pic of your shop

[Axkiker]

So the other thread showing a guys upcoming shop got me to thinking.

Maybe we could all post some pics of our home shops and all our cool equipment. Maybe it would give us some ideas as to what to get and how to set things up.

Ill try to get some tomorrow

 

[precisionworks]

70 x 30, 9' ceilings, central heat and A/C, killer audio system, full kitchen & bath. It's a tough place in which to work:twothumbs

 

[Mirage_Man]

Well my shop is in my cramped one car garage. Once I get everything organized I'll take and post a few pics. But here's one showing the neat and tidy side . Some of you have already seen this one that I posted in the "My new Mill" thread. Everything to the left is a disaster right now due to the addition of the mill.

 

[G1K]

From the back left corner around to the right.

A lot of work gets done in the small space. I think this summer I will try to find a better heater, the propane stinks and the heater is not efficient.



R

 

[precisionworks]

I think this summer I will try to find a better heater, the propane stinks and the heater is not efficient.

You can sometimes find a midsized upflow furnace on Craigslist (normally set up for natural gas, but easily converted to LP gas). Set it up somewhere near the center of the shop, and the heated air will be blown straight up, hit the ceiling, and diffuse throughout the shop. My shop ran one winter with that arrangement, and it was better than no heat at all.

During the next spring, my son & I installed above the ceiling ductwork, and connected a high efficiency furnace (and A/C) to the ducting. The heat bill dropped by nearly 40%, so the furnace will pay for itself in a few years. The A/C is considered a luxury by many people, but none of the machine tools, tooling, and measuring equipment has ever developed a speck of rust.

 

[Axkiker]

sorry for the delay in getting pics up, I honestly forgot I started this thread

Needless to say after restoring a 66 mustang. Tearing the motor out of an f250. painting several doors fenders and bumpers my garage needs a makeover.

anyways here is my garage / mess

 

[mdocod]

I will not be sharing the "rest" of the "shop" in these photo's, as it will NOT give anyone any "good" ideas

 

[cmacclel]

Nothing Like a SHOW OFF

My Shop

http://public.fotki.com/cmacclel/shop-2/

Mac

70 x 30, 9' ceilings, central heat and A/C, killer audio system, full kitchen & bath. It's a tough place in which to work:twothumbs

 

[precisionworks]

Nothing Like a SHOW OFF

:devil:

The inside of my shop cannot compare to the inside of yours ... do you make visitors take off their shoes & wear clean room booties?

The shop was the reason we bought our house ... actually, I bought the shop & SWMBO bought the house. It was used by a full time woodworker who made train whistles:

(Moderator note: CPF Rule non-compliant -hot linked- pics removed.)

He had a left cut DeWalt radial, plus a right cut DeWalt radial, a straight cut-off saw, etc. At first he drilled them one at a time, and later had a custom boring machine built that did four at once. Told me he shipped over a million before his patent expired & cheap imports killed his business.

My layout works well, as there is one room for machine tools, a separate room for welding/grinding/cutting, and a one large room with a number of benches with vises. The 200 amp service panel (Square D) still has quite a few open slots, even after adding a number of 50a 240v welder outlets.

I repair air tools (actually I repair anything that comes through the door), so there are three, 60 gallon vertical recips tied to the same trunk line. That provides 33 cfm, which is enough for most of the tools I work on, with the exception of extra large impacts (2" square drive) and vertical shaft air grinders with 3 hp or 5 hp:



http://www.tcservice.com/products/sec-vertical.html

My son, who works for a HVAC contractor, installed a high efficiency furnace & ductwork, plus central A/C. It's a pretty nice place to hang out, and there's always Bud Light in the fridge:thumbsup:

 

[Axkiker]

My electrical service is one of my problems. My Tig welder requires 100A to run and thats exatly what I have coming in.

So far I havent had any problems however I dont dare run my compressor which requires 50A and my tig at the same time. Or the plazma cutter for that matter.

I love opening up the door at night and firing up the plazma cutter. The neighbors always look out wondering what in the world is going on HAHHAA

 

[kramer5150]

I will not be sharing the "rest" of the "shop" in these photo's, as it will NOT give anyone any "good" ideas

IE... how to fixture a Surefire body in a lathe.

Great pics... me jealous!!

 

[65535]

For a SF body you need a dedicated threaded part to hold the workpiece.

 

[precisionworks]

My electrical service is one of my problems.

Changing out a 100a panel to a 200a panel is not hard, and shouldn't be expensive. If you've done lots of electrical work, you may be comfortable doing this yourself. If not, hire a licensed electrician.

Your utility company may (or may not) need to install a larger gauge drop from the pole to the shop, any you may (and probably will) need to pull larger wire from the weather head to the panel. It's a bit of work, probably most of a Saturday if you do it yourself, but it surely makes life easier for years and years.

 

[PEU]

Here is a round view of my "shop" if you pay close attention you will see the street 5 floors below mine

Im looking to move closer to home (Im in downtown now) but can't find the right place yet.


Pablo

 

[Axkiker]

Hey PEU..... you look about as organized as I am. lol

 

[Axkiker]

Changing out a 100a panel to a 200a panel is not hard, and shouldn't be expensive. If you've done lots of electrical work, you may be comfortable doing this yourself. If not, hire a licensed electrician.

Your utility company may (or may not) need to install a larger gauge drop from the pole to the shop, any you may (and probably will) need to pull larger wire from the weather head to the panel. It's a bit of work, probably most of a Saturday if you do it yourself, but it surely makes life easier for years and years.

Yeah if I was going to keep this house I would go through the trouble but I am thinking about selling. (If I can that is) I really dislike having an attached garage. It doesnt make the house smell all that great when I paint a car right outside my door.LOL Not to mention the compressor kicking on during the middle of the night.

I really want a detached garage about 30'x30' or so

 

[precisionworks]

I read this somewhere, quite a while back:

Anyone who says that their shop is large enough, doesn't spend much time there

My current building is 30' x 70', with 9' finished ceilings. It isn't a bad size, but it's tight for some work. My smallest shop was 20' x 20' with 7' ceilings (underneath a garage) ... that one was no fun, you'd bang your head if you sneezed

You can make anything work, if enough time is spent organizing the machinery & figuring out material flow. When a job calls for buying steel in 20' to 24' sticks, those come in through an overhead door (garage door) & go directly to the horizontal band saw for dimensioning. The smaller pieces go to the machine room for drilling, tapping, milling, and return to the first room for welding, grinding, and final assembly.

There's no room for steel storage where it needs to be, so the steel rack is located 70' away from where it comes into the shop ... which means that there's never a huge amount of material in the rack. But there's enough to get through almost any emergency job, or portable welding job. Everything else is ordered on a job by job basis, which reduces the amount in inventory.

I really want a detached garage about 30'x30' or so

Figure on 60' x 60' and it should be just about right:thumbsup:

 

[Axkiker]

I read this somewhere, quite a while back:

Anyone who says that their shop is large enough, doesn't spend much time there

My current building is 30' x 70', with 9' finished ceilings. It isn't a bad size, but it's tight for some work. My smallest shop was 20' x 20' with 7' ceilings (underneath a garage) ... that one was no fun, you'd bang your head if you sneezed

You can make anything work, if enough time is spent organizing the machinery & figuring out material flow. When a job calls for buying steel in 20' to 24' sticks, those come in through an overhead door (garage door) & go directly to the horizontal band saw for dimensioning. The smaller pieces go to the machine room for drilling, tapping, milling, and return to the first room for welding, grinding, and final assembly.

There's no room for steel storage where it needs to be, so the steel rack is located 70' away from where it comes into the shop ... which means that there's never a huge amount of material in the rack. But there's enough to get through almost any emergency job, or portable welding job. Everything else is ordered on a job by job basis, which reduces the amount in inventory.

Figure on 60' x 60' and it should be just about right:thumbsup:

Ohhh I totally agree. I have a 30' boat that I would love to store indoors. So a shop that size would be awsome. However I gotta feeling funds and lot size will dictate a smaller shop.

Maybe one day though.

 

[StrikerDown]

Ohhh I totally agree. I have a 30' boat that I would love to store indoors. So a shop that size would be awsome. However I gotta feeling funds and lot size will dictate a smaller shop.

Maybe one day though.

No problem, just have Barry find what you need on eBay! :thumbsup:

 

[precisionworks]

just have Barry find what you need on eBay!

This is OT, but relevant to those who use eBay for most equipment & tooling purchases.

Got an email from PayPal that I'd added another email address - which I had not. Got a second email from PayPal that I'd changed my physical address - which I had not. Phoned PayPal, & changed my password immediately. Tried to log into my eBay account & could not, as someone had already changed my password, but a phone call to eBay got that resolved. Changed the password on my email account linked to eBay & PayPal.

Someone had already withdrawn €15.00 EUR from the account. They also tried to withdraw $184.00 USD, but PayPal caught that & stopped the transaction. They'll investigate & replace any money withdrawn without my authorization.

How did this happen? No way to be sure, BUT I've logged onto eBay from the computer at work to buy quite a few items for the factory ... hard to pass up an $1100 batch controller, new in box, for $111. Or a $700 conductivity meter for $90. I've always thought that we had minimal security on the office PC's, and my guess is that someone dropped a keystroke logger Trojan into our system. That's the last time I'll ever sign into my eBay or PayPal account from another computer.

Both PayPal customer service & eBay customer service were impressive. Short hold time before speaking to a live person, and both people were top notch at quickly resolving the problems.

Now I'll start looking for that bigger shop for Axkiker