Trying to cleanup around here and digging myself a bigger hole

jwmay said:
They say when you find yourself in hell, just keep going. So that’s my .02.

There’s a tidy shop on the other side!
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oh it will never be tidy.. but usable is what I am striving for. I always have stuff I can't figure out what to do, and I move it from one spot to another, back , rinse and repeat.
Would like it to be tidy, but that's not me. But a mess is not workable either. I need bench space.
My metal bench is fully covered now, haven't seen it in a long while.
 
FWIW , I just went thru 2 full new HVAC installations in both houses . Ive got more space I've ever had in 15 years . I even used the saw and sanders today !!!!!!! I've got tons of Werhouser Choice wood laying around from past projects . My 2 neighbors have been called in for 4 bathroom renos and 1 kitchen . I am cleaning house , the dumpster and firepit are my best friends these days . Still have a long way to go with tools and boxes but making slow progress .
I found and used my little Ryoby sander and it fired right up after 30 years . Says it's dustless .........................MY ASS !
 
Leaving aside the route of interring excess stuff to confuse the crap out of future archaeologists, I do have some recent experience with an "Oh...my workshop is now so full it is functionally broken...[FIST MUFFLED SCREAM]:eek:" event.

Frankly, when my workshop was log-jammed with several lifetimes worth of Nylon/Delrin/Tufnol stock, a Warco Minor mill on a large pallet with no suitable bench to put it on and a bunch of excess tooling from various auction lots, if I didn't have my ADHD meds, I'm not sure what I'd have done.

Brutal enforcement of tunnel vision (and the meds of course) is the way I got through it.

I just picked an area and pretended the dispiriting chaos in any other area didn't exist. If I had to use those other areas as temporary storage for the stuff I was trying to sort out, I actually threw a dust sheet over the other area to prevent me looking at and thus starting on that area before I was finished with the area I was supposed to be organising.

I also became a bit of a regular at the local recycling centre.

With the help of a few relatively local maker spaces/men's sheds, I managed to shift all of the excess unwanted plastics.

Managed to borrow a very rusty but still sound engine hoist (which is still outside on the drive, under a tarp, to be collected by the owner; I suspect I'm stuck with it, need to find a place for that now :oops:) and repurposed a workbench as the home for my mill.

Reconfigured general storage to get other stuff organised.

I do still have a fair bit more of workshop infrastructure stuff to do*, but at that point, I was then at a stage, 5 months later, where I could finish off the improvements to the mini lathe I started 6 months previously and could now use my workshop.

Going into my workshop is now once again a pleasure and I'd say that's due to the strict divide and conquer approach I took when faced with such depressing disorder.

Don't know if this ramble is of any help but eh... it's there for what it's worth. :)


* build drawers in the shelf section under the worktop of the mill bench; use the various 2' lengths of" diameter poly pipe and 5" x 3" poly trunking I have to make stock storage; add casters to the bottom of the 5 haberdashers drawers to act as more pull-out stock storage underneath the shelf section; build a drawer underneath my grinders bench; weld up a proper, smaller footprint stand for my bandsaw from angle iron; add more lighting; build a properly level and smooth concrete base for a future bigger lathe.
 
jwmay said:
They say when you find yourself in hell, just keep going. So that’s my .02.

There’s a tidy shop on the other side!
Click to expand...
No truer words were ever spoken. I’ve finally got a resting pack of the machines that works and being able to move the once in a while but can’t get rid of machines to the new shed has been the final step. Of course tidy is the goal but just plugging along as the solutions (without getting totally in the weeds) come up has really paid off. I have three flat surfaces that refuse to be ordered. The surface plate, top of my rollaway and top of my flat file toolbox. But there is hope finally.
 
Mine keeps getting filled up with random stuff that I then need to get rid of and then more stuff comes in. There's really no other way than just going through it and getting rid of what isn't needed followed by finding good places for what is.

When I ran my business I made it a point to pull everything away from the walls and clean while reorganizing about twice a year. I'm far from a neat freak but like you I really like to know where my tools are when I need them.

So, here's what I'd recommend.

1. Clean out that $**T with bleach and make sure you get all of it, you don't want to be reaching behind something and find it accidentally.

2. If you don't have another space to put stuff in temporarily you'll need to push it all off to one side and start organizing the other side of the shop. Depending on the amount of stuff it might be good to rent a mini storage for a month or two.

3. Measuring tape and lots of head scratching to figure out the best configuration of tools, boxes and storage.

4. Be ruthless about what you don't need, if it can go then let it move on to a new owner.

5. Post up pictures as you go, someone might have an idea you haven't thought of.

John
 
mmcmdl said:
I found and used my little Ryoby sander and it fired right up after 30 years . Says it's dustless .........................MY ASS !
Click to expand...
Hey, it was dustless for 30 years, you’re just beyond the dustless portion of the warranty. :)
 
SouthernChap said:
Leaving aside the route of interring excess stuff to confuse the crap out of future archaeologists, I do have some recent experience with an "Oh...my workshop is now so full it is functionally broken...[FIST MUFFLED SCREAM]:eek:" event.

Frankly, when my workshop was log-jammed with several lifetimes worth of Nylon/Delrin/Tufnol stock, a Warco Minor mill on a large pallet with no suitable bench to put it on and a bunch of excess tooling from various auction lots, if I didn't have my ADHD meds, I'm not sure what I'd have done.

Brutal enforcement of tunnel vision (and the meds of course) is the way I got through it.

I just picked an area and pretended the dispiriting chaos in any other area didn't exist. If I had to use those other areas as temporary storage for the stuff I was trying to sort out, I actually threw a dust sheet over the other area to prevent me looking at and thus starting on that area before I was finished with the area I was supposed to be organising.

I also became a bit of a regular at the local recycling centre.

With the help of a few relatively local maker spaces/men's sheds, I managed to shift all of the excess unwanted plastics.

Managed to borrow a very rusty but still sound engine hoist (which is still outside on the drive, under a tarp, to be collected by the owner; I suspect I'm stuck with it, need to find a place for that now :oops:) and repurposed a workbench as the home for my mill.

Reconfigured general storage to get other stuff organised.

I do still have a fair bit more of workshop infrastructure stuff to do*, but at that point, I was then at a stage, 5 months later, where I could finish off the improvements to the mini lathe I started 6 months previously and could now use my workshop.

Going into my workshop is now once again a pleasure and I'd say that's due to the strict divide and conquer approach I took when faced with such depressing disorder.

Don't know if this ramble is of any help but eh... it's there for what it's worth. :)
Click to expand...
You’ve made me so proud; there’s hope for others as well!
 
ChazzC said:
You’ve made me so proud; there’s hope for others as well!
Click to expand...
Actually, I forgot to add "label all the card index cabinet drawers" and "convert pigeon hole unit pigeon holes to drawers" to the TBD workshop infrastructure tasks list.

The card index is a 63 drawer (7 x 9) unit and whilst I know what's in which drawers for the top two rows and the rough location of most items in the other rows, I still end up occasionally having to do the "pull out, push back in" shuffle to find things.

The two pigeon hole units have a fairly sturdy plastic tray in each pigeon hole but the units will probably be more aesthetically pleasing with drawer fronts (I say probably because my cabinetry skills are hardly what you'd call finely honed!) and will also look more orderly.

I also have plans to annexe at least some of the area of the garage that isn't currently my workshop. We have an extension planned early '25 for the back of the house and part of that is an outside cupboard for some of our gardening equipment. I reckon with some sneaky careful negotiation, I can get enough space to get another couple of smallish benchtop machine tools (something the size of a tool and cutter grinder or a or 1" x 41" belt sander), plus obviously the space above and below.

To misquote Leonardo Da Vinci:

"A workshop is never finished, only abandoned"

:grin:
 
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