If you had the chance-ideas for a "dream shop"

[brucer]

central heat and air, very good lighting, sealed floors.


trak dpm sx5p mill, trak 18x45sx lathe, small cnc boring mill, chevalier surface grinder, hardinge toolroom lathe, drill press,bench grinder..

good quality horizontal saw and vertical saw (marvel)

Nice 300ish amp ac/dc tig welder, 300amp mig welder, acorn table, overhead crane.

2 post lift somewhere out of the way..

a couple lista storage cabinets and a couple lista work benches with wood tops..


50inch lcd tv with cable or satellite receiver and netflix, refrigerator, large desk, computer and internet/also wifi.

 

[brucer]

I now have my dream shops the big one 26 X 50 is my welding shop and the small storage shed 12 X 16 is small machine shop with heat & air.

you have the best looking 12x16 machine shop I've ever seen, nice job and well thought out..

 

[Rbeckett]

If I was building another shop I would opt for air drops every 4 feet along with 220 and 110 volt inside and outside lines too. The shop would have an overhead rail system for lifting anywhere in the shop and use hitch recievers on all work tables to interchange tools through out the shop. A ventilation system capable of exchanging the air in about 4 minutes or less as well as running water and a toilet. I would seperate the hot work from cold work and precision engine building to insure good and tight motors that last a while. And I would extend my concrete pad around the shop to accomodate a 4 post lift and two vehicles on conventional jack stands and dollies as well being capable of supporting a semi tractor or a large mining bucket or blade..(Sigh) If i only had the money for all the dream stuff, but I have most of it now, I just gotta get busy again. Good luck and hope you get the shop your looking for too.
Bob

 

[chief]

The welding shop was also the machine shop for many years, I wanted to be clool in the summer and warm in the winter at age 65,
so i came up with this idea, i had to buy a smaller milling machine, the big old 1944 index was a little big for the new shop,
well that what i told the wife Ha. Ha. and it worked, i couldn't heat and cool the big shop.
and you can see Jerry Lea my german shepherd love the new shop also.

 

[chief]

No Tom I didn't win the lottery, But i wish i could, I started buying property in Arkansas at the age of 16, land no one else wanted, and went in the Navy at 18,
and came home about every year and buy more property, my dad ask me one time why you buying all the land, I told him because their not making any more of it,
and some day i'm going to be Rich, he looked at me and said Not in Arkansas, I looked back at him and said I doubled my money on that land i sold you, he said your Right.
And I retired at 38, and I did all this with a 7th gread education, But I got a lot more Learning in the Navy Ha. Ha.
I'm not rich but no one has seen me hit it real hard in 27 years, and everything is paid for. now if i could just get my kids to stop asking for money i would be a happy guy.
they all work good jobs and make more money than me, but don't spend it in the right places. I guess a lot of us old guy have the same problem,

 

[Nelson]

I now have my dream shops the big one 26 X 50 is my welding shop and the small storage shed 12 X 16 is small machine shop with heat & air.

I've seen pics of Chief's shop on another forum, and loved what I saw, envying how nice it looks in there.
I'm in a tiny, crowded square of our basement. We have a small house, on a small 40x100 parcel in NYC.
My ideal shop would be SEPARATE like what you guys have, with it's own electric and heating,
nice floor like The Chief has, a TV set to keep me occupied and some of the stuff I collected over the years.

We have a shed on the property that I am going to expand and electrify to put my woodworking stuff in.
Wife wanted it out of the house because of the sawdust and I agreed, so I have to set up out there.
It made more sense anyway because metal chips are easier to control than sawdust, which is airborne.

:tiphat:Nelson

 

[Nelson]

There's no Charles just Charley please, Thanks. Not trying to be uncivil, I have a shop I've rented for almost 2 years doing metal fabrication and welding. The other tenant on the property is a mean old man that tries to rule the world, has harassed, threatened & even tried running me over. I've complained to the landlord, cops, city & even had him arrested to no avail so I have given up the fight and moving out. That's just the short of it, it is a bigger problem than I've painted. Sorry for the negativity. But there's always a silver lining somewhere and I'm looking for it.

I'll post pics of my current shop later as they are on another device not with me.

Some really nice shops posted here by the way.

Charley,

I can understand your situation well. There are some people out there who love to hate. It gives them purpose in life.
They hold onto their hate, never let go. It's really sad. I mean, I am no angel, that's for sure. But even I get tired
and let go, eventually. Sounds like the guy you are dealing with can't.

I'd move out and let someone else deal with him, even if I had to pay more elsewhere. I'm getting too old to deal
with aggravation in my life.


:tiphat:Nelson

 

[Nelson]

No Tom I didn't win the lottery, But i wish i could, I started buying property in Arkansas at the age of 16, land no one else wanted, and went in the Navy at 18,
and came home about every year and buy more property, my dad ask me one time why you buying all the land, I told him because their not making any more of it,
and some day i'm going to be Rich, he looked at me and said Not in Arkansas, I looked back at him and said I doubled my money on that land i sold you, he said your Right.
And I retired at 38, and I did all this with a 7th gread education, But I got a lot more Learning in the Navy Ha. Ha.
I'm not rich but no one has seen me hit it real hard in 27 years, and everything is paid for. now if i could just get my kids to stop asking for money i would be a happy guy.
they all work good jobs and make more money than me, but don't spend it in the right places. I guess a lot of us old guy have the same problem,

I know this is way off topic, but what you did buying real estate starting at 16 was unbelievably smart.
Over many years, it goes up, in good times, way up, and like you said, the amount of land is limited, but population keeps going up.
There's a lot more to life than just being book smart. Being practical minded like you were is worth a lot more.

Nelson

 

[Charley Davidson]

This may end up being my dream shop or (nite mare) according how you look at it. I can buy it for $21,000.00 with $5,000.00 down owner finance. It's 1700 sq ft. on a 60 x 140 lot with all crushed gravel. Needs a lot of work, new roof, electrical upgrades and other cosmetics. The real downside is no water or sewer. Upside, is it will be mine, and it will be paid for in 5 years or less.

 

[chief]

Oh Tom I guess the reason i can't win the lottery is I have never bough a ticket, and we have horse racing here and i neve go there either,
Now for you guy that don't have a lot of room in your shops,
what i did years ago when i didn't have a lot of room was to put a lot of thing on wheels so i could move things around out of my way.
in the welding shop i have a big red tool box, a green work bench, drill press, Hydraulic press, Pipe bender table with grinders & Buffers on it,
power hack saw, and even the Trash can on wheels. here are some pictures.