Above 1200 Sq/FT Industrial Express Welding and Machine Shop

[dr_clyde]

Well, I am a glutton for punishment. I am moving my shop again. Seems like every two years I'm due. I figured since I'm basically starting from scratch in a new shop I'd start a gallery thread instead of adding to my shop projects thread.

I was waiting to see if my neighbors were planning to renew their lease, and it turns out they are, so I can't take over their space. I had all my eggs in that proverbial basket, and it turns out that wasn't a great plan. With them staying, I was pretty boned. My lease is up in December, and while I have the option to renew, I simply don't have enough space in my current shop. Currently I am making do with 2k square feet, but the shop is laid out kind of funny and as such I can only really use about 60% of the floor as use-able shop space. Time to find something new.

There is a fair abundance of spaces up to about 2k sq. feet, and over 10k sq. feet. However, spaces in the 3-8k range are highly desirable, and as such not as common. They are pretty damn hard to find actually.

In a strange stroke of luck, a friend of mine has a machine shop down the street with some rental spaces in his building. At the last minute, a prospective tenant decided not to sign the lease and backed out. I immediately went down and told him I'd take it.

Here is the space as it sits right now. Approx 3600 sq. feet, 45' x 80'. ish. Might be a fuzz more. Not quite double my current digs, but WAY better laid out and WAY more use-able.

I'm standing on top of the office, there is a 12' x 16' office with a bathroom in the corner by the entrance. The landlord is storing some of his stuff in here for now, he's working on cleaning it out for me in the next month.

On the one side is the landlord's hobby shop where he works on his cars, and the other side is his machine shop business. I am in between. All the suites are connected via overhead doors, but they will be closed and locked now that I have this space rented.

The shop comes with 3 cranes, a P&H 5 ton bridge crane covering the half with the door, and two 1 ton jibs in the middle of the shop. My employees are beside themselves excited about the cranes, as I am as well. We do all our rigging with the forklift right now, and that is not nearly as efficient.

The door is a 12' wide x 14' tall overhead WITH POWER OPENER!!!

All I can say is I'm stoked to start moving my shop in. Hopefully can take occupancy mid November and be all moved before the snow flies.

Thanks for looking.

 

[dr_clyde]

Almost forgot one of the best parts...

New shop has 400 amps of 480v 3 phase. A HUGE upgrade from my paltry 150 amps of 208.

I can actually run some of my machines on full power now!

 

[zmotorsports]

Wow. I don't know how you do it. I would HATE to have to move my shop more than once and this is your second or third time?

I'm glad to hear you were able to find the size you wanted and hope you don't have to move it again.

Subscribed to follow along on your new fabrication space.

 

[Mike.ASC]

Congrats on finding a better shop. Based on the pictures I would be excited about that shop also, especially with the cranes.

 

[dr_clyde]

Wow. I don't know how you do it. I would HATE to have to move my shop more than once and this is your second or third time?

I'm glad to hear you were able to find the size you wanted and hope you don't have to move it again.

Subscribed to follow along on your new fabrication space.

I mean, I don’t like moving. It’s an expensive pain in the ***. But it does have its benefits.

My business is growing, and we need more space every year. But, we can’t afford to build or buy yet. And the big spaces for lease are very expensive. So I’m ok with spending a few grand every few years moving up.

It also allows me to completely and totally reorganize and layout the shop. I can move only what I need or want. And I get to set up the shop to reflect my current customers and work.

We’ve been getting into a lot more large frame weldments, so the crane is a huge plus.

So in the end the cost is well worth it.

 

[zmotorsports]

I mean, I don’t like moving. It’s an expensive pain in the ***. But it does have its benefits.

My business is growing, and we need more space every year. But, we can’t afford to build or buy yet. And the big spaces for lease are very expensive. So I’m ok with spending a few grand every few years moving up.

It also allows me to completely and totally reorganize and layout the shop. I can move only what I need or want. And I get to set up the shop to reflect my current customers and work.

We’ve been getting into a lot more large frame weldments, so the crane is a huge plus.

So in the end the cost is well worth it.

Glad to hear business is doing well. I cringe at the thought of it I had to move all of my tools and equipment again.

 

[jeepinerdeep]

Bridge crane and a floor drain, where do I sign?

 

[casmurbax]

Congrats on the new space!

Good luck with the move.

 

[rmack898]

It seems like you just moved into your current shop yesterday. Glad to hear that business is good enough to support and encourage the move.

 

[davo727]

I just lol at the 77 Nova on the rotisserie ...... well I guess it could be worse like a Volare...... lolllllllll

 

[dr_clyde]

I just lol at the 77 Nova on the rotisserie ...... well I guess it could be worse like a Volare...... lolllllllll

If you’re a Car Craft magazine guy you’ll recognize that as the “Disco Nova” a kind of tongue in cheek joke amongst themselves.


If you’re like me, you see a silly car in a space where a machine tool belongs.

 

[davo727]

When I was a kid my dad bought a 78 nova new. Had a 250-6 and no AC

Mom was driving a 72 Nova with a 250-6 and a powerglide and no AC.......In illinois

 

[davo727]

At least its not a Ventura or Omega

If you’re a Car Craft magazine guy you’ll recognize that as the “Disco Nova” a kind of tongue in cheek joke amongst themselves.


If you’re like me, you see a silly car in a space where a machine tool belongs.

 

[davo727]

https://www.bangshift.com/forum/for...nova-cc-project-car-where-is-it-now-hmm/page2

 

[dr_clyde]

It’s kind of a long, weird story but the Disco belongs to my uncle. He’s good friends with Keith Turk and the Hot Rod and Car Craft guys. That particular Nova and I have had some history. I’ve spent some serious hours working on it when it came to Michigan.

Either way, it won’t be staying in my new shop. I don’t have space for cars. They don’t make any money...

 

[slodat]

Congrats on the new space! Looking forward to see how you set things up!

 

[welder57]

You **** (GOOD THING) on the new shop!!!!!! Now we need pictures on what kind of machines you have to go in it!!!

 

[Bib Overalls]

A Nova with an LS/LT and suspension upgrade is a **** kicking combination.

 

[dr_clyde]

Well, the first step has been taken. I bought a new to me forklift for the shop, and to help facilitate the move.

I had a very used Mitsubishi from the late 80's, early 90's somewhere in there. I really liked it, it worked well, but every little thing needed love. It needed a ring job, new hydraulic hoses, brakes, a new muffler, all the fluids changed, the mast pivot bushings were shot, tires, you get the idea. She was tired.

I didn't want to be relying on this forklift to move all my machinery. I just don't trust it anymore. I figured I should sell my current truck while it still runs and drives, and buy something a bit newer. My neighbor borrows my lift all the time, so I offered to sell it to him. He immediately agreed and wrote me the check on the spot. Told me to just bring it over when I got the new truck.

I called my local lift truck dealer and had them send me over options in my budget and that fit my requirement list. The sales manager had 4 or 5 used trucks that were in the ballpark, and this one had the best list of features.

Its a 2013 Mitsubishi FGC33N. 6500 pound capacity with 60" forks. I feel much better about this forklift, and am very happy with it so far. While my old truck could handle everything in my shop, some things were at the very limits of the capacity. This adds a little cushion to my capacity, and I feel much more confident rigging larger machine tools with it.

It's plumbed for a 4th function, and I really want power fork positioners, so now I'm on the hunt for a good deal one of those setups.

Needless to say, we're pumped and excited to finally have a good, reliable forklift.

Now we can start moving machinery!

 

[dr_clyde]

Also, the new forklift needs a name. Current contenders are Milton (red stapler) and Lucy (red devil).

 

[el monte slim]

Also, the new forklift needs a name. Current contenders are Milton (red stapler) and Lucy (red devil).

I'm an old guy, so naturally I like "Ginger." I also like "Skelton," and "Buttons," as in the two famous but now deceased comedians named Red.

 

[humpty]

Also, the new forklift needs a name. Current contenders are Milton (red stapler) and Lucy (red devil).

Clifford?

 

[fordkid88]

Big booty judy!

 

[txvwnut]

I vote Guido. I know it’s not Italian but it is a name that was used for a forklift.

 

[dr_clyde]

Some progress pictures in the new shop!

We moved the bulk of the machinery last week. We moved a welder and table first so one guy could keep working while Ben and I rigged machines.

My electrician has the machine shop wired into the 480V as well as a couple welders.

For the first time, I can fit my work van in while still having room to work!

Standing on the office mezzanine looking out on the fab area.

I have the welding tables each under a jib, as well as being under the 5 ton bridge.

Manual machine shop is under power so we can still make parts if we need to. We still have some tools to move, the drill press is absent as well as the work tables, surface plate and press needs to be positioned.

I am also excited to have the Leblond under a crane hook, as the chucks on that thing are over 150 pounds. Absolute pain in the *** to change by yourself.

This corner past the welders is kind of a staging are for now, it will become my sheet metal area. The 10' Pexto shear, 48" Barth brake, Pexto notcher and Beverly shear will live here.

Still have tons to move, but now I can do that in my own time. My employees can work on making parts and I can deal with moving the rest of the stuff with minimal interruption to work. Still have to move some tools, pallet racking, material racks, hardware bins, the office and break room. and a bunch of small stuff.

Riggers will be here in a week and a half to rig in my Pexto shear and a CNC vertical machining center I purchased. Very exciting.

 

[86turbodsl]

Super nice space Dr Clyde! VERY nice upgrade! I'm subscribing!

 

[dr_clyde]

Adventures in rigging!

Last week we moved my Pexto shear and my new to me CNC machining center into the shop.

The first step was to get the shear out of the building I had it stored in. A good friend of mine has a storage building near his machine shop and he was kind enough to let me store the machine in there for the last two years while I waited to find a bigger shop.

Only problem with this was the low ceilings and doors, and the large size of the shear.

First we lifted each end of the shear and put it on skates.

My employee Ben on the left with the prybar, my old man in the driver's seat of the Hyster, and my good friend Mark on the right.

We fabricated these lifting eyes to help get the machine up off the ground. We have at least 3/4 engagement on that nut and that thread is at least a 2" diameter. We have plenty of engagement for 1/2 the shear's weight. The base is waterjet cut 3/4" thick steel, and the strap is 2" x 1/2" steel. Back beveled and welded in 3 passes, root and hot pass were TIG and the cover pass was a nice hot pulsed spray mig bead. These things were life savers and saved us SO much time.

The shear is heavy enough (17,000 lbs) that we couldn't push it by hand, so we chained it to the forklfit and used the side shift to pull it over in front of the door.

The there was no way the Clark forklift was going to fit in the little 10' door, so we had to use the Hyster to get the shear over to where the 8' forks on the Clark could get ahold of the shear.

As you can see, the Hyster barely fits in the building. It clears the door by about a half inch on the way in.

 

[dr_clyde]

Out in the parking lot we were able to re- position the forklifts to pick the shear such that we can just back the trailer under it and set it down.

Unfortunately, I got busy and neglected to take pictures of the actual loading and unloading of the machine, but Ben snapped a rare picture of yours truly on the bridge crane assisting the riggers.

I also got one action pic of the riggers moving the VMC.

Once I get the shop tidied back up I'll get some pictures of where everything sits and what has changed.

 

[Glory]

Looking good!

 

[drivesitfar]

Dr. C: looking forward to see how you set your shop up and since you set it up a few times I'm guessing you'll do even better this time.

looks like you've got a great space and you've always had great stuff along with your skills so best of luck!!

 

[Craftfab]

Any updates on getting the new shop all set up? Always enjoy your threads. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[dr_clyde]

Ok!

I apologize about the long intervals between updates. We have been just BURIED in work, and it has made it very hard to find the time to make such an involved post.

I have spent the entire day tidying up the shop, clearing clutter, and just plain cleaning. It's nowhere near perfect, but it is WAY better than it has been for the last few weeks. I figured now is as good a time as any for a set of update photos.

Standing on the mezzanine above the office, this is the loading/unloading area and the bar stock rack/saw area. The new Mitsubishi forktruck has been an absolute blessing, not sure how we got by with the old one as good as we did. I guess any forklift is better than none, but man, it's sooo much better to have a good one.



Above the bathroom now, looking out over the rest of the shop.



The Hurco VMC fits really well opposite the stock rack area. There is already air on the crane support post, so all I had to do was run electrical power. It is basically right outside the office so I can run an ethernet cable out to the machine from the workstation on my desk. Also, if a cutter starts making some kind of abnormal noise, I can get to it somewhat quickly. It is leveled and powered up, but I haven't had much time to really get to know it. I have some fixtures I need to machine for a part we make for a customer, so hopefully in the next few weeks I will get some seat time on it. Fortunately the spindle doesn't need to be spinning to pay the rent so I can take my time. I bought it to expand our offerings as a machine shop, and hopefully grow a good CNC machining department, as there is lots of secondary ops and and parts that would compliment our other departments well that I sub out now if we can't do them profitably on the manual machines.





The main welding and fab area. We have 3 workstations here, each with a MIG machine and a TIG machine. It is set up so the Syncrowave 350, Millermatic 350P and the Invison 450 can reach both tables on the right for heavier work, and the table off to the left by my orange toolbox is designated for lighter work, as the machines over there are smaller, a Dynasty 200DX and a Millermatic 255. We also have 2 Maxstar 161 STH machines that are floaters, can be used at a bench or out on the road.





Looking back at the manual machine shop. I have an island set up in the middle with my machinist toolbox, tooling storage, the surface plate and my arbor press. The TIG filler rod and abrasive cart are here too, but I need to spend some time organizing that stuff, its a hot mess right now.







My lathes. A LeBlond Regal and a South Bend "heavy 10". The SB is just a place holder until I can chase down a Hardinge HLV-H or similar. It handles all the little jobs that the Leblond can't do efficiently. The LeBlond does most of the work, its a 19" x 80" with a 3" spindle bore. It gets used all the time for all kinds of weird jobs. We do a fair amount of shaft fabrication and repair for local food and beverage processing companies, so the bed length is very handy. We also doo a fair amount regular garden variety turning, boring, threading, yada yada. What can I say, it's an engine lathe. I want to set a nice pair of Mazaks in here, a QT25 or so and an M4 or an M5 would compliment each other nicely, but we don't do enough turning work to justify the space and expense right now. Then again, we really don't chase turning work either.



Manual mill and hole makers. Bog standard Bridgeport mill, the only thing I would mention is the Kurt power draw bar. If you are on the fence about getting a power draw bar, DOO IIIITT! It saves SO much time on tool changes its not funny. No more chasing down a wrench or having to clatter around over your head changing a tool out. Just brrrp, brrrrp done. The Solberga drill is the BEST small drill press I have ever used. We sold our Clausing belt drive last year and picked this up, and it has been sooo nice. The little radial is a Lux, and it is handy for the occasional weird job, or to use when the other DP is set up with the tap head or something. It's no Carlton but it works...



My modest sheet metal shop. I am still growing and expanding this area as often as I can find deals on equipment. But as it sits now I can do most small basic forming jobs. I am 2 doors down from a good friend's sheet metal shop and he has all the fun toys, so it is not a huge inconvenience to just run down there and use their equipment. But sometimes, for a one off drip pan or whatever, we just do it here.

The ironworker is for sale... A Marvel tilt frame is destined to be placed there in the coming weeks.

The Pexto shear used to be their shear, I bought it a couple years ago when they got their 10'x 1/4" Accurshear. This Pexto will do 10' of 10ga steel, or 11ga stainless. Which is more than I need 99% of the time. I just got the Hossfeld bender in the foreground, I am excited to get some tooling made up. We have a JDsquared bender for tubing, the Hossfeld will be for flat bar and structural shapes. Of which we seem to do a fair amount of. I need to make a proper mount for it so I can attach it to a weld table.



My brake is a Barth, bought it from my great uncle years ago. He got it from the local hospital maintenance shop in the 60's. It will easily do 4' of 14ga, and shorter lengths of 1/8" or flat bar. The Pexto notcher is a little undersized, but is good to 16ga. The B3 Beverly is a beast, will do up to 7ga steel. I recently got a new set of blades for it, the ones that were in it hadn't been sharpened since before 1991! It was due, and I didn't want to be without.



Well, that's my modest shop. Always growing and expanding as the jobs allow. Thanks for looking.

 

[matt_i]

Great looking shop! You have a lot of boxes checked there

Excellent to have all of the hoisting systems..that makes life easier by far.

Im sure you have good reasons but it seems like an ironworker rules for flat bar jobs: shear to length...put holes in bam...bam...bam...

I'm thinking the arbor press is a Dake/Atlas #5...those are heavy duty

Those rigging loops for the shear definitely made that move go a lot better.

The riggers remind me of the guys I used to load my VMC, show up with a Hyster 15.5k with about 8 ft long forks, yawn a bit about the light duty stuff they were called to work on and it's easy and drama free.

 

[Steve from Socal]

You have a nice collection of STUFF, for repair work you LeBlond is not much of a hindrance. For production CNC machines are it, repairs seem to work well in manual machines. My big K&T mills have travels that would require a huge CNC machine same for my 2013X102 lathe.

You have a nice work flow with that layout, I really like your big welding tables. How is the Invision with MPa working?

Steve

 

[cvairwerks]

Dr: I hope you have the compressor restrained up there somehow.....

As to playing with the Hurco, a good read on fixturing for single and multiple parts can be found over on practicalmachinst. Check out B&A Precision over in the Members and Shops section. He runs Haas units, but does lots of multiple fixture work. Long thread, and lots of drift, but a ton of good info and reasoning within it.

 

[Bighead38]

Any pictures of some of the work you guys do?

 

[dr_clyde]

Great looking shop! You have a lot of boxes checked there

Excellent to have all of the hoisting systems..that makes life easier by far.

Im sure you have good reasons but it seems like an ironworker rules for flat bar jobs: shear to length...put holes in bam...bam...bam...

I'm thinking the arbor press is a Dake/Atlas #5...those are heavy duty

Those rigging loops for the shear definitely made that move go a lot better.

The riggers remind me of the guys I used to load my VMC, show up with a Hyster 15.5k with about 8 ft long forks, yawn a bit about the light duty stuff they were called to work on and it's easy and drama free.

Thanks Matt.

Yes, that is an Atlas No. 5 press. I bought it at auction a few years back. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=423395

Those riggers have been my go-to for the last 5 years since I met them at the brewery I worked at. Star Rigging and Crane. They’re old school and just get it done. They’re awesome. We’ve moved some weird stuff together.

 

[dr_clyde]

You have a nice collection of STUFF, for repair work you LeBlond is not much of a hindrance. For production CNC machines are it, repairs seem to work well in manual machines. My big K&T mills have travels that would require a huge CNC machine same for my 2013X102 lathe.

You have a nice work flow with that layout, I really like your big welding tables. How is the Invision with MPa working?

Steve

The Invision is awesome. Seems like we’ve been pushing a spool or so a week through it right now. It kicks ***.

Someday I’ll have some big boy lathes like your Monarch collection.

 

[dr_clyde]

Dr: I hope you have the compressor restrained up there somehow.....

As to playing with the Hurco, a good read on fixturing for single and multiple parts can be found over on practicalmachinst. Check out B&A Precision over in the Members and Shops section. He runs Haas units, but does lots of multiple fixture work. Long thread, and lots of drift, but a ton of good info and reasoning within it.

That compressor is just sitting up there for storage. Not hooked up anything. It’s very secure.

And yeah, Wheelie’s thread is one of the best over on PM. I spend a lot of time on that forum, as it pertains a lot to my business. Bill is a great dude, and his thread had a lot of real world issues that a lot of new business owners should read.

 

[dr_clyde]

Any pictures of some of the work you guys do?

I do have a couple over on my shop projects thread.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=309378

Unfortunately it’s not usually appropriate to show off some customer work. Sometimes I’m prevented to by NDA.

And sometimes it’s just really boring and not worth photographing.