My Mechanical Shop

[Mike14k]

Garage Journal is such a great place to hang out.

Hopefully, I can get this link to work.....

Here's one my my shops. I call this the "Mechanical Shop". I do some fabrication work in here on a couple lathes, a small drill press, air compressor, handtools and wrenches.

At times, it houses my ATV or CanAm Spyder.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtneer_man/sets/72157630810525190/

 

[Thruxton]

Very interesting! Great use of space, my shop was once referred to as 10# in a 5# bag, I think you may have hit 20#! Would like to hear more on the lathes, and pics of the Jags! XJ8 is one of the best designs they ever did, I think - a real improvement over the XJ40 I had, and which I loved...

 

[Big-Foot]

Nice little shop youve got going there. Blue for SAE wrenches and sockets and metrics are red?

 

[e30bradley]

amazing organization..

 

[softailgarage]

Very nice shop, as Big-Foot asked, Blue & red , SAE & Metric? How is it you have 4 or 5 shops and can we see pictures ?

 

[Falcon67]

That's way too neat for my tastes Nice. You should replace that Cman DP with a real mill/drill and get the best of both.

 

[The J]

You packed a lot of stuff in a small space - well done! And it looks like it all gets used.

What do you do to control dust?

I have envisioned (not implemented yet!) enclosed storage for everything in my garage to keep tools clean. But that's a huge hog of space too. Using the pegboard walls as you have done really lets you maximize wall space, and keeps everything in reach.

 

[Mike14k]

a couple responses to questions....

@ The J: I have a garage door I can open and blast dust out, otherwise it stays tightly closed. Since I have a seperate place for woodwork, dust is not too much of an issue.

@ Softtail: Yep, Red is metric and blue is SAE. Makes keeping things a bit more organized.

Thanks for the nice comments... I'll post up another shop shortly.

 

[ODIS]

Garage Journal is such a great place to hang out.

Hopefully, I can get this link to work.....

Here's one my my shops. I call this the "Mechanical Shop". I do some fabrication work in here on a couple lathes, a small drill press, air compressor, handtools and wrenches.

At times, it houses my ATV or CanAm Spyder.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtneer_man/sets/72157630810525190/

Once again, the organization is superb! A tool that I have not seen casually displayed in a long time......... A Slide Rule! Perfect! Looking forward to seeing more of what you do in the various shops you have so lovingly organized.

Ody.

 

[JasonW]

Wow. I have really overlooked the potential of peg board. Truly I haven't really thought of it. In my mind it's the cobweb covered stuff in my neighbors garage. Looks a bit different with a coat of paint an some actual thought to the organization. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Wow, very well organized and CLEAN! You use a leaf blower to keep it clean? Now, that is definitely a garage guys version of a feather duster! lol

I like the 'idea' of the pegboard, but I've always HATED those miserable clips, hooks, and holders. They seem to fall out of the board when you even look hard at them, and on top of that, always bounce to the most difficult to reach place on the shop floor. How have you dealt with that situation?

Another question - do you use a tool caddy when you are going to do some maintenance on your toys, or do you find yourself going back and forth to the boards? I'm not lazy, but I really try to load up a tray, caddy, bucket, or box with the tools I think I'll need for a particular remote task. I like to get focused on the task and not keep jumping up and down to get the next needed tool. How do you deal with this annoyance?

 

[jeffmoss26]

Mike, your shops are VERY cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

[jamesemery728]

Very nice looking, makes me ashamed of my mess. Is that an Atlas 10" lathe and I think I saw a Unimat. Do you work on "small things"?

 

[Mike14k]

a couple followup notes here....

I like pegboard. It keeps you from digging thru boxes for tools. And somehow, when faced with a dis-assembly issue, staring at the tools available helps find a solution. Or so I think.

My pegboard is the heavy stuff, I think 3/16 thick or so.

prior to mounting it on the walls, I put a couple coats of Walmart hi-gloss enamel on them with a roller. "Mt Rainier" Gray happens to meet my taste. This makes it washable, keeps **** from sticking, brightens things up a bit. It's mounted on 1 x 2 firring strips, with some short bolcks mounted behind in random spots to keep it flat. In some cases, I've put scrap styrofoam/mylar insulation to help with heat and cool. The styro also helps hold the hooks in place.

I have a couple "tool caddys". One is a normal rolling shop cart. The other is a 1929 calculator stand of cast iron with a center adjustment. I load them up with what I need for the job.

 

[Mike14k]

Yep, that's a little Atlas lathe I've had for a bazillion years. And the other is a unimat. I can honestly says I've never made a finished "thing" with a lathe. But I've used them to create washers, bushings, fittings, knobs, handles and a lot of piece parts.

I can chuck up a piece of steel rod, cut a washer, center drill it and then cut it off is less time than driving 15 miles to Ace hardware to buy the same washer. And it's more fun.

I don't know what I'd do without one.

 

[Mike14k]

Ody, that slide rule got me thru college in the days when only the rich had calculators.....In 1971, $125 for a four function TI calculator was just not in my budget.

still use it occasionally.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

The styrofoam behind the pegboard is a great idea for both holding the hardware and keeping the spiders from calling the space home; I'll steal that idea and thanks.

My elderly neighbor has an old Atlas he used to build his large scale 'yard trains'. He has invited me over to see his shop, but our schedules haven't meshed yet. Do you mind me asking for any details of yours you wish to share such as model, accessories, cost, etc., etc.?

TWO PHONES!? Must be a very busy shop you have there. lol

 

[jeffmoss26]

If you think two phones is a lot, you haven't seen my shop LOL

 

[Mike14k]

well, we have two phone lines, home and business. Hence the two phones @ $6 each vs. a 2-line phone at $45.

The lathe I have is somewhere around a 40's model. Bought it from an older gent who had cleaned it up. It has screw feeds and a full set of thread-cutting gears. It came with a lot of accessories. Very clean and tight. I made the stand and cabinet below out of uni-strut. I think somewhere I have the original instruction manual.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I collect phones, so I have a lot of them in my shop!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Mike14k, thanks for the info on the Atlas and anything more you can dig up in the future.