What does your shop look like?

Arkansas Paul said:

Unfortunately my shop is just my half of the garage at the moment.
I gotta get out of the subdivision and back out in the sticks where I can have a big shop.

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Amen! Those HOAs just take a crap on a man's personal freedom. Get out of that neighborhood and the city limits in general brother

Mine currently looks like an abandoned construction site. Had to tear my entire basement apart because of black mold. Hoping to start rebuilding it next weekend.

Appalachiannative said:

Man you got a similar situation to me with the low ceiling. I'm studying these pictures to figure how I can get my lighting situation more like yours

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My shop has a 12 ft ceiling. We got some 8ft LEDs from amazon. Barrha brand. A box of ten was like 200 bucks (in 2019 dollars). Each has two rows of LEDs, each pointed out about 30° from straight down. They cast great light. We have three rows of 5 and two rows of 3. With all of em on, there are no weird shadows and tons of light.

Installation is super easy. Mount a few clips, clip the lights into em, and plug the lights in. They can be daisy chained up to 5 lights with provided cords. The main cord has a switch on it too so you dont have to unplug them. We have ours on switched outlets so we can turn them on from a bank of light switches.

The big mess and the smaller mess.

BigBlue 94 said:

Mine is a double duty 14x14 room inside a bigger 50x60 mechanics style shop. Its got AC and heat. I have a grizzly 12x36 lathe combo with 3/4hp gearhead mill in there as well as a big bench and some (not enough) storage.

I do gunsmithing, reloading, and other machinist tasks in there. Its a big mess currently as im working to reorganize and have a few unfinished projects floating around. The bench is made from 2bys and has a 1/4" steel top on half of it.

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I’m VERY jealous of that combo lathe/mill

WestKentucky said:

I’m VERY jealous of that combo lathe/mill

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It does what i need it to. The lathe part is great. The mill function is good. Not quite like a bridgeport, but enough for small projects. The one thing i dont like is there is no way to tell if the swivelling mill head is perpendicular to the ways or not. This only comes into play if i tilt the head for cutting an angle.

I knew what i was getting so i didnt expect Bridgeport or South Bend (pre-Grizzly buying them) quality. So i am definitely glad i have it.

Another common guest in my shop. Wolf spider my wife is always complaining about these calling them "tarantulas". Just now ran into this guy while stashing a bottle of green dot that came in today

Appalachiannative said:

Another common guest in my shop. Wolf spider View attachment 1094202my wife is always complaining about these calling them "tarantulas". Just now ran into this guy while stashing a bottle of green dot that came in today

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Spiders that eat other house bugs are aok in my book! I lost a knife in the woods once. Looking for it, it got dark, and my buddy literally screamed and froze. A 6" tarantula was on a tree not 5 feet in front of him. Western KS has lots of em, but way over here on the eastern edge, they are a rare beast. In 34 years, its the only wild one ive seen in this area. They are around though; we supposedly have 500 different species of em in KS.

BigBlue 94 said:

Spiders that eat other house bugs are aok in my book! I lost a knife in the woods once. Looking for it, it got dark, and my buddy literally screamed and froze. A 6" tarantula was on a tree not 5 feet in front of him. Western KS has lots of em, but way over here on the eastern edge, they are a rare beast. In 34 years, its the only wild one ive seen in this area. They are around though; we supposedly have 500 different species of em in KS.

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I did not know that. I figured those things were only on the south west. The spiders come down here after the cave crickets. I really just need a better garage door situation. They have about an inch gap on either side and one is rotten on the bottom. Thought about getting metal doors but then what to do about the gap. Parts of the house were built using scrap material from highway construction. I got a steel I beam holding up the planks of the back porch. Everything is on funky dimensions

Guess i misspoke... We have 500 species of spiders. The main tarantula is the Texas Brown.

My shop stays rodent free thanks to my one eyed kitty, Pete!

BigBlue 94 said:

Guess i misspoke... We have 500 species of spiders. The main tarantula is the Texas Brown.

My shop stays rodent free thanks to my one eyed kitty, Pete!

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My pitbull dachshund hybrid cookie is daddy's helper with some pests. I have yet to get any actual mice or rats just shrews and voles. If you ever have a problem with these cheese or peanut butter are NOT good baits as it is with mice. You gotta hot glue a piece of dog food or bread to the trigger of a snap trap

Appalachiannative said:

My pitbull dachshund hybrid cookie is daddy's helper with some pests. I have yet to get any actual mice or rats just shrews and voles. If you ever have a problem with these cheese or peanut butter are NOT good baits as it is with mice. You gotta hot glue a piece of dog food or bread to the trigger of a snap trap

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A PitWeenie?! I bet that is one mousin' fool! The grandpa that got me into shooting and reloading always had dachshunds.

Funny you say that about the dog food. The local PetCo had to close down this week due to a "Severe mouse problem" lol.

BigBlue 94 said:

A PitWeenie?! I bet that is one mousin' fool! The grandpa that got me into shooting and reloading always had dachshunds.

Funny you say that about the dog food. The local PetCo had to close down this week due to a "Severe mouse problem" lol.

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She has run down rabbits and broke their necks slinging them around. I wish she had a better nose and a longer attention span I'd have turned her into a squirrel hunting dog

Some of you guys have some nice shops/equipment. I was at a friend's shop loading 50 BMG and 50 DTC, snapped this pic.

How a bench should look.




@BigBlue 94 that fullsize pic of your supervisor is great!

Hi...
My shop looks like I need to reorganize things.

Mk-211 said:

@BigBlue 94 that fullsize pic of your supervisor is great!

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The 8x10 on my shelf? That was Tomcat, a previous supervisor. His sister died from a blood clot at 4 years old and we came out to find him paralyzed in his back half one morning a few months later. He and Miss Kitty were strays that just wandered in as yearlings. They were great shop cats.

Pete is our new kitty, a colony rescue, where he was the runt that always got picked on. Hence the one blind eye. He is a great kitty too.

Yes, looks like he's keeping an eye on you.

Here's a pic of a rescue we had, he was a Japanese bobtail. Awesome cat, very vocal and didn't fit his own bed!

A brief view of some stuff in the shop.
The Bridgeport + DRO with various vises; the angled vise is ridiculously heavy to mount. Making some Delrin V-blocks.
LeBlond lathe with 3 & 4 jaw chucks; good size carriage. DRO makes amateur fabrications easier.
Metal band saw is handy.
A serious metal chop saw makes dividing tool stock a breeze.
Belt sander.
Grinding wheels.

A few of the assembly areas in the garage; I really like the 36" x 72" U-line work benches on wheels (600 lb capacity).
Several large tool chests dedicated to gunsmithing tools, all organized and labeled and surgically clean for next use.

Used the steel bead blaster cabinet to remove original finish on shotgun magazine tube retaining plug tool project. Now it's ready for cerakoting.

a5werkes said:

Used the steel bead blaster cabinet to remove original finish on shotgun magazine tube retaining plug tool project.

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Looks like the old Tom Menck tool. Too bad they're no longer made (he passed), but good that you have the skills to replicate.

BBBBill said:

Looks like the old Tom Menck tool.

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It's his tool. I just wanted a larger T-handle with a flat to secure it with a set screw ; used 1/4" drill rod stock and radiused the ends on the lathe with end-forming tool bit.

a5werkes said:

A brief view of some stuff in the shop.
The Bridgeport + DRO with various vises; the angled vise is ridiculously heavy to mount. Making some Delrin V-blocks.
LeBlond lathe with 3 & 4 jaw chucks; good size carriage. DRO makes amateur fabrications easier.
Metal band saw is handy.
A serious metal chop saw makes dividing tool stock a breeze.
Belt sander.
Grinding wheels.

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Now thats a $hop! I wish i had a DRO on my machine.