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The Crafty CatsmanHybrid workshop field notesStart Here
Overhead view of our young daughter at the windowsill breakfast bench, reaching to pet the grey stray cat eating beside her.

One family's workshop

The Crafty CatsmanDIY builds and maker machine guides from one family's workshop

We share our home builds, from a basement speakeasy behind a bookcase door to two catios, and guides to laser, UV, 3D printing and CNC machines.

See the speakeasy buildFind a machine guide
How a stray cat ended up flying our spaceship

The window bench we built, and Rocco, the stray who stayed. How we built the window bench

Start with what you want to make or buy

The Crafty Catsman is one family's workshop. It began with a window bench we built for our daughter and Rocco, a stray who became family. Now we share 22 builds, from a hidden-door speakeasy to two catios, and guides to laser, UV, 3D printing and CNC machines that say which we own, were sent or researched.

Home builds

Machine guides

Also here: the build library with all 22 builds · every workshop tool · desktop lasers compared · DTF apparel printers compared

From the news desk September 29: Scared Stiff and Elvira Join Pinball FX Midnight on October 22

After: the finished BarKode speakeasy arcade with handmade bar, air hockey, arcade cabinets, and virtual pinball
Before: the unfinished basement storage room with exposed joists, white insulation, and bare concrete
Drag to compare the storage room with the finished speakeasy.
Our grey cat sitting on the spalted maple bar top while it was being planned
Quality control on the bar top.

Signature build

The speakeasy behind the bookcase door

BarKode started as an unfinished basement storage room. A contractor quoted $2,800 just for the studs, so we built it ourselves, from the floor and the ceiling to the bar and the bookcase door you open to get in.

The cats

From the window to the catio

The window bench came first. The first catio was a small box on a bench outside that same Philadelphia window. Today Rocco and Reeses have a window-box catio and an 8 by 10 raised catio, joined by a tunnel under the deck.

A wooden bench with a cat house, a plant and food bowls under the Philadelphia breakfast window
The first catio: a box on a bench outside the window.
The window-box catio at the threshold of the window
The window-box catio.
Rocco resting on a wooden shelf inside the finished 8 by 10 catio
Rocco inside the finished 8 by 10.
Illustrated cockpit with a cat pilot at the controls under a field of stars

At night the catio glows like a ship.

The Crafty Catsman / Workshop flight

The cat's cockpit

So we gave the cats a cockpit.

Pick a planet. Each one is a maker brand we cover, with its machines and our guides.

Pilot: Rocco

Take the controls

An imagined world. Real tools, projects and guides.

Why the Crafty Catsman?

Two stray cats used to keep me company while I worked, and the name stuck. These days our daughter has taken their spot at the bench.

My first workshop was a fire escape with a circular saw and a drill. Then came an apartment patio, a 100-year-old basement and now a garage shop.

  • We own: xTool P2, eufyMake E1, Bambu Lab P2S, ACMER ASCARVA 4S.
  • Sent to us by xTool: O1 Omni.
  • Review unit from Makera: Z1 Pro.

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