# my play area



## firebird (Nov 3, 2007)

hI 

    Let me show you were I go to play. I'm pretty lucky cos I have 2 workshops. The first (and original) one is the garage attached to the house. I use this one for woodworking now. The steel bench and mechanics vice I left in there along with the pillar drill. Note home made disc sander and home made larger table and sliding mitre on the bandsaw.















My new workshop, completed early this year with the help of my good mate julian, is all metal work. You can just see in the photo the  8 foot X 5 foot shed that did house my lathe and milling machine, that was a tight fit! Inside my new shop you can see amongst other things my Myford ML7, a small mill, a metal cutting bandsaw etc. An old computer, nothing special but good enough to view drawings and photographs and play DVD's, Usually Fred Dibnah. The leather seat was stripped out of a Ford Granada before it went to the scrap yard. A frame was built up and put onto an office chair base. All the electrics work, tilt, recline, up & down, even the heater. Well theres nothing like making yourself comfortable is there. My wife says she might make me sleep in there so its best to ready! In the photo of the bandsaw you can see a small fridge. You gotta keep the beer cool. That'll do for now, any questions just fire away.

Cheers


----------



## 1Kenny (Nov 3, 2007)

Firebird,

Nice shops you have there. I like the way you store your round stock in those racks and noticed a handy tool for the wine bottles.

Kenny


----------



## wareagle (Nov 3, 2007)

Very nice!  It looks like you have wood and metal in seperate areas.  That must be really nice!

The only problem that I see is that chair.  If I sat down in it, I may not get back up!   :lol:


----------



## cfellows (Nov 3, 2007)

Nice layout on the metal shop. What are the overall inside dimensions?

Chuck


----------



## lugnut (Nov 3, 2007)

Your right about the chair wareagle, and it appears the same has occurred with firebird,  Too much time in the chair and little making chips.  No chips on the floor or bench, what going on here, make some chips :lol:
Just kidding of course, 
firebird you do have a very nice, clean shop
Mel


----------



## Jack (Nov 3, 2007)

What a nice place to play, You obliviously don't make anything in there. That space is just way to clean or did the cleaning crew just leave before the photo shoot? LOL 
I looked and studied the pictures carefully and I couldn't find one single chip anywhere.

That is a place to be proud of. At least you have natural sunlight, I'm stuck in the basement and the entire house smells like cutting fluid.


----------



## ronm (Nov 3, 2007)

Very nice-I like the windows above the workbench-nothing like natural light...


----------



## firebird (Nov 18, 2007)

Hi 


With further reference to my chair I wrote a small article about it which has just been published in the December 2007 issue of Engineering In Miniature. A scan of the article is below. I made a comment in the article (if the scan is readable) about the motors that are built into the seat but they didn't print a picture of them so here's a photo. They are very powerful (4 in all) and easily capable of moving a 20 stone (280 lb) man. The drive from the motors is turned through 90 degrees and operates a heavy thread. A bit like a scissor jack. I have no Idea to what purpose I could put these motors but one day I might come up with a brainwave. They may be of use to you guys, who knows.

Cheers


----------



## firebird (Dec 27, 2007)

Hi

Here's a few photos of the construction which was completed around this time last year

Yours truly laying the floor





Raising the rear wall with the help of Julian






The framework






Cladding the outside with plastic






The inside clad with plywood






Cheers


----------



## alan2525 (Apr 14, 2008)

A lovely bright and clean workshop there! Lovely setup with the myford too. You even have little socket covers on the power outlets behind the lathe - but no swarf in sight? I liked your idea for the extension table for the little Axminster Bandsaw in the woodshop too.


----------



## firebird (Apr 17, 2008)

Hi Alan

There have been a few comments about the lack of swarf in my shop. The photos were taken very shortly after building the new shop and before I got down to making again. You should see it now!. As to the bandsaw yes it transformed it. I was doing a job that required a lot of large sheet work and the original 12 inch 12 inch table just wasn't big enough. The new one is 24 inch X 24 inch, 4 times the size. I also made a new fence and mitre to go with the bigger table.

Cheers


----------



## doubleboost (Apr 17, 2008)

Fred Dibnah.
dvd s now you are talking class
Regards
John


----------



## BobWarfield (Apr 17, 2008)

But, but, but, you got room for a lot more STUFF! (he sputtered)  

Very nice shop indeed.

Thank you for sharing!

Best,

BW


----------



## firebird (May 26, 2008)

Hi
I got room for A X3 mill. Needed to build a new bench and a new set of drawers for it go on. Having had the experience of DRO on my X1 mill the first thing I did to this was fit DRO to the X & Y axis. Working on fitting a stepper motor to drive the X axis. 











Cheers


----------



## DICKEYBIRD (May 26, 2008)

Beautiful shop there F/B! I really like the open look you get with all the windows. Do you have shades that can be pulled down? I'd be worried some crack-head would see all the beautiful tools and come back one night to pinch them. You do have crack-heads over there don'tcha? 

X-3's are great; I love mine! Did yours come with a gas strut to ease the load cranking the Z up & down? Mine didn't so I made a compound pulley/counterweight system and you can't tell you're cranking 80 lbs. or so up & down.

Cheers,
Milton


----------



## firebird (May 26, 2008)

Hi

Yes it does have the strut fitted. No shades yet cos the rear of our house is fully enclosed and inaccessable from the street.

Cheers


----------



## Cedge (May 27, 2008)

Dickeybird
You might like to know the new SX3 came with a 2:1 gearing on the Z axiz making the hand wheel job somewhat easier, even if it requires twice the turns. LMS has begun listing spare and replacement parts for these mills, although at the present time they have not been put "in stock". Looks like Chris is going to add support us too.

Steve


----------



## Brass_Machine (May 27, 2008)

FB... very nice. I like the view. Unfortunately the only view I have in the basement is of my neighbors driveway and at that height all I see is the tires.

That X3 looks nice. I do want one (after talking to Cedge on the phone) and will probably get one in a few months. What brand DRO is that? after having one on my X2 I don't think I could live without one.


Eric


----------



## firebird (May 27, 2008)

Hi

The scales and the DRO come from Arc Euro Trade as did the X3. Arc euro Trade is 5 minutes away from where I live and is like Alladdins cave for the home machinist. I went in to get some other bits and had a browse (as you do) and stopped and admired the X3. Ketan, the owner said I can do you a very good deal on that at the moment, £600.00! Permission was sought and gained from the senior management and home it came. Just got to get the holiday money put back now. The DRO are seperate units and have a magnetic back. A small plug on the end of the lead pushes into a socket on the scale. So if you have the scales fitted to your machines the DRO can be changed between machines. Have a look at their online catalogue at www.arceurotrade.co.uk Its a very useful site which includes a section on machine mods. I think he will ship world wide but you would have to send him an Email for costs.

Cheers


----------



## DICKEYBIRD (May 27, 2008)

Steve, the 2:1 X ratio is standard I think...my regular X-3 came with it anyway. It still gets to be a chore winding it up & down unassisted. That's why I added the counterweight.

Almost $2 to the pound now so that's $1200.00 for a regular X3....wonder why they're higher over there: the tax man?? Still a bargain for for a fine mill though.

They're $950.00 + $96.50 shipping at Grizzly over here on this side of the pond. They were on sale for a few months as low as $850.00 + shipping.

Word is that they're going up though due to skyrocketing fuel, iron & copper prices.


----------



## firebird (Sep 4, 2010)

Hi

When I built my new workshop around 4 years ago I tried not to skimp on anything. The roof is 18mm exterior ply supported on 4 x 2 beams every 2 feet. Good and strong, no problems there. The felt covering though has proved to be a problem. When I bought the felt at the local builders merchant I specified I wanted the best. He advised a base sheet and 4 rolls of heavy duty top sheet. Each roll was 10 mtrs long, around 32 feet. My workshop is 24 feet long so it meant cutting about 8 feet from each, bit of a waste, but I wanted to cover the roof with as few joints as possible. All was well till I went on to the roof a couple months back to clean the guttering and noticed little blisters all over it which had bubbled up and lost its green grit. I rang the merchant for some advise and was told "it sounds like heat blisters, only thing to do is recover the roof". Not with the C**P you sell I thought. Now my mate Julian did his workshop roof a year or so before me and he used felt shingles. As yet there is no sign of wear or damage to them so I thought that's the way I'll do mine. As I already have a base sheet and a top sheet that is still water proof I decided to lay the shingles straight on top which should give me a water tight roof that will hopefully see me out.

Here's a few photos of today's progress.

In this shot you can see I have laid the first few rows. The first row drops over into the guttering at the back. You can just see a string laid out as a guide line.





This is how the shingles are packed, 14 to a pack.





A shot from the other direction. Note an old piece of laminate floor I'm using to cut the shingles. They cut easily with a Stanley knife.





A clearer shot of how the shingles look when laid.





It will take a couple of days to finish, weather permitting. I'll post some more shots later.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## kustomkb (Oct 2, 2010)

Awesome shop Rich!

How did the "Lab" turn out?


----------



## firebird (Oct 3, 2010)

Hi Kev

It turned out great. My little sanctuary. The new roof shingles are now all on but I haven't had the opportunity to do the finishing trim etc. The weather keeps beating me most weekends.The main thing is the roof is on.

Cheers

Rich


----------

