I am blessed with a generous and understanding wife who supports my distracting hobbies. Two of the more recent additions to my tools collections have been gifts from her.
Bosch VAC090AH Dust Extractor
This dust collector is like a shop vac on steroids. Not only can it capture most of the dust from many tool effectively, it has changed clean up from a chore to a pleasure. It stable and mobile and does not tip over when dragged around the shop. It also stores away neatly without a tangle of hoses and cords.
Bob’s CNC
My amazing wife got me this without even a hint. I didn’t know about this system. She didn’t fully realize what a double bonus it was. First it comes a kit that you have to assemble, kind of like a cross between an Erector set and a Heathkit. It took about 6 hours to assemble spread over three days. A very satisfying project in it’s own right. Second, it opened the door to a whole new range of project possibilities. I design in VCarve and use Universal Gcode Sender to drive the router. There is still much to learn about using VCarve and this router.
Router kits are available from Bobscnc at reasonable prices. I have the E3 which has been replaced by the Evolution 3. I recommend checking out the site and their products.