Basement shop equipment suggestions needed

[katit]

Kinda thought how that was.

Just wait until the weather is right before you open the one your shop is in, its not like you want to roll your project car out into the snow....

BTW,

We need pictures of your project car/s....

John

Those are my bikes in big garage, one of them is resto project (KZ650), another is future "something" project - cx500. Others running for the most part, but I ride mostly R100/7 or DRZ. Garage is messy because all of the stuff from basement temporarily moved to it.



And this one is my working garage. With current project. When I say "project" it's not necessary long term something. Just today I finished some work and was running car/opened doors to vent. I just mean it's not opened daily, but when I work on stuff door can be opened for hours.

As I said, most dangerous is when it's 95F, summer, humid, and you open a door. Every metal/glass surface immediately gets wet.

I work on all my cars, so when it's oil change time, etc - this lift/garage gets used. So I am not 100% sure it's a good environment for lathe?

 

[matthewsx]

Those are my bikes in big garage, one of them is resto project (KZ650), another is future "something" project - cx500. Others running for the most part, but I ride mostly R100/7 or DRZ. Garage is messy because all of the stuff from basement temporarily moved to it.

View attachment 512740View attachment 512741

And this one is my working garage. With current project. When I say "project" it's not necessary long term something. Just today I finished some work and was running car/opened doors to vent. I just mean it's not opened daily, but when I work on stuff door can be opened for hours.

As I said, most dangerous is when it's 95F, summer, humid, and you open a door. Every metal/glass surface immediately gets wet.

I work on all my cars, so when it's oil change time, etc - this lift/garage gets used. So I am not 100% sure it's a good environment for lathe?

View attachment 512742

Thanks for sharing the projects, we have a sub forum just for things that move on their own if you ever want to post up there too. I had a Kawasaki 500 triple back when I was young and am currently working on a 2010 Zero DS restomod project at work.

Yeah, I get the midwest summer humidity, I had a shop in Michigan that I shared with my wife's car and when the door got opened it let out all that nice cool air.

I wouldn't be that worried about your lathe rusting away to dust though. You'll be using it and it's pretty easy to make sure all bare surfaces are coated in oil. You can put a lamp or small heater below it to make sure there's not a big temperature differential between it and the outside air, that should minimize condensation.

Place your shop where it makes the most sense to you, if you want it in the basement you'll get whatever tools you want down there and enjoy it just fine. I personally like being able to open the door when weather is nice and have the fresh air and sunshine. It might make sense to have your big machines in the garage and some little ones in the basement/office area.It's okay to have more than one lathe, they're not wives afterall.

John

 

[rwdenney]

Don’t forget to get a good quality horizontal band saw for cutting stock. If you don’t have one you quickly will see how it is essential!

And even "good quality" is a low bar for band saws. Mine is a Harbor Freight 4x6 special, and just this week I used it to make 56 cuts through 1-1/4" square tubing, 86 cuts through 3/4x3/4x1/8 angle (stacked and clamped in bundles of five at a time), and 112 cuts in the vertical arrangement to notch the square tubing. The saw ran continuously for hours and never skipped a beat. Most typical cross-cuts are supervised by ear only, from somewhere else in the shop. I have also used it for cutting 3" hydraulic pistons and semi-hard shafts, and it ran fine even for a cut that took 30 minutes (unsupervised). The only change I've made is replacing the original blade with a Starrett 10-14.

A more expensive saw adds three things: coolant, capacity, and quality. The quality of mine is good enough and big enough for what I'm likely to do in the shop, but I'm sure the lack of coolant means my cuts will go slower and use up blades more quickly. In a production shop, that would make a difference, but not so much for hobbyists.

I fully concur with the old saying (old saw?) that a band saw is the most productive machine tool. Most of what we do does not require that much precision, at least for the first op.

Rick "the next step up in a band saw trebles the price, even bought used" Denney

 

[rwdenney]

On the humidity topic: My basement is half garage, and where I used to do stuff. It was unmanageably small, like most garages ostensibly meant for parking (not working on) cars. But the real problem was that it was part of the house, under the living area. So, it cooled off with air conditioning and being partly underground, but without that air conditioning controlling the humidity. So, there were always cold surfaces in the garage that were below the dew point, and things rusted like crazy, summer or winter.

When we built the shop, I added heat but not cooling. The heat is a radiant floor system using hot water, and that means the floor is the warmth radiator for the whole building. That, coupled with 2" of closed-cell spray-in foam, keeps it in the mid-60's in winter, which is where I set the thermostat. The large bay doors are 2" thick, sealed with gaskets between the panels, and filled with insulating foam. Because it is warmer than outside, it's that much further away from the dew point, and I get no condensation. In the summer we get lots of humidity--the Mid-Atlantic east of the Appalachian mountains is known for it. It's nothing to see gravel roads turn dark with dew an hour after sunset--but that's because the sudden drop in air temperature finds the high dew point, which is often in the upper 60's. But even then I don't get condensation, because the stuff in the shop is always still warm from the day.

Because of all of that, and because of the climate here, heat is worth more than cooling, and without cooling I don't have a problem with condensation. But what makes that work is the large radiant system with well-insulated walls and doors, and doubly so if I had air-conditioning.

None of that solves the problem, of course, if the garage is all you have.

Rick "tolerant of heat and humidity: grew up in Houston" Denney

 

[katit]

Another 180 turn.. If it's NOT basement, I can get anything. Old iron too. With price tag of new 14x40 I assume a lot of good stuff can be bought.
What do you say about let's say HLV-H? From what I see 15k can buy really nice one

 

[Ischgl99]

If you are looking at used, you should be able to get a nice used lathe for half the price of the 1440GT. An HLV-H is a very nice lathe, but you won't be able turn items as large as the 14x40 lathe, so you will want to think about what it will be used for not only now, but possibly in the future.

Since we are spending your money, I'll throw this out there, have you considered a used CNC lathe? A Haas TL-1 would fit nicely in a garage You'll need to get an older one to stay within the price of the 1440GT, but it opens up a lot of possibilities of turning complex shapes quickly and easily.

 

[katit]

If you are looking at used, you should be able to get a nice used lathe for half the price of the 1440GT. An HLV-H is a very nice lathe, but you won't be able turn items as large as the 14x40 lathe, so you will want to think about what it will be used for not only now, but possibly in the future.

Since we are spending your money, I'll throw this out there, have you considered a used CNC lathe? A Haas TL-1 would fit nicely in a garage You'll need to get an older one to stay within the price of the 1440GT, but it opens up a lot of possibilities of turning complex shapes quickly and easily.

Definitely no CNC. It's supposed to be therapeutic, one off projects. And I deal with software daily at work so no, I want something mechanical if that makes sense

 

[Ischgl99]

Definitely no CNC. It's supposed to be therapeutic, one off projects. And I deal with software daily at work so no, I want something mechanical if that makes sense

It makes perfect sense. I like the challenge of figuring out how to machine things, but there are plenty of times I say to myself, imagine what I could do with CNC, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

If you are seriously considering the Hardinge, take a look for Feeler, Victor and Sharp, they also made that kind of lathe and you might find a good condition one for less than a Hardinge.

 

[intrepid]

Thinking hard about garage, so far one thing that concerns me. When it's closed and I run AC/heat all is well. But in a summer if I need to pull car out/etc it's very humid here and all metal surfaces immediately get covered with condensation. With lathe I will have to religiously wipe it with oil I guess...

Same issue I have in Maryland. Running electric heater in winter and air conditioner in summer. I finally gave in and bought a Dehumidifier
Best decision I made. However, I too am planing a move within the next year. I will then install a MR Cool heat pump. Everything all in one and more efficient.

 

[katit]

Same issue I have in Maryland. Running electric heater in winter and air conditioner in summer. I finally gave in and bought a Dehumidifier
Best decision I made. However, I too am planing a move within the next year. I will then install a MR Cool heat pump. Everything all in one and more efficient.

Thats what I have (mini split). It does great as AC and because it's heat pump (even with electric assist) with temps below 30 it's so-so. Gladly it's not that much of this cold.

But the issue is specifically in summer, when it's 72 inside and you open door to 90+ humid heat. Right now I just drove my car it's cold, it's dry, and lathe would be totally fine even if it get's little colder.