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Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Made By Miller Studios

Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
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MadeByMiller

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Dec 29, 2018
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1,230
Location
Rapid City, SD
xtremek said:
Nicely done.
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Thank you!
zmotorsports said:
Awesome job on the sandbox. I'm sure the kiddos will make good use of it.
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Many thanks Mike! I'm embarrassed to have you see my yard in such a state! I've got 3/4 acre and I'm really envious of your meticulously maintained grass. Someday I will really crack down on the lawn.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
A very small shop update:

This week I took the time (and spent the money) to finally organize two items in my shop that have been frustrating me for years - my hardware and my drills/taps. I reorganized the top two drawers in my mid-height Vidmar cabinet to make space. The top drawer now houses my hardware:

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It's admittedly a bit of a random assortment. Most of it came from yard sales or auctions in coffee cans and peanut butter jars. I would of course love a larger, more complete collection, but just having these odds and ends on hand has saved me many times from a trip into town for the odd fastener. On larger jobs, I usually just purchase everything I need for the job at once.

Check out how the hardware was stored prior to this drawer organization, you can probably imagine how frustrating it was to access anything in that mess of a drawer, not to mention - it's embarrassing!

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Next up was my drills, reamers, and taps. These are again all from yard sales and auctions (I'm a cheapskate) and were divided between a few unorganized drawers and a couple of drill indexes. It was always annoying to hunt for what size tool I needed for a job. I decided to finally solve that annoyance with some plastic groove trays for organization, which I've always wanted. Now, I wanted to order Vidmar trays, but unfortunately they are basically unavailable online for some reason, so I was forced to order Lista trays. Lista drawers are about an inch smaller all the way around the perimeter of the drawer, so the Lista trays don't quite fill out the drawer. I plan to 3D print some extension pieces to make up the difference. Besides the printed extensions to fill the drawer, I also need to label the dividers for even more convenience. I'm really happy with this organization solution, and I was able to fit all of my fractional drills, reamers, and taps in one drawer.

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Finally, I hung up an airbrushed piece that I made back when I was in school. It's nice to finally have an American flag on display in the shop.

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Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're all doing well!
 
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Boostingaz

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May 21, 2018
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Location
Indiana
MadeByMiller said:
Thank you! Your shop is incredible, a real dream space
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Thank you very much, that means alot. It took alot of planning and thinking, and being totally honest there were still mistakes made. Not complaining, it came out great, just a few things on the wish list didn't make it. 🍺 That was mostly due to the budget being blown and I was scared of the wife seeing some of the extra bills hahaha 🤣
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
Boostingaz said:
Thank you very much, that means alot. It took alot of planning and thinking, and being totally honest there were still mistakes made. Not complaining, it came out great, just a few things on the wish list didn't make it. 🍺 That was mostly due to the budget being blown and I was scared of the wife seeing some of the extra bills hahaha 🤣
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Haha, well your planning really shows, a very nice layout. My wife and I lived in AZ for a few years, from 2014-2016. We lived in Mesa at first and then moved to San Tan Valley. We liked it much more over there in San Tan Valley where it was more quiet and open. We decided to move back to my home state of South Dakota in 2016 to start our family.
 
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Boostingaz

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Indiana
MadeByMiller said:
Haha, well your planning really shows, a very nice layout. My wife and I lived in AZ for a few years, from 2014-2016. We lived in Mesa at first and then moved to San Tan Valley. We liked it much more over there in San Tan Valley where it was more quiet and open. We decided to move back to my home state of South Dakota in 2016 to start our family.
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I moved / was shipped here in 2005 with no real intentions of staying. A health issue got me referred here for a chance of having better docs. I got them and luckily all is well and then just never got around to leaving lol. Glad I didn't though. I would never have met my amazing wife and would be without my 3 kids with #4 on the way!
 
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Trapps

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Feb 10, 2017
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The Detroit Zoo
Such an efficient use of space; great job on the evolution of the shop into your vision.

Here are my takeaways:

Bargain Hunter with a 'yes it can be' done attitude.
Rational and logical steps.
Great organization.
Oh, and the welding skillz!

Well done!

Mark
 
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MadeByMiller

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Dec 29, 2018
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Location
Rapid City, SD
Boostingaz said:
I moved / was shipped here in 2005 with no real intentions of staying. A health issue got me referred here for a chance of having better docs. I got them and luckily all is well and then just never got around to leaving lol. Glad I didn't though. I would never have met my amazing wife and would be without my 3 kids with #4 on the way!
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Congratulations to you and your family! My wife and I currently have 3 and are planning on having another as soon as we can.

Trapps said:
Such an efficient use of space; great job on the evolution of the shop into your vision.

Here are my takeaways:

Bargain Hunter with a 'yes it can be' done attitude.
Rational and logical steps.
Great organization.
Oh, and the welding skillz!

Well done!

Mark
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What a nice message, thank you!

"Bargain Hunter" is sure a nice way to say cheap *** ha, I'll take it! I certainly try to be intentional and rational with my decision making; I'm not exactly spontaneous by nature - I like to make a detailed plan and stick to it. Thank you for the compliments, I still have more to organize, but it's getting there.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - Your garage thread is one of my favorites on the site, you've really done an impressive job in your space.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Dec 29, 2018
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Rapid City, SD
Here's a house related post:

We recently picked up a new-to-us (always looking for deals, remember?) mid-century modern hutch. We removed the upper portion since it didn't fit our space, and we were left with this really nice quality vintage cabinet to store our kids' insane toy collection.

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Someone along the life of the piece had replaced the original knobs/pulls with some lame hardware store versions. My wife requested an upgrade, so I took that as an opportunity to design and 3D print my own! Here's a quick and dirty rendering I did in Fusion 360 to get approval from my wife to commence printing:

Drawer Pull 03.png

I leaned into the mid-century era of the piece in the design of the knobs, going with some clean and simple peg knobs for the drawers and a sort of half starburst embellishment on the cabinet pulls. I think the starburst halves give a more custom appearance to the knobs and makes them look more intentional or original. Of course I had some fun in Fusion trying some interesting geometry to take advantage of the unique layer lines associated with FDM printing.

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My wife and I are pleased with the outcome and are really enjoying the piece in our living room. Thanks as always for stopping by!
 
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slodat

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Feb 6, 2010
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Central-ish, WA
Nice work on the pulls! It's interesting how 3d design, and having a 3d printer changes things over time. At first I only made things from Thingiverse. Now, that's the unusual scenario. As always, great job!
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
racer-john said:
Pretty neat looking knobs. Congrats.
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Thank you!
slodat said:
Nice work on the pulls! It's interesting how 3d design, and having a 3d printer changes things over time. At first I only made things from Thingiverse. Now, that's the unusual scenario. As always, great job!
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Many thanks! Fortunately for me I learned cad long before I purchased my 3d printer, so I've almost exclusively just printed my own designs. It's such a powerful tool! I've been enjoying seeing your printed solutions, most recently your tool holders. Great job!
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
gearhead1960 said:
Very cool. We also have furniture that needed the MCM hardware. Wife was at Restore and found the piece that had the hardware (very similar to what you just printed) she wanted. They wouldn't sell her the hardware by itself, so we bought the piece, pulled the hardware off and donated the piece back... :ROFLMAO:
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Ha, that's a funny story! I'd like to see the piece if you don't mind sharing!
 
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nicholam77

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Dec 18, 2016
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Location
Minneapolis, MN
The 3D printed knobs look good!

Definitely not as economical as 3D printing, but if you're ever looking for metal peg knobs or similar midcentury hardware, Rejuvenation has some, Schoolhouse has one, and I've always had good luck finding stuff like that on Etsy.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
gearhead1960 said:
We didn't keep the piece the hardware came off of, as it was donated back to Restore. I can get a photo of the hardware if that's what you are interested in....
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Oh, I'd like to see the piece that you put the salvaged hardware on!

littlebean said:
just read through from the start - great job
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Thank you very much! I hope it was an interesting read.

nicholam77 said:
The 3D printed knobs look good!

Definitely not as economical as 3D printing, but if you're ever looking for metal peg knobs or similar midcentury hardware, Rejuvenation has some, Schoolhouse has one, and I've always had good luck finding stuff like that on Etsy.
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Thank you! I'm familiar with Schoolhouse (they have a great catalog of products), and maybe I've heard of Rejuvenation. I briefly considered searching for some authentic vintage hardware on Ebay prior to conceiving the printed idea. As I mentioned several times in this thread, we are pretty "thrifty" or "frugal" household (I think all of these pulls combined was a few dollars worth of filament), and I have the capability and technology to make my own which is much more exciting to me than buying something that anyone can have. I know you understand and appreciate that as well, I'm just explaining my train of thought. Now we have one-of-a-kind hardware that was both fun to create and fun to look at, and my kids will grow up knowing that dad made these!
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
99MPower said:
Pretty awesome, and well done. Just finished reading entire thread, while I'm floating around in the ocean with the US Navy, dreaming about my build when I get the chance. Currently in the med on the USS Cole DDG 67
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Thank you for the compliments! I must say, I'm quite honored and humbled to hear that you are spending your off time while on deployment (on a destroyer in the middle of the Mediterranean to boot!) reading about my shop and work. I truly appreciate your service and I applaud your courage and selflessness for serving our country. I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have or simply engage in conversation if you'd like. I'm much more active on Instagram if you have an account there, my profile is @madebymiller_ , feel free to send me a DM and I'd be glad to talk any time! Thanks for stopping by!
 
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nicholam77

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Dec 18, 2016
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Location
Minneapolis, MN
MadeByMiller said:
As I mentioned several times in this thread, we are pretty "thrifty" or "frugal" household (I think all of these pulls combined was a few dollars worth of filament), and I have the capability and technology to make my own which is much more exciting to me than buying something that anyone can have. I know you understand and appreciate that as well, I'm just explaining my train of thought. Now we have one-of-a-kind hardware that was both fun to create and fun to look at, and my kids will grow up knowing that dad made these!
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Oh for sure, I understand. Making your own stuff is always cool!
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
In the nonstop pursuit of learning and improvement, I hitched myself to the task of finally learning Blender. Here are some of my first renderings, with the donut being first, then the anvil, and most recently the TV legs. Speaking of, those I designed and printed for a good friend whose original legs' span was too wide to set the TV on their dresser.

Donut2002.png
Anvil002.5.png
TV Leg002.png
TV Leg003.png
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