My work-in-progress workshop.

GreatOldOne

R'lyeh Engineering Works
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I'm still in the process of putting my workshop together, so I thought I'd start a thread rather than continually post in the sticky thread.

Pauline, my ever understanding wife, signed off on the idea of a workshop in the garden - on the proviso it wasn't too big and took up too much room. There was a couple of shrubs in one corner of the garden she'd never been too keen on, so I took them out. The space it gave informed the max. foot print of the workshop.

I went for a wooden shed - mainly as they're inexpensive, and quick to put up. Plus in the UK, you don't need planning permission for them as they are deemed to be 'temporary structures'

I put down a beefy wooden frame as the base. It's 100 x 500mm (2 x 4s) pressure treated beams bolted to metal levelling feet, sat on dense concrete blocks set into the ground or the existing paving where the base extends over it:

shedbase1.jpg

There's 9 feet in all - 1 at each corner, 1 in the middle and another 4 half way along each long span. I put some extra cross beams in with joist hangers (the company that supplies the feet suggest this to ensure less bounce in any floor).

shedbase3.jpg

The black cloth is just there to suppress any weeds.

After levelling it all up, it was just a matter of waiting for the shed to arrive. It didn't take very long to put up. The two guys who delivered it had up on the base in about 1/2 an hour.

WorkShop1.jpg

It's 8' x 8', with a stable door and thicker than normal wood siding.

WorkShop3.jpg

As I plan on using the workshop all year round, insulation was next. I used 25mm solid insulation boards between the studs, with them sat flush to the inner stud surface & away from the outer wall skin to leave an air gap.

Workshop%20Insulation%201.jpg

The door was also insulated, and then I then boarded out the inside with 9mm OSB. The roof was insulated after the two gable ends had been boarded, and it also got skinned with OSB.

Workshop%20Insulation%203.jpg

All the internal boarding was painted with white kitchen / bathroom paint so it reflects light, and is grease resistant to a certain degree. After I got all that done, Christmas got in the way - so I left it during the festive period... But started looking for electricians to hook it up to the house electrics.

The local electrician I got in the new year did a very tidy job. He ran armoured cable from the house consumer unit out to the workshop, and then installed a small consumer unit in there to feed the sockets and the light. He put in 6 metal clad double sockets and 5' high frequency strip light, and ran conduit between the lot of them:

Shed_Electrics1.jpg

Shed_Electrics3.jpg

Shed_Electrics2.jpg

Continued in next post...
 
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The shed floor was your normal tongue and groove job - so I laid an extra layer over the top of it. I used waterproof flooring panels that are more normally used in houses:

Extra_Floor_Boards.jpg

I then laid some heavy duty vinyl flooring that my Wife found at Costco - it's supposed to be for garage floors, is very thick and weighs a ton. It's not to easy to cut either! But it'll make cleaning up easier - we'll just have to see how it copes with swarf. :)

Floorcovering1.jpg

Floorcovering2.jpg

With the flooring down, I needed to think about workbenches. I did think about building my own out of timber or welding some frames up myself... But saw an advert for some nice looking tables on eBay of all places. They mentioned they could do custom sizes, so I measured up, rang them and ordered two - one for the back gable wall, and one to go opposite the window in the gap left between the other table and the wall with the door in it.

I also asked them to weld some nuts into the legs so I could put some adjustable feet in to ensure I can level them up. The floor should be level... But no harm having them.

They arrived, and they just bolt together:

Millbench.jpg

workbench.jpg

The larger of the two will be where my mill sits. It has two additional supports bolted in place in the centre of the bench, spaced as to pick up the bolt holes of the mill base.

The company that makes the benches doesn't supply the tops, so it's down to personal preference what you put on them. They suggest 18mm MDF, or steel plate for hot work if you're doing any. I went for 18mm marine plywood and then bonded a .7mm stainless steel sheet on top:

worktop1.jpg

Wipe clean, oil and cutting fluid resistant - and if my mate is to be believed, could be used as a make shift morgue. ;)

completemillbench.jpg

Then it was time to start moving machines in.

I'd bought a used Axminster lathe with stand (A rebadged Sieg SC4) and a second hand Axminster Mill Drill (A Rong Fu RF25 clone) last year. I decided to put the mill in first, mainly as it's been sat at the back of my garage and had been getting in the way of doing any maintenance on my Marlin Sportster kit-car.

So I asked my friend to give me a hand, and we managed to get it in:

millinstall1.jpg

millinstall2.jpg

That's as far as I've got. Now I need to call in another favour at the weekend to get the lathe installed under the window.

Cheers,

Jason
 
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Cute little shop, if it were me I'd live in there and turn the house into shop space, but I guess you want to stay married:lmao:
 
Yeah - staying married would be a bonus. I can't see her taking to having a bridgeport in the dining room. ;)
 
Nice shop! I especially like the benches. E-Bay you say? I need to take a look.
 
Shipping to the states might be a bit much though... But these are the benches:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/workshop-...ies_Carpentry_Woodwork_ET&hash=item4ac1259298

Cheers,

Jason

Looks great now comes the fun part working in the nice new shop. I didn't notice any air lines, I'm sure the UK is different from where I live so I'll just give you an idea. When I did my shops I put 110v,220v 1ph, 220v 3ph, and air fittings about every 5-6' this gave me room to grow and I could move machines and still be with in reach for all utilities. I found it cost $1 a box to add an outlet as I was building rather than doing it later. My phase converter is mounted next to my electric panel and I can plug in the static converter or the 10hp rotary converter so everything is easy to use. but you think with two 16' x 24' rooms it would be big enough but it is not.
Enjoy your shop that's what its all about!!

Todd
 
Thanks for the advice - but all standard electrical outlets in the UK are 240v. :)

As for three phase, it might be a little overkill for such a small workshop (don't forget, I've only got 8' x 8'). Everything I have so far is single phase, and, if i do get anything 3 phase I may as well stick it in a VFD rather than go to the trouble (and expense) of getting the electricity supplier to put it in.
 
Well, I've got my lathe in now, and tidied up a bit.

latheinworkshop.jpg

I've wired my machine light (an LED gooseneck lamp from IKEA - bright, easily pointed at the work and CHEAP!) into the outlet on the back of the lathe.

lathelightmod.jpg

I believe that this was here to plug the optional milling head into - but now it provides me with light that comes on and off as you turn the lathe on. I can also plug another in should I want more light later.

I've started collecting parts for a power feed for the mill - A 24v gear motor and a 24v 5 amp DC PSU:

millpowerfeedparts.jpg

The motor is 150rpm, has 55Kg.cm of torque (48 lb. in, 5.4Nm) and pulls a max of 3.8 amps. I'm waiting on the 6amp speed controller I've ordered. Once I get that, I'm going to put it together in much the same way as this chap has on his RF25:

http://www.liming.org/rfmill/powerfeed.html

And once I get my birthday presents (DTIs, end mills, collets etc), I can tram the head and fit the DRO. You can see one of the scales standing up in the corner.

Anyway. Fun times ahead! :)

latheandmill.jpg
 
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