A few pics of my shop...

[Divided he ad]

I have taken quite a few pics of my shop before I had it sorted out and after (a few moths back)

now having just put a new bench under my little(still bloody heavy) mill. I thought I'd post most of the pics here for your ammusement ;D


The old lathe position... On top of my cluttered work bench!


Now this pic is very important....Half way through the shake up! It shows the mess that was in there... and the lack of good under bench storage!!



The new lathe position - on top of a sturdy metal bench with drawers and a cupboard ;D  (note the big bit of wood half way down the new bench.... this will be seen a little later slightly modified ;) )




The new bench under construction....


And finished... with trays for jobs that can be interchanged giving you a new worksurface without having to find somewhere for your unfinished project to go.



The pull out work surface on ball bearing runners and made from very sturdy 30mm ply. this allows me to sit with my legs under it since the bench is fully loaded  ;D (have you seen this before?  )





Then my donated 18" scraped surface table


My donated toggle press (what a beast!!!)


and finally the mill... in it's old position on top of an old rusting 2 drawer filing cabinet!!


And now as of last night.... It's super new bench with roller bearing drawers and strut assisted floor storage door.....

 








Well it makes me happy  ;D   



Ralph.

[Bernd]

Have to say Ralph, nice use of space. The problem with to much space like I have ti takes you longer to find tools.  :P

I like your idea of interchangeable tables for different projects.  That's a first for me.

We should see some really good looking projects come out of that new shop,  right. 

Bernd

[Divided he ad]

We should see some really good looking projects come out of that new shop,  right. 

Well that's the plan chief!!!  .

Glad you like the bench idea.... it's not mine though!! Got it off another member on the engine site.... Still does exactly what it should, 3 shelves are in use at the moment!!  ;D


Next up is re-setting the mill vise/RT then I'm back in business. (all of 10 min's!)


Ralph.

[PTsideshow]

very well done, great ideas. I was once told that the biggest problem with to much space is that you tend to find equipment or tools to fill the space and then you have no extra space.

The other thing is natures law about flat horizontal spaces that the accumulate stuff at a rate to the sq fT or sq mete of area. So the sliding work surfaces should help in that regard. won't have to claer or look for a space to put the current project bits and pieces down.

glen

[Divided he ad]

Glen,

 I dream of too much space to fill... The machines I could cram into a much larger shop 

One day I'll get that bigger shop sorted.... Not this side of 2010 though me thinks!

Glad you like the workspace, it serves me well.


Ralph.

[Brass_Machine]

Some good ideas there Ralph. I had been on and off thinking of a swappable bench top setup for my seldom used tools... One of these days I am going to do it.

Eric

[Divided he ad]

Well Eric, one of those days came for me when I couldn't find anything anymore!!

Now with my new mill bench in place I am going to have a much more organised set of tooling..... Then I am going to have to work at keeping it that way!!! 


It is a good feeling when you get a little organization in your shop  ;D



Ralph.

[CrewCab]

It is a good feeling when you get a little organization in your shop  ;D

Ralph,

Can you please send me two bucketful's of "organization", Oh, and a small bag of "Bling" I'll stick a cheque in the post  8)

CC

[Divided he ad]

Yer Chief, no worries.... I'll package them all up with a dolop of elbow grease and a hell of a long wait and send them along     


How goes you and your little collection of machinery? .... You made anything interesting recently?



Ralph.

[CrewCab]

Cheers Ralph, drop em at the Bus Stop next to the long stand and no doub't I'll get em when whoever gets a round tuit  8)

Have I made anything interesting ............ errr .........   no, not really, from time to time I try and increase my skill in making large lumps of metal into smaller ones, and that's going quite well, as a side effect I am making lots of small Christmas trimmings 

Do you remember a few months back when you frightened me to death explaining how I should fit anew chuck / backplate to my lathe ............ well I've taken the plunge ............. and made a    of it .................  I missed the correct spigot diameter by a few thou

However having had a chat with Bogsie  ;D ............ I'm now at stage 2 stage 3  ;) ............. once the chuck is cooked I'll report back.

CC

[Divided he ad]

Chuck cooking!!! New post CC?

I remember it well ;D I made mine a slight interferance fit...(no cooking/freezing) Got it spot on in the end.... Another first which took me a little time to get my head around!!

Good luck  ;)




Ralph.

[Divided he ad]

Well it's been a long time since anything has hit this thread so....

I've been a little busy last week and today.

Last week was mostly workshop re-organisation. Largely hogged by the addition of a new sturdier mill bench with storage.


The bench was too big so I re-sized it! ....

stripped and ready


cut off.


using the cabinet supposrt brackets that are no longer needed.


Fitted with one bolt, the other bolt goes through the cabinet as well.


And then a nice new worktop and fit the mill to it 


Lots of space to re-organise etc



Well that was last week.... Then  I got a call on Tuesday offering me something new..... (well to me)

A mill!!! For relatively cheap money too 

Got a bit of rust on the bed      But I'll hopefully have it looking and working well by next week?

Oh..... And it's got a power feed on it!!!     




Well that's it till I get it sorted and in place, then I just have to sell my old mill!







Ralph.



 
P.S. Been playing with a re-sizer program, has it made a difference to the upload/view speed?  Do the pic's need to be smaller again?

[Bernd]

Glad to see your back at it in the shop Ralph. Have missed your plesentries (sp?).

Ya pics need to be made smaller. Right now they're 1024 X 768 pixels. I think they should be around 800 X 600 or 640 X 480.

That mill looks a little short. Is that the table in the upper left corner?

Still waiting to see those sphere's made for the Aeoipile. I saw that punch press as I scrolled through this thread. 

[Divided he ad]

K, I'll re-set the pic's.... pix! 


Yup, that's it alright, it's in two bits, and on it's head in the garage at the mo'.

Tomorrow evening I'll start cleaning it up.... I'll not bore you with what many have seen a thousand times... There's plenty of strip/cleans on here as you know Bernd 

I've still got to see if it'll fit in the workshop! It's much larger in the head than my current mill and the power feed adds a bit sideways too!


 In the other top corner, you can just make it out if you squint! A "porta power"... Donated    That's possibly the next start on the Aeolipile?? should be able to use the current dome in a press (yet to build!) to make a high powered hydraulic press?  Or I could do like Wes and try some spinning? Anyway, that's a huge roundtuit right there!!



All good things Bernd, all good things....   






Ralph.

[dsquire]

Ralph and Bernd

I think that the 800 x 600 size works pretty good for most people. The larger sizes seem to slow things down if there are more than a couple of photos in a thread. Nice mod to the mill bench Ralph. Will it be big enough to hold the new mill?

Cheers 

Don

[Divided he ad]

Nice mod to the mill bench Ralph. Will it be big enough to hold the new mill?

Well Don, to be honest I haven't measured it yet. Partly cause I fear the result and partly cause it might mean me using the stand that came with it and that'll mean I lose all my newly structured milling machine bits drawers!

Should be ok??? 




Pic's size duly noted   





Ralph.

[CrewCab]

I haven't measured it yet. Partly cause I fear the result 

  ............. bite the bullet mate  ......... what's the worst that can happen 

As for picture size I use 504x378  ........... 600x450 or 640x480 also work well, above that it can be a bit slow particularly for anyone on dial-up.

This is a dam good resizing program .......PixResizer

Anyway, ........ more info on the new mill required asap ........ can't see enough from the pics ...... the old one has given great service mate, can't see it looking for a new home for long 

CC

[Divided he ad]

Anyway, ........ more info on the new mill required asap ........ can't see enough from the pics ......

Well.... It's a fair bit larger than the old one, huge on the top in comparison

smaller mill

bigger mill

I know, naf pic's. I had my mind on other things.... you may glean some more info in a min? Got a bit of a post coming.....

There is a 13" spindle to bed gap, which is nice. A slightly deeper table, far more speeds to choose from, oh, and a 300 quid power feed on the end!!!!   

Pix re-sizer I got is great.... all sorted now    I just didn't have a clue my old pic's were causing so much trouble!?!


Right, next a post on the activities of the morning....





Ralph.

[Divided he ad]

Ok, so here's a little about what I've been upto... I'll put some other stuff in the gallery in a mo'



I had to remove a bit of neglect first.... I'd layered it in penetrating oil the night before to aid in it's removal.



Used a scraper first, then a little 1200 emery, WD derivative and a nice flat stone to keep it all as true as possible..





Then spent a couple of hours removing the smaller mill and putting this one in it's place and repairing the power feed wiring (my heart damn near stopped when it didn't work!!)

These are the current "in" pic's I have... I might get a propper one some day, but it's hard to get far enough back to take it!!






Well that's about it for this post now.... unless you want to see this?


  Power at the twist of a few bits!!!        





Smiley happy Ralph. 

[dsquire]

Ralph

Looks like you got yourself a nice mill there with some nice capabilities. You best invest in a scoop shovel now as you will be able to make the chips fly in fine style now. 

Cheers 

Don

[CrewCab]

Cool   power feeds are great .............. just don't get distracted whilst it's doing it's thing  

Have you seen thee thread where a new OK member is looking for a small milling machine btw, perhaps you two should have a chat

Good to see you making chips mate   ................... I really must sort out my workshop, the gear-knob came off the Van today (second one in the last 12 months) and at £40 a time and as the design is "pants" ............... all I need is a round ally ball and a grub screw .............. then a way of scribing the markings .......... OK must make a ball turner for the Boxford  

CC

[andyf]

................... the gear-knob came off the Van today (second one in the last 12 months) and at £40 a time and as the design is "pants" ............... all I need is a round ally ball and a grub screw .............. then a way of scribing the markings .......... OK must make a ball turner for the Boxford 

Or just buy an ally doorknob, complete with grubscrew, from B&Q.....

Andy

[CrewCab]

Or just buy an ally doorknob, complete with grubscrew, from B&Q.....

Could be quicker ..............   

CC 

[Divided he ad]

Don,
I got it covered... A dust pan and brush, 2 Dyson hoovers in need of repair and an old Vax hoover too 

First chips to fly should be tomorrow 


CC,
Distractions should be handleable (not that I ever take my eyes off the prize when power is running on any machine) I've got the travel cut out switch to mount tomorrow eve   

You shouldn't be so rough on the van!!   

Was that meant to say a new UK member?  I did say a bit on my machine in a thread that sounds like the one you're on about.... Nothing yet?

Regardless of the lateral thinking of Andy (never thought of that one!). You should make a ball turner      You'll get some stuff made with it too then..... What's up with your workshop? Have you packed it with loads of builders junk??






Ralph.

[CrewCab]

Yup ........... mew = new  ............ hopefully I've ammend it 

Workshop = time;  at the present there is a distinct lack of "free time" ........... dam 

have fun with the new Mill 

CC