New workshop in the uk. Woop woop!!!

[Stu.C]

Coming along nicely fella - what's the plans once you're up and running with the workshop?

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Just use it to make parts for my cars and bikes to start with, then progress to small jobs for other people. Hopefully one day make a living from it!

 

[Jpfreak33]

Very cool setup, great mill!! Any updates on the phase3 for it? cant wait to see you get that thing up and running

 

[Brookesy]

Nice work with the unit lloks a lot better. Are you going to give the outer wall around the steel doors a skim of cement to neaten it up even more.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Very cool setup, great mill!! Any updates on the phase3 for it? cant wait to see you get that thing up and running

Decided to go down the 3 phase converter route for now. Ordered one to cater for 3 hp and it cost £250 + VAT. It was not off ebay either. Got it through a friends welding supplies company. Might be cheaper off ebay but i wouldn't want to trust the build quality/safety.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Nice work with the unit lloks a lot better. Are you going to give the outer wall around the steel doors a skim of cement to neaten it up even more.

Thanks mate, When i have so more funds and less projects on the go, i plane to rebuild both end walls as they are very old and are in a general state of bad repair. For now, i will probably leave it as it is. May give it a lick of paint just to make it look a bit neater. I don't want to do too much though as it one day will all come back down again.

 

[1chicken]

Okay... All of its cool, but the tard is the best! And I'm a US guy.
Here's the one of mine I race!.. Love to see motards on here!

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Okay... All of its cool, but the tard is the best! And I'm a US guy.
Here's the one of mine I race!.. Love to see motards on here!

Do you have to rebuild yours often. I am concerned that i may do damage over time as they are not designed for road use really.

 

[1chicken]

Do you have to rebuild yours often. I am concerned that i may do damage over time as they are not designed for road use really.

I picked up the 450 last year, and set it up to race, one race a month except during winter... I didn't go through the engine yet, just gonna flog it for 3 more races then go through the whole thing and add 5th and 6th gears... Its a SX model, not a SMR so I only havee the 4 speed for this season. I will prob end up going through it every winter since its not used too much. My other one for street duty is an 05 625 SMC. It has almost 15k miles on it and still going strong. Probably go through it after 20k miles... As for the new design rfs its anyone's guess.... Keep the oil changed a lot, keep the air filter clean, and go through it in a year (over winter) and see how it looks... that's the best telltale.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

I picked up the 450 last year, and set it up to race, one race a month except during winter... I didn't go through the engine yet, just gonna flog it for 3 more races then go through the whole thing and add 5th and 6th gears... Its a SX model, not a SMR so I only havee the 4 speed for this season. I will prob end up going through it every winter since its not used too much. My other one for street duty is an 05 625 SMC. It has almost 15k miles on it and still going strong. Probably go through it after 20k miles... As for the new design rfs its anyone's guess.... Keep the oil changed a lot, keep the air filter clean, and go through it in a year (over winter) and see how it looks... that's the best telltale.

Cheers for that. Will do.

 

[1chicken]

Oh yea... Valves! I forgot to mention... Check them every couple of oil changes.... And make sure ya use the recommended oil... I'm not sure about the RFS, but the new LC4 has some components in the engine that even the motorex I use would hurt em. Check the manual on that and any other recommendations KTM states. As any new design does, the new KTM engines have to prove themselves...
Cheers! (always wanted to say that)

 

[Atomatic]

Any Updates?

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Small update. I have just bough a Colchester student 1800 lathe off of ebay. Gave £1800 for it. It came from a protoytype shop and has done very little work. I think i had a good deal. It's the 40" bed version.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Finally got the lathe now. Was a right hassle trying to arrange delivery. 2 companies wouldn't even collect. The 3rd want £700 + VAT. The 4th want £600. In the end and luckily, the seller who i bought the lathe off said the he had a drive coming my way and if i payed £250 he would deliver it next day. I was pretty happy with that as it would of been a 7 hour round trip.

Took some random pics, though some of you may be interested. The lathe is mint. I'm really happy with it.

Next task is to get it of the pallet. Any advice on how to do it?

Also had a blo*dy good tidy up and move the mill to its new home too.

Slowly getting there.

Christmas has come early.

 

[romafern]

****** Hell! Looks like a fun project.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

****** Hell! Looks like a fun project.

It will be once i get everything properly set up. Just doing a bit at a time.

 

[JackOfAllTradesRuss]

Nice engine lathe You got, also good deal on delivery too!
Have fun with it, Russ

 

[Atomatic]

any updates buster?

 

[Grizz1963]

Very impressive.... from small accorns grow big oak trees.

 

[ironheadtom]

Great shop coming along ! Looks like beautiful country

 

[51rider]

Not sure how I missed this but so glad it's had a bump!

Have you got any dimensions on those sink & work bench units?
I really like the look of them & would like something similar in my garage.

 

[chevazon]

Just caught up with this. Great space and location. Those doors and the frontage need cammo paint to blend in with the surroundings !

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Well not alot has changed recently. I have an electrician coming this week to rewire for 3 phase electric.

I had a good buy from a friend too. I bought a second hand cold saw for £80. It had been out in his yard for a good few years. It was really rusty but still functioned and worked fine.

The make is Fabris. I haven't heard of it before, but it very well made.

The main motor/blade rotates about the "z" axis. The vice also rotates, as well as being able to slide the whole vice, fixed jaw included back and forth. Also has a quick action vice handle.

I have stripped it all down and unearthed a few problems. The bottom of the coolant tank is cracked. I'll repair it by welding, but it's cast, so i don't know how well it will weld.

I sand blasted all the parts at work and have started to repaint it. One coat of primer and two coats of Tom Senior green. Nice colour and is proper machine paint so should last the test of time.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, as i took them on my phone.

Before

Inbetween. In primer.

Ill take some more pictures of the parts in top coat tomorrow.

 

[mhcomp]

You could use JB Weld to fix the coolant tank. It is a 2 part epoxy with imbedded metal and works great. I don't know if it is available in the UK though.

 

[ZRX61]

You could use JB Weld to fix the coolant tank. It is a 2 part epoxy with imbedded metal and works great. I don't know if it is available in the UK though.

I'd braze it

 

[markviii]

The quonset looks just like my brother-in-laws here in our town with BB767's Restored 1930s Auto shop (see top thread on Garage Gallery for pictures of our restoration). The quonset has housed his metal fabrication shop for the past 30 years. He's got a separate office inside, but the rest is all open space. Great workspace. That lathe you took delivery on looks like something he has in the shop.

We had LOTS of tires (250+) on our property, too, and it does cost a small fortune to recycle them. Luckily a place took all that we had (normally they'll only take 4 at a time, and sometimes only if you're getting a new set on your vehicle). Sometimes park districts around here take them to shred and put under swings/climbing structures at parks.

Nice job on the outside clean-up, too. I know from experience what a tough job that can be. And it's amazing what's hiding underneath!

Chris

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Not had an update in a while so here goes.

Managed to bag this surface table from work for free! They have a matched pair of them, but the one has been in storage for over 5 years. Not sure of the weight, probably over 2 tons. It's too big for what i need really, but for free i'd be a fool to let it go.

Got the chop saw all painted and reassembled too. Got a few more things to do before its back up and running again.

Also got a new bit of kit free from a friend. I helped him with some machining a while ago so money never exchanged hands

Finally got round to moving the mill of the pallet with the aid of 4 acro props and a toe jack. Worked really well, very stable. I had limited options because my door frame is too low to get access with a forklift truck.

How it started. I was going to brace the 4 acro prop's together, but once i had them all taking the weight they were extremely stable.

Jacked up, pallet pulled out and 2 4x2 blocks put under each corner.

Steel box at the rear of mill. One inside the other just in case.

And the ones at the front.

Levels checked periodically.

Getting there. I lowered the acro prop's enough to pull the one set of block's out. At this point the mill is sitting on 4 2x4 wooden blocks and the acro prop's are completely removed.

I used the toe jack to lower the mill down to the floor.

You can see that the toe jack once full lowered will interfere with the mill base. The jack is easily pulled out because of the gentle slope at the front of the jack.

At this point the mill is sitting on the ground at the rear whilst at the front it is sitting on the 2 blocks still.

The jack is lowered as far as it will go. The jack is pulled out from under the mill. You can see the mill is resting on the base of the jack on the slope at the front. You can see where the grime has been scraped off of the base of the jack as it has been pulled out.

The jack is pulled out a little bit more and eventually the mill will rest on the ground

Touch down.

Heres a close up of the acro prop. I'm not sure weather you get them in the US?

 

[Shaggie]

Wow wow wow

I'm pleased this thread has been updated so I get to see it too!

Buster's caddy - awesome place and great work!

the drop saw looks great!

I wish you were my neighbour!

Cheers and congrats from Down Under!

Shane

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Wow wow wow

I'm pleased this thread has been updated so I get to see it too!

Buster's caddy - awesome place and great work!

the drop saw looks great!

I wish you were my neighbour!

Cheers and congrats from Down Under!

Shane

Thanks mate, I'm pleased with how its turned out so far.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Well after a long wait i have finally got the ball rolling with regards to have 3 phase electric installed.

Took a few pictures of the new electrics done so far.

New board.

Isolator switches to each machine.

Should be finished this week and then just need to have the 3 phase meter installed.

Had bargain on ebay yesterday. Bought an F J Edwards (Heavy duty cast iron, British made) 3 ft guillotine and matching 3ft straight folder. Going to pick them up tomorrow, managed to get the day off work. Should make making all the repair panels for my project's slightly easier!

Picked up the guillotine and folder today. Chuffed to bits with them both. Need a clean and paint but they work brilliant as is.

Folder

A test piece.

Guillotine.

I'm running out of space!

One of the trike too. Its coming along quite well.

 

[autoclassicnut]

How about an update???

 

[d20mox]

I love the shop. I've also been amused at the differences in language! Guillotine would be a shear and folder would be a brake in the US. That and chuffed to bits made me lol. Good work! Can't wait to see what projects come out of that bunker! Good Luck!

 

[abstamaria]

Fantastic. Very entertaining.

Andres (from the Far East)

 

[kngkong]

Nice space! Youve scored a lot of cool treasures.

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Well its been a while since i last updated. I fair bit has changed. I'll try and upload a load of pictures today. I've been really busy with my full time job working most saturdays recently but i have got some new additions to to the work shop. We've got a foot of snow here in England too. Its the most i have ever seen here. It came down on Saturday in the space of a few hours. Its crazy, everyone is panic buying all the food in the shops because they think the world is going to end! Anyway rant over, back to the update!

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Workshop under snow!

Got the fire roaring straight away!

Made a quick little stand for my hand paper towel.

I still have to turn two pieces up to keep the roll in the centre of the steel tube.

I bought a new tool box of ebay. I cant believe how much easier it is having all your tools in one place.

I pulled this height gauge out of the scrap bin at work. It was from an old nikken tool presetter. I took it all apart and gave it a good clean. Not bad for another freebie!

 

[abstamaria]

Strangely, the pictures of your garage, especially the first ones, remind me so strongly of a place here in Manila - the site of Rizal Motors, which in the 1950s and early 60s assembled British cars, including Triumphs. The facility was built right after World War II and had a number of large quonset "huts" that look very similar to your garage. I started to visit it in the late 60s, some time after the plant had shut down, and overgrown bush and grass obscured some of the buildings. I will take pictures of what is left now and perhaps post separately. I suppose you remain snowed in at this time. Andres

 

[Busters_Caddy]

Strangely, the pictures of your garage, especially the first ones, remind me so strongly of a place here in Manila - the site of Rizal Motors, which in the 1950s and early 60s assembled British cars, including Triumphs. The facility was built right after World War II and had a number of large quonset "huts" that look very similar to your garage. I started to visit it in the late 60s, some time after the plant had shut down, and overgrown bush and grass obscured some of the buildings. I will take pictures of what is left now and perhaps post separately. I suppose you remain snowed in at this time. Andres

That's interesting to hear. Yeah i would like to see some pictures. Feel free to post them here or if you do start a new thread let me know, so i know where to look.

The snow is melting slowly now. The work shop is about 5 minutes from my house but the snow hasn't stopped me getting there. The main roads have been ploughed so aslong as you go steady there fine.

 

[Bib Overalls]

A very well organized shop. I am always amazed by how much weight a man can move with simple jacks, levers and ingenuity.

Did a quick web search and got one relevant hit for Fabris. About half way down the page under "circular saws." So now we know they are Italian and there is at least one agent in the UK. You might be able to get some literature from them.

ttp://www.applegate.co.uk/all-industry/bandsaw-band-saw-blade-saw-0042435.htm

 

[PeteMoore]

Hey dude,

Any updates on the shed?

You may not remember me, but I spoke with you briefly at Volksworld Show 08 or 09 when the drag bus was indoors. I was with Paul Cullen and that lot. I ended up buying the Pepsi-Cola squareback.

Hope all is well.

Pete