It's been a long time coming but I'm only a few jobs away from having a workable metal shop again!
The big job over the last week has been building support pillars for the lathe and getting it lifted into place and trued up. I went with cinder blocks filled with gravel on the lower courses and filled with concrete with mounting studs set into the mix for the top course and a half.
I hate to admit this but this is the first time in the 25'ish years I've owned this lathe where I've had a good base for it. Up to know I lived with the cheezy light gauge sheet metal cabinet supports. They never did hold the lathe with any degree of stiffness. And even with some riser blocks it was always a case of bending over to see and run the machine.
But it's solid and trued to a "T" now.
Along with the lathe you can see pictures of the machine island with the drill press, vise and mill/drill. And a shot of the messy bench area that needs to be finished off next. This shot was taken a few days earlier and the lathe is still on blocks while the concrete cures fully. It was cold enough that it was three days before I couldn't scratch it with a finger nail. I gave it a couple more after that point before dropping the lathe onto the studs and jacking nuts
The top is going to be plastic "puck board". It's the same UHMW PVC used for the side boards in hockey rinks. I've got to heat it up and bend it to act as a back splash and front lip. The test piece worked like a charm. But I need to make up an 8 foot clamping jig before I can do the big pieces for the tops. I was going to go with sheet metal like I did with the machine island but I realized how cold it would be on my hands in the winter so I'm going with the plastic idea.
You can also see the metal rack and grinding bench I welded up and installed about two weeks ago. And if you peek into the far end you can see the new Tweco 3in1 welder that is replacing the old Miller buzz box. And I've got the TIG tank and torch to go with it! Should be nice for doing those pesky little gun repairs like building up parts and filling old screw holes.
The big red thing is the motorcycle lift that is doubling as a welding table. I need to strip the paint off the top sometime soon.
The last few things are mostly mundane stuff related to modifying some storage shelves to let me park the rolling machines under the upper areas and cleaning up.
The big job over the last week has been building support pillars for the lathe and getting it lifted into place and trued up. I went with cinder blocks filled with gravel on the lower courses and filled with concrete with mounting studs set into the mix for the top course and a half.
I hate to admit this but this is the first time in the 25'ish years I've owned this lathe where I've had a good base for it. Up to know I lived with the cheezy light gauge sheet metal cabinet supports. They never did hold the lathe with any degree of stiffness. And even with some riser blocks it was always a case of bending over to see and run the machine.
But it's solid and trued to a "T" now.
Along with the lathe you can see pictures of the machine island with the drill press, vise and mill/drill. And a shot of the messy bench area that needs to be finished off next. This shot was taken a few days earlier and the lathe is still on blocks while the concrete cures fully. It was cold enough that it was three days before I couldn't scratch it with a finger nail. I gave it a couple more after that point before dropping the lathe onto the studs and jacking nuts
The top is going to be plastic "puck board". It's the same UHMW PVC used for the side boards in hockey rinks. I've got to heat it up and bend it to act as a back splash and front lip. The test piece worked like a charm. But I need to make up an 8 foot clamping jig before I can do the big pieces for the tops. I was going to go with sheet metal like I did with the machine island but I realized how cold it would be on my hands in the winter so I'm going with the plastic idea.
You can also see the metal rack and grinding bench I welded up and installed about two weeks ago. And if you peek into the far end you can see the new Tweco 3in1 welder that is replacing the old Miller buzz box. And I've got the TIG tank and torch to go with it! Should be nice for doing those pesky little gun repairs like building up parts and filling old screw holes.
The big red thing is the motorcycle lift that is doubling as a welding table. I need to strip the paint off the top sometime soon.
The last few things are mostly mundane stuff related to modifying some storage shelves to let me park the rolling machines under the upper areas and cleaning up.
Tweco from the recent KMS sale? They look like nice units.
