colt zantop
Well-known member
Damn those are nice! Awesome work!
Dr_Clyde's Shop Projects
- Thread starter dr_clyde
- Start date
azad
Member
Very nice work!
larry4406
Well-known member
Beautiful work! I assume you leak test them somehow?
E12-535iTurbo
Well-known member
Very nice! Again a short tutorial on building something I've planned to do somewhere in the distant future. Thanks!!
Well. Its time for a change. I'm moving my shop. Again. 
A little back story for those not following along. A few years ago, I shared a shop space with my employer. They wanted a metal fab shop, but had no tools. My business was just starting, and I didn't have any space. We worked out a deal where we could share tools and equipment and the space. All was well. At this point, I was doing mostly hobby work and tinkering, the occasional money job.
Some personnel and insurance things changed, and I was informed I could no longer work on personal jobs or our hobby projects. I was allowed to keep my tools and machines there, but I wasn't allowed to work on jobs outside of my work for the company. That's perfectly reasonable, liability and whatnot gets a little difficult.
So I rented a building across town. Moved my life over there. It wasn't great, but the rent was cheap and I had a space to work out of.
I had signed a 1 year lease, and was going month to month with the intention of renewing the lease whenever we got around to it. After almost 2 years, my landlord decided he wanted to hike the rent up. He claimed the space was worth more, and due to some improvements I made, he felt that I should pay more. WTF. I paid for those improvements, mostly electrical. I had 3 phase power pulled in, and basically re-wired the space to make it a shop.
At the same time, my employer had purchased a building nearby, and decided to pull out of the rented space we had previously shared. Leaving a vacancy.
At this point, my business has grown to where I have regular customers and enough work in the pipeline that and I needed to make choice. It was no longer just a hobby shop. Either deal with the crappy space AND higher price but not move, or move again and pay a touch more for a better space.
The advantages are there. I would gain 400 sq. feet, a private bathroom (the old shop was a shared bathroom), I would be in an industrial park again with all the benefits of that, bigger door, taller ceilings, better office space, and best of all, walking distance from my day job and favorite vendors.
I did the math, and with the increase in rent at my place, it would be only marginally more to move back to the old space. So I told my landlord I wouldn't sign his new lease, and gave him 60 days notice. That was at the beginning of November.
Well, my employer is almost moved out, but they said I could move stuff back in before the month was out, seeing as how I have to be out by the end of December. So yesterday, on the snowiest day we've had so far, I rallied the troops and we spent 12 hours schlepping machines and tools.
I have another couple loads to move yet, but this is my mess. Wish me luck.
A little back story for those not following along. A few years ago, I shared a shop space with my employer. They wanted a metal fab shop, but had no tools. My business was just starting, and I didn't have any space. We worked out a deal where we could share tools and equipment and the space. All was well. At this point, I was doing mostly hobby work and tinkering, the occasional money job.
Some personnel and insurance things changed, and I was informed I could no longer work on personal jobs or our hobby projects. I was allowed to keep my tools and machines there, but I wasn't allowed to work on jobs outside of my work for the company. That's perfectly reasonable, liability and whatnot gets a little difficult.
So I rented a building across town. Moved my life over there. It wasn't great, but the rent was cheap and I had a space to work out of.
I had signed a 1 year lease, and was going month to month with the intention of renewing the lease whenever we got around to it. After almost 2 years, my landlord decided he wanted to hike the rent up. He claimed the space was worth more, and due to some improvements I made, he felt that I should pay more. WTF. I paid for those improvements, mostly electrical. I had 3 phase power pulled in, and basically re-wired the space to make it a shop.
At the same time, my employer had purchased a building nearby, and decided to pull out of the rented space we had previously shared. Leaving a vacancy.
At this point, my business has grown to where I have regular customers and enough work in the pipeline that and I needed to make choice. It was no longer just a hobby shop. Either deal with the crappy space AND higher price but not move, or move again and pay a touch more for a better space.
The advantages are there. I would gain 400 sq. feet, a private bathroom (the old shop was a shared bathroom), I would be in an industrial park again with all the benefits of that, bigger door, taller ceilings, better office space, and best of all, walking distance from my day job and favorite vendors.
I did the math, and with the increase in rent at my place, it would be only marginally more to move back to the old space. So I told my landlord I wouldn't sign his new lease, and gave him 60 days notice. That was at the beginning of November.
Well, my employer is almost moved out, but they said I could move stuff back in before the month was out, seeing as how I have to be out by the end of December. So yesterday, on the snowiest day we've had so far, I rallied the troops and we spent 12 hours schlepping machines and tools.
I have another couple loads to move yet, but this is my mess. Wish me luck.
Last edited:
Craptain
Well-known member
Congratulations on the move. As always, I will be following along.
Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
NASTYZEN
Well-known member
Growing pains my friend. Good move for sure. I hope your going to pull all your wiring and improvements from your old place. I left all the improvements I made at my old place but sold them to the landlord for a fair price when I left.
txvwnut
Well-known member
I moved my shop four times so I feel your pain. The last time was to the one I built behind my house.
Man it seems like yesterday you just moved into that other place.
Man it seems like yesterday you just moved into that other place.
Lol, my day job is in the brewing industry. A lot of my friends like to homebrew and the cheapest way to make a homebrew set is to use old kegs as the vessels. Every once in a while, a keg will come through the system with damage or a bad valve, missing the barcode or something. They tend to get "lost" to the guys wanting to build a homebrew set. They just show up with kegs. I don't ask questions.
Breweries are great like that, always helping out the new guys and homebrewers.
My fiancee is in the beer industry out here in Chico CA, Ill give you one guess who it might be. We love the industry, good people, great product.
Ive cut open a few kegs, ive made a rolling ice chest, a tamale steamer, and a few other random things from them. There are probably some angry homebrewers after hearing that.
My fiancee is in the beer industry out here in Chico CA, Ill give you one guess who it might be. We love the industry, good people, great product.
Ive cut open a few kegs, ive made a rolling ice chest, a tamale steamer, and a few other random things from them. There are probably some angry homebrewers after hearing that.
Ahhh! So much has happened in the last few months.
For starters, I quit my day job and took my shop full time. I am now officially full time self employed. I am SO. BUSY. Which is a good problem to have. Lots of customers to keep happy.
Also, I think I finally unpacked the last box/bucket from my move back in December. It took forever to get everything dialed in, as I was juggling 2 jobs and trying to keep my head above water.
I had some time yesterday and today over the holiday weekend, so I took the opportunity to clean the shop and unpack those last few boxes. I get the feeling the shop will never truly be "clean". I just don't have the space and time to effectively organize this place the way I want to.
I will always be chasing clutter and flat surface disease. But, the way it is now the shop is very usable. I'm going to call that a win, and keep after myself. I am naturally a very cluttered person, and I will always be fighting that particular evil.
I come from a long line of hoarders and collectors, and while I have that to some extent, I've been able to keep my hoard to at least usable materials, tools and machines. I only have one machine in pieces, and I can use my shop for what it was intended without cursing piles of tools and materials.
I have some machinery in storage at a friend's shop, which is a bummer. Mainly my shear. I just don't have the square footage to commit to a 10 foot shear at this shop. I'm waiting out the lease of the guy in the next suite over. I'm hoping to be able to get that space, and I will triple my shop size to 6000 sq. feet. I just hope I can wait that long. Got another 18 months before the lease is up for renew.
I figure the shop is as set up and clean as its going to be for a good long while, so now is a good time to do an updated shop tour.
If you were to step in my overhead door, this is what you would see. My office is off to the left. I try to keep this bay pretty open. I can move things in and out with the fork truck, and pull in a vehicle for a brake job or oil change. I try not to work on cars here. I'm not set up for it, and I don't really like doing it. I unfortunately have my own vehicles to maintain, and I'm too cheap to pay someone for basic repairs. I also rent space to my buddy for working on his FC RX7, as he lives in a small townhouse with no garage and I pity him for that.
Walking in and turning around, you can see my mechanic's toolbox, box and pan brake and a better view of my favorite tool in the shop, the Mighty Mitsubishi fork truck. Rode hard and put away wet, but it hasn't let me down yet. 5k lift capacity and a triple stage mast. So useful.
On the opposite side of the entry I keep my mobile gear. I can fit a very nicely kitted mobile fab outfit into that box. Welder, tristand, argon cylinder, all kinds of hand tools, pretty much most of what I need to do process fab on the road. I try not to use any of these tools in the shop, that way they're always ready to load up. Normally the hand boxes would be in the Knaack, but I was organizing them and haven't put them back.
Just past my mechanics box are my cutoff saws. These are in line with my material rack so I can pull out a bar, set it on some stands, and cut it. The belt sander I keep by the saw for deburring small parts as they come off the saw, and it was a convenient place for the 8" pedestal grinder, as that needs 3 phase.
Looking down from above the office.
I put my tools from my old day job in the welding area. I had pretty much a complete set of duplicates. I like not having to walk across the shop to get a screwdriver, plus I have another work surface to cover with ****.
Shop supervisor Nova keeping an eye on the welders.
Over at the foot of the stairs I have some of my hardware. I have a pretty complete kit of SHCS, FHCS, BHCS and all sorts of set screws, nylocks, snap rings, small machine screws, jamb nuts, pop rivets, that kind of thing. All stainless steel. Most of my customers are in the food and beverage industry, or need stainless for some other reason. Next to that I have my machinist's tools, as directly to the right is my machine shop area.
Lots of little **** to finish in the machine shop. I need to put a new backsplash on the LeBlond, the old one took up a foot more space than I wanted, so I cut it off. The surface plate covers never got finished, there is bare steel covers on my DoAll saw that need paint, lots of little pesky things like that.
Otherwise, that's the shop as she sits right now.
I have plans to expand my sheet metal shop when I get more space. I do a ton of sheet metal fab, and I rent time on the brake press, roller and shear down the street at a friend's shop. I've been collecting machines when the deal comes along and storing them for when that happens. I also would like to put a CNC lathe and mill on the floor, as well as a larger engine lathe. Lots of work out there for these if you know the right shops. A boring mill would be cool, but not sure there's the work for one in my area.
Right now I just gotta make a living with what I've got, and see where the work takes me.
Thanks for looking.
For starters, I quit my day job and took my shop full time. I am now officially full time self employed. I am SO. BUSY. Which is a good problem to have. Lots of customers to keep happy.
Also, I think I finally unpacked the last box/bucket from my move back in December. It took forever to get everything dialed in, as I was juggling 2 jobs and trying to keep my head above water.
I had some time yesterday and today over the holiday weekend, so I took the opportunity to clean the shop and unpack those last few boxes. I get the feeling the shop will never truly be "clean". I just don't have the space and time to effectively organize this place the way I want to.
I will always be chasing clutter and flat surface disease. But, the way it is now the shop is very usable. I'm going to call that a win, and keep after myself. I am naturally a very cluttered person, and I will always be fighting that particular evil.
I come from a long line of hoarders and collectors, and while I have that to some extent, I've been able to keep my hoard to at least usable materials, tools and machines. I only have one machine in pieces, and I can use my shop for what it was intended without cursing piles of tools and materials.
I have some machinery in storage at a friend's shop, which is a bummer. Mainly my shear. I just don't have the square footage to commit to a 10 foot shear at this shop. I'm waiting out the lease of the guy in the next suite over. I'm hoping to be able to get that space, and I will triple my shop size to 6000 sq. feet. I just hope I can wait that long. Got another 18 months before the lease is up for renew.
I figure the shop is as set up and clean as its going to be for a good long while, so now is a good time to do an updated shop tour.
If you were to step in my overhead door, this is what you would see. My office is off to the left. I try to keep this bay pretty open. I can move things in and out with the fork truck, and pull in a vehicle for a brake job or oil change. I try not to work on cars here. I'm not set up for it, and I don't really like doing it. I unfortunately have my own vehicles to maintain, and I'm too cheap to pay someone for basic repairs. I also rent space to my buddy for working on his FC RX7, as he lives in a small townhouse with no garage and I pity him for that.
Walking in and turning around, you can see my mechanic's toolbox, box and pan brake and a better view of my favorite tool in the shop, the Mighty Mitsubishi fork truck. Rode hard and put away wet, but it hasn't let me down yet. 5k lift capacity and a triple stage mast. So useful.
On the opposite side of the entry I keep my mobile gear. I can fit a very nicely kitted mobile fab outfit into that box. Welder, tristand, argon cylinder, all kinds of hand tools, pretty much most of what I need to do process fab on the road. I try not to use any of these tools in the shop, that way they're always ready to load up. Normally the hand boxes would be in the Knaack, but I was organizing them and haven't put them back.
Just past my mechanics box are my cutoff saws. These are in line with my material rack so I can pull out a bar, set it on some stands, and cut it. The belt sander I keep by the saw for deburring small parts as they come off the saw, and it was a convenient place for the 8" pedestal grinder, as that needs 3 phase.
Looking down from above the office.
I put my tools from my old day job in the welding area. I had pretty much a complete set of duplicates. I like not having to walk across the shop to get a screwdriver, plus I have another work surface to cover with ****.
Shop supervisor Nova keeping an eye on the welders.
Over at the foot of the stairs I have some of my hardware. I have a pretty complete kit of SHCS, FHCS, BHCS and all sorts of set screws, nylocks, snap rings, small machine screws, jamb nuts, pop rivets, that kind of thing. All stainless steel. Most of my customers are in the food and beverage industry, or need stainless for some other reason. Next to that I have my machinist's tools, as directly to the right is my machine shop area.
Lots of little **** to finish in the machine shop. I need to put a new backsplash on the LeBlond, the old one took up a foot more space than I wanted, so I cut it off. The surface plate covers never got finished, there is bare steel covers on my DoAll saw that need paint, lots of little pesky things like that.
Otherwise, that's the shop as she sits right now.
I have plans to expand my sheet metal shop when I get more space. I do a ton of sheet metal fab, and I rent time on the brake press, roller and shear down the street at a friend's shop. I've been collecting machines when the deal comes along and storing them for when that happens. I also would like to put a CNC lathe and mill on the floor, as well as a larger engine lathe. Lots of work out there for these if you know the right shops. A boring mill would be cool, but not sure there's the work for one in my area.
Right now I just gotta make a living with what I've got, and see where the work takes me.
Thanks for looking.
ez-duzit
Well-known member
Congratulations on the career change. You have such a great shop and admirable skills. My kinda guy.
Congrats! Its a crazy road to be self employed but you have talent for sure, and it seems the drive, you'll be fine.
Shop looks great, super jealous of some gear you got, a bit cramped but 4000 more sq/ft will be nice!
Does your old employer still use you, or did it sour?
---
And I just saw your reply above, yup, still pumping out barrel stave flight trays, people love them! Then they had me cut hundreds of kegs in half for another job...
Shop looks great, super jealous of some gear you got, a bit cramped but 4000 more sq/ft will be nice!
Does your old employer still use you, or did it sour?
---
And I just saw your reply above, yup, still pumping out barrel stave flight trays, people love them! Then they had me cut hundreds of kegs in half for another job...
Congrats! Its a crazy road to be self employed but you have talent for sure, and it seems the drive, you'll be fine.
Shop looks great, super jealous of some gear you got, a bit cramped but 4000 more sq/ft will be nice!
Does your old employer still use you, or did it sour?
---
And I just saw your reply above, yup, still pumping out barrel stave flight trays, people love them! Then they had me cut hundreds of kegs in half for another job...
Holy ****! That's a lot of cutting. What did you cut them with? Thin wheel on a grinder? Plasma?
Yes, I kept my relationship with my old job. I just quoted some work for them last week. I will miss the hell out of some of my old co-workers. I made some really good friends there. Fortunately I'm just across the street.
matt_i
Well-known member
Great Shop Forklifts are sooo versatile in a fab/machine shop!
Im curious about the DoAll horizontal saw...it looks like its limited to short lengths because of its perpendicularity to the wall. Do you have the ability to roll it out or pallet-jack it out for other work?
I am not finished yet to the point of actually placing machines, but I have an older DoAll C5 automatic hydraulic shuttle-feed saw with a roller conveyor. I'm *think* I want to use the tail of the roller conveyor to interface with my ironworker's shear cavity and shoehorn a Kzoo coldsaw in the "cutting" area as well. I think the coldsaw will just work off a single roller stand instead of a dedicated roller conveyor...
Congrats on going full-time to independence. I bet there are times of great rewards but a lot of hats to wear as well.
Forklifts are sooo versatile in a fab/machine shop!Im curious about the DoAll horizontal saw...it looks like its limited to short lengths because of its perpendicularity to the wall. Do you have the ability to roll it out or pallet-jack it out for other work?
I am not finished yet to the point of actually placing machines, but I have an older DoAll C5 automatic hydraulic shuttle-feed saw with a roller conveyor. I'm *think* I want to use the tail of the roller conveyor to interface with my ironworker's shear cavity and shoehorn a Kzoo coldsaw in the "cutting" area as well. I think the coldsaw will just work off a single roller stand instead of a dedicated roller conveyor...
Congrats on going full-time to independence. I bet there are times of great rewards but a lot of hats to wear as well.
Strouty
Well-known member
Being independent is probably the best and worst thing I ever did, having said that, I would do it again in a heartbeat. You should do fine, most people start out with a huge loan and a bunch of new stuff that they don’t know much about, you are starting out right. There is one thing you need to remember, if something, like vehicle maintenance is not what you are setup for, pay someone else to do it and get paid for what you do. In the end there will be very little cost difference and you will be happier and less stressed. As for the other lease, does the guy want out early? If he does, or maybe he doesn’t know he does, I bet you could talk to the landlord and get him out early since you would be taking it over immediately.
Great Shop
Im curious about the DoAll horizontal saw...it looks like its limited to short lengths because of its perpendicularity to the wall. Do you have the ability to roll it out or pallet-jack it out for other work?
I am not finished yet to the point of actually placing machines, but I have an older DoAll C5 automatic hydraulic shuttle-feed saw with a roller conveyor. I'm *think* I want to use the tail of the roller conveyor to interface with my ironworker's shear cavity and shoehorn a Kzoo coldsaw in the "cutting" area as well. I think the coldsaw will just work off a single roller stand instead of a dedicated roller conveyor...
Congrats on going full-time to independence. I bet there are times of great rewards but a lot of hats to wear as well.
The DoAll is on wheels. I can pivot it around to accommodate a full bar. The cold saw does most of my cutting, so the DoAll takes up less floor space up against the wall.
Duker
Well-known member
Wow, congrats on the new venture, going independent is exciting and scary at the same time!
I will second Strouty’s comment about farming out jobs that are not essential to the operation or income of the business. While you have the capability to do these jobs there is other factors like he mentioned such as stress, impacting work flow and efficiency so unless you find them personally enjoyable let someone else focus on those tasks. I analyze businesses for a living and the two most common mistakes are lack of operating capital ie cash flow and misappropriation of resources one of which is your time.
The shop is looking great and I am looking forward to seeing what projects come through the shop! Again congrats!
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I will second Strouty’s comment about farming out jobs that are not essential to the operation or income of the business. While you have the capability to do these jobs there is other factors like he mentioned such as stress, impacting work flow and efficiency so unless you find them personally enjoyable let someone else focus on those tasks. I analyze businesses for a living and the two most common mistakes are lack of operating capital ie cash flow and misappropriation of resources one of which is your time.
The shop is looking great and I am looking forward to seeing what projects come through the shop! Again congrats!
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zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Great looking shop and work space. Congrats on going full-time in your self-employed status. I wish you the best and hope you continue to grow.
Thanks for the shop tour.
Thanks for the shop tour.
Ha, yeah it was a little nutty cutting all those. I ended up going with a angle grinder w/ 6" .045" disc. Got it down to < 5min per keg. The sketchy part is there is a ton of energy welded into those top/bottom rings and will literally pop open when cut, but I had a sequence that reduced it...
The better move might have been pushing it through a large bandsaw but I couldnt find anyone who'd let me, plus building the sled for it.
Good to hear you are on good terms with the old brewery, I bet they miss having you (and your tools) as well
sberry
Banned
Its a good thing to have extra tools for the road. I used to toss stuff in the pickup and hook on trailers, when I was working regular had a truck just for it.
Sberry stopped by my shop this afternoon while passing through town. It was nice to finally meet him. We talked shop for about 45 min or so before he headed on his way. Always nice to meet a GJ member. Sberry makes the second GJ member I have met in person, the other being Tedsters.
We didn't take a picture or anything, kinda slipped my mind. Oh well. Thanks for stopping Cary.
We didn't take a picture or anything, kinda slipped my mind. Oh well. Thanks for stopping Cary.
sberry
Banned
It was worth the stop. Jakes place fits right in, he is in a great neighborhood for this type of business. He has nice good quality tooling well suited for the nature of the work. Great guy, great place.
Built a new backsplash/tool holder for my LeBlond lathe today.
I cut out the old one because it took up over a foot of extra floor space. It also was too big to mount my tool holders on and still reach them safely.
This is what I came up with. Had my sheet metal shop down the street bend this up, 14ga paintlok.
I will eventually paint it. Maybe. Hopefully.
The tool holder rack is made from unistrut and some bent laser cut blades to fit inside the dovetail. Tom Lipton did this on his Yam and I like it.
I didn't want to take the time to re-engineer the rest of the old backsplash, so I just grafted this one into the hole created buy the cutout.
I cut out the old one because it took up over a foot of extra floor space. It also was too big to mount my tool holders on and still reach them safely.
This is what I came up with. Had my sheet metal shop down the street bend this up, 14ga paintlok.
I will eventually paint it. Maybe. Hopefully.
The tool holder rack is made from unistrut and some bent laser cut blades to fit inside the dovetail. Tom Lipton did this on his Yam and I like it.
I didn't want to take the time to re-engineer the rest of the old backsplash, so I just grafted this one into the hole created buy the cutout.
Strouty
Well-known member
Looks pretty good, will the brace cause any grief if working on something long?
Craptain
Well-known member
I like the unistrut idea. May just steal that idea.
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Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
ez-duzit
Well-known member
Pretty handy place for the tool holders. Mine are stored in the non-ball bearing drawer of an ancient Kennedy rollaway; almost get a hernia opening and closing it.
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Nice job. The Tom Lipton backsplash toolholder was one of the first mods I did to my new lathe a few years ago and I love it. Everything in easy reach and looks great.
The backsplash looked great.
The backsplash looked great.
