blackcube
Member
I'm James and I live in Sherman, Texas, about 60 miles north of the DFW Metroplex and about 10 miles south of the Oklahoma border. I'm a self employer healthcare IT consultant and own a hosting service for medical practice management software. In my previous life I was a master electrician for 30 years and spent the last 10 years of the 30 as an electrical, control and instrumentation contractor.
Since I'm semi-retired, I moved back to the country to get out of the rat race of the city. I my current home has a 30x60 metal building shop with a 15x25 addition on the side. There is also a 25x30 detached garage located by the house.
I have divided the shop into two work areas for my hobby's, machine shop and auto restoration. In the machine shop area, I have my two Clausing mills, two Atlas lathes, a South Bend 16"x144" lathe, Atlas 7B shaper, Delta Toolmaker surface/T&C grinder, Rockwell drill press, Keller die filer, various pedestal grinders, a horizontal band saw, a high fire kiln re-purposed as a heat treating oven with digital controls, TIG welder, AC and AC/DC stick welders, a couple of MIG welders, a plasma cutter, oxy-acetylene and oxy-propane torches, several welding tables, a couple of blast cabinets and a shop air compressor. During spring break, I will be adding a G. A. Gray planer that I'm picking up in Nevada.
The auto section is set up with workbenches, parts washers and teardown table, a 9000# 2 post asymmetrical auto lift, a 50 year collection of hand and air tools and various pieces of shop equipment. I also have a 12' x12' A-frame with a 3 ton capacity that can be rolled around the shop or used to unload the trailers.
The side bay that was added on to the shop houses my restored 1966 Chevy C10 truck and my motorcycles. My current restoration project, a 1971 FIAT 124 Sport Spider is housed in the shop area.
The shop is setup with it's own 200A electrical service. I installed 4 sub-panels to shorten the branch circuit runs to various pieces of equipment. I've shelved the areas above all the workbenches across most of the wall space. I'm currently replacing the lighting and installing fans as the heat is quite unbearable during the Texas summer. There are numerous translucent fiberglass panels that function as skylights. During the day,I don't have to turn on the lights.
That is my shop. It's utilitarian and not a show place. But it serves my purposes.
Since I'm semi-retired, I moved back to the country to get out of the rat race of the city. I my current home has a 30x60 metal building shop with a 15x25 addition on the side. There is also a 25x30 detached garage located by the house.
I have divided the shop into two work areas for my hobby's, machine shop and auto restoration. In the machine shop area, I have my two Clausing mills, two Atlas lathes, a South Bend 16"x144" lathe, Atlas 7B shaper, Delta Toolmaker surface/T&C grinder, Rockwell drill press, Keller die filer, various pedestal grinders, a horizontal band saw, a high fire kiln re-purposed as a heat treating oven with digital controls, TIG welder, AC and AC/DC stick welders, a couple of MIG welders, a plasma cutter, oxy-acetylene and oxy-propane torches, several welding tables, a couple of blast cabinets and a shop air compressor. During spring break, I will be adding a G. A. Gray planer that I'm picking up in Nevada.
The auto section is set up with workbenches, parts washers and teardown table, a 9000# 2 post asymmetrical auto lift, a 50 year collection of hand and air tools and various pieces of shop equipment. I also have a 12' x12' A-frame with a 3 ton capacity that can be rolled around the shop or used to unload the trailers.
The side bay that was added on to the shop houses my restored 1966 Chevy C10 truck and my motorcycles. My current restoration project, a 1971 FIAT 124 Sport Spider is housed in the shop area.
The shop is setup with it's own 200A electrical service. I installed 4 sub-panels to shorten the branch circuit runs to various pieces of equipment. I've shelved the areas above all the workbenches across most of the wall space. I'm currently replacing the lighting and installing fans as the heat is quite unbearable during the Texas summer. There are numerous translucent fiberglass panels that function as skylights. During the day,I don't have to turn on the lights.
That is my shop. It's utilitarian and not a show place. But it serves my purposes.