Setting up my new shop

[Bogstandard]

I am banging my head against the wall and chewing the bricks that fall out.
I have emptied my shop as much as I can, and hopefully next week the old machinery will be gone, and I will be able to start repairing the damage to the walls caused by all the shelves and bits and bobs I've stuck to the walls over the years. Then it will be just a matter for waiting for the new machines to be delivered and installed.

For the last few days, I have been ordering all the small machinery and all new tooling that will be required for the new machines. I am lucky that most of it will be paid for by kind donations, with a little bit coming from my own pocket. So I am lucky in that I have at least £10K ($20K) to play with. A model engineers dream, but this workshop will also have to keep the wolves from the door, so it has to be set up for small sized production runs as well. So now, instead of making do with bits I have around the shop, it has to be set up to allow me to do almost any job that comes thru the door.

I was expecting at least a week for delivery of most of the items, giving me a bit of breathing space, but the very efficient Arc Euro, Axminster and Chronos plus a few independents had me opening boxes for the last few days.
A major problem has now occurred, I have nowhere to store all the stuff until my old machines have gone, as it will impair the removal of them.
So I am having to improvise, the pic below shows a few of the 5C collets and racks that I couldn't fit into the shop.

More bits are due tomorrow, so it looks like the wife will be sleeping in the bath.

John

 

[zeusrekning]

Very glad to here it John, just wish you had more room to strech out. Ever think of asking the wife to switch the house for the shop When we bought our house I was more interested in a garage than the house. So after we closed on it I was happy there was at least a house here for the wife and kids. Hadn't paid much attention before that
Good Luck
Tim

 

[Brass_Machine]

I definitely understand the shopping for a new house Tim... When we bought ours I was more interested in the garage, or at least the room to rebuild the garage ;D

John, sounds like you are making headway. I am very jealous. Just stop banging your head against the wall... You don't need to be any more brain damaged than required!

Keep the pictures coming, I will live my dream of a new shop through you!

Eric

 

[Bogstandard]

Eric,

What it is, I have been machining for so long, even when I was partially disabled.
Now I have been forced to stop, I am machining in my mind, making imaginary parts, and solving machining problems before I have even tackled them. I think I have built the Liney Halo at least a couple of times. It will be dead easy when I come to physically make it.
I keep saying to myself, only another couple of months.

John

 

[CrewCab]

John ...... just use your time constructively, perhaps you could write ........

"An idiot's guide to home model machining"

You could always dedicate it to me so you have someone to blame ;D

Given your wealth of experience and sense of humour it should be a best seller, plus the ten follow up's to progress from the basics ............ then you can have a workshop any size you want and Mrs BS can have her bed back.

CC


PS: are you sure you aren't a collet or two short, I can only count 86 ........









OK .............. getting mi' coat

 

[Twinsquirrel]

Looking forward to lots of lovely pictures of your workshop when it's finished John and all the wonderful "objets d'art" you will be producing. And very excited to see how you are going to bling up the Halo.

Oh and I'm sure I could find a use.. some storage space for some of that kit :big: ;D :

David

 

[Bogstandard]

CC

I won't have time for writing for the next few years, I have a living to make, when I retire, maybe, but by then my brain cell will most probably be worn out. My last attempt is downloaded from here somewhere.

The collets you see are only the round ones, full sets of metric & imperial, the square holed ones haven't arrived yet. Not getting hex, as they can be easily and accurately held in standard round ones.

David,

This has to be a fully functional workshop, so all unnecessary items have all now gone. No electric hand tools except for a Dremel clone, everything will be air driven by a compressor that will be situated in the 'back room' of my shop. So it is designed in a slightly different way to my old shop. Less bench space, more machinery. You should be able to see it starting to progress in a week or two.

I have an old poppet valve engine that I have been promising myself to finish off before the Halo starts, this will let me get used to and fine tune the machinery. The Halo won't have any bling at all, as it is going to be a reference article that anyone should be able to use for building one. There will be a couple of optional inlet and exhaust mods that I have already built in my head, but that is about it.

John

 

[Brass_Machine]

... I think I have built the Liney Halo at least a couple of times. It will be dead easy when I come to physically make it.
I keep saying to myself, only another couple of months.

John

I can't wait to see the build progress.

 

[CrewCab]

when I retire, maybe, but by then my brain cell will most probably be worn out.

I suspect "it" will outlast us all John

Good luck with the workshop renovations and I hope the new equipment is "in transit" ......... very much looking forward to the BS treatment of the Halo 8)


Now go take Mrs BS an extra pillow, the bath can't be all that comfortable

CC

 

[Bogstandard]

Just to show what I am having to put up with. When normally I can drop my hands on almost anything I need.

Now I can't find anything. Even the dog is going thru stress, he can't find his bed which was normally on a shelf under my bench, which is now outside. I have to unlock the shop for him each morning, and he sleeps on my chair, and lock it up last thing at night.

There are boxes everywhere, and that is after I spent most of today getting all the bits packed into fewer boxes. I have even had to put the newly delivered benchtop power hacksaw on the floor, there is nowhere else to put it. It weighs well over 1 cwt.
I did have a play about with my new state of the art DRO that is going onto the mill.
I was very surprised when I saw that it reads to five decimal places when in imperial, and four in metric. But I don't suppose I will ever need that sort of accuracy. My lathe DRO's will be the same, as they are the same generation of readouts and slides.

Next time you see it, hopefully the lathe and miller will be gone, and I will be able to get some of the stuff put into more suitable storage places.

BTW, all the bubble wrap that comes in the boxes makes a great mattress and pillow for the wife. The only problem is, she keeps waking me up from my beauty sleep when she turns over, all those little 'pops' echo when they burst in the bath.

John

 

[CrewCab]

I have even had to put the newly delivered benchtop power hacksaw on the floor,

Benchtop Power Hacksaw ............ John please tell me more

CC

 

[Bogstandard]

CC,

I bought mine from Axminster

http://www.axminster.co.uk/sessionI...-Axminster-SIEG-G1-Powered-Hacksaw-366124.htm

This cost £240 ($480) including delivery, Arc Euro do them for around the same price when you add their delivery charge, just a different colour. Mine will go better with the colour scheme of my new machinery.

I was surprised when it arrived, I expected it to be a tin plate job. But no, it is a real solid bit of cast iron, and very well made indeed.

The overall length required for fitting is 31" (it grows backwards when the arm is lifted). This one can handle 5" bar. I tried it on a lump of cold rolled steel the other day, and it went thru it like it wasn't there.

I always prefer a hacksaw rather than a bandsaw as they tend to cut a lot straighter, they have a much more rigid blade (about £6 ($12) each). Don't know how long the blades last, but if you go by the ones I used in industry, a long time. When they do eventually go blunt or break, they can be ground up into great knives or scrapers.

John

 

[CrewCab]

That sounds interesting 8) ............ I'd been thinking about This one but the hacksaw, although dearer seems a better proposition.

Cheers ;D

CC

 

[CrewCab]

John, looking through the specs I see it has an auto cut off switch, .... good thing ....... in the bandsaw link I posted the info says it has auto cut off but Warco advise me it doesn't ... ..... so anyone looking at this model, please take care.

Anyway, waffle over, another question though, in your opinion is it advisable to use a coolant pump for cutting steel?

Dave ............. errrrrrrrrrr CC :

 

[Bogstandard]

Dave,

I am contemplating making a small drip tray and putting coolant on it. It does tend to make the blades last a lot longer.

BUT then I thought, how often will it be cutting large billets of metal.

BUT then I thought, it should really have coolant on anyway.

BUT then I thought, ................................................................

Still undecided over that one, time, trouble and expense over a bit of blade life.

BUT then I thought, it is better to have coolant on a power hacksaw than coolant on a bandsaw, as the coolant isn't sent all the way thru the machine, as happens with a bandsaw.

My brain hurts. I wish people wouldn't ask questions like that.

John

 

[Bogstandard]

The start of a new era, a tearful farewell to the old.

I saw this afternoon, my old friends being carefully loaded into the back of a big van.
All the years of adventures untold, going to a new home, hopefully to start a new set of adventures for the new newbie owner. I hope he has the same liking for my old machinery as I did. If he does, he will be rewarded with many more faithful years that these two machines still have to offer.

So to the future. Now back up and running, firing on all cylinders. So my old avatar is back, and I have now got to make a decent workshop out of this echoing shell.

The left hand side shelves won't be touched, they are in the right position and what is on them will be given a good going over and anything that hasn't been used in the last ten years will be shown the way out.

My old little pedestal drill is destined for a new home, but its stand will be used for my new 8" buffing machine, that just so happened to turn up this morning, in the guise of an offhand grinder. An hour later, it is now my bright orange el cheapo polishing machine.

The surface grinder will be put on the opposite wall between the lathe and mill, with a screen to protect the new machines from abrasive dust. While the machines were in the process of being stripped, a friend turned up with some very large 10mm thick, brand new, polycarb sheet, with more to follow. So it looks like the screen idea is off the drawing board and almost a definite maybe.

So the new adventure is starting, plug all the holes in the walls, get them painted, and eagerly await the arrival of my new metal munchers.

I think I might go out tomorrow and treat myself to a small mig welder, I haven't had welding facilities for years, and I think it is now time to get some. That will also mean a trip to the scrappies to stock up a bit with steel tubing.

Busy days ahead.

Bandit is still looking for his bed.

John

 

[Cedge]

John ain't got no tools!!.... John ain't got no tools!!.... Neener Neener Neener...LOL.

Steve

 

[Bogstandard]

Steve,

I would be very careful if I was you.

I haven't done a big tool gloat, YET, but any more of that sort of taunting, you just might get a few grands worth of piccies. With a lot more to follow as they turn up.

Boggy Bigbucks.

 

[chuck foster]

tool gloats are good :big: ;D 8)

let the games begin.................

chuck

 

[Cedge]

oooops... it's those darned annoying voices again... they aren't always controllable, ya know...LOL

Steve