finally got around to taking photos

[Loose nut]

I finally got the shop cleaned up enough to take some pictures, it's 16' x 21' (the rest of the building is a garden shed/storage area) out behind the house which is nice in summer but in the middle of winter with a couple of feet of snow on the ground, dark at 4:30PM and 20 below zero it can get hard to have enough enthusiasm to go out there after a day at work.

This is the new (last year) 13 x 40" lathe, bigger than I need but the price was right, works well. The stands are home made out of 1/4" plate on "hockey puck" feet, it adds 500#'s to the weight of the lathe and has ports in them to add another 400#'s of ballast if necessary.

these two are of the new mill, it has digital scales instead of a "proper" DRO but is adequate for hobby work. I put guards over all the scales (yellow bits) to keep the swarf and oil off and I was lucky enough to pick up the some what nosey power feed for free. Had to repaint it though it was an ugly green colour before.

the two scratches on the head stock saved me a $100.00 off the price

Sheet metal area with home made brake and a set of roles that I got for $60.00.

On the far corner of the bench (ignore the "stuff") is a Darex drill bit sharpener which is worth every penny that it cost.

My old 9 x 20 lathe which I have been in the process of converting for cylindrical grinding with a tool post grinder.

there are other assorted tools and bandsaws, grinders etc. that I didn't show. Nothin fancy but it gives me a place of my own that she who must be obeyed doesn't go into

 

[zeusrekning]

Wow man, Canada looks like South Carolina. And the lathes look the same too. ;D Nice clean shop! What lathe is that?
Tim

 

[Twinsquirrel]

That is a very nice looking lathe and such and organised workshop. Looks like a lovely part of the world too.

David

 

[Loose nut]

The 13" lathe and mill are just generic Chinese that I got at Wholesale tool in Detroit but they do accurate work for the price, I went to get a 12 x 36 lathe that was on sale and naturally the were all out but they had a 13" on for the same price, this one was $700.00 more but they pulled it out of the warehouse.When I told them they had made a mistake that I had bought the cheaper one, the salesman looked a the paper work and said that it was the right one, who am I to argue,

The mill I bought this spring, when I got to the store it was on sale $200.00 off and if I took the floor model with the scratches they would take off another $100.00. scratched paint doesn't effect the way it machines, which is very well. It is much more accurate and the slides (ground ways) are much smoother than my old mill, even though it is a bit noisy.

As for the shop I have been rearranging things so there are bits and bobs lying around but I'll soon be ready to get back to it.

It may look like South Carolina but come here in January when the north wind is blowing and I live near the most southern point in Canada. It's not a bad place to live, a small town (3000 people ) in farm country but with cities not that far that I can't drive there for tools and supplies. I'm no gardener though the grass (that hasn't died already) cringes when I go out to cut the lawn

 

[Bernd]

Hey Lathe Nut,

Nice looking shop, both outside and inside. Very nice looking machines. I'm jealous. ;D

I've decided to put the shop in my basement. Think I've got the room? :big:

That's only half of the basement in the pic. This was when the house was under construction.

Here's a pic before they put the top on it. 2300 square feet of basement and it's all mine. 8)

Believe it or not it's just about filled up. I had orginally wanted to fill it with my HO scale railroad but the maching hobby took over.

If your interested in the rest of the house you can go here The Station

Bernd

 

[GrahamC]

Wow man, Canada looks like South Carolina. And the lathes look the same too. ;D Nice clean shop! What lathe is that?
Tim

Interesting observation Tim. In fact, through the forested (what remains) areas of the southwestern portion of Ontario are referred to as Carolinian Forest (primarily broad leaf desiduous trees) and has some very unique vegetation in relation to the rest of Canada. Of course as LooseNut mentioned, except for the white stuff in the Winter.

LoosenNut - where in Southwestern Ontario are you located? I grew up in Wallaceburg, lived in Windsor for a while but currently live near Ottawa.

cheers, Graham near Ottawa Canada

 

[Brass_Machine]

Nice shop! I am very jealous.

Eric

 

[rake60]

Beautiful Shop Loose nut!

Bernd, I don't suppose any of that extra head room in your basement
is for sale? I desperately need more in mine!

Rick

 

[Loose nut]

Bernd, if I had a basement that's were my shop would be, your lucky to have one so large, hope you left a good access way into it.

Graham, I live up near Sarnia if you remember were that is, You must be a glutton for punishment if you put up with winter in Ottawa.

For all of you who are wondering why we complain about the winters here when we aren't very far north, the jet stream in winter usually goes up into the arctic then dips down to follow the Great Lakes around so the states and provinces that surround the lakes can have hard winters, kind of like the gulf stream effect on Britain and Europe in reverse. It's not that unusual for the wind chill to hit -40 below here, of course it isn't as cold as up north and out on the prairies. It does make heating the shop pricey, I usually keep it at about 55 degrees, can't afford much more than that.

 

[GrahamC]

Graham, I live up near Sarnia if you remember were that is, You must be a glutton for punishment if you put up with winter in Ottawa.

Used to live in Sarnia in the 60's when my dad worked as a reporter and photographer the for the Sarnia Observer. My brother and sister still live in Wallaceburg and I have cousins all over the area from Charing Cross and Blenhiem to London and Port Huron. I know the area quite well.

You have a fine shop put togther. My humble shop consists of a lathe, drill press, off hand grinder and an assortment of hand tools all in 1/4 of our basement. Generally sufficient but I sure would like mill.

This past winter was one of the snowiest on record, the snow bank at the end of the driveway was piled to 6 feet.

cheers, Graham

 

[shred]

Advantage of living North: Basements
Disadvantage of living North: Snow

Man I miss basements. We always had a great basement workshop growing up. No big machine tools, but lots of hand tools and parts and things to take apart.. perfect for growing boys to mess with.

 

[Loose nut]

Graham, I only improved the shop recently (with the permission of "She who must be obeyed") because I'm hoping to retire in a couple of years and there won't be any money for that afterwords. I used a 9 x 20 lathe (still have it) for 20 years and a real POS mill/drill (ditched it) that would have had to be improved just to be crappy, and added a few other bits like a tool grinder and drill sharpener to round out things.

Back in the old days in Britian you could buy a small lathe, about the size of a Taig for under a pound Sterling ($5.00 US at that time), which were of dubious quality. Some people would buy a second one and mount it vertically on a wall with a vertical slide on the saddle and had a small "mill" of sorts. If you can't get a good used one and new cost to much, there are many web sites that can show you how to cobble something up that will get the job done. Were there is a will there is a way, right.

At least you have the basement and don't have to wear Ski-doo boots to work in your shop. Frostbite's a *****!

 

[GrahamC]

Where theres a will there is a way alright.

In fact I have been collecting bits and pieces to make a more sturdy milling attachment but in the mean time I some fittings that allow me to do small milling opertions - leaves me wanting something bigger however. Perhaps if I poke around enough corners and look under enough rocks I will eventually turn up something. In the mean time, need is the mother of invention and sees me through for the time being.

cheers, Graham

 

[Bernd]

Beautiful Shop Loose nut!

Bernd, I don't suppose any of that extra head room in your basement
is for sale? I desperately need more in mine!

Rick

Ya, I'm going to have a bit of head room I can send ya. :big: I'm going to put in a drop ceiling in the model railroad area. It'll be even with the underside of the I-beams (that's a bit over 6 feet). So you can have that bit between the I-beams and joists. :big: I made sure when I designed the house to have lots of headroom just in case I was going to make a large shop in the basement.

Bernd

 

[Bernd]

Bernd, if I had a basement that's were my shop would be, your lucky to have one so large, hope you left a good access way into it.

If you go back to the pic of the basement you'll see in the upper left hand corner what looks like a narrow isle way. What your looking at is were the stairs will go in. It's a straight shot from the door right down into the basement, no turns. I decided this after going to several Homa-Ramma's (sveral builders build houses for the public to view). I noticed that all the entry's to the basement was through the inside of the house with a 90 or 180 degree turn in the stairs. I always wondered how they got 8 foot long drywall down those stairs. ??? Since I orginally wanted to fill the basement with an HO model railroad I needed to get 8 foot sheets of plywood down there. That's why I designed the house to have an outside enterance with a straight shot in to the basement. Inside access is done with a spiral staircase. This was one reason I wanted to build my own house.

I'll have more pics up when I start to move some of the machines in the garage into the basement. Right now they consist of only a metal bandsaw and a drill press, my Buffalo Forge Drill press that is.

Bernd