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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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Rapid City, SD
Looks good from here Austin!

I'm jealous of your 70* temp @ 4:12pm :LOL:
Thank you very much! We've been so fortunate with amazing weather this spring.

Love your shop, looks great all clean & tidy!
Thanks a lot! It feels so much better, and now I don't have to deal with the nagging feeling of having a messy shop anymore.

yes, biggest (smallest) pile of **** I ever owned. Onan engine blew head gaskets all the time. sold that POS
Sorry to hear that! It's my understanding that the Onan was an upgrade from the original Tecumseh mine would have had.

The shop looks great Austin. Machined table surface cleaned up exceptionally well. I love that used and patina'd look on machinery.
Thank you Mike! I was thinking of you when you actually when I decided to clean up and your recent fab table clean up. It really does make a noticeable difference to have the shiny surfaces shiny as they should be. Old equipment is the best, I like it for the same reasons you do I'm sure - the soul and stories they contain.

I chuckled at your definition of "disorganization" in it's initial state...that's cleaner than my garage it's best day lol

Looks great! Can't get tired of looking at such a well organized shop!
You're too kind, your garage is looking awesome! Thank you for the compliments, I find myself going into the shop and just looking around enjoying the cleanliness.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
While I had the DSLR out yesterday I figured I'd capture the driveway since it's currently looking better than it ever has since we bought the property. I cleaned up the edges with the skid loader where I had pushed up a berm of gravel over the winter when pushing snow and I back drug everything. Then I raked it several times using my yard rake pulled behind the lawnmower. The house and shop desperately need a repaint, probably won't happen this year though..
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I also had a bit of fun capturing some shop still life, just messing around with the camera. I really would like to pick up a shorter focal length prime lens. The 18-35mm kit lens I have is just so dull in clarity and color compared to my 50mm lens, so I really don't like to use it. Photo dump incoming.
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
Continued...
The aforementioned lathe originally purchased by my great grandfather. A Montgomery Wards branded 10" Logan lathe. A stand for it is a priority, if you know where I could find original cast legs, let me know!
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This is my favorite shot of the bunch - very dramatic I think.
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A painting by someone in my family from long ago. It may have been painted by my great great grandmother, but I can't be sure. Thinking it's from the 1930's. I gently cleaned the painting as it was filthy. The background painting is also an original from a distant family member, maybe from the same artist. Hard to capture though due to the glare on the glass.
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I slapped an extension tube on for some macro shots:
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Thanks for looking!
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
You are way too organized! How do you like that welding/fabrication table?
Too organized? Impossible! You haven't seen the state of most of those cabinet drawers - far from organized unfortunately.

The Strong Hand BuildPro Max is a great table. I admittedly haven't used it a ton since I bought it, but it's well constructed, versatile, and the utility speaks for itself I think.
 

broinkrist

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Feb 15, 2010
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71
Location
NJ
Love the new shop reorg. Been following for a while now. Nice work on the shop life photos given how organized and clean you are, and the level of attention to detail is a gift.

I went down the route of ditching kit lenses on my old Nikon asp-c. first 50mm (75mm equivalent), then 35mm (50mm equivalent), then went way wider with an 11-20mm. Finally ditched all that gear and settled on a mirrorless full frame at 28mm. It's been 5ish years and I haven't been wanting anything more for my style of shooting.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
Love the new shop reorg. Been following for a while now. Nice work on the shop life photos given how organized and clean you are, and the level of attention to detail is a gift.

I went down the route of ditching kit lenses on my old Nikon asp-c. first 50mm (75mm equivalent), then 35mm (50mm equivalent), then went way wider with an 11-20mm. Finally ditched all that gear and settled on a mirrorless full frame at 28mm. It's been 5ish years and I haven't been wanting anything more for my style of shooting.
Thank you for the nice comment and for following along!

I'd love to go on a photography shopping spree, but for now I have to get by with what I have. The photos I'm taking are just for my own enjoyment anyway, I have a long ways to go before I reach any technical ceiling with the equipment I have currently.
 

555

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Nov 10, 2007
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2,284
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Nomad-Arkansas & Georgia
Too organized? Impossible! You haven't seen the state of most of those cabinet drawers - far from organized unfortunately.

The Strong Hand BuildPro Max is a great table. I admittedly haven't used it a ton since I bought it, but it's well constructed, versatile, and the utility speaks for itself I think.
Thank you! I looked at the table on-line last week but didn't know anyone who owned or had used one.
 

Trapps

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Feb 10, 2017
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Location
The Detroit Zoo
Austin, it was a pleasure to meet you and your family. Your shop is fantastic, super clean and efficient. The amount of storage, and its organization, is impressive!

That well manicured gravel might have been the scariest thing I rode on my entire trip, LOL!

Thanks again!

PS: Great Photos. Is that single line in the gravel me?
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
Austin, it was a pleasure to meet you and your family. Your shop is fantastic, super clean and efficient. The amount of storage, and its organization, is impressive!

That well manicured gravel might have been the scariest thing I rode on my entire trip, LOL!

Thanks again!

PS: Great Photos. Is that single line in the gravel me?
It was a pleasure Mark! Thank you for the kind words. That's funny about my driveway, glad you were able to navigate such an obstacle haha.

The single line is indeed from you! After you left is when I decided to take the photos of the shop.
 

nicholam77

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Dec 18, 2016
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Location
Minneapolis, MN
Hey Austin, been checking in but finally had a chance to read through your latest posts in full. The shop is looking tidy! Especially that last pic is so nice.

Great job with the skid loader restoration, that thing is going to be fun with the snow arrives. 😁

The swing set looks like a chore but I'm sure your kids will love it.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
Hey Austin, been checking in but finally had a chance to read through your latest posts in full. The shop is looking tidy! Especially that last pic is so nice.

Great job with the skid loader restoration, that thing is going to be fun with the snow arrives. 😁

The swing set looks like a chore but I'm sure your kids will love it.
Well I appreciate you taking the time to read through my wordy posts! Really pleased with how the personal projects have been going around my place lately - although at the detriment of progress on my business projects unfortunately.

The grass is coming in so well, here's to hoping that the swing set will have kids climbing on it by the end of July!
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
Yesterday I spent some time in Blender putting together this rendering of a new joint product between myself and Overkill Racing and Chassis. I designed this scale truck of course based on a square body Chevy, and the intention is for customers to purchase them and weld together the 11ga sheet metal body and chassis. The parts are all laser cut and engraved with 3D printed tires. We're working out the final details, but they will be available for purchase soon. The rendering was fun to put together, I really enjoy learning and experimenting in Blender.
Toy Squarebody 018.3.jpeg
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
@Trapps

If you ever visit me I'll meet you by the road haha. I've got way to much rock for the likes of hooligans like you being around 🍺

JK had to bust your chops as I'm know to rake my rocks on occasion haha.
I think it was the combination of loose gravel and the incline of my driveway that made it so treacherous!
 
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MadeByMiller

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It looks terrible....hopefully you a 4wheel drive! 🤣
There are many driveways out here in the hills that look like they would be mighty sketchy to traverse in the winter time, but they do it! Sometimes you will see a vehicle parked at the end of the driveway where they clearly didn't make it up. Fortunately our driveway is nowhere near that steep. The worst part about our sloped driveway is having gravel wash down after heavy rains, but that's no problem now that I've got the skid loader!
 
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Boostingaz

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May 21, 2018
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3,667
Location
Indiana
There are many driveways out here in the hills that look like they would be mighty sketchy to traverse in the winter time, but they do it! Sometimes you will see a vehicle parked at the end of the driveway where they clearly didn't make it up. Fortunately our driveway is nowhere near that steep. The worst part about or sloped driveway is having gravel wash down after heavy rains, but that's no problem now that I've got the skid loader!

That skid will come in handy for a lot of things! I don't know why but it reminds me of the little French tire change guy from all the "cars" movies and shows 🤣🤣 I can't think of his name. I'll ask my kids later.
 
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metalhead140

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Jan 15, 2013
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NSW, Australia
Wow... Been reading this whole thread the last few days. I wish I could be as organised and tidy as you! Great shop, loved all the detailed information and photos a the 3d printing - it's not something I've invested in yet myself, but I sent a number of posts to a mate who has been using one for the past year or two.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Wow... Been reading this whole thread the last few days. I wish I could be as organised and tidy as you! Great shop, loved all the detailed information and photos a the 3d printing - it's not something I've invested in yet myself, but I sent a number of posts to a mate who has been using one for the past year or two.
Well hey, thank you for taking the time to check out my humble goings-on and for leaving the nice comment! I've been admiring your shop thread as well, awesome setup and car collection - I really like the Model A but it's hard to beat that Porsche! If you're considering taking the plunge into 3D printing, I would definitely encourage it. The barrier to entry is lower than ever and the benefits are numerous.
 
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MadeByMiller

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Rapid City, SD
I found some original Logan cast iron legs for my great grandfather's lathe on eBay, so I made the seller an offer that I was surprised he accepted. They showed up on Friday and I got them cleaned up some with the pressure washer and some dish soap. On Friday I also found a nice heavy cabinet (Mosler brand, perhaps an old bank teller cabinet?) that seemed like it would be a good fit in my office as a printer stand/filament storage. You can see that I pressure washed the cabinet at the same time as the legs.
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I'm pretty happy with the cabinet for $30. It's really heavy, and the drawers (with nice ball bearing slides) will hold 8 spools each.
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I used the 1816 to lift the lathe and put the legs on today. It's a tight fit in the shop!
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And lastly, here's a grass update!
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Boostingaz

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May 21, 2018
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Location
Indiana
What brand air system are you using there (the blue tubing) and how do you like it?

Looks like you were able to get those lines pretty darn eyeball straight. That's always been my worry about going pex. My OCD and wavy lines sheeewwww 😆
 
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MadeByMiller

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What brand air system are you using there (the blue tubing) and how do you like it?

Looks like you were able to get those lines pretty darn eyeball straight. That's always been my worry about going pex. My OCD and wavy lines sheeewwww 😆
I bought this kit from RapidAir along with some extra fittings that I needed. It's a great product in my opinion. Very easy to install and has been leak free from day one. It comes in a coil, but I didn't think it was difficult to get straight by hand. I have really short runs compared to what you would have though, and in your case you might want to either look into their straightening tool or their Fastpipe system that uses rigid tube.

Awesome that you were able to find those matching legs for the lathe! Do you use it much?
Yes, I'm really excited about it! Eventually I will build a chip pan that will go between the lathe and the legs. I've not been able to use it yet. When I got it about 7 years ago it had been sitting in cold storage for most of my life. It needs a thorough deep clean at the least, but it may need some bushings/bearings too. I still need to mount the motor and countershaft setup, but I wanted to get it up on the legs so it would be easier to clean up and work on.
 

Boostingaz

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Indiana
@MadeByMiller

Ok that's what I was kind of thinking and why I haven't pulled the trigger. I keep coming back to and looking at this system.

 

metalhead140

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NSW, Australia
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MadeByMiller

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A development on the square body weld it yourself kit - the first complete prototype! I received a package of 7 kits from Joel at Overkill and I slapped this one together as soon as I had time. I'm really happy with it! There are some tweaks that I noted to improve the fit, but overall this is really exciting for me. I pulled out the fancy camera to try to get some decent shots of it in it's mocked up form. Believe it or not, there's not a single tack weld holding this thing together, the beauty of high quality laser cut parts!
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As we speak I am dialing in the fit of the 3D printed tires in preparation of going into production mode. The only other thing standing between us and sales are some instructions, so I'll be putting those together shortly.

P.S. I really need to get a new shorter focal length lens. These photos were taken with my 18-55mm kit lens set at 18mm. They turned out okay, but I had to bump up the contrast in post to really make the photos pop. The kit lens just isn't as crisp or vibrant as my 50mm prime lens, but I really wanted the shorter focal length for this subject. I did try the 50mm lens but I wasn't happy with the perspective. Any recommendations for a shorter focal length lens for my Canon EF?
 
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