My Shop

[Rledoux313]

Since I just finished the steam donkey and am about to start another project I spent an hour or so cleaning up and getting organized so I can start with a fresh feeling shop. I thought it was a good time to take a few pictures and share my small workspace. The footprint is not much, but it’s plenty for a small hobby machine shop plus my other tools. The part that leaves much to be desired is the height… between the joists it is 6’ from floor to ceiling. So I do as much work as I can sitting down, as well as trying to move as slow as possible to minimize bumping my head…

The lathe is of course a South Bend 9B; I added the QCGB and quick reverse tumbler on, so essentially a 9A.

The mill was made by Chicago Machine Tool Company. I believe it is from around 1910. It appears to have been driven originally from a line shaft, I mounted a south bend motor mount and jack shaft to drive it. The only info I have found is one brochure on vintagemachinery.org. If anybody happens to have any info on it I would love to hear it! The machine itself is very small, and so the milling attachment for the lathe gets much more use than the mill.

Not shown to the right of the black file cabinet is a table with a belt sander, bench grinder, and portaband.

Thanks for visiting 

[wagnmkr]

A well laid out and functional space. Very neat and tidy!

Tom

[Kim]

That's a nice, cozy little shop you have there.  You've made good use of the space you have! 

Kim

[PaulR]

I am envious of your 'small workspace' (mine amounts to the just the right-hand side of yours with an 18" strip of floorspace next to it). I don't have room to sit down but frequently fall over the mountain of crap behind me. 

[Sanjay F]

Beautiful, great use of the space and very neat and tidy, I'm a bit OCD tidy and have to be otherwise I put something down or in the wrong drawer and its never found again until that drawer is opened 

I think we all like a good nose at each other workshops!

[Mike R]

Nice shop.  I really like your little horizontal mill!  It would be just the ticket for fluting locomotive connecting and coupling rods, plus a bunch more period correct details on models, without eating up all the space in the shop like most horizontall mills.

[Chipswitheverything]

That's a very pleasing workspace, with attractive machines, and all kept very organized.  Maybe you have other places to keep out the non workshop "stuff" that tends to be the big nuisance in a lot of small UK workshops, where many homes, houses,  are very short of any secure storage for all the workaday things of a general kind?  I wish I could turf some of it out of my 'shop, but then it gets piled up inside the house, which is worse! Dave

[Rledoux313]

Thanks everybody 

Mike, my hope for the mill someday is similar to that. At some point when I get a vertical mill I’d like to set this up for gear cutting and just leave it as such. We will see how that goes though.

Dave, you caught me. There are two separate sides to my basement. The other side has a dirt floor and that is where all of the stuff you’re referring to ends up… things like the lawn mower, pressure washer, and other yard tools or just storage.

[Michael S.]

I like your workshop. You can easily reach everything using the chair on wheels. While I’m comfortable standing in my own workspace, I also enjoy rolling back and forth.

Michael

[Roger B]

Very nicely equipped, clean and tidy ready for the next project     

[steam guy willy]

hi what is the serial number ..usually on the extreme right on the bed vertical  I recently had to make a new bronze cross slide screw nut for the one in the local Hackspace  group...the original had 1/8" play in it ...I made a split nut with adjusting screws in it .....

Cheers
Willy