# My Small Shop



## Ironken

A few pics of my freshly cleaned small shop.


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## T Bredehoft

Good lord, you could hold a square dance in there. Mine is a one man shop, with two people present each have to get out of the other's way.


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## Ironken

T Bredehoft said:


> Good lord, you could hold a square dance in there. Mine is a one man shop, with two people present each have to get out of the other's way.



Ha, thanks. I like well layed out little shops. The advantage of your shop is that there is no room for visitors (any pics?). I forgot to mention....One of the requirements of my Hitler (or some call them wives) is that the vehicles will still fit in the case of hail or foul weather. And fit they will after about 10 minutes of scooting things around.


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## T Bredehoft

I just measured, my shop is 14 feet deep and 16 feet wide. Plus there's a 3 foot by 3 foot furnace in the room. Below is an attempt at a poorly merged panorama. Three pictures not merged but fit together. notice the duplicated band saw on the left.
Machines. starting on the left. small band saw, MP25 mill, three 1 ton arbor presses, small band saw, Ames turret lathe (behind the two band saws), Belt sander, two bench grinders, two drill presses, joiner, larger drill press, Propeller machine,(behind the prop machine, another small drillpress, in front is the MK2 Clausing lathe and behind that the Sears 10" table saw
(hope the picture works)



Out of sight on the left (behind the furnace) are two upper and middle Kennedy boxes. There's another behind the central band saws. Wish the image was larger.

Here are the original images, This may help seeing through the clutter.


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## Ironken

Tom, I really dig on your shop! It is in the basement thusly heated and it looks cozy. You've got alot of nice toys in there. I have to keep the dead tree carcass to a minimum, being that it burns well. 

These "show us your shop" threads are my favorite! I have "borrowed" many ideas from you guys.


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## tweinke

No pictures of my shop, you can just use your imagination. It's 20x24, next imagine 10lbs of shoot in a five pound box!


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## wrat

I don't get it.  Welding is basically the dirtiest job there is, and all these welders have the most immaculate shops.
It's like the cosmos has no justice.
I think it's because these welders always take a few extra minutes to make organizing things like racks and hangers and carts and such.
Or maybe it's because i'm kind of a slob. 
Nah... can't be that. 



Wrat


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## karim

Tom, hope you don't take this the wrong way, but why do you need 3 band saws and 3 drill presses? 

I'd love to have enough room for all that... as it stands, I'm at the point where if I want a new tool (say, a drill-press, which I _would_ like to get), I have to trade out something I already have, as there's no more room! 

I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow of my tiny shop.


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## T Bredehoft

Karim, one of the drill presses is dedicated to one purpose. always the same set up, with variable jigs.

The other two are for some parts I make drilled in a jig with two different sized holes. Its far easier to use two DPs for the two holes than to switch drill bits. This piece is .187 diameter, .610 long. There are other, similar jobs, needing two different sizes of drill. Actuallay, there is a fourth drill press used for drilling holes larger than 1/4 inch The others are sprung with rubber bands so you can feel the #63 (.036) drill bit in the work. I do use up to .104 in them, for 5-40 tapped holes. 

Band saws. one, again, is dedicated to one job, has a built in hump at the blade for cutting three dimensional curved propeller blades. one other set up for cutting radius on propeller blades, pivoting on the center. 
The third band saw was too cheap to pass up, I use it occasionally for cutting small aluminum pieces. There's a fourth band saw in the garage, for cutting balsa stock to length and ripping it to correct dimensions. It also cuts heavier aluminum stock for other projects.


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## Ironken

wrat said:


> I don't get it.  Welding is basically the dirtiest job there is, and all these welders have the most immaculate shops.
> It's like the cosmos has no justice.
> I think it's because these welders always take a few extra minutes to make organizing things like racks and hangers and carts and such.
> Or maybe it's because i'm kind of a slob.
> Nah... can't be that.
> 
> 
> 
> Wrat



Wrat, my little shop turns into quite the s@#!storm. I just occasionally go out into my little slice of heaven, throw on some 80's metal and clean and p.m. my equipment. Oddly enough, this phenomenon usually occurs during the same week every month. It's like this force within the house drives me out into the shop.......strange......


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## tweinke

One time of the month when " May the force be with you " is a bad thing.


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## Ironken

tweinke said:


> One time of the month when " May the force be with you " is a bad thing.



Indeed sir!


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## karim

Tom, please don't read anything into my comment about your tooling  It's mostly just envy talking 

(not ashamed to admit to tool-envy, LOL)


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## T Bredehoft

karim said:


> Tom, please don't read anything into my comment about your tooling  It's mostly just envy talking



No offence taken, I can understand why someone would question the need for multiples of machines. I'm lazy. The 'drill jig' for the part I mentioned, is 3/4 square, 1 1/4 long half hard 4140, a tiny little thing by comparison with some jigs/fixtures I made in real life. 

For what it's worth, last year a metal source I use, had in their "Fire Sale" some flame cut scraps of 4140 hot rolled steel, just over 3/4 square and 18 inches long. Cost (if I remember correctly) about  $1.50 ea. I ordered two. When I got them they were hard. I built a charcoal fire in the broiler, stuck them in the coals and let it burn itself out. They are somewhat annealed, HSS will cut them, but they;ll never wear out. They are great for small pieces of tooling, like the above drill jig.


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## karim

Here's my shop in two panoramas. It's about 14' x 10'.



	

		
			
		

		
	
 Left-to-right: sink & cleaning, lumber storage, band-saw, belt-sander, Sherline lathe, Sherline mill, plastics area, paint/spray exhaust area



Left-to-right: drafting/design, tools/storage, sanding, grinder

Everything is either attached to the walls, or on wheels, to maximize floor space. I can tuck the central bench under the side benches if I need the central space.

Edit: Updated the panoramic photos so they're easier to see


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## T Bredehoft

Great idea, putting the central table under a side bench. I'd fill the under-bench with something then not be able to move the central table in.


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## karim

Thanks! Of course, in reality, since the central table always seems to be piled high with half-finished projects, rolling it under the side-benches is more aspirational than realistic.


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## LarryJ

Ironken said:


> View attachment 140186
> View attachment 140187
> View attachment 140188
> 
> 
> A few pics of my freshly cleaned small shop.



Jeeze, Louise!  What a setup.  You have no -stuff- (like the rest of us), but you have machines out the kazoo.  MIG, TIG, Plasma, bandsaw, lathe, mill, tools, etc.

And it's all so organized, how the h*ll do you find anything?

Well done, Ken. 

P.S:  I painted my floor with white floor paint and it brightened up the shop a ton (before I moved the 45 tons of stuff back in.)  It's also easier to find dropped hardware on a white floor.  14 years later, it's time to repaint it, but lordy, do I have too much stuff in there...


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## Ironken

Thank you Larry. The shop gets pretty piled up sometimes but, with the small space I have no choice but to keep it clean. I detailed in a previous post why I use my shop as my hidey hole. 

I really like the light colored floor idea....that would brighten the joint up nicely but, my more fiery processes would take care of that in short order.

PS: You have 45 tons of stuff....I would be happy to take some of it off your hands. Just to help you get some space back, of course. Ummm, yeah.....to help you out.


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## rbertalotto

SMALL????? My shop is so small that when two men enter....one comes out with a pocketbook!

Love your shop....Beautiful!


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## 62Scout

These threads always give me a bit of a chuckle, especially when someone mentions the size of their shop (or, rather the size they THINK it is) in anything but absolute numbers.  Regardless of how small you think your space is, there's always someone who thinks you have a massive place compared to theirs.  

I've often thought of mine as small, as it's a couple of workbenches on one wall of my 2 car garage, until I bought my mill.  I thought we were going to have to call in a few well built circus midgets to get that mill out of the dude's tiny little shed shack.  There was BARELY enough room to slide sideways through the place....I have no clue how he managed to get anything at all done in there.  

In my case, while I technically have considerably more space than what I utilize for the machining operations, I'm absolutely not willing to put my '62 International outside permanently to make more usable space.  Then when you take into account my 2 welders, horizontal bandsaw, engine hoist, scores of old car parts that again I don't want to leave outside, my home's brain dead builders that put the washer and dryer in the garage...the space really does get small fast, lol.


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## karim

I updated my panos with better resolution images


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## Tony Wells

I used to sub work out to an elderly gent in Houston who had his entire shop located in a rental stall at a storage outfit. I swear he had 2 of everything. And I mean everything. You had to step outside to have a face to face conversation. But he was a remarkable man. Lifelong single, machining was his love and passion. And it showed. I only wish I had spent more time with him. I haven't talked to or heard anything from him in a long time, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find he has passed way. But those who knew him, knew he was a special sort. He had the talent of any ten other manual machinists I can think of.

I think I'll check up on him today and see if he's still out there.


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## Ironken

rbertalotto said:


> SMALL????? My shop is so small that when two men enter....one comes out with a pocketbook!
> 
> Love your shop....Beautiful!



Thank you! Now that there is funny.


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## Ironken

Tony Wells said:


> I used to sub work out to an elderly gent in Houston who had his entire shop located in a rental stall at a storage outfit. I swear he had 2 of everything. And I mean everything. You had to step outside to have a face to face conversation. But he was a remarkable man. Lifelong single, machining was his love and passion. And it showed. I only wish I had spent more time with him. I haven't talked to or heard anything from him in a long time, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find he has passed way. But those who knew him, knew he was a special sort. He had the talent of any ten other manual machinists I can think of.
> 
> I think I'll check up on him today and see if he's still out there.



I get what you are saying. I was lucky enough to work at a welding/fab job shop in my home town as a second job. The Dad of the owner was an old tool and die maker. Very good at what he did! I paid attention but, still regret not learning more. I still talk to them every few weeks or so. Great people.


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## 62Scout

T Bredehoft said:


> Great idea, putting the central table under a side bench. I'd fill the under-bench with something then not be able to move the central table in.



That was my plan when I built my main workbench - I didn't add cabinets or drawers underneath it, so I could roll my smaller welder, horizontal bandsaw, etc underneath it along with a small rolling welding table.

That lasted for about 6 hours, when I realized my spare set of mud tires for my crawler would be a perfect fit under the bench...and I still get to play musical crap with my equipment.


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## Zengineer

Ironken, that is really slick and clean. Not sure how you manage to keep things so tidy, I've got more stuff than I know what to do with or where to put. Maybe a purge is in order for me!


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## Silverbullet

He's just a neatnik , everything has a place and that's all that's aloud . Me I'm a piler everything on top of everything . The only bench with nothing on it is my hydraulic lift table , work goes on there. When it's done the next job takes its place. But I know exactly where everything I own is or at least where I put it. If someone helps me then I don't know. About five years ago a buddy helped rearrange my shop . Still can't find everything he moved. Worse part he don't know either .


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## fixit

T Bredehoft said:


> I just measured, my shop is 14 feet deep and 16 feet wide. Plus there's a 3 foot by 3 foot furnace in the room. Below is an attempt at a poorly merged panorama. Three pictures not merged but fit together. notice the duplicated band saw on the left.
> Machines. starting on the left. small band saw, MP25 mill, three 1 ton arbor presses, small band saw, Ames turret lathe (behind the two band saws), Belt sander, two bench grinders, two drill presses, joiner, larger drill press, Propeller machine,(behind the prop machine, another small drillpress, in front is the MK2 Clausing lathe and behind that the Sears 10" table saw
> (hope the picture works)
> View attachment 140193
> 
> 
> Out of sight on the left (behind the furnace) are two upper and middle Kennedy boxes. There's another behind the central band saws. Wish the image was larger.
> 
> Here are the original images, This may help seeing through the clutter.
> View attachment 140196
> 
> View attachment 140195
> 
> View attachment 140194




Now that's a real shop, looks good to me ! A shop someone is working in.
fixit


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## Ironken

Zengineer said:


> Ironken, that is really slick and clean. Not sure how you manage to keep things so tidy, I've got more stuff than I know what to do with or where to put. Maybe a purge is in order for me!



Nooooooooo! No purging allowed here.

My tidy little shop ain't so tidy now.....metal drops laying everywhere, chips all over the place and mill half torn apart installing a DRO and power feed. It's glorious!


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## Ironken

fixit said:


> Now that's a real shop, looks good to me ! A shop someone is working in.
> fixit



Hey, what are you trying to say....lol


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