Author Topic: Dad's shop  (Read 9778 times)

Offline Paddy OFernichur

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Dad's shop
« on: February 05, 2012, 08:24:11 PM »
I'll play along. The shop is at my dad's house, and it's HIS. About 12 years ago, he added a 16'x25' addition to his home, this is the walk-in grade-level basement of that addition. I first gifted him a 17" Enco drill press, which now lives in his outside 10'x16' unheated woodshop.

The next machine in was the bandsaw, a 1998 MSC-branded 7x12, with coolant pump and the little attachment table to make it OK for limited vertical bandsaw work. It's not getting much run time.



The next item was the Bridgeport, right around 1999. It was used, and I regret that I didn't check it out well enough to notice just how bad the ways are worn. It's the first thing to get an upgrade, perhaps this spring. He then added a 24"x36" surface plate and stand, which now stands in the middle of the shop. His mistake was making a cheap but functional wooden cover for it, because now it collects stuff like any flat surface is likely to do. In this view looking from the southern exposure entry door in. You see the Victor 1640 lathe on the right, the saw sits just out of camera view further to the right at the tail end of the lathe. The Bridgeport occupies the northeast corner. I got the lathe for him for free, all I had to pay for was transportation from Mentor OH. It came with the DRO and Dorian CA QCTP, and needed only a new cross slide screw and nut which was covered by an shipping damage insurance claim. I later had to replace a reader head on the DRO system, that's it.




Dad recently moved an overstuffed reclining chair from the open space to the left of the Bridgeport, out to the sunroom he & I built this past summer. It's his solace for reading and napping, out of range from my mom's ever-increasing chatter from the onset of dementia. But I digress,  Looking to the northwest corner there's the air compressor he made room for, then on the west wall is the surface grinder and it's coolant/dust collector unit. My stack of Kennedy toolboxes is what's partially covered by the holey red blanket, to keep any loose grinding grit off it.




In the middle of the west wall is a bench and cabinets that are so cluttered with tools and stuff that it's not worth showing. In the southwest corner is the Black Diamond 2B drill grinder I added last summer, next to it the Craftsman 8" bench grinder that my maternal grandfather once owned.



That's the shop as it is for now. I will probably help him reorganize all the spaces that are inefficiently used this summer, to help make it easier for him to find stuff. I live only 7-1/2 miles from him, and visit at least once a week. I am constantly adding tooling, materials and other stuff that may or may not be needed one day. He uses some of it, or the shop may sit idle for a couple of weeks at a time.

That's it for now!

Offline Jonny

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2012, 09:03:20 AM »
Appreciate the telly :lol:
Bit of a bargain the lathe and reckon the Bridgy will be better than a new chinese after a regrind, so bear that in mind.

Offline DaveH

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2012, 09:25:42 AM »
Ken,

That's a very nice shop, ........oooow, really nice.

I could certainy spend a few days in there "poking" around :D :D :D

 :beer:
DaveH
(Ex Leicester, Thurmaston, Ashby De La Zouch.)

Offline Paddy OFernichur

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2012, 11:12:03 AM »
Thanks guys. I know my dad is proud of what he has there now, because when I've had visitors spend a few hours in there with me he's usually hanging around and showing off. Every closed cabinet door, drawer and toolbox you see is stuffed with tools. My problem with getting it all organized better is that I don't have enough places to put away all the stuff!

I know what the solution would be, but a 5S or 6S Lean program will NEVER find it's way into that shop!

:D

Rob.Wilson

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2012, 11:20:11 AM »
 :bow: :bow: :bow: very nice  shop Ken  :thumbup:

I have SG envy now  :coffee:

Rob

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2012, 11:29:47 AM »
Nice shop! Lots of nice tools in there. Envious!

Eric
Science is fun.

We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

Offline Paddy OFernichur

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2012, 12:18:48 PM »
The surface grinder has a semi-interesting little story too. I was working a job in southwest Connecticut back in late 2009. The shop owner had recently bought the assets and customer base of a friendly competitor, and included in the sale was that surface grinder and several other machines that were already spoken for. I expressed and interest in the surface grinder. The shop owner suggested we could barter a bit. I know CNC single-spindle sliding headstock machines (a.k.a. Swiss machines) pretty good and he had one that he and his foreman didn't know how to get running.

It seems the shop owner's son who did know had moved up to Maine. The proposal was that I spend a day with the two of them showing them how to start, setup, program and run the old Citizen F20, we could work a deal on the surface grinder. He was otherwise asking $1000 for it, but it had nothing other than the one 7" wheel and a mag chuck. Fair enough, it was in great shape and clean.



I showed up on a Saturday morning to train them. In 4-1/2 hours I got them comfortable with the machine, setting tools, the program structure and running it. He was happy, his lead man was happy. "When are you coming for your machine?" was what he then asked of me. I told him I could be there on Tuesday, and asked how much money was due. "We're square, just come get it out of here."

That Tuesday I took a vacation day from work, rented a small lift-gate truck and picked up dad. The shop owner and a couple of his guys helped load it in, my two sons and a neighbor all pitched in to get it off thetruck and in where you see it. Total cost was $271 for the truck and all expenses, which included a couple of BIG ratchet tie-down straps. The interesting thing is that when the Red Sox announced their new manager last fall, the name and face rang a bell. It turns out we got the surface grinder from Bobby Valentine's big brother Joe. No wonder he's such a nice guy, Bobby is just like his brother!

I later added the OE spec coolant/dust collector unit, a dozen more wheel adapter/arbors, a dozen or so different wheels, magnetic parallels, a couple of dressing diamonds, and a Phase II radius/angle dresser (another Craigslist ad, $40.) Dad added a few angle irons and a spindexer. Most recently my next-door neighbor made the guard for the table, I only had to paint it red and let him use my power washer at home. We're ready for almost anything that fits on the machine now.

Offline steamman

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2012, 01:21:04 PM »
Hi when your Dad uses the shop what does he make or Repair it is a very nice shop with some good tools in it if I had a shop as big as his I would probably live in it  and Possibly Sleep in it ,I am so envious. 

Offline Paddy OFernichur

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2012, 01:59:52 PM »
My dad is a 79 year old retired moldmaker/toolmaker. In his work days, he made molds for thermoset plastics, injection molding, and later stamping dies for Suisse Feinblanker machines. All of it without the aid of CNC or wire EDM! The dies for the fine-blanking presses required an extremely close-fitting die with matching top and bottom punches. Done right, there was no visible break line in the edges of the thick parts it pressed out. It was more like a powdermetal press than a sheet stock press. Amazing work he did, but alas he ended his career in machining at 55. Laid off, he could NOT find work in the field so he went into building maintenance and stayed for 18 years.

IN his shop now you can find him making repair parts for my nephew's shoe repair machinery, fixing anything that broke around the house or auto. He's done making hinges, wheel caps, handles and other stuff for his Chevy AstroVan now, as it died and was replaced with a Ford F150 that hasn't ever needed a thing. I find him making wood projects almost as often as metal. Recently I found him setting up his boring head on the Bridgeport to blow out a 12" hole with counterbores in MDF to help my youngest son make a custom subwoofer enclosure for his Mazda B3000 truck.

We are close and it's tough to see him having trouble with a form of asbestos related lung disease. So I do treasure every minute I still have, as does he. The shop and the things I've done to help him build it to what he always wanted is just a manifestation of the love I have for him, and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to make him happier.

Offline Anzaniste

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2012, 02:14:21 PM »
Paddy, you sound like top son to me . Both you and your Dad are blessed. Good luck to you.
Scrooby, 1 mile south of Gods own County.

Offline doubleboost

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #10 on: February 06, 2012, 04:57:12 PM »
Hi
Paddy
Some nice machines in there the surface grinder looks very handy :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
John

Offline Paddy OFernichur

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Re: Dad's shop
« Reply #11 on: February 06, 2012, 06:18:40 PM »
Thanks again guys for all the compliments. It is appreciated.

If anyone in my area ever wants to get together at the shop you see for a few hours of sharing, whether to learn or just use the machines and tooling, just shoot me a PM or E-Mail and we'll work something out. I've had 4 different guests visit for that in the past year or two, and all had great fun.