# My workshop



## John (Nov 14, 2007)

Just a nook at the end of my garage. Have a Sieg C3 7x14 lathe,drill press and lots of hand tools. Also quite a bit of electronic test gear, signal generators,oscilloscope etc.

The big red cylinder on the wall is the ducted vacuum cleaner system. Handy with an outlet in the shop to suck away all the debris.

John


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## rake60 (Nov 14, 2007)

Nice shop John.

I'm assuming you also do a little electronics work.
That was my main field of study in school.  
Did you know that if you take 24 signal generators at full power 
tuned to the exact frequency of the closest radio station and patch 
them to the schools communications antenna, you can jam the 
radio stations signal?

It also gets you hauled into the school office for a chat with the vice
principle and the local police.  :lol: 


Rick


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## John (Nov 15, 2007)

Good trick Rick. 
These days the FCC would probably drag you of to court and fine you!

I mess with ham radio as well as Meccano and lathe work so all the electronic bits. Recently been building high performance crystal sets.





John


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## tmuir (Nov 15, 2007)

rake60 said:
			
		

> Nice shop John.
> 
> I'm assuming you also do a little electronics work.
> That was my main field of study in school.
> ...



I used to work for the Public Transport Authority (The railways) in the communications section and a transit guard supervisor took it onto himself to buy his own VOX headset to his radio. This of course was fault and transmitted all the time and so 'jammed' our security radio channel for one of our lines.
Its amazing what a couple of phone calls can get from the ACA (Australian Communications Authority) in the way of radio directional tracking equipment, (at a large cost of course).

Lets just say that supervisor felt a bit embarrassed afterwards, especially when it didn't click with him that he had heard no radio calls in 40 minutes, his radio had got red hot and his battery was flat that there may of been a fault with his radio and he just installed a fresh battery. :lol:


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## rake60 (Nov 15, 2007)

_At the risk of drifting off topic...._

My home electronic experience led me to buy a 1979 Fender Deluxe
Reverb, tube guitar amplifier for $25 as a basket case.

3 months and $400 in parts later the meaningful parts looked like this.





And the sound.......
Well miniature electronics has made many improvements in our daily lives,
but for sound, I doubt it will ever be able to duplicate a hot vacuum tube....

Rick


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## Paolo (Mar 15, 2008)

..a few from my Kingdom :big:




..more




My compressor


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## tattoomike68 (Mar 15, 2008)

Its so clean and bright, nothing like my dark and dirty dungeon.


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## raym 11 (Mar 16, 2008)

My space

Believe it or not I cleaned it up before taking pics.








































poor old car out in the rain since the garage became ''Myspace'

Ray m


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## Bogstandard (Mar 17, 2008)

Ray,
What's the use of having a model workshop without doing anything, the clutter and swarf shows that it is being used.
It isn't a workshop if you don't feel at home in there, and you can't find that elusive ruler that was in your pocket all along.
It is different in a commercial workshop where time equals money, but the ones we have should fit like an old pair of slippers.

John


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## Bernd (Mar 17, 2008)

Ray,

I see the shop has a four legged mascot. I have one too, although not of that breed.

Also I'd like to compliment you on having a fire extinguisher in your shop. How many of us have one in the shop? I know I don't.

Bernd


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## raym 11 (Mar 17, 2008)

Bernd

There are actually two four legged mascots pictured.

Did anybody notice the DC drive on the lathe. It is from a two horse treadmill. really nice, infinitely varable (between parameters) and plenty of torque. 

Ray m


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## Bernd (Mar 17, 2008)

ElGringo  said:
			
		

> Did anybody notice the DC drive on the lathe. It is from a two horse treadmill. really nice, infinitely varable (between parameters) and plenty of torque.
> 
> Ray m



I don't see in the first picture. 

I'm using tread mill motor on my 21" Buffalo Drill press. Works great. 

I've got about 4 more tread mill motors around. Unfortunatley I didn't keep the drive units. Some didn't work. I've got one more tread mill to disassemble. It looks like the electronics are malfunctioning on this one though.

Bernd


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## Brass_Machine (Mar 17, 2008)

ElGringo  said:
			
		

> Bernd
> 
> There are actually two four legged mascots pictured.
> ...
> Ray m



I must have missed the other one, or maybe I am blind... I only see the cat.

Eric


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## Rog02 (Mar 17, 2008)

Bernd  said:
			
		

> I've got about 4 more tread mill motors around. Unfortunatley I didn't keep the drive units. Some didn't work. I've got one more tread mill to disassemble. It looks like the electronics are malfunctioning on this one though.
> Bernd



Surplus Center in Lincoln, Ne. has the speed control units for treadmills. 
http://www.surpluscenter.com
Item# 11-2449
Item# 11-2269

I use the treadmill donors on some specialty equipment I build for sheet metalshaping. I cruise the neighborhoods around here on trash day and pick them up for free. Also check out the charity shops in your area, the going price around here is $20 USD. Some of the cheaper treadmills don't use a DC motor with speed control but rather an AC motor with a Lovejoy variable ratio pulley. The VSP drive makes an excellent conversion for a drill press.


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## Rog02 (Mar 17, 2008)

Brass_Machine  said:
			
		

> I must have missed the other one, or maybe I am blind... I only see the cat.
> Eric



Eric:

I think it is one of those "Where's Waldo?" things. :wall:


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## Paolo (Mar 18, 2008)

Ray...what a beautiful lathe you have....!!!
Paolo


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## Bernd (Mar 18, 2008)

Rog02  said:
			
		

> Surplus Center in Lincoln, Ne. has the speed control units for treadmills.
> http://www.surpluscenter.com
> Item# 11-2449
> Item# 11-2269
> ...



Rog,

I've ordered some stuff from them before. I never payed much attention to the controler's though. Will have to check it out. 

Never knew there were AC drive units. Will have to keep my eye for them. I'm two driveways away from the town sheds were they have a transfer station were people bring previously enjoyed items. This is where I get a lot of interesting items. So far two tread mills. Great info on the AC drive ones though. Thanks.

Bernd


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## shred (Mar 18, 2008)

I've got a couple of the 11-2449 Surplus Center controllers and motors (they sell a motor that works great with the controllers for ~$20 too) running a small lathe and mill. They work pretty well. The only odd thing is they only start from zero-- you can't set a speed and then turn it on or nothing happens. You have to turn it on, then crank up the speed to where you want it. That makes them a little tricky for automatic use.


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## raym 11 (Mar 18, 2008)

Brass_Machine  said:
			
		

> I must have missed the other one, or maybe I am blind... I only see the cat.
> 
> Eric



Sorry about that Eric. I didn't post the pic of the other cat until now. They are sibling Siamese and hard to tell them apart.
The one sitting on the table and the one on my avatar are different cats. (Slick & Slack)

Shred;
there is a way to fix the zero start problem if need be . I don't know how butI have seen it work.
Ray


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## Bogstandard (Mar 18, 2008)

Ray,
I am looking at a new miller, basically the same one as you have. 3 axis DRO with table power feeds.

Are there any faults or problems with it, in your opinion. Or have you been happy with your purchase? 

John


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## Powder keg (Mar 18, 2008)

Hey Bog, I have the same mill made by Enco a few years back. It's a great machine. The only flaw that I noticed was That it was to short for most of my work. I built a 6" spacer for the column and that fixed that. I also wished I'd bought the power feed. 

Have fun, Wes


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## raym 11 (Mar 18, 2008)

John;
It's a Grizzly Mill.

I luckily got a good one. It is about 4 yrs old and has been an 'honest' mill .Plenty straight and sturdy enough for the home machinist. the z travel is only ~3" but the knee travel gives me about a 12 " of headroom.
I bought the DRO separately from Shooting Star and it is also very good for the price with lots of neat features.

Ray


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## Bogstandard (Mar 19, 2008)

Many thanks for that gents, I now think my mind is made up.
There is nothing like first hand experience.


John


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## greenie (Mar 20, 2008)

Bogstandard  said:
			
		

> Ray,
> I am looking at a new miller, basically the same one as you have. 3 axis DRO with table power feeds.
> 
> Are there any faults or problems with it, in your opinion. Or have you been happy with your purchase?
> ...



Righto John, the mill/drill in the first photo, it looks like a Sieg X2, is it? If it is, then the motor on it, is that a standard motor or have you done some hanky panky with it? If you have done a conversion, what is the new motor rated at?

regards greenie


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