Author Topic: Addendum to My Dump! Or if you like, some additional info. Now finished.  (Read 4309 times)

Offline latheman

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After the kind comments on the original My Dump, it struck me that you might like to know about how and why the set up ended as it has done. This is actually my third (and final) 'shop.

First one was just after I got married 40 years ago. Had a garage erected, and courtesy of Dad supplying a 9' long beam about 6" x 3" installed a bench at the back. Wanted a big one, but made it too big 'cos at 3 to 4 feet deep, I couldn't reach the back! I wasn't into engineering then so no heavy tools.

Two years later moved and erected another bench in the garage. Actually there was one there but it was a bit low and not overly deep. However, this time I didn't repeat the mistake of making it too deep. Still full width of the garage though, and by now had got a Record 3" vice on a rotatable base.

Eventually bought a Hobbymat Lathe and mounted it on a new bench along one side. It actually fitted very nicely between two pillars. The Hobbymat wasn't big enough so bought the present Warco 220. This meant enlarging the bench.

15 years ago moved here and set about producing the setup as shown here,
             

Starting point was how much room was available given that the rear wall was unusable due to the door. Eventually decided on the plan of two benches - one for working on and one for the drill and lathe. Also wanted to keep some space clear at the front of the garage in case I did any car maintenance. (I didn't in the end - cars have become too complex!) This effectively fixed the length of the benches at 5' for the general bench and 5'6" for the machinery. Depth of the general bench was fixed at 2'6" which is deep enough for a decent work area, but not too deep as to be unreachable. The machinery bench doesn't need to be anything like as deep, so an actual depth of 18" was chosen. Two other considerations were that I wanted to use the back of this bench to store large sheets (now abandoned as too awkward to use) and, because I now had a Record 4" vice, but no rotating base, I wanted to leave an area at the RHS of the vice where I could stand to work sideways onto the vice. Look at the photos to see what I mean. This has actually proved very useful. The work bench height was fixed by the old method of setting the top of the vice jaws level with my elbow, which suits me at 5'6" tall, but is a bit awkward for my 6'4" grandson! I decided I wanted the machinery bench to be the same height as the work bench so that I could easily move the drilling machine from one to the other if necessary (never happened) however this then eventually lead to the problem of the lathe being too high hence the box to stand on in front of the lathe and the mirror to look behind the toolpost. Grandson, of course, simply kicks the box out of the way!
That of course has now fixed everything. It only remained to fix shelves underneath and above, decide how to store files (slotted wood under the top shelf above the work bench), and to build the storage bays on the other side using skirting board removed from the house.
Both benches are made from substantial (5" x 4") legs with equally substantial cross pieces at the top. Then topped by 18mm chipboard. The work bench has a 1½" x 1½" length of angle iron along the front edge with a piece of oil tempered hardboard inside and on top of the chipboard thus making a level and tough surface. The machinery bench doesn't have the metal front (but the two trays overhang anyway) but does have a piece of normal hardboard on it. Also, the machinery bench does have local wood support where the bolts for the lathe go through.

Next thing that happened was that I got sick of dropping tools and swarf on the floor, so I dreamed up the lathe tray.
 Essentially it is a piece of 1mm sheet steel pop rivetted inside a rectangle of 25mm angle iron. The vertical corners were strengthened by small pieces also pop rivetted in place, and the whole thing given two coats of Hammerite. I also made a set of lathe jacking supports as per Tubal Cain's instructions in one of his books. This has been a boon. Finally, I added a wood tray to hold tools at the RHS of the lathe, and a work light.
Then we scrapped our 18 year old washer, the top of which was just the right size to act as a tray underneath the drilling machine. A couple of metal bits hanging down and it just drops into place. Because I tend to move the drill about, I dropped a piece of hardboard inside the tray to protect the paintwork. You can see this in the photo.

Finally I bought the miller. This really did cause some problems as to where to mount it. One obvious place would have been where the white cupboard was, but this would be off the carpet, and the strip lights weren't that far down the garage. Not really a problem, but where would the cupboard go? As it happens, I had bought a mobile trolley from work which was going for scrap. Square steel framework with a steel tray built in near the top. Unfortunately I wouldn't have been able to operate the Y axis handwheel. So, I knocked up a few layers of plywood & chipboard about 1½" thick to sit on top of the fixed tray. Built another tray similar to the lathe tray, and then another 1½" of chipboard with steel top and bottom and slightly larger than the miller base. You can see that in the photo immediately under the miller base. Mounted the miller on that lot and bolted it down with four hefty bolts. Job done.
To get in the cupboard now means I have to wheel the miller forward, but that's no big deal.

I've just been looking at the messiest shop thread. I think it was Jon Baz's effort which reminded me why I have a roller door on my garage. I went for about 12 years or so with a battered up 'n over door which by the time I'd finished making use of the available roof and wall space couldn't be opened. Anyway, after SWMBO's complaints about the state of it (well, it was a disgrace) and a few sleepless nights worrying about the cost (I am a Yorkshireman!), and wondering how to do it, I eventually found that a roller could indeed be fitted - which meant no loss of roof space or wall space.

Electrics.
Now this may be contentious, but before I describe what I've done, please consider the following: all work was done 10 to 15 years ago, well prior to Part P etc. Theoretically, I could possibly overload if I tried to use everything at once! But I can't multitask, so the normal equipment running load is about 700-800 watts, say 3 to 4 amps and well within the capability of what's installed. Add in the space heaters, and a possible maximum running load may be about 3.7KW to 3.8KW or about 16A, well within the capability of the 2.5sqmm cables and the 20A fuse used.
When I bought the house, although it's a mid-60's house and thus probably originally wired to IEEE 15th regs, it was a mess so I did a complete rejig of the electrics including changing the main 6 way fuse box for an 8 way, and changing the three, yes you read that right, fuse boxes used for the off-peak storage heating to a single 8 way fuse box. Using an 8 way for the main consumer unit allowed me to have the shop electrics on their own 20A fuse. This has two feeds off it, one via a 13A switched fuse box, and the other for a number of permanently powered sockets. These latter sockets are used for the electric garage door, the equipment heaters and the space heaters. The switched circuit is used via a number of trailing sockets fixed to the benches (you can see some of these in the photos) and into which the three equipment lights, lathe, drill, miller, grinder & shop radio are all plugged. What this means is that all the engineering equipment can be switched off by one switch, located by the rear door, thus giving an element of safety in the event of a power cut whilst using the equipment. All I have to do is to walk to the door, and operate the switch and walk out.
There is no RCD because when it was all set up, there was no call for one - I don't even know if they were available then, certainly there wasn't the pressure for one that there is today.

I should point out that as an ex-BT technician, I do know something about electrics, although not necessarily all the finer points of household wiring such as zones.

Right then, that's completed the description of my shop, and how I got to it's present state. I am fully aware that in respect of the electrics it does not comply with the latest (17th? 18th?) edition of the IEEE regs, but I think it is reasonably safe. I've also kept in mind that when I leave this house, preferably in a wooden box, it will all have to be converted back to a normal garage, so everything, except for the wall mounted shelving, can easily be removed. Even the electrics can be easily be removed leaving nothing to show what's been there.

Hope this may have been of interest. And if you've any questions, or comments, please ask - I'll try to answer.

Peter G. Shaw
« Last Edit: January 15, 2011, 05:16:57 PM by latheman »