Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Now that I have 2 engines and have some WIP’s, I thought I’d share my first steam “corner” / basic work bench.  It’s nothing like some of ya’ll have… but it’s a start.   Basic little tools and a corner for me to blow off some steam. Ha!  Feel free to share yours.

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Panoramic* View of My Work Area

*In 6 pictures

My work area is basically a hobby/machine shop. For making formal videos, I simply lay a bath towel over my (disgusting) bench top, and place a 2'x5' piece of tempered hardboard as a neutral backdrop.

First picture shows my main work area, consisting of workbench made from random pieces of 2x4's and plywood top. From left to right: Wilton bench vise, Grizzly tool chest, jars of various solvents (some resembling urine specimens), parts storage drawers, miscellaneous this-and-that on shelf above, oxy-acetylene outfit and petrified Sackrete bags below. On the right is a 2-ton arbor press:

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Second picture, left to right: South Bend drill press, Gerstner tool chest, S & D drills, manetizer/demagnetizer, surface plate, misc. round stock, and world's crappiest bench grinder:

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Third picture, 1947 South Bend 9A bench lathe, Grizzly G0619 bench mill:

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Fourth picture, Baldor grinder pedestal (for Baldor grinder, being upgraded), another shot of Grizzly mill, Grizzly 14" bandsaw:

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Fifth picture, brooms, Tormek sharpening station, Delta wood lathe parts, Skat-Blast abrasive media blast cabinet:

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Sixth picture, Enco cut-off bandsaw, Jet combination 4x6 belt & 12" disk sander, 1948 Whizzer engine (restored), Paragon heat-treat furnace (below), which brings us back to the workbench:

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(No, I don't have a pump well in the middle of my shop! It's being restored to go in the yard.)

Not shown: South Bend shaper, Miller 211 wire welder, Quincy 5hp air compressor

Paula

Great shop Paula! You have almost everything a model engineer could ask for.

I recognize that lathe! Your MLA T-Slot cross slide build from long ago was very helpfully when I machined one for my SB 10K last summer.  It's a very useful addition to the lathe and I've only started to unlock the new features (line boring).  Looks like your old South Bend his holding up well.

I almost had a nice 6x48 belt sander a few weeks ago, not as nice that Jet but a Delta that was still domestic and had the nice cast iron tables. Talked to the guy on the phone and it was still there, arrived at his house and found out he had two Delta sanders and he though I wanted the oscillating sander.   Ahh well, at least he was only 10 mins away.  As you know, the heavy sanders are nicer than grinders for grinding tool bits and such.

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Holy MACKEREL! 

Great shop Paula! You have almost everything a model engineer could ask for.

I recognize that lathe! Your MLA T-Slot cross slide build from long ago was very helpfully when I machined one for my SB 10K last summer.  It's a very useful addition to the lathe and I've only started to unlock the new features (line boring).  Looks like your old South Bend his holding up well.

Thanks! Congrats on machining your own cross slide. You are quite right, it opens up a lot of possibilities for machining parts on the lathe that do not work so well on the mill. I wouldn't be without it now. Yes the old South Bend has held up very well. I've had it for almost twenty years now.

I almost had a nice 6x48 belt sander a few weeks ago, not as nice that Jet but a Delta that was still domestic and had the nice cast iron tables. Talked to the guy on the phone and it was still there, arrived at his house and found out he had two Delta sanders and he though I wanted the oscillating sander.   Ahh well, at least he was only 10 mins away.  As you know, the heavy sanders are nicer than grinders for grinding tool bits and such.

Bummer! I used to have Delta 31-730 (combination 6x48 belt & 12" disc) sander. It was a nice tool, but I sold it a long time ago when I moved. It was purchased around 1990, when Delta machines were still pretty well made. Not long after, they started a long, slow decline in quality. The Jet turned out to be much better quality than the Delta machine. You can read my Amazon review at:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3AJBKP0ID8PF?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp

Hope you can find a nice one for your shop. Thanks for the comments!

Paula

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I can only repeat what rails4ever said: HOLY MACKEREL! [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Paula

(PS, hope you've disabled that garage door opener!)

Well my "shop" is really quite a bit larger than the photo shows, as that is just my workbench "nook". About eight feet to the right, out of the picture, is my Grizzly G0704 mill, that I have added a three axis DRO to and about ten feet to the right and essentially behind me is another tight little nook where my Atlas 618 lives. All the rest of the space in the "shop" is shelving, and a large free-standing pantry, with lots of stacks of boxes wherever they can be stacked!

The wall immediately behind me taking the workbench photo looks like this .... when the boxes are moved out of the way:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/STWWW%202013/.highres/IMG_9576_zpsbcd8a623.jpg

Then here is my Atlas 618 from several years ago, as I was completing installation of a cheapy, sorta Z-Axis DRO:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/Around%20Home/.highres/IMG_7723_zps3jn4g8ef.jpg

Here is a brand new (now 8 yrs old), just unloaded and assembled little milling machine, pre-DRO. It actually ended up about two feet to the left and rotated CCW 45 degrees:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/Around%20Home/.highres/IMG_3456_zps9bsemxne.jpg