Hobby Machine Shop Advice

[D7Pyro]

Hi All,

I'm able to inherit my late grandfather's hobby machine shop. He was a toolmaker by trade and collected alot of cool stuff over the years. During his retirement he built 2 steam locomotives and several other smaller projects.

Although I'll need to condense in places, I think I should be able to take on the machines and some of the key tooling. I have invested in a shed for use as storage freeing up the garage to be a workshop (5.5m x 2.5m).

Would anyone mind taking a look over my proposed layout and offer any thoughts? I've had to guesstimate the size of the surface grinder, bandsaw and pillar drill currently, but based on similar items I can find measurements of, hoping not too far off.

Also, before I transport the tooling is there anything worth noting that could make anything scrap or not worth bringing with me to my workshop? Everything has been in situ unused for in excess of 5 years.

Thanks in advance, Mike

 

[sdelivery]

Whatever tooling you think might be scrap might be usable material for future projects.
Keep as much as you can, you can always scrap it later.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Move the surface grinder and welding table somewhere else. Keep the grinding grit far away from the lathe & mill. I partitioned off a 9x12 at the back of my garage as a "clean" room for the lathe & mill. Put the back of the mill into the corner with the table at 45º to the walls. My space is tight enough that I removed the crank handle from the left end of the mill table to avoid hitting the wall. Place the lathe so you can feed a long bar into the spindle. I placed mine so the spindle faces a door which I can open when needed. A hole in the wall that lines up with the spindle also works. Move the compressor out with the surface grinder and welding area. You will quickly grow tired of listening to it in that small space. Some people build a small enclosure outside with sound-proofing.

 

[GeneT45]

Keep everything! It all appears to be very well kept, I doubt there's any junk in the mix.

I'd suggest rotating your mill 45* so that the back faces into the corner. Bring it out from the corner enough to be able to run the table the full length left and right (x-axis). As shown, you might be hitting your drill press table at times. I would also swap the surface grinder (probably the dirtiest tool in the shop) with the welding bench. Although if you do a lot of grinding (with angle grinders, etc at the welding bench, maybe not.) I organized my shop into a 'clean' half and a 'dirty' half. I try to keep grinding and welding debris away from my mill, lathe, and shaper. Fortunately ground metal doesn't travel far through the air.

GsT

 

[OCJohn]

Move the surface grinder and welding table somewhere else. Keep the grinding grit far away from the lathe & mill. I partitioned off a 9x12 at the back of my garage as a "clean" room for the lathe & mill. Put the back of the mill into the corner with the table at 45º to the walls. My space is tight enough that I removed the crank handle from the left end of the mill table to avoid hitting the wall. Place the lathe so you can feed a long bar into the spindle. I placed mine so the spindle faces a door which I can open when needed. A hole in the wall that lines up with the spindle also works. Move the compressor out with the surface grinder and welding area. You will quickly grow tired of listening to it in that small space. Some people build a small enclosure outside with sound-proofing.

Great post.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Better run power to the shed. You will need a horizontal saw, at least an HF 4x6 or the equivalent. Put it in the shed with raw stock storage.

 

[OCJohn]

I thought hacksaws were back in fashion now?

 

[MrWhoopee]

I thought hacksaws were back in fashion now?

Power hacksaws are, much like shapers and fedoras.

 

[SouthernChap]

Nice looking kit there. Looks like proper 'old iron' (which makes sense given your Grandfather's trade)

As a matter of idle interest, do you know the manufacturer and models of the mill and lathe? I enjoy reading the entries in lathes.co.uk about machines like these.

 

[D7Pyro]

Whatever tooling you think might be scrap might be usable material for future projects.
Keep as much as you can, you can always scrap it later.

Okay thank you, will keep as much as I can!