill. It drills, taps, makes slotting things for adjustable bracketry a snap... like camber plates.

I would also add a welder to put all the bracketry you fabricate together.

And you need a lathe. Because once you have a lathe, welder and some milling capability you are not just some shmoe with hand tools changing parts you bought from the store. You are a god among men. A freak of nature that wield machines to make his own tools and parts. The world becomes a place where nothing is too broken.

Previously unanswerable problems become statements:

• The bearing siezed in the front loading washer and the shaft is $300!? berkeley that... I'll just turn a new one.
• The piano guy wants how much to replace the brass pedal assembly keeper!? berkeley that... I'll just make a new one with the base off of this urn full of ashes I found on the mantle.
• There is a minor geometric compromise in the rear trailing arm suspension of your $1200 BMW with some reasonably priced work-arounds!? Nah. We'll just fabricate an entirely new tubular IRS with material harvested from some old store racks and spare metal patio furniture I found in the neighbor's trash ... along with $300 in new bearings and 18 months of trial and error!

Wiss for aviation snips. Lefts, rights, straight. Bulldogs for heavy cuts. Offsets are nice but not necessary starting out. Large straight snips and hand flanger come in handy too.

Shelves, gonna want shelves. Old metal kitchen cabinets scored for cheap. I use roof sheeting w/ a luan back screwed together w/ drywall screws, attach to wall studs. Easy to relocate also. You can get some nice roof sheeting if you sort through the pile, cheaper than shelving lumber.

Pegboard too.

I don't think a mill fits the definition of "broadest capability for least money", at least not for starters.

CL drill presses are often available for $100-200. A small used combination mill can easily be 10X that.

It all depend on how big you need. The key to keeping it budget friendly would be table top (aka "mini"):

A quick search turned up $650 for a new one, and used would probably be significantly cheaper.

In reply to jstand:

That is what I think of when I think home-shop mill. More of a badass drill press than a machine-shop tool.

Yes I want one.

jstand wrote: It all depend on how big you need. The key to keeping it budget friendly would be table top (aka "mini"): A quick search turned up $650 for a new one, and used would probably be significantly worn and less accurate.

Fixed it for you.

That is still nearly 8 times the cost of a drill press. If we are talking table top, sub $100 table top drill presses are available brand new in similar quality.

I would count them as completely unneeded in a basic small shop. A used floor model drill press is much more useful (and takes less bench space) than a table top model.

3" worth of throw distance on the arbor is a PITA.

SVreX wrote: That is still nearly 8 times the cost of a drill press. If we are talking table top, sub $100 table top drill presses are available brand new in similar quality.

Where? Even the cheapy HF units are close to $200 if you want something that you can actually use for automotive stuff. I'm thinking of things like chucking a cylinder head in there so you can drill out an exhaust manifold bolt. That takes a good amount of height.

I agree long throw on a drill press is silly. How long are your longest drill bits/tools that you plan on using?

This brings me back to the thing I always wanted, a drill press where the head stayed still and the table is what you moved...

In reply to SVreX:

Not sure where the 3" came from, but when was the last time you had to drill a hole deeper than 3" that wasn't to run wires in a building?

The OP asked for suggestions and I made it based on my experience.

I find the x/y table, variable speed and corse and fine feed more useful than any extra travel/clearance a drill press would provide. Not to mention, I can use the whole travel (probably 6"-8" with the vice mounted and not just 3") if I want

Slotted holes, square bottom counter bores, adding clearance reliefs along with other minor milling work where you would potentially resort to filing or a die grinder can be done more accurately.

It all comes down to what types of repairs and fabrication you plan to do and what you can fit in the budget.

Knurled wrote: This brings me back to the thing I always wanted, a drill press where the head stayed still and the table is what you moved...

This is called a lathe and you should get one

In reply to Huckleberry:

Bolt it to the wall?

Here's a mixture of what I have and what I want because either I'll eventually need it, or it will make everything easier.

Two low profile floor jacks, the biggest capacity ones you can afford.

Six jack stands suited to whatever application gets thrown at you.

Engine hoist if you can stretch to one, because you'll need one sooner or later.

Solid work bench

Solid bench vise

Bench-mount sheet metal brake.

Set of SAE and Metric ratcheting wrenches.

1/2" torque wrench.

1/2" impact gun (if you have to deal with rust, a corded impact wrench is a godsend).

1/2" impact-rated sockets (SAE and metric, normal and deep well for either).

1/2" ratchet.

1/2" extensions.

3/8" ratchet.

3/8" extensions.

3/8" sockets (SAE and metric, deep well and normal for both).

1/4" ratchet

1/4" extensions

1/4" sockets (SAE and metric, deep well and normal for both)

Reciprocating saw plus blades (if a hacksaw can take care of it, a sawzall/grinder/rotary tool will take care of it faster, depending on application).

Hand files

Brass Wire Brushes (everything coarse will get hit with a wire wheel on a dremel).

A selection of dead blow hammers, and other panel-beating hammers.

Rotary tool with cutting discs, flap discs, grinding stones, and wire wheels.

Battery charger

Electric drills, both corded and cordless (trust me on this one).

Kobalt 4.5" corded Angle Grinder.

Measuring devices (tape, straightedge, and T-square)

Tin snips (left angle, straight, right angle).

1st Aid kit

2 Fire extinguishers (one sometimes isn't enough)

Bench Grinder

A variety of ratcheting and alligator clamps.

Welder for anything involving having metal stay in one place permanently.

Welding table and essential hand tools for welding.

A modest air compressor, filter, and an HVLP gun (because rattle cans only go so far).

Drop cloths and tarps galore.

And that should be everything you need until you have the money/use for a lift.