A seed is planted
Here are some pictures of my first "shop". This was decidedly a home shop. At the time I was living in the Columbus, OH area. I was working for a large automotive OEM (use your imagination) doing engineering work. This was my first job out of school and my first "real" place where I could have my own equipment. Machining was just a hobby and I had no interest in making money.
The first machine I ever bought was a Walker Turner drill press. Humble beginnings.
I soon picked up an Atlas 12x36 lathe and cleaned up an painted it. I know this machine is taboo, but I really liked it. I had all kinds of accessories for it and made a lot of things with it.
About this time I was attacked by the CNC bug. My only exposure to CNC was a tiny Emco Meir training mill that I was allowed to use in college. I never really figured it out, but I could program it to spot drill parts accurately so I could drill hole patterns.
I began reading about EMC2 and Linux, as well as Mach 3 and other DIY CNC systems. I was determined to find a candidate and do a retrofit. Soon, I picked up a Dyna Mechtronics DM2800 from a tool and die shop that was closing. The machine was in great condition, but had been used to cut graphite electrodes. I rolled the dice anyway, and it turned out to be a nice machine.
I put the machine in my garage and got to work retrofitting it. The original control on the mill was called a SKIP, or single key input. This was a proprietary control made by Dyna Mechtronics. It used a conversational language, but was very limited. As I recall, you had 100 lines of code. You could only see one line at a time on the screen. The spindle speed was variable, but not programmable. The Mach 3 control fixed all of those issues.
I was given an old Emerson band saw with a Ridgid sticker slapped on it. I don't know if anyone can relate, but this is one of the only machines I have come across that I truly hate. I recently replaced it and I am thrilled to never use it again. I never got the hydraulic feed to work right, the blade guides were broken when I got it, and the blades would always pop off the wheels under heavy cuts. I tested and tweaked and adjusted and never got it right. I hate it.
Here is the whole thing. I had a really nice selection of hand tools from my time as a truck mechanic. I had a lot of fun in that little shop.