On Topic - Hindsight in the shop for the young guy

I am young and still have my training wheels on. Yesterday was the first time I got to use my new HF shop crane. I saved my back lifting my 6" vise off and putting a rotary table on. It was very easy and very smooth. This let me to think about hindsight, and if I had known how easy it would have made life, I would have purchased that lift very early on.

Got my new Lista cabinets, and my shop has never been more clean and organized. I was able to work a lot faster and not get as frustrated looking for things. This also would have been an early purchase.

I am hoping some of you with more experience will share some of the things that you wish you had done from the start. I am particularly interested in safety issues, so the slow effects of something does not cause problems later on. Also in tooling, what tools would have made life easier if you had it from the start? And so on……If you could go back, what would you do different.

Thanks in advance.


Jason

Money.

Started with more of it-- borrowed, stolen, begged, whatever-- instead of trying to work together enough nickles & dimes to buy each bit and piece as time went by.

Now I have the satisfaction of saying that every bit & piece in the shop is bought 'n' paid for with blood, sweat and tears of frustration. Woulda been easier and I'd be a lot further ahead if I'd just borrowed the dough to buy a basic but complete shop setup to begin with.

And for what it's worth, I just borrowed a chunk of bux to buy some more proper machines. Tool gloat post coming soon.

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Also in tooling, what tools would have made life easier if you had it from the start? And so on……

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Money, nothin moves metal like money....

Got my new Lista cabinets, and my shop has never been more clean and organized.

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An organized shop is very important. For efficiency and safety. Crap cluttered up around your ears and ankles will lead to an accident. Its nice to be able to grab the right drawer on the first try. I still have to label many of my drawers. Time to break out that round tuit. JRouche

Definitely storage. Stuff accumlates. Necessary stuff become clutter unless it has a place for when it's not used. All my life I've lived in a sea of clutter for lack adequate storage. Your getting your stuff into Lista cabinets will set aa patter on orderliness that's been missing from my shop for 40 years.

Thanks to basic order, your home shop experiences will be mush more productive.

Wear hearing and eye protection, once you lose them they are gone for good. The constant ringing in my ears is very annoying!

When buying tools I always tried to buy the best quality I could afford it has proved to be a wise investment.

Jackmo

Lets see, watch out for 1x2x3 blocks when you have weight on them up the 3" way they are very tippy :-0. Don't get high and drunk while running machines. Hearing and eye protection for sure at all times. Don't get fat, easier to stay thin/fit then to get thin/fit. Put 10% or more of your net pay in savings. Put 15% of your gross in 401K. Buy a house when you turn 18. Take college classes even if it is only 1 class per semester, eventually you will get a degree , could have a masters by the time you retire if you took 1 class every semester from 18 to 65 I bet .

Bill

I agree with eye and ear protection. Do you know how fast a turtle can reach out and snap you, well, you should be able to retract your hands as fast or faster when stuff starts to happen. Also, learn to jump back extremely fast when something starts to head for your feet. In other words, STAY AWAKE TO ALL ACCIDENTS ABOUT TO HAPPEN, do not be slow to move. Don't make setups that look iffy, they will hurt you. Don't hold something with your hand and drill it unless you have the strength and intelligence of a gorilla. Have a place for everything and everything in it's place. Constantly clean the shop. Know what is around you at all times and watch everyone because they will do something dumb and hurt you.

I'm trying to make a point of always taking the spindle out of gear on the lathe BEFORE I touch the chuck. Even if I should fall and hit the "on" lever on my way down, the chuck won't turn. My old 10" bench lathe made a pretty good ding in the V way with a chuck key. I'd hate to see what my Mori Seiki might do.

Other than that, I agree with all the other comments, especially the organization stuff. New tooling that you can't find when you need it doesn't do much good. The time spent looking for it is wasted, and time is the one commodity you can't get more of.

cheers,
Michael

Oh yeah: Networking. Make friends with other guys in your biz. If they can't do it, you can. If you don't have it they do, so borrow it.

And so on.

Keep 'em coming, these are great!

Yeah, im benifiting from these also.

I hate the lack of storage in my shop/basement. I have alot of tools my dad has accumulated, but hardly anywhere to put them. Also, it doesnt help when he likes to get tools out of the tool box, take them to a job upstairs, then bring them back down in a bucket. Ive got three 5 gallon buckets of tools sitting down on my table that my lathe is on, my lathe vibrates and everything rings!

I have all the stuff I use everytime I am down there in significant storage. My safety glasses hang in my apron from a rafter in the pocket, and all my tooling is located in a stand off the side of my lathe. Im tempted to go build some shelves and droors now...

I actually have 2 switches on my SB 9". The normal one for forward and reverse, then I wired and mounted one to the table in front of the lathe. I allways flip the switch off when im messing with the chuck so I dont throw a key across the basement. It seems to work pretty well.

Don't stand in the swing of the lathe while you are running it.

Always hang around the shop 10 minutes or so after you've finished using a welder or torch - don't get done cutting then run out to lunch or you may return to a burning shop.

Check the area for cans of carb cleaner, starting fluids, etc before cutting or welding. Every time.

Always try to anticipate where the shrapnel will fly, and don't stand in that path.

Keep unnecessary people/relatives/goons out of your shop whenever possible. You'll lose less tools and do less 'favors'.

Gregsy, great tip on waiting after using the welder / torch. I am always in a hurry to get out at the end of a day.

Make a tool board/box for each machine.Buy the extra wrenches,allens,nuts and bolt sets for setups,check keys,whatever it is you use all the time with that machine.

Sharpen drills AFTER you use them.

Keep crap off the floor.Either it's bolted down,high enough to sweep/mop underneath,or be on wheels.

Put your tools away.You'll have more time to make money instead of wandering around looking for stuff.

Don't stand where the machine is making sparks/chips.Something comes loose,chances are it'll be heading in that direction.

Set-up is everything.Double check yourself.At least most of the stuff I work with ,you only get 1 shot at it.PITA to put it back on.If something does get loose,get out of the way,whirling tool bits will go in you at speed.It will clear itself then shut it off.Might even break something,better it than you.

Here's a little safety tip:
Don't clean the bottom of a 55gal drum with carb cleaner,answer the phone,then strike an arc in the bottom of the barrel....without airing it out first.Makes the neighbors jumpy when the house shakes....

Make sure you have some "good running" machines before you get into "project machines"....

I also filled up two portable tool totes, one for things like screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, crescent wrenches, voltmeter. The other has socket sets, open end wrenches, hex bits, ratchets and the like. These are chock full and very heavy. I have a leather "holster" for a cordless drill that can go with either one, but I usually bring the two together...this makes life quick to go to "offsite" projects, or road trips, I usually throw in some metric sockets before a road trip though. Bottom line is: no searching for tools, no forgotten tools far from home.

I'd also recommend the purchase of some basic rigging gear to supplement your engine hoist: a lever-chain hoist, a chainfall, some roundslings, some anchor shackles. An enerpac/portapower hand pump with the "jaws of life" setup is my new favorite tool. Pinch-and-point prybars are lifesavers, I own them from 3ft to 6-1/2 feet long.

Buy DROs...they make life so much easier...I still recommend learning to read/use the dials should you have to work on other machines, but it makes life so much easier. Can I also say that they make life easier

Learn to use a 4-jaw chuck with speed. Buy 5C or 2J collets and drawtubes or Sjogren chucks for your lathe(s). Collets will turn time spent head-scratching about how to hold small parts into done jobs.

Get a good lathe toolpost (Dorian, Aloris).

So much to buy, so little time

BTW: don't ever get into dually pickups, gooseneck trailers and/or forklifts...it increases the possibilities of what you can drag home by an order of magnitude

I NEVER regretted buying too good of equipment. Serious regrets of buying anything poor quality.
I mudled along with an old machining center, that could sort of get by.. Then I bought a much more serious machining center, and agonized over spending that much money.. YIKES, it was paid for in two months. Easy.
Pete

As far as a commecial shop goes: From the start, never do those "Favor" jobs, thinking you will get their loyalty. Once you ever give your labor & talents away, it somehow diminished the respect you have from that customer. They will come around to get the bothersome little jobs done for free or cheaply, but they will take the good jobs to other shops. Don't get me wrong, I often do small favors for good customers, but only after I see that they are loyal customers. I am amazed at the way some large companies try to finagle a way to save a few hundred dollars.
Also, do everything you can to avoid having visitors hanging around the shop. That is the biggest time-waster there is, in addition to the dangers & liabilities of having people in the way...

Never work in the shop if you are sick,angry or upset at anybody. The emotions will cloud your judgement and the medication for the illness will affect your reaction and response time when things go "BANG" or "CRUNCH".

BTW: don't ever get into dually pickups, gooseneck trailers and/or forklifts...it increases the possibilities of what you can drag home by an order of magnitude

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this comes as way too late for me. i seem to have old iron constantly following me home.does one somehow become "magnetized"(for lack of a better word) after first using a machine? only to find no cure or hope of it ever going away? could it be an Iron deficiency? i dunno... i am going to an auction tomorrow to see!!!

Avoid DSL if you don't need it...don't piss up shop time on the internet. Learn to tell the dif. between true business potential and people who are just phishing. I wasted so much time quoting work and talking to people who were just screwing around because I thought it would lead to a job.

THE SOONER YOU GET IT DONE, THE SOONER YOU CAN DELIVER IT AND START THE NEXT JOB. Just because the due date is 3-4 weeks out doesn't mean you can't bang it out and get it sold. Don't get into the habit of pushing out jobs that you have a PO for.

Get material quotes locally. I almost had a seizure quoting my first big job on on time estimates only, got the PO, then priced 6061 out of McMaster-Carr. Went through a local (65 miles away) alum. distributor and actually came in hundreds lower on materials. Plus they delivered for free.

Expand when the money gets better. Don't get into "a nicer shop with an office and bathroom would be cool...plus I can get phone lines for my fax and internet...etc.".

I probably got a million more if I think about it..