I shared some pictures of my newly built steel rack in other posts and getting that job done really opened up the opportunity for some reorganizing as we prepare to take delivery of a ShopSabre Sidekick 8 CNC plasma table in the next couple of months.
Getting 3000 pounds of steel stock off the floor finally allowed me to shift some equipment from the front room to the rear space and then move some pieces around up front. Our front area is the original 30x40 shop and we just completed the 30x24 addition in October. In order to fit the plasma table in where my tractor now sits, I removed about 20 feet of shelving that ran up that wall so there is absolutely nothing around the plasma table when it comes in. All that shelving was repurposed on the opposite side of the front shop for dies for a new Hossfeld No. 2 bender that we got about a month ago and which has been sitting boxed up till this past weekend. Now all the dies have a home on two shelves and there is another higher shelf that, for now, is empty. I plan to extend that shelf another 12' just to ensure we have good use of the vertical space the 12' ceiling affords us so we don't have to clutter up floor space with shelving or more tool cabinets.
I also added a 56" roller cabinet that is now positioned in front of my lathe and mill and emptied shelves that held all the tooling and most of the consumables for those two machines. Now I don't have to keep my good endmills and drills rolling around against one another in a box on the shelf - they have their own space and can be easily stored and located for use.
Getting things moved around and into new homes also forced me to take stock of some things that I had laying around and taking up space. I ended up clearing out some stuff that just wasn't being used and likely wasn't going to be used. I know, I know, two weeks from now I'll be working on something and wish that I had kept "x" instead of dumping it, but I'd rather avoid the packrat syndrome that is such an easy trap to fall into and keep a clean and fairly well organized shop that has ample space to work in.
This pic is from one of the front of the front shop space.
This shot is from the doorway in the back that leads to the rear shop area.
I'll follow up with a pic of the rear shop area as I can't seem to attach it to this post.
Getting 3000 pounds of steel stock off the floor finally allowed me to shift some equipment from the front room to the rear space and then move some pieces around up front. Our front area is the original 30x40 shop and we just completed the 30x24 addition in October. In order to fit the plasma table in where my tractor now sits, I removed about 20 feet of shelving that ran up that wall so there is absolutely nothing around the plasma table when it comes in. All that shelving was repurposed on the opposite side of the front shop for dies for a new Hossfeld No. 2 bender that we got about a month ago and which has been sitting boxed up till this past weekend. Now all the dies have a home on two shelves and there is another higher shelf that, for now, is empty. I plan to extend that shelf another 12' just to ensure we have good use of the vertical space the 12' ceiling affords us so we don't have to clutter up floor space with shelving or more tool cabinets.
I also added a 56" roller cabinet that is now positioned in front of my lathe and mill and emptied shelves that held all the tooling and most of the consumables for those two machines. Now I don't have to keep my good endmills and drills rolling around against one another in a box on the shelf - they have their own space and can be easily stored and located for use.
Getting things moved around and into new homes also forced me to take stock of some things that I had laying around and taking up space. I ended up clearing out some stuff that just wasn't being used and likely wasn't going to be used. I know, I know, two weeks from now I'll be working on something and wish that I had kept "x" instead of dumping it, but I'd rather avoid the packrat syndrome that is such an easy trap to fall into and keep a clean and fairly well organized shop that has ample space to work in.
This pic is from one of the front of the front shop space.
This shot is from the doorway in the back that leads to the rear shop area.
I'll follow up with a pic of the rear shop area as I can't seem to attach it to this post.
Beautiful .
