PM-1660TL

Side track here...
My brothers wanted me to go Elk hunting in Colorado maybe 8 years ago or so. I had enough preference points to go wherever I wanted. It was going to be about$6000 but I did not want to spend the money. Figured I could spend that money on tools or something "tangible". My one brother died 3 years from brain cancer. I deeply regret not going on that elk hunt with them.
 
I know a lot of guys who take their families on vacation every year, and they have very few tools. However, maybe they don’t want tools.

I am sure that if I found myself traipsing around Europe, I would wish that I were home on a machine.

For years, I have been saying no to even rudimentary purchases (e.g. a vehicle) so that I could buy tools. However, we are taking my granddaughter to Disneyland in the Spring.

I always ask my wife & youngest son if they want to go out in the garage and have some fun, but they are not interested.

I live with two of my grandsons, and sometimes they say yes, and those have been some of my best days. I taught one to TIG on titanium, and the other to gas weld and braze on mild steel.
 
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Last year I started putting new lights in the basement, when I opened up the 42 circuit panel I found that the electrician had saved himself $20 by putting in a panel with a 32 circuit bus. His sticker from 20 years ago was on the panel, I really wanted to call to thank him for the surprise... The panel was also only 100A, I guess I should be thankful that he was forced to use a 200A utility meter by our electrical company.

Consequently, my project for last year was to install a 200A sub panel. If I really need more capacity I’ve set the new panel up so it can become the main panel, and the 100A will become the sub-panel. Based on the maximum consumption the electrical company has recorded, I think I have enough remaining capacity for when I connect my new lathe this winter.
 
I am sure that if I found myself traipsing around Europe, I would wish that I were home on a machine...
For years, I have been saying no to even rudimentary purchases (e.g. a vehicle) so that I could buy tools...
I live with two of my grandsons, and sometimes they say yes, and those have been some of my best days.
The happiest I’ve ever been in my life is when I’ve had memorable experiences. Making things I’m proud of, going somewhere unusual for holidays, spending quality time with family or friends, doing things which are enjoyable for both my wife and I.

I like to remind myself that for everything I gain, there is something I will lose- life is full of difficult choices.

What I don’t enjoy is being asked to participate in things that bring me no joy, even though they are enjoyable to others- I’ve yet to understand why I’m supposed to do this, apparently it’s in the fine print of the marriage certificate...LOL.
 
It is embarrassing to post this hand drawn layout, but here it is if anybody wants to critique the layout. It is to scale.

The street is at the top of the diagram. I did not show the water heaters that are in the lower right hand corner.

I wonder what is a good width for a walkway. Also, how much room would a big guy need to work between 2 machines?

The welding table is on casters. I don’t want to put any machine tools on casters.

I have 9 carts (which includes the rotary phase converter (marked AMP on the drawing)), so there are 7 carts not shown on the drawing.

The blank “lane” on the right is a lane for parking welding carts.
View attachment 329398

I think you will be ok with 36" aisles, I doubt that the center walkway of my shop is more than 36" with machines on both sides. As I recall you have a door on the left side near the area marked bicycle repair, and you've left a walkway for the big door so you can get long stock into the garage.

Don't forget to account for access to comfortably operate the tail stock on the 10x30. Also think about room to run stock through the head of the 16x60. I assume the AMP cart is low enough not to interfere with stock sticking out, so you have 2-3 feet which is probably plenty of room.

Personally I would have the mill facing out (towards the left side of the drawing. That gives you a nice open area to work and by moving the table to its extreme range of travel can add space to either side as well as giving you some room for stock longer than the table. This is what I have to do to get access to the sides and back of my mill. This would also give you some room on either side if you were working on something longer than the table, or offset to one side with an overhang.
It looks like that location also gives you a little room for expansion if you ever outgrow the PM25. My mill has an overhang at the back for the motor, so I placed some low shelves behind it for small metal stock, which uses that otherwise wasted space.

Probably an in the future change, but you can get more space by going to tankless water heaters. I have had one since 2012 and we love it. It takes up no space as we mounted it on an exterior wall, but even if you stick with the same location, they are much smaller than traditional tanked water heaters and can be mounted high on the wall opening up floor space. I don't recall the size of yours but assuming 40-50 gallon with the number of people in your house, you would probably gain 6 feet or more of floor space. Water heaters don't last forever so maybe something to think about when it is time for replacement.
 
I think you will be ok with 36" aisles, I doubt that the center walkway of my shop is more than 36" with machines on both sides. As I recall you have a door on the left side near the area marked bicycle repair, and you've left a walkway for the big door so you can get long stock into the garage.

Don't forget to account for access to comfortably operate the tail stock on the 10x30. Also think about room to run stock through the head of the 16x60. I assume the AMP cart is low enough not to interfere with stock sticking out, so you have 2-3 feet which is probably plenty of room.

Personally I would have the mill facing out (towards the left side of the drawing. That gives you a nice open area to work and by moving the table to its extreme range of travel can add space to either side as well as giving you some room for stock longer than the table. This is what I have to do to get access to the sides and back of my mill. This would also give you some room on either side if you were working on something longer than the table, or offset to one side with an overhang.
It looks like that location also gives you a little room for expansion if you ever outgrow the PM25. My mill has an overhang at the back for the motor, so I placed some low shelves behind it for small metal stock, which uses that otherwise wasted space.

Probably an in the future change, but you can get more space by going to tankless water heaters. I have had one since 2012 and we love it. It takes up no space as we mounted it on an exterior wall, but even if you stick with the same location, they are much smaller than traditional tanked water heaters and can be mounted high on the wall opening up floor space. I don't recall the size of yours but assuming 40-50 gallon with the number of people in your house, you would probably gain 6 feet or more of floor space. Water heaters don't last forever so maybe something to think about when it is time for replacement.

Great timing because I am doing all of this today & tomorrow.

I will rotate the mill based on your counsel. I am also going to push it up against the wall. I will use the fact that the table on the mill can move 9” in either direction to my advantage.

The entire center of the workshop will be kept clear for when I work on something huge (I have a 12’ X 5” steel gate on the project list).

I am allocating one 33% strip parallel to the street for each of (1) machining, (2) welding, and (3) bike repair. The bicycle repair strip has the water heaters covered with bike stuff as seen below:
image.jpg
 
What I don’t enjoy is being asked to participate in things that bring me no joy, even though they are enjoyable to others- I’ve yet to understand why I’m supposed to do this, apparently it’s in the fine print of the marriage certificate...LOL.

While the wife and I will compromise for each other to a degree, if I really don't want to do something, I don't. And I could care less what other people think about this. My wife knows I'm not much of a people person, so she gives me a fair amount of latitude regarding some things. ;)

Back on topic: I really like the peg board idea. Very cool! :)
 
Great timing because I am doing all of this today & tomorrow.

I will rotate the mill based on your counsel. I am also going to push it up against the wall. I will use the fact that the table on the mill can move 9” in either direction to my advantage.

The entire center of the workshop will be kept clear for when I work on something huge (I have a 12’ X 5” steel gate on the project list).

I am allocating one 33% strip parallel to the street for each of (1) machining, (2) welding, and (3) bike repair. The bicycle repair strip has the water heaters covered with bike stuff as seen below:
View attachment 329476

So that is why I didn't remember seeing the water heaters, clever.

I measured and my main walkway is actually 4 feet wide, 5 feet in a few spots but I have 4x4" support posts running down the center of that, so in places there is only 24-30". So 36" might be a little tight, but I measured that off of some of my machines and I think it is still a functional amount of room to work. It looks like you will have plenty of room for working on the 16x60".

This is how I have my vertical mill set up, the 8520 is a 6x24" mill, so it is very similar in size to the PM25, just arranged differently having a knee go up and down instead of the head. The space needed for the table travel leaves open space below. The red Milwaukee boxes and grey tote are tooling for the horizontal mill just to the left. I'm going to build a cart for them, but they will live there in otherwise wasted space. The speaker is just hanging out, it will be mounted above. Anyway you can see how it is tucked in there as tight as I can, then moving the table left or right gives me access to either side or to get behind it. The ram on my mill moves in and out and side to side, so I need room behind it. With the motor on top, and no ram I don't think you have that concern with the PM25, so can probably put it pretty close to the wall. Moving the table all the way over would also give you a few more inches when using your PM1030.

mill.jpg
 
This is what I came up with for now. I am happy with everything on it except the placement of the mill and small lathe.

I think I’m going to change it and put the small lathe against the wall next to the mill.
image.jpg
 
I like this better. I moved the small lathe & mill against the wall.

This drawing is to scale.

image.jpg
 
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