Shop Reconfiguration

I got brave (or stupid) today and decided that I was tired of waiting for the piece leaning precariously over where I want my front forging porch to go to fall, so I got out the saw and the little work stand, climbed up and had at it. Once it started going, I ran like hell (well, I looked like hell as I ran anyway :) ). Was able to throw it further away from the shed than I had imagined. Forging porch floor forming and concrete work starting a few months early now.
Do you ever really finish a shop?
Felled Tree Reduced.jpg
 
Indeed, and that is the plan Stacy, I wanted to work up the first half before felling the other section. That section will take out a portion of the wife's flower garden and shrubs and the negotiations have been dicey :). The issue was resolved late last night involving a planned trip to HF with a super coupon in hand.
 
Trip made to HF (the website, anyway), with coupon in hand, should be seeing a mini mill soon to help fill up the new bench space.
Now to figure out how to use the thing.
 
Started putting together a materials list for the addition today. The slab will come out from the shop 10' and be 17' wide, centered on the front of the shop. This will be the basic proposed shape for the addition once the slab is poured and sets up. Slab will be 6" deep concrete with two 3'x3'x12" deep sections for the anvil and small power hammer. Everything subject to change, of course.Shop Addition.jpg
 
Fed Ex just delivered. I envision a day of cleaning all the synta snot off the mill. Is there a "Milling For Dummies" book out there?
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When I got mine, I took the ways off and cleaned all that reddish gunk out and relubricated it. It didn’t take very long, plus you’ll be able to tighten the ways more accurately than the factory did. I love my mini mill, I wish I had a Bridgeport of course, but the mini mill gets a lot done.

I can’t remember if I found the instructions on another website (the practical machinist) or YouTube, but the information is out there.
 
nice acquisition ! i have a small grizzly g0781. it seemed like an expensive tool for what it does, but all the hours it has saved me filing guard slots over the years has made it very economical and i should have bought one sooner.
 
Josh Rider said:
When I got mine, I took the ways off and cleaned all that reddish gunk out and relubricated it. It didn’t take very long, plus you’ll be able to tighten the ways more accurately than the factory did. I love my mini mill, I wish I had a Bridgeport of course, but the mini mill gets a lot done.

I can’t remember if I found the instructions on another website (the practical machinist) or YouTube, but the information is out there.
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I found a nice, downloadable PDF file on the LMS site detailing cleaning, set up, tramming and squaring it up. Just what I needed!
 
john april said:
nice acquisition ! i have a small grizzly g0781. it seemed like an expensive tool for what it does, but all the hours it has saved me filing guard slots over the years has made it very economical and i should have bought one sooner.
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It really sucks to work on a bolster or guard by hand and end up opening it up just a little too much to save the piece. I'm hoping this will alleviate those type of problems.

Now I'm trying to figure out which tooling and accessories are needed to get me started with it. The list is up around $300 right now and I'm still adding to it.
 
Looking at that mini mill, I am wondering why an xy vice on a drill press wouldn't work. Just simply not as stable and precise? Is it because drill presses are not made for sideways pressure?
 
The barefoot boy said:
Looking at that mini mill, I am wondering why an xy vice on a drill press wouldn't work. Just simply not as stable and precise? Is it because drill presses are not made for sideways pressure?
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Basing my response on what I have read from other's with experience with mills, that is correct.
 
for guards a 3" vise from shars should suit you well, about $70.(unless you want real precision stuff, like a kurt vise) a set of parallels to seat the guard flat in the vise. go undersized with the end mill because they can wander when plunge cutting. i use an 11/64" end mill for 3/16" thick knives. it leaves some thickness on each side to to bring to final tolerance.
 
yep take that mill apart cleanit well and ajust al the gibs and tram it. i have a 3 inch import "kurt style " vice on mine down the road look into the belt conversion as you gain some speed and drop the gear noise. you really dont need a ful set of collets but a set that gors to 1/2 inch will be handy (i hardly use the larger ones in my set) the hold down clamps are hardly used but boy o boy when you need them there is no real good way to setup without it

as to the shop yours is smaller then mine but the butchers curtian to seporate the really dirty stuff from the not quite as dirty is so nice
 
DanF,
One thing I do is use a lot of individual smaller Bright lights like Magnetic Base or clamp on so I can put the light beam on exzactly what i want to light up! The Platen, An area i do Epoxy work & assemble my handles etc..

Things change and get moved around and that way I'm less dependent on over head fixtures.

Great looking Shop building!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Best of luck too you!
 
IMG_20180119_120812.jpg One more piece to put in place, my GRS ball vise just arrived.
Thinking I might get another 10x20 building and attach the two. That would give me a place for "dirty" work and a place for the other stuff.
 
IMG_20180124_160446.jpg
I think this is all I am going to put on this bench, this should leave me a bit of room in the middle for whatever I'm doing on the ends. I have eight clear plastic containers underneath (much like Currenthill uses in his shop pics, thanks for that idea @currenthill!). I installed the belt drive on the mill, much quieter than the gears were for sure. Played with the flycutter this morning, wish I'd thought to buy one of these years ago. Checked the mill for tram, couldn't have asked for it to be any better out of the box, no more than .0001 out in any direction over the entire table. Not much left to do inside until I'm ready for the next phase.
Maybe now I can get back to making knives.
 
DanF said:
View attachment 795838 Found some 4' led low profile lights at big box, along with a pre-made bench-in-a-box (my rotator cuff tear and arthritis is thanking me for not trying to wrestle with full sheets of plywood by myself). I'll reinforce the workbench in the middle with an extra set of legs and a stiffener running across the length at the bottom.

I'm temporarily placing things to see how the work will flow before screwing things down. As it it placed now, I can grind on the bench up to 16" long and the KMG is positioned to do whatever length I want.

I have one more bench to place and 5 more 4' lights. Looking for a mini mill now, I see that LMS has a model similar to the HD and grizzly mini mill for a good bit less. Anyone have any experience with it?
Thanks
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Just curious, I just bought a 2X72 to replace my 1x30. I just didn't like working with the 1x30 and always resorted back to a file jig for finish work. I'm just wondering what use you have for the 1x30 and why you keep it?
 
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