I started building my shop in the basement of our new house in 1994. The house purchase came w/ an architect, & I had a stairway built into the basement from the garage w/ a 40" wide door.
At that time I purchased a near new Smithy CB1220 lathe/mill/drill from a retired gentleman in Littleton w/ a work bench, tooling & a lot of metals for $2,000. Looking back, it was a considerable amount of $$ for the Smithy.
Over the years I practiced & practiced became a crude hobby machinist.
In 2003 I purchased a new Lincoln Square Wave TIG PRO welder for $1350 & taught myself to become A passable welder & TIG welder on aluminum. The TIG welder is in my garage w/ adequate ventilation.
In In 2015 I started to get serious about upgrading & snagged a new Rong FU ( Central Machinery 8x29 milling machine) for $500 w/ a 20 piece set of end mills.
I was finally on my way! All these years I hesitated to buy tooling for the Smithy & now I had an excuse to step up.
In December 2016, I decided to sell the Smithy( sold for $750) & buy new South Bend (Grizzly) 10K- 28" lathe. I had been watching the price on this lathe for a quite a while & purchased it for $3095. Since then I have purchased a Shars drill chuck, live center, boring bar kit & some additional measuring instruments.
I purchased IGaging DROs for the X,Y & Z axes of the Mill, & X & Y axes of the lathe. After lots of practice & a huge amount of help from this site & you-tube I am now turning into a C+ level hobby machinist.
My workshop is modest space under the study in our cluster home. Here are some pics.
I want to continue learning & eventually give back to all of you in the community!!
At that time I purchased a near new Smithy CB1220 lathe/mill/drill from a retired gentleman in Littleton w/ a work bench, tooling & a lot of metals for $2,000. Looking back, it was a considerable amount of $$ for the Smithy.
Over the years I practiced & practiced became a crude hobby machinist.
In 2003 I purchased a new Lincoln Square Wave TIG PRO welder for $1350 & taught myself to become A passable welder & TIG welder on aluminum. The TIG welder is in my garage w/ adequate ventilation.
In In 2015 I started to get serious about upgrading & snagged a new Rong FU ( Central Machinery 8x29 milling machine) for $500 w/ a 20 piece set of end mills.
I was finally on my way! All these years I hesitated to buy tooling for the Smithy & now I had an excuse to step up.
In December 2016, I decided to sell the Smithy( sold for $750) & buy new South Bend (Grizzly) 10K- 28" lathe. I had been watching the price on this lathe for a quite a while & purchased it for $3095. Since then I have purchased a Shars drill chuck, live center, boring bar kit & some additional measuring instruments.
I purchased IGaging DROs for the X,Y & Z axes of the Mill, & X & Y axes of the lathe. After lots of practice & a huge amount of help from this site & you-tube I am now turning into a C+ level hobby machinist.
My workshop is modest space under the study in our cluster home. Here are some pics.
I want to continue learning & eventually give back to all of you in the community!!