Less than 100sq/ft club, show your tiny shops/work areas

[iandh]

I'm in the middle of a large extended remodel, so I'm extremely limited on space at the moment. My bedroom, office, living room, and shop are all in a single room, which measures about 14x30ft. My shop area is on one side of the room seperated by some polystyrene foam panel as a makeshift wall. It measures 8ftx9.5ft, so 76sq/ft.

I've managed to squeeze in a well stocked and functional home machine shop, and am able to perform all the duties necessary for my home business.

I wanted to show off the job I did cramming all this stuff into such a small space, and still managing to keep it usable. I also thought it would be fun to make a thread and see if anyone else had overcome the same challenge. 100sq/ft isn't a hard rule, just that anything significantly larger than that is stretching the boundaries of what I would define as tiny.

TBH though, I'm interested in seeing anything anyone has done to maximize productivity with limited space, so pics from any size shop are welcome.


Here's a view from the "entrance"



On the left is my sitting bench with my most used tools on pegboard, 9x22" lathe, and Miller Diversion TIG welder. The benches were made by me with same welder, from 2x2" .065" wall square tube, and I had them powdercoated at a local shop. I machined custom levelling leg inserts and feet from nylon sheet, threaded rod, and aluminum bar stock. Peeking out from behind the cat-box and trash can is my De-Walt multi saw (glorified chop saw).



On the right is my standing bench, with my clamp collection, metric and standard fastener assortment, and my benchtop mill. Shipping and various supplies are stored underneath, as well as my mobile kit stored in milwaukee soft bags. Mounted to the bench you can see my hot-rodded HF woodworking vise, which has been outfitted with custom milled Nylon soft-jaws. It suits my needs perfectly, I do lots of light electronics work and such, so don't really need a beast-vise.



Here you can see my craftsman 6x48" belt sander, which I got for half price at sears (on sale for $125 from $250). Also pictured is my hotrodded harbor freight bandsaw ($100 brand new in pieces in a box at a yard sale), which has been converted from a wood saw for light metal use. I beefed up the drive system, replaced the plastic blade hole insert with a custom machined aluminum one, and outfitted it with custom made ball bearing blade guides. You can see my shop fox radial drill press on the right edge.



Here's a pegboard shop, loaded with my favorite Knipex, Wera, and some Irwin/Vise Grip stuff. I wish it was all the top dollar stuff, but an Irwin electronics plier set costs $79, Knipex is $379. Above you can see my three favorite catalogs, and below my tunes.

[red92s]

Nice and clean!

[jjkrjh]

You need to get a respirator. The cat is going to use the litterbox and run you out of there.----------looks very nice for a small area.

[A_Pmech]

That's a nice setup you have, very clean. It pays to organize in a small space!

What kinds of things are you making in your shop?

Oh, and by the way..... Who did you kill to get their McMaster catalog?

[red92s]

Originally Posted by A_Pmech

Oh, and by the way..... Who did you kill to get their McMaster catalog?

Are they that tough to come by? We had so many that we used them as doorstops in my old office.

[A_Pmech]

Originally Posted by red92s

Are they that tough to come by? We had so many that we used them as doorstops in my old office.

There's a black market for them on Ebay:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=mcm...286.m270.l1313

Some guys wait years to get one. Other guys get five every 6 months.

You can call and they'll say "Oh, we'll send one right out!" Never shows up....

[red92s]

Originally Posted by A_Pmech

There's a black market for them on Ebay:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=mcm...286.m270.l1313

Some guys wait years to get one. Other guys get five every 6 months.

You can call and they'll say "Oh, we'll send one right out!" Never shows up....

Yeah I guess I can see how it'd be cost prohibitive to give them to small accounts and individuals. We'd get boxes of them every year, but we probably invoiced $10k a month through them.

Interesting fact: McMaster does all of the layout and production of the catalog themselves. It's printed by an outside vendor, but it's all generated internally. Their website was also developed internally. Pretty cool that they maintain so much control.

[A_Pmech]

Originally Posted by red92s

Yeah I guess I can see how it'd be cost prohibitive to give them to small accounts and individuals.

That's the funny thing... I know guys doing $60k a year that can't get a catalog.

Yet, call MSC up and they'll send a catalog within 5 days, no questions asked other than where to send it!

Notice that there's not a single MSC catalog for sale / auction on Ebay.

[blaze_125]

wow, there is alot going on in there given the size of the space.
Nicely done.

[iandh]

Thanks for the comments!

I'd really like to see any small shops anyone else has as well. I've seen some really impressive micro-shops out of europe.

Originally Posted by jjkrjh

You need to get a respirator. The cat is going to use the litterbox and run you out of there.----------looks very nice for a small area.

LOL, you can see on one of the pics I have one sitting up on my screw organizers.

The cat has this lovely habit of taking a huge steaming shit every time I go into the shop and start working on a job, especially if it's one I can't easily walk away from.

Originally Posted by A_Pmech

There's a black market for them on Ebay:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=mcm...286.m270.l1313

Some guys wait years to get one. Other guys get five every 6 months.

You can call and they'll say "Oh, we'll send one right out!" Never shows up....

Wow, maybe I'm going to change my business. I could make a couple grand selling McMaster-Carr catalogs instead.

I might have an extra copy or two of 116 if anyone is interested (and promises not to take it just to resell). No guarantees though, I've gotta look and see if I still have them.

[AndrewBigA]

not bad at all.

[Scout Driver]

Amazing use of space.. Spotless clean! Very capable selection of tools. Excellent workmanship on the blue powdercoat tables.......Wow, what's not to like about your set-up! I love it!!

Scott

[thomask]

NICE very NICE

[nonhog]

Hey thanks for the idea's. Maybe I'll post an update on my shop ?
(if I get anything done this weekend)

[Krokodil]

This is one of the neatest most thought-out working areas I have seen!

What are the work surfaces made of? Is it aluminum or rubber? Do you have any more detail on the leveling feet you made for the tables?

[JGRAFF]

heres my little garage. Not much thats for sure!!

My garage.jpg

[HIRISC]

Very impressive what you've done.. Kudos.

[NUTTSGT]

Nicely organized little shop area.


What's the extensive renovation that's causing you to live and work out of a 14x30 ?

[94ndta]

Forgive me, but what is the importance of a McMasters catalog?

[Falcon67]

Nice layout - all that and the cat too. Give me ideas for my "storage room".

Originally Posted by 94ndta

Forgive me, but what is the importance of a McMasters catalog?

Tools, fasteners, machining equipment, etc. And impressively big book. I threw mine out because a laptop takes up less space and it's all online. I use Enco typically - sign up for their email list and the run specials like free shipping or XX% off on a regular basis. Also LittleMachineShop, CDCO, a few others I can't think of just this minute.