Soliciting Ideas For The Machining Corner Of My Shop!

[Shadowdog500]

Hello, I moved my lathe and mill to run new electric to the machining corner of my shop. I have several ideas that I want to run past others like having a formica wall chip catch and having cabinets with LED type fluorescent fixture lights right over the lathe. I haven't seen these done before and wonder if there was a reason that I missed.

Here is a short few minute video where I show what I propose and seek comments from others.

Thanks in advance for any comments or advise.

Chris

 

[JimDawson]

The cabinets over the lathe should work fine. You want them high or shallow enough that you are not hitting your head on them when you want to look straight down on the work. I like the Formica idea, should be easy to clean. Another material to look at is shower enclosure hard board. It has a hard (plastic?) surface, and as a bonus it makes a great whiteboard. I have a 4x8 sheet of it on the wall in my office to use as a white board. I also have a white board behind my lathe.

LED fixtures should work great. Because you want to put cabinets above the lathe, it gives you a good opportunity for a good mounting point. I really like under cabinet lighting for work areas, puts the light on the work area and not in your eyes.
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[Charles Spencer]

Set aside approximately twice as much space as you think you are going to need.

 

[KenS]

I wonder how sharp hot chips, cutting oil and a plastic laminate would get along?

 

[jpfabricator]

My .02¢. The cabinet over the lathe seems a bad idea.
You get complacent and lean over a spinning workpiece to get somthing out of the cabinet, and the worst happens.
Humans are rated at 1/3 horsepower, without gear reduction. Even small bench top lathes can cause catastrophic damage.


Sent from somewhere in East Texas by Jake Parker!

 

[kvt]

The cabinets over the lathe would have to be higher, That way you have plenty of room over it. That also keeps you from going after things while running it like Jake said things can happen.
I like the idea of the hard plastic shower enclosure type of material, as the Formica is thin layer over wood, and chips can eventually work through
it, allowing the oil to interact with the glue and start to cause it to come lose. The solid plastic type of shower enclosure stuff does not have that problem.
For the floor, SEAL, the problem with the small tiles is that oil will go past the cracks between and then start to loosen the tiles and stain the concrete any way. Chips also imbed in them
a textured sealant will create a more none slip surface, while keeping the oil from soaking in it provides grip so you do not slip on that oil. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ELHEAD]

Formica is the stuff that covered the countertops of kitchens for many many years. It is the sheet that covers the particle board substrate ( think laminate) . You will find that it is impervious to oil , grease, water, and a moderate amount of heat. I can be found in sheets appx 1/16" thick, with no glue on the back, in many colors. My opinion is that it would be a Great Wall cover.

 

[Shadowdog500]

The cabinets over the lathe should work fine. You want them high or shallow enough that you are not hitting your head on them when you want to look straight down on the work. I like the Formica idea, should be easy to clean. Another material to look at is shower enclosure hard board. It has a hard (plastic?) surface, and as a bonus it makes a great whiteboard. I have a 4x8 sheet of it on the wall in my office to use as a white board. I also have a white board behind my lathe.

LED fixtures should work great. Because you want to put cabinets above the lathe, it gives you a good opportunity for a good mounting point. I really like under cabinet lighting for work areas, puts the light on the work area and not in your eyes.
.
.

I wonder how sharp hot chips, cutting oil and a plastic laminate would get along?

The cabinets over the lathe would have to be higher, That way you have plenty of room over it. That also keeps you from going after things while running it like Jake said things can happen.
I like the idea of the hard plastic shower enclosure type of material, as the Formica is thin layer over wood, and chips can eventually work through
it, allowing the oil to interact with the glue and start to cause it to come lose. The solid plastic type of shower enclosure stuff does not have that problem.
For the floor, SEAL, the problem with the small tiles is that oil will go past the cracks between and then start to loosen the tiles and stain the concrete any way. Chips also imbed in them
a textured sealant will create a more none slip surface, while keeping the oil from soaking in it provides grip so you do not slip on that oil. Just my 2 cents.

Formica is the stuff that covered the countertops of kitchens for many many years. It is the sheet that covers the particle board substrate ( think laminate) . You will find that it is impervious to oil , grease, water, and a moderate amount of heat. I can be found in sheets appx 1/16" thick, with no glue on the back, in many colors. My opinion is that it would be a Great Wall cover.

Thanks for the comments. I will look into the shower enclosure hard board, but will also look into Formica type of options. Now that I think of it, my mini lathe sat on a formica counter that I ripped out of our kitchen for 9 years and i never had a problem. I will look into multiple options presented before going further.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Shadowdog500]

The cabinets over the lathe should work fine. You want them high or shallow enough that you are not hitting your head on them when you want to look straight down on the work. I like the Formica idea, should be easy to clean. Another material to look at is shower enclosure hard board. It has a hard (plastic?) surface, and as a bonus it makes a great whiteboard. I have a 4x8 sheet of it on the wall in my office to use as a white board. I also have a white board behind my lathe.

LED fixtures should work great. Because you want to put cabinets above the lathe, it gives you a good opportunity for a good mounting point. I really like under cabinet lighting for work areas, puts the light on the work area and not in your eyes.
.
.

My .02¢. The cabinet over the lathe seems a bad idea.
You get complacent and lean over a spinning workpiece to get somthing out of the cabinet, and the worst happens.
Humans are rated at 1/3 horsepower, without gear reduction. Even small bench top lathes can cause catastrophic damage.


Sent from somewhere in East Texas by Jake Parker!

The cabinets over the lathe would have to be higher, That way you have plenty of room over it. That also keeps you from going after things while running it like Jake said things can happen.
I like the idea of the hard plastic shower enclosure type of material, as the Formica is thin layer over wood, and chips can eventually work through
it, allowing the oil to interact with the glue and start to cause it to come lose. The solid plastic type of shower enclosure stuff does not have that problem.
For the floor, SEAL, the problem with the small tiles is that oil will go past the cracks between and then start to loosen the tiles and stain the concrete any way. Chips also imbed in them
a textured sealant will create a more none slip surface, while keeping the oil from soaking in it provides grip so you do not slip on that oil. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks,

I may re-think the cabinet idea for now because of concerns of leaning over a spinning lathe. I was also planning to put a quick change tool holding rack over the lathe like people commonly do, but now I wonder if that would also be a set up to start leaning over your work.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Shadowdog500]

Set aside approximately twice as much space as you think you are going to need.

That is good advise for everything in a shop! I actually put the lathe and mill in that corner two years ago and intentionally didn't make anything permanent before seeing how it worked out to make sure the space was enough before pulling them away from the wall and making this permanent change.

I moved stuff around my shop for a couple years before figuring out the permanent place for everything, and am still playing shop tetris every time I get something new.

Chris