Trip to the Shop Saturday-Photos

As I had referenced in another post, I was able to break free and get out to my shop this past weekend. I haven't been out there since around October due to the severe constraints upon my time with other pressing obligations. I recently took a position at a shop I had worked at previously, but this time as a stoopidvisor of 2nd shift. The added hours and responsibility has really wore on me. Additionally, I welcomed a grandson into this world, helped my daughter and her significant other move into their new house (why can't these kids just get married?). And got down with some sort of epizootic in the first week of January. That bout of illness lasted over 6 weeks. Had some sort of flu first, then promptly contracted bronchitis. Didn't feel like doing much of anything till a couple weeks ago. I am also pretty heavily involved in the local Lodge, and am serving as an officer.


But break free I did, and was happy to see that the neighbors watched over the Shop, and nothing had been disturbed.

Was pleased to find that, outside of some flash rust on a few chucks, pulleys, etc., everything was good to go. There was the usual three or four fluorescent bulbs that had croaked, considerable amount of dust and cobwebs, and the slightly musty smell of disuse. The only alarming incident, was when I threw the switch to the phase converter. It began to start, then promptly quit. Thoughts immediately ran through my head that the motor locked, a shorted capacitor, or some such other catastrophe had befallen the unit (my converter is an industrial 15HP job that I got from a small rural water company that sold it when 3-phase was brought into their area). Began checking voltages from the switch box where the power comes into the building, then all the wiring, and was relieved to find that the center leg fuse in the phase converter switch had parted. These fuses and boxes came from the original shop, and are of the brass/copper knife/blade type. Examination of the broken link (LKN-100) leads me to believe that age and mechanical action caused it to part. Found exactly ONE link in the electrical drawer, inserted it into the the box, and the converter fired right up. Subsequent checking of the machines showed that all was well. They all ran flawlessly.



I have attached a few photos of "The Shop" as it looks now. Barring some intervening event, will be out there again this coming weekend. Weather is moderating, and there are a boatload of projects I need to start wading through. Tried to get out several weeks ago, but had freezing rain one weekend, snow the next, and the bottoms flooded due to heavy rainfall on the 23rd and 24th of last month. For the last 6 months, I have seriously toyed with the idea of moving the Shop one more time. Have moved it twice in the 27 years I have owned it. The thought of moving it again at my age (will be 60 in a few months) leaves me cold. Then again, driving an hour and 15 minutes one way to get there also is no joy. The expense of buying a building and the associated debt isn't very appealing either. Something has to be done with the situation, as I can't just let things stand as they are.

I can't imagine moving my stuff to another location.................hard enough to get it set up and running once.

A few more photos.

Had a Realtor friend look into local buildings lately, and she found one that would be a likely candidate. A concrete block affair only about 8 minutes north from my home (on flat, straight roads). Used to be a garage, and is pretty good condition. Has 900 more square feet that my building, new rubber roof in 2014, gravel and asphalt around the building (no grass to mow), and the property taxes are only about $120 more per half than the current building. Given its location, may even have three phase. Also has a furnace, an office area, and a bathroom with running water (such amenities don't exist at the current location). Price is $62K. Damned tempting.

Can you sell your current shop location fairly quickly, and if so, how would it work out toward paying for the new location?
I'm 56 and have no desire to go back in debt.

jdleach said:

A few more photos.

Had a Realtor friend look into local buildings lately, and she found one that would be a likely candidate. A concrete block affair only about 8 minutes north from my home (on flat, straight roads). Used to be a garage, and is pretty good condition. Has 900 more square feet that my building, new rubber roof in 2014, gravel and asphalt around the building (no grass to mow), and the property taxes are only about $120 more per half than the current building. Given its location, may even have three phase. Also has a furnace, an office area, and a bathroom with running water (such amenities don't exist at the current location). Price is $62K. Damned tempting.

Click to expand...

Go for it JD!

GEMCO - be aware it has LUBRIGARD

You cannot engage clutch until LUBRIGARD sees oil pressure - a hydraulic shot bolt if you will

Apologies if we have already been discussing this

Wasn't intending to sell the place where the Shop is now. I like the area, and wanted to use it for spending the weekends away from the city during nice weather. Place is paid for, and taxes are cheap.

While I am concerned about going into debt at my age, it is the move that really concerns me. Not that any of the machines are that big, but that there are so many of them, along with all the shelves, benches, cabinets, tooling, etc. Moving that place the first time was bad enough, a third time would be classified as certifiably insane.

johnoder said:

GEMCO - be aware it has LUBRIGARD

You cannot engage clutch until LUBRIGARD sees oil pressure - a hydraulic shot bolt if you will

Apologies if we have already been discussing this

Click to expand...

VERY familiar with that Lubrigard. System works extremely well on that old GEMCO. I don't have all that much experience with shapers, a few here and there, and the old worn out Barker, but the GEMCO is the smoothest, quietest one I have ever seen. Have never gotten around to getting it cleaned up, and still need to make a sub-plate/platen to mount the vise on it.

Didn't start it up while I was out, but definitely will this weekend. Get the oil circulating good, and let the ram run a bit.

johnoder said:

GEMCO - be aware it has LUBRIGARD

You cannot engage clutch until LUBRIGARD sees oil pressure - a hydraulic shot bolt if you will

Apologies if we have already been discussing this

Click to expand...

Ran one of these at a shop I worked at, loved that machine. Knee could be set for compound angles. Ours was making a squirting noise that would come and go. I pulled the side cover off and found the oil pickup screen was clogged. Cleaned it off and all was well. Ever get whacked by a lock washer chip one of these beasts could cut? They hurt and burned, especially when they went down your shirt.

Is your current shop really an uninsulated pole barn? I have worked in such a building in the winter and it isn't pleasant or conductive to productivity. If I was in your situation and I could afford the payments on the closer building I would buy it. If you still want to keep the remote shop, you don't have to move all your equipment. Just move the pieces you use most frequently.

Yeah, it is uninsulated, and except for the rebate wood stove, has no heat. Done my share of freezing in that building over the years.

It is a rather long and involved story as to why I never finished the building out. The short version is that, when I decided to close the business in early 1998, the only thing that had any resale value was the property and building in town. Couldn't give the machines away. And besides, I really didn't want to. I made enough off the sale of the old building to put up the pole barn. Given the closing dates, I had to move fast to get the building up, and move the machines. Didn't have time to finish out anything, just cram it full, and sort it out later.

Over the next two years, I got all the machines set up, some of the wiring done, lights up, etc. Then in 2000, wife and I just got damned tired of scratching the dirt in that rural county and never seeming to get anywhere, so we packed the last two kids still at home, some clothes, and bailed out to Columbus, IN (two counties over). Prospects were good here, and except for a couple of bumpy periods when the economy took a dump, we have continually made more money over time. Now, we are doing alright. Not rich, but comfortable.

After we left, I just pretty well forgot about the place, lots of sour feelings. Still owed on the property, but not much, so made the payments. Just didn't go back...for almost 10 years. When I did decide to see if there was anything left, I found everything just as I had left it. Dusty, cobwebs, and some surface rust, but that was it. Been going back whenever I get a chance since. Done a few jobs here and there, and piddled with the machines. Outside of the miserable winter weather on occasion, I have loved every minute of it. Problem is, the Shop is in my blood. Grandfather and his partner started it in 1946, Dad worked there almost all his life, uncles and cousins did a turn there, and I spent many years there my self, owning and running it the last few years we were in business.

I figure I am stuck with the place till I croak.

You're in an awkward position...........how much longer do you expect to work? Sounds like you may not stay where you are at currently, but go back to the current shop location.

If I have this right, we are talking about 3 shops: the original family shop which has been sold, the present pole barn shop, and the garage site possibility that turned up recently close to home.

From what you've written, it's easy to sense what your feelings are toward the old shop. Shops of the sort shown in your photographs can be like that, and I imagine that must have been true in spades for you with the original shop, with your granddad and dad watching over you as you made chips.

But practical matters have a way of getting more and more important as the years build up, the practical matters in your case involving, among other things, your commuting time (in addition to "amenities" like running water and heat). You mention 1.25h commuting time each way. If you were to figure on working in the present location for four days a week for the next, say, ten years, the arithmetic says that you would be spending over six months of your future life in the car just going back & forth. If four days of shop work a week are at all a realistic estimate, then facing a complete move to the new shop looks like a smart choice. But if something more like only one day a week, or even less, in the old location is more likely, then the two-shop solution, finances permitting, would seem to make sense. If you did hold onto the pole barn after buying the garage site, would you really have the time and desire to travel to it?

Let us know how this sorts out.

-Marty-

If it were me, I'd grab the nearby heated/plumbed shop and move stuff to it. Rent out pole barn for storage of RVs/cars, hay, whatever. Apply rent to new shop purchase. Also apply gas/travel savings to new shop purchase. Buy a cheap truck and rent a forklift at each end. Sell truck when done. The older you get, the better it will be that you have a close, heated, plumbed shop at your disposal for when you're ready to use it. You can retain your ties to old property when you stop in every now and then to manage things, and that preserves the option of return should circumstances permit/demand it.

There were actually several locations the Shop resided at over the years. The machines were the same ones throughout.

When the Shop was started, it began in the basements of Pap's and his partner's homes. By the late 1950s, their respective spouses had had their fill of the dirt and noise, and told them to move it all out. So about the time I was born (1958), they bought an early 1940s concrete block garage in Bedford, IN on 16th street. Shop was at that location for around 30 years, till Dad sold the lot and building (became a bakery). The machines and business were sold to a local character who pretty quickly made a hash of it. He had the equipment in a rented building south of town. After Dad foreclosed, he then sold the business to a former employee, who moved everything to the east side of town. After two years, that guy gave it up (too much like work). It was at this juncture I made the fatal decision to "save the family shop" from the scrappers. After about 10 months, I lost the lease on that building, and had to buy a lot and building on the north side of town (those machines have more mileage on them than some automobiles). I was at the 6th street location for several years when I decided to close the business.

jdleach said:

Over the next two years, I got all the machines set up, some of the wiring done, lights up, etc.

Click to expand...

Yea, that sounds about right. Everytime I buy/move equipment it takes at least twice as long as I expect to get everything setup the way I want it. "I need another light here" "Lets make a dolly for this machine" "I really should pull the table off this" "Dammit, I'm out of wire nuts"

It never ends. You're already setup, albeit with a bit of a drive and no heat. Any chance of adding a woodstove to keep your little pink sausages warmer?

Edit: Just saw the rebate woodstove comment. Add another?

Consider another option

FIRST Option: May I suggest looking for a different house. A house with a walk in basement. With my shop, I have to move things up and down stairs. This is not feasible with full size machinery that is seen here. When the shop is down stairs from the living area, you just walk down with a cup of coffee or a beer, and go to work with no travel required.

Further benefits include: Lunch near by, bathroom near by, medicine cabinet near by, Cool (air conditioned) in the summer, warm in the winter, humidity control to eliminate rust.

Could be a better opportunity to recoup the $60K'ish investment at a much later date.

SECOND Option: May I suggest a different house with a large out building suitable for the shop.

Hey JD: Glad you posted all this. I'm sorta in a similar situation with being 76 years old and wondering how much longer should I keep my shop stuff. I still do a little work when someone runs me down, but don't go looking for work. Before I forget, I want tell you I admire your Gemco shaper, wish it was in my shop. I like shapers, very versatile machines. I hope everything works out for you. Like Red Green says hang in there brother, we're all pulling for you.

JH

Great looking shop.
I cant imagine a commercial building being 62k. Where I live, it would be more like 400k for what you describe, and thats an hour and a half from the city- in the city, a million or three easily.

I would jump on it.

Average sales price of an F series Ford truck last year, according to Ford, was 50k. A building for not much more than that is a deal, and it wont rust away or leak coolant in a few years.

Thank you all for the great replies. Still mulling it over.

Emailed the realtor and she informed me the building has been on the market since November with no takers. The location is kind of interesting. Columbus is a beautiful city that has both a rural and cosmopolitan feel. Sounds screwed up, but it is true. Nestled in Hickville Southern Indiana fly-over country, were are home to Cummins, and a boatload of other factories. Farmers markets, tractors clogging the roads, and sometimes even the city street in spring, yet all sorts of nationalites live and work here. We also have our own award-winning philharmonic.

The above said, you get very far from town, as in the case of this building, property values can drop tremendously. The building I am looking at is located just a few miles north of my home in a decaying little rail town called Clifford. The entire 'burg is surrounded by huge farm fields, and is a rather woebegone, motley collection of 130 year old houses, trailers, a closed Masonic Lodge, a few closed stores and gas stations, all of which sit on about a dozen or so streets. Isn't any crime to speak of (never see much in the paper), so I wouldn't be much concerned with security. Not a very good play as far as investing goes, but would likely not lose anything with the purchase. Property has historically gone up in value for the last 50+ years in the county, just higher and faster in Columbus than in other locales.

Christ, I'm beginning to talk myself into it. Will look at the building this weekend.