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shipto:
During my downtime I have been trying to organise my shed a bit and I am amazed at the amount of stuff that collects around unused tools, for example I had a couple of previous projects in the corner (a forging hammer and a surface grinder which never really gave good results) and slowly over time these have been buried by so much stuff much of it useless. Anyway I have dismantled the hammer and the grinder and put some new shelving up to store some of the tooling that was being stored on the floor.
I am a little happier with the state of the shed now but need to book a scrapman now to collect the remains and make many trips to the tip.

vtsteam:
Dwayne, I have exactly the same problem.   :bang:  All summer long stuff gets piled up in the tiny (6'x8') shop on top of whatever is there already, mainly for auto and tractor repairs, chores, and garden and house needs. Then, it seems like every December, I get the urge to do metal shop work again. This urge came back again last month.

So the last couple weeks I've started in on a shop cleanup campaign again. I first unearthed the lathe, and cleaned it. Then moved everything I could from one workbench top to the other. I sanded and wiped down the cleared top, then painted it with gloss gray enamel.

I pulled the dirt encrusted and stained cherry handles off all twelve workbench drawers, sanded them down, and applied a clear finish. I painted all the drawer fronts gray while the handles were off.

I built a new shelf under one of the benches, and put all of my power tools and the welder and plasma torch there in two sections. (I have yet to try the plasma torch, btw, even though I've owned it a year!)

I haven't yet cleared off and painted the second bench top but that will wait until the paint is a little harder on the first one. Paint dries slowly in winter!

I also turned my attention to my foundry furnaces outside. I opened them up to see what state they were in. Luckily I had covered them well enough for moisture not to get in.

The former oil fired iron melting furnace was just as I left it a year ago, with a new baked outer lining of homemade refractory. The intent last year was to line that outer lining an inner lining of 2" of ceramic fiber blanket, and then coat that blanket with a refractory commercial coating, ala Ironman's furnaces. I have the supplies on hand (ordered a year ago). But today it's too cold to start the re-lining. I'm pretty sure sodium silicate won't take well to 20F temps when trying to adhere the liner to the shell..... not to mention applying the very expensive ceramic blanket coating.

But I did remove the steel furnace lid to clean that up.  I could bring that inside the shop to keep it warm when it's ready to line. However that lid is just a 4" deep steel ring, and it needs a cap disk of steel welded on before lining. Maybe I will get to use my new plasma cutter on some scrap sheet metal to cut that disk. Or maybe I'll just cut it out with the angle grinder!

The smaller propane foundry had some lining deterioration, but that lining of plaster of Paris and sand is going on 3 years old. Basically the inner 1/2: or so is showing extensive heat cracking, with some crumbled areas. But beneath that, the other 1-1/2" of lining thickness is intact. It might be possible to repour the outer 1/2" with some poP and sand mix. But that will probably not be a priority for the present, as I want to get the iron furnace working first.

Anyway, I'm making some gratifying progress on what was a disheartening mess a month ago. It is starting to feel good to be in the shop again, like it's actually a metal shop instead of a jumbled storage shed. I really hope to build an engine this winter :dremel:  :beer:

krv3000:
I  give in trying to sort mine out all I seem to do is move one lot of stuff in one place only to fill the space that I have just cleaned up with more stuff 

AdeV:

--- Quote from: vtsteam on January 03, 2022, 04:37:00 PM ---But I did remove the steel furnace lid to clean that up.  I could bring that inside the shop to keep it warm when it's ready to line. However that lid is just a 4" deep steel ring, and it needs a cap disk of steel welded on before lining. Maybe I will get to use my new plasma cutter on some scrap sheet metal to cut that disk. Or maybe I'll just cut it out with the angle grinder!

--- End quote ---

Yes - the Plasma cutter is perfect for cutting disks.... you'll want a piece of flat bar (maybe the same one you made your socket/plug coverter from  :lol:) as long as the radius of the disk you need plus a couple of inches. Drill a hole in one end large enough to take the cutting torch end, allowing for maybe 1mm or 1/16" slop, so it rotates easily in the hole. At the other end, drill a small hole, say 6mm or 1/4". In your scrap piece, drill a similar hole in the centre of the disk. Add a nut & bolt to hold the two parts together, but loosely. Now stick the plasma torch head in the big hole, fire it up, and as it cuts through, simply make your circle!

It took longer to write that ^^ than it'll take to make the parts & cut the disk, trust me.

vtsteam:
Thanks Ade, I will make one of those for sure.  :dremel:

For this furnace cover, I think I'm going to just lay the ring on the sheet metal and run the torch against it around the outside as a guide. It's not perfectly round, and this will probably fit better.

But yes I will make a compass like you say.  :thumbup:  :beer:

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