Above 1200 Sq/FT Eastern Washington Workshop

[nova66mussl]

Lots of cleaning and laser setup/learning thus far today. Finally got things to a point where sweeping and mopping the tile made sense.. it was quite the mess but it cleaned up really nice!



Here's a before/after photo for reference:


Next up is getting primer sprayed in Bay 1..

Hi Steven. Thanks for taking the time to journey over here to check out my project. It was great to meet you in person. I look forward to collaborating with you on the car. After viewing the above photos I do have a request. When my car arrives....... the sofa and TV have to go, unless of course you are working all night and just need a little nap.

 

[dittle fart around]

Just saw the sofa. That explains your progress, you live in the shop.

 

[slodat]

Hi Steven. Thanks for taking the time to journey over here to check out my project. It was great to meet you in person. I look forward to collaborating with you on the car. After viewing the above photos I do have a request. When my car arrives....... the sofa and TV have to go, unless of course you are working all night and just need a little nap.

Pat- it was great to meet you! I am really excited about your project! As far as the TV and sofa go.. the TV hasn't been turned on in years. The sofa sees nap time every day for at least 15 minutes

Just saw the sofa. That explains your progress, you live in the shop.

I truly love being in the shop. I also love waking up at home. In a bed

One day the sofa will be redone in a nice black. Until then it is great for nap duty!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nova66mussl]

Here is your inspiration.

 

[slodat]

Here is your inspiration.

I have so many ideas!!

Bay 1 paint has been really long in the tooth. I think I underestimate how much work this stuff truly is. Especially solo. The bay is fully prepped to spray the Kilz!!



When complete, this bay will have some tools along the walls and that's about it. Clean bay for customer cars. The upholstery bay was put together with the same thing in mind. Clean shop

 

[slodat]

Kilz is sprayed. Yep. That's a ton of work!!

 

[nova66mussl]

That stuff is great. Wear a respirator or it will knock you on your ****.

 

[slodat]

That stuff is great. Wear a respirator or it will knock you on your ****.

Absolutely! I went through two sets of cartridges in my full face today.

 

[slodat]

Went straight to the shop after work today. Sprayed the topcoat. It went well. The paint had started to dry enough before I left that I saw a couple spots that would need touch up and I wanted to spray another coat on the cinder block. I set an early alarm and went to bed with the intention to spray that little bit before work in the morning.. I slept all of a couple of minutes and I was wide awake. Needless to say I just got back from spraying the rest of the topcoat. It looks great and will be nice and dry with the heat running until after work tomorrow. I'm beat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[slodat]

One coat of Kilz Original:


This morning after the topcoat dried:


The rest is a lot of fun by comparison!

CNC router is scheduled to arrive Thursday.

 

[drivesitfar]

SD: WELL DONE SIR!!! nice that you have it ready before your big new machines show up. wow you deserve a good night's sleep so hopefully you'll get one or two soon.

good luck and hope the CNC delivery and set up goes as planned.

 

[nine4gmc]

That's seriously a ton of work for one person but you are killing it! Great job!

 

[slodat]

Thanks for cheering me on guys!

The paint turned out nice. Next up is getting things ready for the router.

 

[Finallygotit]

That looks purdy!!

 

[Bib Overalls]

I'm always amazed at how much paint the face of a concrete block can **** up.

 

[slodat]

The week has been a blur! Got bay 1 going together early in the week. Then got on the electrical for the CNC, cyclone and compressor. The compressor still has some pipe to run. The other two are in. Just a lot of time consuming, very satisfying work there.

CNC router arrived today. I was able to get a telehandler for the day. It made quick work of unloading, uncrating and setting the router. Here's a few photos of the fun..











They got it together enough to run each axis through the paces. All looks good. Really well built machine with great components. Very happy with it thus far. Will be running files tomorrow. Back at it in the morning.

 

[Toolfool]

COOL !! That should put you ahead of most of the pack.

 

[Bob Heine]

They got it together enough to run each axis through the paces. All looks good. Really well built machine with great components. Very happy with it thus far. Will be running files tomorrow. Back at it in the morning.

Slodat, that's a truly impressive and amazing piece of equipment. I hope it helps your business as much as it looks like it will. While looking at the pictures I realized how low my bar is set. I was thinking how great it would be to have that steel from the bottom of the crate! A CNC router doesn't appear in even my wildest dreams (trust me some of them are wild -- must be the meds).

 

[Finallygotit]

You are collecting some very cool toys, I mean tools!

You should be able to crank out some truly exceptional work with those machines.

 

[ODIS]

God for you! Very impressive!

 

[SW50th]

Great stuff! The CNC is a game changer.
Congrats on all your hard work.

 

[slodat]

Thanks for checking out my thread and the encouraging words, guys! It has been a VERY long couple of weeks. I haven't been home between the hours of 6am and 9pm basically at all in what feels like a month.. It may be the case. Next up is getting the air and dust collection going! Lots more electrical and the air plumbing. It is so nice walking into a painted shop! It's making me want to do the epoxy in Bays 1-3.. In time, but not now..

Thanks again guys! This thread is a big motivator.

The vendor was on-site again yesterday. We ran a few simple files on the router to make sure things were working. I ran a surfacing program on the spoil board (MDF on top of the table). Looks like I need to tram the spindle(get it dead on square to the gantry. More fun..

 

[drivesitfar]

SD: do you have any specific projects in mind for your CNC? your shop still keeps looking better and better every time i check on you.

i know you haven't been getting much sleep cause you're going almost 24/7 to be able to pay for, work on and get your shop like you want so maybe take a day every week or two just for yourself so you don't burn out. even if that day is just to play on your new machines and make something for yourself.

good luck and again WELL DONE SIR!!

 

[slodat]

Thank you, Drives! I take a little time here and there. For now life = shop and day job. And some tacos.

This is how I'm going to learn to use the new machines.. I wanted a spring loaded backdraft damper for the laser exhaust since I installed it. I found one on Amazon that looked great. It installs inside the pipe and closes reliably and opens with not much forward air flow. It took a week to get here..
here it is closed:

Rolls of electrical tape holding the flaps open:


Since the exhaust stack is already installed on the building and I'm working off an extension ladder (not my favorite), I wanted a tool to install it.. I drew this in CAD with a pocket in the center to tell me where to put the screw that acts as a handle. Then cut on the router. About a 5 minute project.


Like I said, I don't love extension ladders. I was installing based upon feel. The tool helped get it installed level. Worked a treat.

This is what I'm currently using the new robots for- to make things that come to mind, to exact dimensions. Quite easily. I'll get more creative with it as the shop projects taper down.

Thanks for reading and commenting!!

 

[nine4gmc]

I'm with Bob, the crating material would be sweet... I can't even imagine owing the contents!!

 

[slodat]

I got the compressor conduit ran and wire pulled in yesterday.. pulled in the wire and fired it up. It's a (relatively) quiet compressor. The 15HP pump turning half speed with a 7.5HP motor is what makes it quiet. Turns 575 pump rpm. The aftercooler works really well. After pumping an empty tank, the discharge pipe wasn't hot to the touch. The auto drain is pretty sweet, too. I knew when I saw this setup advertised it was what I wanted. Seeing it run confirmed my choice.

In wiring in the CNC I also wired the Clearvue cyclone at the same time. It's getting closer to being put together. I had to order a 22.5 degree 6" S&D elbow yesterday. The dust collection PLC will be a separate project.

Things are coming together.

 

[slodat]

Forgot the photo!

 

[drivesitfar]

SD: that compressor doesn't look that big so it's really a 15 HP? and how many gallon tank or are you going to add another tank to it if you might need more storage?

do you love those little cadet heaters and are they pretty economical or just good heat?

Quesadillas might be my favorite meal and my wife's favorite meal i think is TACOS and she's a gourmet cook.

cheers

 

[nine4gmc]

I may have missed it but did the compressor come with the cooler and auto drain or was that something you added?

 

[slodat]

SD: that compressor doesn't look that big so it's really a 15 HP? and how many gallon tank or are you going to add another tank to it if you might need more storage?

do you love those little cadet heaters and are they pretty economical or just good heat?

It's a 15HP pump with a 7.5HP motor. A special order from Pacific Compressor in Portland. It's their combo, they keep these in stock. It spins the pump half as fast and is a lot quieter. I'm really happy I held out for it.

The Cadet heaters fit my needs. They run for a few months a year when it's too cold for the heat pumps to put out any noticeable heat. In the past week the heat pumps have started handling the load. I am really happy with the Cadets. I have had them for about 7 years. Good stuff. They aren't economical per se - they are electric heat..

I may have missed it but did the compressor come with the cooler and auto drain or was that something you added?

The compressor came with the mechanical auto drain and the after cooler. Two of the things I wanted in what I hope will be my last compressor purchase.

 

[Jo Diesel]

Subscribed so I can come back and finish reading. Thanks for sharing

 

[250]

Always nice to have reliable air

 

[slodat]

Spent the last couple of evenings getting the CNC dialed in. Got it level to zero bubble on my Starrett 98 (0.005/ft) in both directions last night. Tonight got the spindle trammed in. It was out about 0.020 in both directions when I started. My buddy helped out. He had a sweet tool for cutting washers out of shim stock. Once we got the Y axis dialed in with the shims, the X was straight forward.
The Edge Pro-Tram makes quick work of this..


I cut a new chunk of ultralight MDF spoilboard for half the table and set out surfacing it with the carbide insert bit. It came out smooth as glass. Now that it's dialed in I can try the drag knife.

Here's the Starrett 98. X axis:


Y:

 

[nine4gmc]

and now it begins!

 

[slodat]

Some days it feels like I get nothing done despite being at the shop all day.. turns out I got a few things taken care of over the weekend.

I got a good deal on another Jet air filter a couple weeks ago. I got it hung over the CNC machine yesterday and a receptacle for it wired in on the ceiling. These things really do a good job of getting dust out of the air. I have four total now.

I've been slowly chipping away at getting the Clearvue cyclone installed. The ducting is starting to go together. I needed a couple 22.5 degree elbows. They took a couple weeks to get here. I have a game plan for the ducting in bay 2 to the CNC and planer and jointer. Bay 3 still needs some figuring. It's all wired in now. I got the filter stack in yesterday. Hoping to get the chip bin done tonight. Going to make a pair of flanges that will sandwich the lid of the drum.





Hired a friend's high school aged son to help with cleaning up the lot I bought next door. He's doing a good job thus far..

 

[Toolfool]

My advice would be to make an easy disconnect for your clearvue drum. It fills up real quick, and over-filling will mess up your filters (especially with MDF). I didn't glue any of my 6" PVC, just 2 truss-head screws in each fitting, in case anything needed to change.

 

[slodat]

My advice would be to make an easy disconnect for your clearvue drum. It fills up real quick, and over-filling will mess up your filters (especially with MDF). I didn't glue any of my 6" PVC, just 2 truss-head screws in each fitting, in case anything needed to change.

I do the same thing with the PVC two truss head screws. It seems to change from time to time..

Do you have photos of how you did your drum lid? I'm thinking I'll use the two flanges to sandwich the lid. I made a piece of PVC pipe a little smaller in diameter so the 6" flex tubing fits nicely over it.

I have a photo eye that I will be using to stop the dust collector on a full bin.

 

[Toolfool]

I'll try to get a picture later. I used fiber drums a buddy got me. The lid locks onto the drum with a metal ring. I just added some weatherstripping on the underside of the lid to create a better seal. I siliconed a short piece of PVC pipe into the lid to connect the cyclone.

 

[slodat]

Got the dust bin inlet pipe and flanges going tonight. Made out of 19mm PVC with brass threaded inserts. The two flanges will sandwich the metal drum lid. Thinking a good bead of silicone and it should seal up well.

 

[Finallygotit]

I can't quite wrap my head around what you're doing there but I'm sure it will make perfect sense once it is installed.