My new shop

Here's some pictures of my new shop

Then there's the lathe



The mill


Then there is one of my toolboxes this was what I made during highschool wood shop while most of my peers were busy making a table and or chair to go along with it. Imagine the look on my shop teacher's face when I asked him if I could build a machinist toolchest?


Pretty much the day after I moved to college, my parents were busy getting ready to move our house. As a result I got this nice new garage. It isn't heated but it is insulate . Makes a huge difference when home working on it during a cold new england wintere. What do you guys think?

Adam

Nice little shop, ugly guy in it though...

Good luck in your new shop, you are luckier than some of us to have a space that nice.

Have fun
Charles

Tie your shoes, before you trip and hurt one of those machines! Very nice shop, what's that black cylinder in the right foreground of the first pic?

Yea the whole shoe thing I was wondering who would catch on to that. We're leaving first thing tomorrow morning to go to grandma's house and dad wanted to take some shop pics to show her, so I just grabbed my boots hoping they'd be cut off by the camera. But no, so they're untied, no I don't usually work like that. That black cylinder is the top to the steam engine I'm building.
When finished it should look something like this model

The whole shop will look much better once we get the shed built then I'll have the whole garage atleast till winter comes and mom parks her car there.

Adam

Adam,

That's a really smart looking pair of toolboxes - nice job !

I've been scrounging the 1/2" oak from old discarded dresser drawers now for years. Got enough to make about ten of those units, just need the time... sigh.

What's that mega-motor sitting to the left of the mill gonna be used for? If it's about 3-5 HP and you dont need it, lemme know - the Smith & Mills shaper awaits motive power.

Ferrous,

That's about a 5hp motor I belive. If you look at the picture you'll see a wire coming down from that grey box, with the on off switch. That is my home made rotary phase converter. A pretty nifty little thing just turn it on and then you have three phase. It is on the other hand a little underpowered for my needs, so if you can find me a 7-10 3ph motor even if the shaft is screwed up or even bent I'd be glad to trade. Don't worry too much about motors though 3 phase motors are cheap and available almost everywhere. The old motors used plain old magnets while todays motors use rare earth magnets. Thus what is a 5hp motor and 30yrs old looks huge, compared to a 5 of today. So those older motors are very common and very affordable.

Adam

Nice milling machine. I have one just like it. If you are pretty familiar with it, I'd like to pick your ear sometime. Once I get my heated workroom finished, I'll be moving the milling machine in and setting it up.

Nice tool boxes too.

-Marty

Adam
Some superior work there. Love the tool box. If I may make one suggestion.. Get some thick mats to stand on while using the machine tools..your body will thank you in a few years.
lg
no neat sig line

So will the parts and/or tools that you drop.....

I just hate dropping the piece on concrete and having it land on an appearance side, or dinging a thread, etc.

Dropping a drill, or a carbide tool on concrete is productive of bad words also. They always land on the business end.

The mats (get the solid ones) prevent that from being a problem.

Very nice, love that Cincinnatti, toolmaster right? Thats a fine machine, sure to send a Bridgeport running with its tail between its legs. You have a nice setup. I would have killed for a setup like that at your age, lucky you are. If you would, please pass along a big WAY TO GO! to your folks for encourging your hobbies and allowing you to take over the garage with your shop.

Great job on the toolbox, I am working on one now, out of walnut. Pics when I get a bit more done. Same with the steam engine. Do you have a track to steam it on nearby?

Now I must nit pick on a safety issue. You need to cover the shaft of that RPC motor. That could easily capture a pants leg (Or those shoe strings) and really ruin your day.

Well thanks again for the replies. Marty, yea if you want I'd be glad to trade notes on the toolmaster. I think I even have an extra copy of the manual if you need it. I do have to warn you I don't know too much on the insides of the machine for the simple reason that it was built so good I never have to take it apart!

As for the shop, yea dad told me to buy every tool that I could before I got married or really had to put a roof over my head. It is a lot easier to justify spending %50 of your income on your shop when you're 16 then 35 with a wife and kids. Yea mats may be nice. I never realized their use till I got my current job and am now standing infront of a Bridgeport 8hrs at a time. Yea the toolmaster sure is a nice machine, and I wouldn't trade it for a Bridgeport unless you tossed in a prototrack system. I think at the end of the summer it should have a nice new set of DRO's on it too. The one thing is now that I'm working 8+ hrs a day seriously cranking handles I think I just about get my fill of machiing for the day. However I want to progress a bit more on the steam engine.

We have a track about 20mins away in my old town. The hobby of live steam has done real well for me. It helped me really realize my talents and intrests and secure long term goals.

As for the toolbox thanks for the comments. I built it over a two year period in high school shop. The first shop class I made the bottom and the second I built the top. The teacher damn near laughed me out of the shop when I asked him if I could build the bottom. When I completed it nicely he was impressed and I had a A+ in the class. After that any hard project that a kid asked to do was considered an "Adam" project. Now 2years later I am pretty sure they've all but done away with the class. The teacher had to hide my project every time the pricepal came in. She thought it was too good and a waste of time. According to her students like me wishing to build such stuff belonged in VocTech school not highschool. Really a lousy set of internal politics there.

Adam

Nice little shop, ugly guy in it though...

Click to expand...

Au contraire, Mindi may be sending some "private messages" if she stumbles on this thread

Thanks Don, but I can't help but wonder how much more impressed Mindi would be if you sent up north one of these to pose next to



Adam

I suspect Mindi wouldn't know that Chiron from a space ship. She's probably at "Busy Bee" mulling over some little machine tool doo dad as we speak.

Come to think of it, she would probably be impressed by a space ship, maybe you're on to something...hmmmm...

Adam,

I collected a schematic for a rotary phase converter off the internet. I wonder if you have any tips, links, advice, etc. before I build mine...

Thanks,

John

All I can say is I know where you got your brains. Listen to all you're father has to say, pearls my boy, the man is handing out pearls of wisdom.

John, sorry but I don't have too much advise my dad is the electrical engineer so that thing is like his baby. I kind of bought it used for $100 it is a homemade jobber. However if I had to do it all over again, I'd probablly just get a huge 3phase idler motor and a pull cord starter. Who needs all those fancy electronics anyways. Just turn it on pull a cord and away you go. However if you have any big questions let me know I'll run them by my father.

Adam

Adam,
Very nice shop, most of us wish we would of started collecting such nice tools when we were your age. The mill was a great choice, big enought to do some real work. I am impressed with your tool boxes, you should be very proud of your shop and skills.
Hal

"As for the shop, yea dad told me to buy every tool that I could before I got married or really had to put a roof over my head. It is a lot easier to justify spending %50 of your income on your shop when you're 16 then 35 with a wife and kids. "

Well I'm goning to be 40 this year and I'm not married and no kids....I do have a girlfriend though. No rush to have kids and get married - infact you don't have to do either. I have a nice cat - kind of like my baby.

I like you shop! Have some fun. I love my shop.
Treven.

Nice shop for sure Adam. Wish I got started as early as you did. IIRC you are an ME in school? Or do I have you mixed up w/ someone else?

So has Mindi PM'd you yet?

Mark