- Joined
- Aug 19, 2013
- Messages
- 764
Another update on the shop. In preparation for a visit from my grandparents, house cleaning tonight started with cleaning up the shop. (Hey- gotta have your priorities straight!) I decided that since the lathe is essentially done, the drill press is definitely done, and I don't plan on any substantial restoration work on the mill- that I no longer need the hardboard protector on the maple benchtop. So off it came! Now I can finalize the location for each tool on this bench and finally bolt some stuff down. This is a big step for me!
I just love how these old machines look in my shop; they are perfect for the space!
One thing I definitely didn't account for was putting such a comparably big mill in the room. I had always intended on a benchtop mill and therefore I was trying to maintain some kind of plan for the dogleg section of my bench. However, with the mill table moved all the way over to the far right, I only have 37" of space left between mill table and the benchtop that the lathe sits on. I don't know how realistic it is to have the mill table moved over this far, but it sure would be a shame to have the milling capacity and not be able to use it because a bench is in the way. I have some ideas for this space though. I have my heart set on my surface plate sitting over here, so why not make this an inspection/layout bench area. That doesn't need to be a giant bench anyhow. I'll get some cool cast iron machine legs off ebay and create a 37" benchtop. Between the machine legs- rather than a toolbox (which wouldn't fit) I've been thinking about how a nice Atlas 7" benchtop shaper might store nicely there!
And finally- there's this wall. The plan has always been to put a murphy bed here. In spite of much flak from a couple of you, I've been resolute that that is happening. Well... again, there's that big ass milling machine that I didn't quite account for. Other than moving down to a twin size bed, I'm pushing my luck on getting a full size murphy bed to fit the space available. Given that I also gave up a lot of benchtop space to the right of the mill- I think the only reasonable solution here is to build another bench for this wall. That's kind of nice anyway because that really opens up a lot of usable space! This area will essentially become my assembly table. I can also move a tool grinder over here since it's not quite fitting at the tailstock end of the lathe.
That's where I'm at for now! My focus now is on wrapping up the lathe. It's so close to being complete; I'm just itching to wrap it up.
Great shop ! Also, can you identify and date the metal-clad 'woodie' toolbox ? I bought one just like it but with a lot of patina for $ 30.00 delivered.