Winter Blues........

[Dalee]

Hi,

Just a bit of whinging I guess.

The Grandma and I have moved to our final home, (we hope), somewhere a bit north of Frostbite Falls Mn, but just a bit south of our northern neighbors in Canada. And I'm 300 miles from my shop and tools. I have a Jan Ridder Flame Licker sitting on my workbench that needs fettling to run. I suspect I need to make a different piston and slide valve. Sometimes I sit here and wish I could go finish it.

Next spring I hope to pour a small slab and get a 10x12 foot shed set on it. And then get it wired, heated, and air conditioned. Then haul my machines up here and get them installed.

Until then I lurk here and enjoy the trials and tribulations and successes of everyone else. The level of work that gets done here is an incredible inspiration even when I can play along.

 

[Tim1974]

Hang in there buddy I’m shore you will get it all sorted

 

[bmac2]

Dalee, being 360 miles north of you I think I can relate a bit to your situation. The winter blues or cabin fever can set in hard but I think I’ve come up simple solution to your situation.

Step 1) Buy a winning Lottery ticket (It’s important that it’s a winning ticket)

Step 2) Get a Sherline or Taig lathe and mill (CNC optional)

Step 3) Custom suit case to fit it all in

The hard part might be Step 1 but hang in there only 6 month to go until summer

 

[Dalee]

Hi,

You are even farther from civilization then me bmac2.

Deer hunting is done for the year, I can do a bit grouse hunting, if the weather isn't too miserable. And the water is still too soft to walk on just yet.

But I get the itch to make chips and knowing I got a project that isn't finished bothers me. I will get over it, but it is still annoying.

 

[bmac2]

Oh I have to be careful. Mr Trudeau let us hunt but I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about it.

I find it funny how most of the people I’ve met that will only eat organic, locally produced, free range, etc. etc. meat are against hunting.

 

[Barnbikes]

Check with your local high school or college. They might have a night time machining class that is available. The high school by me has a class where you can test out on a machine and then are pretty much free to play.

 

[Rocket]

Hi Dalee, While you are going to build that new shop with all the bells and whistles, think about making it more like 12x16! You'll be glad you did later. It's strange how we always fill every inch of space that we have and wish for more. Cheers

 

[Dalee]

Hi,

Oh I have to be careful. Mr Trudeau let us hunt but I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about it.

Over the years I've found that making a kill is less important than the hunt itself. I still enjoy taking some game to eat because I enjoy the eating a lot. But it's the time spent outdoors and watching the joy my dogs get from hunting and the successful conclusion. Once a hunter, always a hunter. Never be ashamed of it.

Check with your local high school or college. They might have a night time machining class that is available. The high school by me has a class where you can test out on a machine and then are pretty much free to play.

No local school has anything like that. The nearest collage is 50 miles away and I doubt they offer anything. Living in the woods is nice - until you need something.

Hi Dalee, While you are going to build that new shop with all the bells and whistles, think about making it more like 12x16! You'll be glad you did later. It's strange how we always fill every inch of space that we have and wish for more. Cheers

As much as I might want to build something bigger, the idea is to prevent "filling" all that extra space! I've reached a point where pairing things down to lessen the clutter in my life is becoming more important than adding to it.

 

[RM-MN]

Hi,

Just a bit of whinging I guess.

The Grandma and I have moved to our final home, (we hope), somewhere a bit north of Frostbite Falls Mn, but just a bit south of our northern neighbors in Canada. And I'm 300 miles from my shop and tools. I have a Jan Ridder Flame Licker sitting on my workbench that needs fettling to run. I suspect I need to make a different piston and slide valve. Sometimes I sit here and wish I could go finish it.

Next spring I hope to pour a small slab and get a 10x12 foot shed set on it. And then get it wired, heated, and air conditioned. Then haul my machines up here and get them installed.

Until then I lurk here and enjoy the trials and tribulations and successes of everyone else. The level of work that gets done here is an incredible inspiration even when I can play along.

If you change those units to meters instead of feet you will have room to turn around.

 

[BP_1]

Hi,

Just a bit of whinging I guess.

The Grandma and I have moved to our final home, (we hope), somewhere a bit north of Frostbite Falls Mn, but just a bit south of our northern neighbors in Canada. And I'm 300 miles from my shop and tools. I have a Jan Ridder Flame Licker sitting on my workbench that needs fettling to run. I suspect I need to make a different piston and slide valve. Sometimes I sit here and wish I could go finish it.

Next spring I hope to pour a small slab and get a 10x12 foot shed set on it. And then get it wired, heated, and air conditioned. Then haul my machines up here and get them installed.

Until then I lurk here and enjoy the trials and tribulations and successes of everyone else. The level of work that gets done here is an incredible inspiration even when I can play along.

Hey Dalee,
Kinda in the same boat myself, in the middle of a 1/4 scale Merlin build I decided to retire and move across the country to the east coast, while I do have all my equipment here, and I have a great 26’x45’ building to setup in, it has a dirt floor right now, and I have to wait until spring to resolve the issue. Leaves lots of time for both planning, and banking credits on the honey do list.
Good luck on your project, it’s exciting!!

 

[CFLBob]

When I built my retirement "dream shop" we had contractors out to do estimates and were just talking about something roughly the size of a two car garage. That's still pretty big - I think it was 22x20. After a while, we asked, "how much more to make it as big as we can legally put on this lot?" The price per square foot goes down as square footage goes up and while the details are have faded from memory in the 5 years since then, the cost dropped quite a lot. We made it 22 x 35.

My plan was to retire by now, but was given an offer I couldn't refuse by the employer and retired three years ago.