Shop sundries...

[90LX_Notch]

An aspirator (rubber bulb used to clear infants of mucus) is great for either blowing or sucking chips from work, especially small holes.

A small mirror from a makeup compact is very usefull when indicating a diameter on the mill.  Allows one to see the DTI face when it's pointing towards the column.

The red straw from a WD-40 can mounted in the tailstock of the lathe is great for catching small parts when cutting off.

-Bob

[mklotz]

Pipe cleaners to get the swarf out of those small blind or threaded holes.

Can you still buy them nowadays ?

Unless you live in the People's Republik of Kalifornia, where smoking tobacco is virtually a jailable offense but smoking pot is medicinal, you can find them in stores and online purveyors of pipes and tobacco.  Amazon has them...

http://www.amazon.com/BJ-Longs-Bristle-Tobacco-Cleaners/dp/B0012C3NH2/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1388946235&sr=8-27&keywords=pipe+cleaners

Also, as I mentioned in my post above, craft stores sell "chenilles" which are nothing more than artsy-fartsy pipe cleaners.

[philjoe5]

I keep pretty much everything mentioned already in the shop.  I also have my  "shop girl" watching me work.  I guess it probably violates a few PC rules but since I'm    it should be OK.  But at least I had my wife's permission to put it up in the first place

Cheers,
Phil

[Mosey]

What's her name?
Mosey

[philjoe5]

Mosey,
I wish I knew but she keeps me from cussin' 

Cheers,
Phil

[TerryWerm]

I was going to add a small makeup mirror, but someone already mentioned it.

I do keep a coffeepot in the shop, but I would get more exercise running up and down the stairs if I just used the one in the kitchen. 
I've also got a small dry erase board by the mill, one by the lathe, and one by the bench.

Some other items that I like having around are:
Old cereal boxes; the cardboard has many good uses: templates, gaskets, epoxy mixing boards, etc.
Old playing cards, excellent shim stock, plus the same uses as the cereal box cardboard.
Single edged razor blades
Glass cleaner - it's amazing what this stuff works on
Typing paper - great for thin gaskets
Rubber bands - great for holding stuff together when gluing up

NO TELEPHONE!! - too distracting. If anyone calls, they can leave a message and I'll call them back later. Besides, how DARE they interrupt my shop time? 

[mklotz]

NO TELEPHONE!! - too distracting. If anyone calls, they can leave a message and I'll call them back later. Besides, how DARE they interrupt my shop time?

Now there's a subject for a whole new thread - WHAT SHOULDN'T BE IN THE SHOP

A jerky aerospace co-worker (think animated test dummy) managed to amputate the three critical fingers from his left hand while attempting to use a radial-arm saw while watching some idiot football game on the SHOP TELEVISION SET.

PETS, CHILDREN, UNPREDICTABLE FORMAT RADIO STATIONS, DOORBELLS, TELEPHONES and anything else that give you a START should be banished from the man cave.

A door CHIME to announce guests before they startle you is acceptable.  (Chimes tend to be unstartling to most people.)

Watch for automated machinery (e.g., compressors) that come on unexpectedly. 

My WIFE, while certainly not banned (yeah, try that!) has strict instructions to call to me from the Garaj Mahal door to alert me to her presence.  I can trust her.  Grandchildren are banned - I love them but I don't trust them.

[TerryWerm]

A television in the shop makes about as much sense as having on built into the dashboard in your car. 

I agree with you about the things that should not be there. I do allow my grand daughter in there, but she must follow the rules: safety glasses, shop apron, and she touches only what she is told to touch. She's 6 years old, so she has an idea of what is going on at least. Much younger and she would not be allowed, at least not when machines are running anyway.

[BaronJ]

Thanks Marv,

I'm in the UK so I had to use your search terms for "pipe+cleaners".  There's lots to choose from.

[Mosey]

A television in the shop makes about as much sense as having on built into the dashboard in your car. 

I agree with you about the things that should not be there. I do allow my grand daughter in there, but she must follow the rules: safety glasses, shop apron, and she touches only what she is told to touch. She's 6 years old, so she has an idea of what is going on at least. Much younger and she would not be allowed, at least not when machines are running anyway.

Terry, new cars have computer displays on their dashboards, with navigation, radio, weather, browsers, email, calendars, news, traffic, etc, but texting blocked out while moving. TV's are in the back for the small fry. It does make alot of sense for some things.
Mosey

[Stilldrillin]

I have several different sized packs, of zipped sandwich bags.

Store all lathe/ mill tooling in the individual bags, along with a puff of WD40. No rust, in almost 10 years. 

David D

[Danny M2Z]

G'day.

Strips of notepaper precut to 4" x 1" are useful to put between work and the moving jaw of my milling vice to improve grip, also 4" lengths of round rod of various diameters to slip between the work and the moving jaw helps hold some jobs square to the fixed jaw with a slight downward force on parallels. A CD/DVD marker pen is useful to mark work as it does not rub off with handling (remove with acetone). A metal block accurately cut to centre height is useful to set/check lathe tool height.

Regards * Danny M *

[GordonL]

I keep pretty much everything mentioned already in the shop.  I also have my  "shop girl" watching me work.  I guess it probably violates a few PC rules but since I'm    it should be OK.  But at least I had my wife's permission to put it up in the first place

Cheers,
Phil

I had a calendar in the shop which had a picture of an old family friend who had lost most of her clothes in a fire but my wife decided that the friend had to go.

[Jim Nic]

Plus one on the sandwich bags, which is a habit I started when my shop was the end of my cold, damp, draughty garage.  Which leads on to the spray container of "Duck Oil" which I also use on my machine ways after a work session.  I buy the oil in 5l tins and it lasts a good while; I will only know whether it has been a waste when I give up the hobby before my machines do 
Jim