My Garage Machine Shop

[A_Pmech]

I was asked earlier this week by Lookin4'67Galaxieconv to post some photos of my shop. Well, after completely re-arranging it to accommodate the latest machine, here it is!

The shop blog I started:

http://pauldingmachineshop.wordpress.com/

My blog on building the Paulding Racer, my dream bike:

http://pauldingracer.wordpress.com

And here are some of the projects I've completed or am working on in my shop:

The Hammer

A Herringbone Parquet Floor, From Scratch

Rebuilding a Do-All V-36 Band Saw

A New Kind of Drill and Tap Chart

Shop Project: A Do-All Work Holding Jaw

Rebuilding an ATV Starter

Rebuilding a US Electrical Tool Model 500 Pedestal Grinder

Building a Holdridge-Type Radius Attachment

 

[rockchucker]

Re: My Garage Shop




Dude. Nice shop.

 

[tinbender 66]

Re: My Garage Shop

HOLY COW!!! That's all I can think of to say..........looks like a guy (or girl) could have a lot of fun in there.

 

[bluesman2a]

Re: My Garage Shop


That's all I got.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Re: My Garage Shop

Wow....

I'd sure hate to help you move!

 

[sscustom]

Re: My Garage Shop

looking good

 

[fergus]

Re: My Garage Shop

Madness. I knew you had lots of equipment...but DANG!

Side note: I really liked your thought a while back about waiting for the return of manufacturing to the US. Very thought provoking.

 

[Thruxton]

Re: My Garage Shop

^+1, both comments.

 

[bchee]

 

[Zengineer]

Re: My Garage Shop

Until this moment I always have had it in my head that my woodworking machines and metal working machines couldn't share the same space... This has led to mental planning of elaborate garages, 2nd stories, room partitions, etc.

Do you find the dust control itself is effective enough to keep the shop reasonably clean? I'm sure your cyclone is some behemoth of a machine, any details?

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

Thanks guys. This isn't the end, but the beginning!

I'd sure hate to help you move!

Madness. I knew you had lots of equipment...but DANG!

Side note: I really liked your thought a while back about waiting for the return of manufacturing to the US. Very thought provoking.

It's starting to get a little tight in there, but not too bad. I still have a few things left to cram in there. I still need room for the woodworking machines and need to be able to open the pit when I need to work on the cars.

It will happen, it must. It is only a matter of time. By then, I will be ready.

Until this moment I always have had it in my head that my woodworking machines and metal working machines couldn't share the same space... This has led to mental planning of elaborate garages, 2nd stories, room partitions, etc.

Do you find the dust control itself is effective enough to keep the shop reasonably clean? I'm sure your cyclone is some behemoth of a machine, any details?

It can be done. The main thing is to keep the metalworking machinery covered when doing any major woodworking and use an adequate dust collection setup. Way oil will hold a lot of wood dust! When using the metalworking machines, cover the woodworking stuff in close proximity to avoid chips getting into places where they could cause trouble.

The dust collector is nothing fancy, a 1200 CFM Jet brand unit. I originally bought the woodworking machinery new, except for the shaper which is an older Rockwell, as I wanted something light and portable to take on the road with me. I did high-end finish work on the East and West coasts until the housing crash wiped out my customer base. By having a full shop with me I could do things most others couldn't, such as re-create original mouldings on-site. I also built cabinets, doors, windows and other items on-site.

Now that I work mainly out of my shop, the "portable" nature of the machines makes it easy to roll them out when needed and put them away when I need the space for other things.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Re: My Garage Shop

That's some serious capability right there. Very nice.

 

[wornoutoldman]

Re: My Garage Shop

What the hell goes on on there Dr Frankenstein?

 

[gorilla]

Re: My Garage Shop

Nice shop! is the Brown+Sharp surface grinder the newest machine?
any progress on the radial arm drill press?

 

[colt zantop]

Re: My Garage Shop

very nice setup! do you work out of your garage for a living?

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

That's some serious capability right there. Very nice.

Thanks, Jack.

What the hell goes on on there Dr Frankenstein?

Mostly work, although sometimes I get to do fun stuff.

Nice shop! is the Brown+Sharp surface grinder the newest machine?
any progress on the radial arm drill press?

Haven't made any progress on the radial yet, I've been picking away at the Bridgeport of late. I'm probably going to reassemble the automatic lubrication pump this evening and I'll post photos.

The surface grinder is the newest machine, yes.

very nice setup! do you work out of your garage for a living?

Thanks!

Yes, I do.

 

[WhatThaFrig]

Re: My Garage Shop

Great googly moogly! That's nice!

 

[jktruck150]

Re: My Garage Shop

Nice shop! Lots big tools!

 

[mjozefow]

Re: My Garage Shop

Time for another toy box John.

 

[harvey4804]

Re: My Garage Shop

wow sweet setup!

 

[Zengineer]

Re: My Garage Shop

Apologies if I've missed it, but maybe you can include some of the "specs" of your shop in here too. What's the square footage, ceiling height, etc.? Looks like you have tons of room, I thought I remembered you saying something about a lift as well.

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

Apologies if I've missed it, but maybe you can include some of the "specs" of your shop in here too. What's the square footage, ceiling height, etc.? Looks like you have tons of room, I thought I remembered you saying something about a lift as well.

The building is 24' by 40' with an 8' ceiling. I don't have a lift, but you can see the expanded metal pit covers in a couple of the photos. The floor above the shop is my house.

I scanned a few construction photos so you can see how it went together. In this first photo you can see the floor sections being poured. The tractor-mounted concrete mixer makes 1/3rd of a yard at a time. It was used to make every bit of concrete that went into the building:

The walls and concrete beams going up. All the blocks are filled and the wall has four bond courses as well as vertical rebar in every other core:

Framing the floor. I hate bouncy floors, so I have 2x12's on 16" centers spanning 11' 6" and blocked in the middle and ends. IIRC, that works out to around a 150 lb. per square foot live load floor at 1/360th deflection. Most houses have a 40lb per square foot live load rated floor.

A photo of the framing going up. Windows and siding came later. The roof is assembled with Teco ring connectors, which create a much more efficient rafter to joist connection which will never slip and leave the roof looking "swaybacked" like a nailed connection will. These were invented for assembling wooden roller coasters:

Here are a few very early shop photos:

 

[bobadame]

Re: My Garage Shop

Very nice setup you have there. Did you build it? How do you deal with 3 phase?

 

[Falcon67]

Re: My Garage Shop

That vacuum system is what happened to my hair. Very nice setup and built to last a while too. 1/3 yard at a time. Humm, I'm looking at 22 yards so that's 66 mixes and dumps. Long day!!!

 

[bczygan]

Re: My Garage Shop

You have created my idea of heaven. One question. Are there any good views outside the shop that a window could open to?

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

Very nice setup you have there. Did you build it? How do you deal with 3 phase?

Thanks, Bob.

Yes, it is my design and I built it.

I'm currently running off a 10HP phase converter, which is enough to power one machine at a time. I currently have a 25/100HP phase converter which I will likely install at a later date.

Here's the "new" rotary converter, it came out of a small grain elevator:

 

[NASTYZEN]

Re: My Garage Shop

Hey! My kind of shop. Nice setup you have there. Don't worry,you can cram lots more stuff in there. It's real handy to have everything ready to move around. Makes you more dynamic.
Show us some of your work please. Thank's for posting.

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

That vacuum system is what happened to my hair. Very nice setup and built to last a while too. 1/3 yard at a time. Humm, I'm looking at 22 yards so that's 66 mixes and dumps. Long day!!!

Thanks, Falcon. It's designed to last my lifetime, I'm not moving!

Yep! Each 8' by 8' floor section was a full day's work. Everything goes into the mixer with a shovel. For anybody who is thinking about a home gym, I suggest buying a concrete mixer and a shovel. Do something productive with those calories you're burning!

You have created my idea of heaven. One question. Are there any good views outside the shop that a window could open to?

It's starting to become my idea of heaven too.

There are no windows below for a number of reasons. Cost and time to build the concrete beams being the main reasons, along with the fact that the shop and the pit are my storm shelter. The house upstairs has a number of windows which were added later, after the framing was complete.

Here, you can see those windows just before the siding was installed. The wood in the foreground is for my floor, which is documented in this thread:

A Herringbone Parquet Floor, From Scratch

Should have a new update for that thread shortly!

Here's the siding, I decided to make the siding from scratch too. The ready-made carsiding I could find was all pretty crappy stuff made from utility grade lumber. So, I had the lumber yard deliver a whole truck load of #2 and better pine and I picked though four bundles to find one bundle of the best stuff. I didn't want clear lumber as I wanted a few tight knots for character. What I didn't want was lumber that would warp after installation or lose large loose knots.

Using the table saw with a moulding head and a sacrificial fence, I made each piece of tongue and groove carsiding:

The partially finished product:

Here's the siding installed and the windows trimmed out. The siding is stained with a transparent oil-based siding stain. The window trim started out as #1 2x12's. The photo is a re-cycle from the flooring thread showing the first batch of herringbone pieces getting loaded though a second-floor window. Much easier than carrying it up the stairs!

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

Hey! My kind of shop. Nice setup you have there. Don't worry,you can cram lots more stuff in there. It's real handy to have everything ready to move around. Makes you more dynamic.
Show us some of your work please. Thank's for posting.

Thanks! I can cram a lot more in if I don't have to fit a car in there.

The woodworking machines I move around except for the table saw and shaper, which are both bolted to the floor. The metalworking machines that weigh over a couple tons I try not to move and the lathe isn't going anywhere. It takes a couple days to level it properly after moving as it has a dozen leveling feet and the floor creeps under the machine as it takes up the load. I just re-leveled last week after installing new footpads:

Here's something I just finished. It is a bracket made from 304 stainless bar stock. Finish is as-machined. For scale, it is about 4" long.

 

[bc'z]

Re: My Garage Shop

A simply fantastic setup. You have set the standard quite high for a "home-based" setting. What other operations are you planning to add to this "Do It All" shop?

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

A simply fantastic setup. You have set the standard quite high for a "home-based" setting. What other operations are you planning to add to this "Do It All" shop?

Thanks.

This is just the beginning.

 

[-Brent-]

Re: My Garage Shop

Wow, thanks for the tour. I'd love to know how to use all that machinery.

 

[Skyline]

Re: My Garage Shop

Yep! Each 8' by 8' floor section was a full day's work. Everything goes into the mixer with a shovel.

Great work!

I always thought there were problems pouring big slabs without odering cement by the truckload. Can you give use some more details on how you managed this with just the small mixer?

 

[bobadame]

Re: My Garage Shop

Thanks, Bob.

Yes, it is my design and I built it.

Good for you! Brains and energy, an unstoppable combination.

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

Great work!

I always thought there were problems pouring big slabs without odering cement by the truckload. Can you give use some more details on how you managed this with just the small mixer?

The mixer makes 1,200 lbs of concrete at a time, small relative to a concrete truck but quite a bit more than a portable mortar mixer. The key is to size your pours such that you pour no more than you can comfortably mix and finish in a day. As with machining, proper planning prevents piss poor performance.

 

[bchee]

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

As of today, I have a little more lifting capacity.

 

[A_Pmech]

Re: My Garage Shop

Another new addition to the shop!

This time, it's a Quincy 5120 air compressor. This unit will augment my existing 3hp IR compressor. The pump is 4 cylinders, 25 HP and 95 CFM. Hopefully my last air compressor! These machines are built like a tank, as it stands it weighs right around 1,600lbs. The pumps are pressure lubricated, completely rebuildable and are designed for 50,000 hours of operation between rebuilds.

More info and a video in my post in the compressor thread here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1647146&postcount=1029

 

[Coyote Red]

Re: My Garage Shop

Is that a smile?

 

[Steve from Socal]

Re: My Garage Shop

John,

That is quite the compressor. We had two 25 HP Kellogg compressors at Sequoia to feed 2 dual pallet 4 head routers, a panel saw, miter folding, profile wrapping, edge banding and assembly. I did have to put a piston in one, broke the head at the ringland. We cycled the compressors and they ran 12 years 2-3 shifts 5 days a week.

I would try to get as large a storage tank as possible to reduce the start cycles on that, you are going to need a bit more of a phase converter for that one.

What are you doing to need that much air? Wheel abrading may be a better option?

Steve