KVOM's workshop in process

[kvom]

I recently finished the construction of my attached garage/shop.  The planning started just a year ago, and construction started in July.  The final inspection was in February.  While the main construction tasks were contracted, I worked on the wiring (with help from an electrician friend) and all of the interior trimwork (hanging doors, moldings, stairway, bathroom tiles and plumbing, upstairs flooring, etc.  My wife did all the painting and staining, and helped with laying the flooring.  The footprint is 25' wide x 36' deep, with 2 10x10 garage doors and 2 side entry doors.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Now that it's finished I'm still working out how to store and organize the contents.  Here's a few pics of how it looks today.

One of my goals is space to work on cars, so no machinery in the front half.  The Jeep is my other hobby, offroading/rock crawling.

Before the Jeep is a Johnson Model J bandsaw that I got free as a throwin with the other machinery.  After a complete rewiring, cleanup, lubrication, new blades, and casters to roll around on, it's ready to cut something.



The mill and lathe, along with the bandsaw, I found in south Georgia:





The workbench along the wall is a bit disorganized still.  But it's 9' long:



And of course we need a spot to store the "after working" refreshments:

[Brass_Machine]

Ahhh. I haven't been on HMEM much lately, glad to see you are getting closer. Of course I want to call you all kinds of names... I REALLY want a Monarch! BADLY!

Looking good!

Eric

[sbwhart]

Hi

Thats a nice set up, I've used a Monarch a couple of times, years ago mind, there cracking machines.



Stew

[bogstandard]

Nice shop there K, plenty of room (a great gnashing of teeth). Nice quality machines as well.

But you might need the room when the saw starts to chase you around it. Bad move putting it on wheels, they are bad enough when just sitting there if they are not bolted to the floor. Maybe put a couple of locking ones on there.


Bogs

[kvom]

The saw caster that can't be seen in the photo has a lock.  I need to reserve room for vehicles in the garage (my truck is 24' long, and there will be a 2-post lift there some day), so there is really no good permanent space for the saw to live.  It weighs ~700 pounds, so it needs casters to be moved about.  I am seriously considering trying to sell it and getting a smaller saw.

The Monarch is a pleasure to use.  It was in pretty good shape when I bought it, just needing a bit of cleanup.  The motor starter wiring had been redone in the past rather "quick and dirty" so that the heater coils were bypassed.  I now have all the pieces needed to wire it correctly when I get the time.  I had to fabricate a missing bed clamp for the taper attachment, and just this week managed to try out cutting a taper (MT2 center-drill holder).

In keeping with my apparent penchant for old machines, I recently acquired a veteran pedestal grinder. 



It's a 10" Dayton Electric 3/4HP.  The switch was shorted out, so I ordered a new one from Grainger that I will pick up tomorrow.  I was given a piece of carbide dressing stick at school, and once I get the grinder working I will true up the badly worn wheels that were on it.  They are 60/70 grit and will do for finish grinding HSS blanks.  I plan to get a new 8" 46 grit wheel for rough grinding, and then my cheap 6" bench grinder will become a polishing station (much to learn about that).

The wheel shrouds have an opening in the back for attaching a dust collecter.  IO believe I can fabricate something that will allow me to attach my shop vacuum so that grinding dust won't blow all over.  Anyone have experience with this?

[Bernd]

Lookin' good there K.

    
You need to be a bit careful around Bogs (John) when speaking of space for a shop. I have a few pieces missing from my butt (bum for the British crowd) where he bit me for mentioning how much space I have for a shop. You see our bath rooms are bigger than Bogs shop.      

Regards,
Bernd

[kvom]

The "problem" with space is that we find lots of things to fill it with.  Those with small spaces seem to be a lot better organized than I (or Bernd).  I have visited Cedge's shop, and he has more tool boxes in one garage than anything I've ever seen.

I did find that black 30-drawer parts cabinet under the workbench that I've made a start at using.  Right now it just has my random pieces of metal stock.

[DeereGuy]

Looking good Kvrom, I would love to have a Monarch!

[kvom]

I picked up the new switch yesterday, and today I installed it, remounted the wheels and covers, and bolted the grinder to the pedestal.  It took about 15 minutes to dress the wheels back flat with a piece of carbide dressing stick, so now it's ready to do some work.



I still plan to replace one of the wheels with a 46-grit 8" wheel for roughing.

[Bernd]

kvom,

I'm wondering, are you planning on bolting that pedestal down? It looks to me like it would be a bit unstable if you pressed to hard when grinding.

Bernd

[bogstandard]

Don't worry about it K, mine is exactly the same, your shop, like mine, is still in a state of flux, with everything looking for it's final home. I actually did a bit of polishing on mine today, and Stew held it down to stop it walking away.


Bogs

[Darren]

I do like your shop Kvom, looks like a nice place to work in....

[kvom]

I'm wondering, are you planning on bolting that pedestal down? It looks to me like it would be a bit unstable if you pressed to hard when grinding.

I was thinking the same thing earlier, but when I was dressing the wheels I was pressing a lot harder than I would grinding a lathe bit, and it was quite solid.

I can't bolt anything to the floor as there are radiant heating tubes embedded in the concrete, and I wouldn't want to puncture one.  If I want it steadier I will just bolt a wider pice of wood to the bottom of the pedestal.

[bogstandard]

Oh dear!!

Upset Bogs time again.

Not only have you got a workshop the same size as an aircraft carriers deck, we now find out that you've got underfloor heating as well !!!!!!

*n"c4**flangle wangle@.£&&*<


Drooling Bogs

[kvom]

Before I got interested in machining (last year) I spent a lot of hobby time offroading.  Any if you do that you need to learn to fix your junk.  So I invested in mechanics tools, and spent a lot of time lying on my back underneath the Jeep.  And the house garage is damn cold in the winter, and the floor is even colder.  So when we decided to build the addition, the radiant heating was one of the must haves.

The shop got power in February, so I got to enjoy the heat for a couple of months.  I kept it at 59F, which feels very warm when you come inside from 35F outside.  We turned it off the last week in March.

[cedge]

Kvom
Tool boxes grow quite well here, as long as you regularly feed them tools and teach them to run in herds....(grin). I'd be totally lost without those boxes these days. I've gotten almost all my tooling in drawers now and can actually find things when I want them. That is assuming I haven't actually used it since the last major cleaning frenzy. Only problem seems to be the regular influx of stray metal and the orphaned tooling that follow me home. I've simply run out of space.

Good to see you finally finished building it and have begun filling up the new shop.

Steve