Shop Totally rearranged the shop... and moved every last piece of equipment

[TorontoBuilder]

When we first brought our equipment into my brother's garage the task was just to get things moved. We always planned to reorganize at our leisure during a warm season. The we added the Bridgeport. The swapped out one lathe for another... so finally before moving in new lathe on Monday I said lets change things up and optimize our space.

So the hydraulic surface grinder got lifted, spun 90 degrees and moved back so that it now sits in one of the two garage door opening just forward enough to allow the roll up door to open. The surface grinder used to sit facing the lathe so that the two machines took up the space closest to the door with a aisle between them... now the surface grinder will still face the lathe, but the lathe will sit along the back wall of the garage so there is 15 feet between the two machines. The Mill now slid down the outside wall towards the garage door, basically in the middle of the garage wall. This leaves space on either side for storage cabinets to be installed, and now the whole central space is open.

One thing is clear though... overhead doors suck because the track is always in the way of gantry crane. Next shop will have different style doors.

The other half of the garage has tool chests and welding table and stays open to allow brother to work on cars

 

[trlvn]

No pictures...didn't happen!




Craig

 

[TorontoBuilder]

No pictures...didn't happen!




Craig

Our official photographer was not available and our hands were full...

But I did get two after shots that are not very good.

Before:

After:

Before:

and then again after lathe sale:

After:

Where the new lathe is going at back of garage

 

[Susquatch]

I dunno about those photos @TorontoBuilder......

Floor is too clean. Doesn't match all the stuff covering all the surfaces..... I think we need another shop tidyness category in my survey - Can eat off the floor but not off the work surfaces.

Nice improvement though.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I dunno about those photos @TorontoBuilder......

Floor is too clean. Doesn't match all the stuff covering all the surfaces..... I think we need another shop tidyness category in my survey - Can eat off the floor but not off the work surfaces.

Nice improvement though.

I would not eat off of either... where is the barf emoji?

Sure will be more open floor space, but surprisingly there will be more wall space, so I can put floor to ceiling storage cabinet in the garage.The two tire racks are coming out and the tires going into the basement... as soon as I sew canvass tire storage bags. Without these brother's GF wont left the tires come in the house, lest they scuff the walls on the trip to the basement.

Also going to change from permanent table to a folding welding table, based on idea by @SomeGuy I believe it was...

 

[Former Member]

You know once you start you never finish as it needs to be tweaked for the next machine you purchase. Might I suggest a shaper....

 

[kevin.decelles]

I’m doing a similar dance in my new shop. Step 1 was get it moved. Step 2 is get it useful . I like the pictures , keep them coming !

 

[Matt-Aburg]

I would not eat off of either... where is the barf emoji?

Sure will be more open floor space, but surprisingly there will be more wall space, so I can put floor to ceiling storage cabinet in the garage.The two tire racks are coming out and the tires going into the basement... as soon as I sew canvass tire storage bags. Without these brother's GF wont left the tires come in the house, lest they scuff the walls on the trip to the basement.

Also going to change from permanent table to a folding welding table, based on idea by @SomeGuy I believe it was...

Yup , tires need to go... and a lot of other things,, but you will get it... it takes time.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I'm off to collect the lathe.

I'll try to remember pics.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Came loaded for bear so to speak, it is a good thing we didn't need the pallet we made until we got home because we forgot to take the pallet truck with us. Not a huge issue in any case because the transit depot is huge and we could drive right up to the lathe to be loaded.

Gantry cranes have wheels but you're not supposed to move them under a load. We did but only a very short distance, and only with the lathe lifted 3 inches. We had to get the lathe away from several other auction lots so there was not risk of damaging someone else's stuff.



Thankfully there was just enough room to squeeze the crane between the loads. Oh and take a guess what was found in that red tool cabinet. If you guessed a four jaw chuck, a face plate, steady rest, follow rest, micrometer carriage stop, and such you're correct. It pays to take advantage of the inspection period on auctions.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

The first order of the day was to get the gantry crane erected... we're getting quite adept at this. Hold up one leg, insert the beam and start fastening the 8 bolts on this side.



Then lift the other leg and hold upright, and the second person lifts the beam up and into the beam pocket, with the aide of a ladder unless you happen to be a giant. 8 more fasteners and voila you have a crane. I opted to attach the chain fall hoist to the beam with a strap wrapped around the beam 3 times. I chose this method because the trolley tends to want to slide back and forth on the beam at the worst times.

I wish I'd seen what the clapped out diesel bus engines and transmissions sold for.



Funny, this doesn't look like a service truck...

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Chain fall hoists are not really that heavy... it's the chain that is the real killer... hahahahahaaa. I found it very helpful to store the chain and hoist in a milk crate, and to wheel it around on a cart. To lift the hoist onto the sling I had to pick up the hoist while my brother slung a bunch of chain over his shoulder to take that load off the hoist. We are old men and dont need any heart attacks.

Durham transit has a make up air unit blowing into this area that has a huge heater in it, so this area was toasty warm, I thought I was going to pass out until I thought try taking off my down parka and then my heavy sweater.



Just enough room. This lathe like our surface grinder has holes for running lifting bars... in our case 1" gas pipe, because we always have tons of gas pipe kicking around. If you lift right from where the bar is supported where it passes through the stands you should be okay lifting 1750lbs, but if you lift from further out on the bar you risk the bar suddenly and catastrophically bending. We had a piece of pipe start to bend while lifting our ~1900 lb surface grinder which caused a bit of concern dispite only being 4 inches in the air.



I missed some intermediate steps here, I was too busy and they went too quickly... but what we did was repeatedly raise the lathe 3" to check the balance of the load and ensure that the lift point was exactly on the center line of the lathe. When we first hooked the slings we simply placed the sling in the shackle and thought that the front to back load would self adjust, but that never seems to work out. So we took a single wrap of the front and back portions of the sling through the shackle and adjusted until we had the lift point perfect.

Then we lifted the lathe 3" and then rolled the gantry very slowly 3 feet to the right, and then 6 feet or so away from the back wall. Then we set the lathe back on the ground and then raised the beam 20" or so in order to be able to lift the lathe high enough to clear the trailer. Then a simple hoist into the air again. I spun the lathe from a safe distance away by pulling one of the lifting bars. My brother backed the trailer under the crane and I lowered the lathe onto the trailer. easy peasey... the hardest part was lifting the hoist, and assembling the crane.



I got the load balanced well with the carriage and tail stock moved to be right over the axle, and the chain fall hoist and heavy legs of the gantry crane in the back of the trailer to offset some of the head stock's weight. The pallet is right over the axle.

The load is secured by fastening from the far lifting pipes to the opposite corner so that there are four opposing forces trying to stretch the lathe. It did not budge a 1/4" in transit. Another strap wrapped right around the tail stock and carriage so that even if the lever came loose the tail stock could not slide off the ways and get lost.



We came in just under the max load of the trailer because of pre-planning... I selected the trailer with the drop gate instead of the ramp, because the ramp weighs a lot more and would have put us over the load limit. It rode very well for a uhaul...

 

[YotaBota]

Halfway there.
Did they let you keep the red tool box as part of the lathe?lol

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Next item on the agenda....

Energy. Dijon mustard with whole seeds, prosciutto, swiss cheese on a really great rustic loaf of bread.. and coca cola for the caffeine and boost to my blood sugar. Now I don't have to worry about getting dizzy and falling off a ladder.



Again I missed a ton of photos. But the gist of things is that brother backed into the drive. We quickly erected the crane yet again and lifted the lathe PDQ because we left the shackles and straps in place during transit so we didn't need to adjust the load on the crane again. Once in the air I again held a pipe to steady the lathe and turn it ever so slightly as my brother pulled ahead with the trailer.

Once the trailer was clear I dropped the pallet behind the lathe and kicked it into place under the lathe. I don't ever get underneath a load... Then I simply lowered the lathe onto the custom made pallet. Ran the pallet truck under the pallet and was ready to push it up the driveway. Pushed with all my might and nada... 1650 lbs didn't want to move under my force alone. It barely moved with the two of us pushing at first, and the neighbour eve felt compelled to ask if we wanted a hand... but we declined and cleared a little ice that was degrading our traction and away it went.



Almost home... now to take down the gantry crane yet again because it wont fit thru the door, chain fall too.



This will do for today... tomorrow the tire rack will come down, the gantry will get erected again, the chain fall hoist attached and one lift to be able to remove the pallet. Then the crane will remain in place, since this is the best storage location. The lathe looks closer to the wall than it is... my brother has a 5c collet chuck for this so no worry about room for a drawbar. A Lista cabinet will just fit between the lathe and the entry from the garage.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Halfway there.
Did they let you keep the red tool box as part of the lathe?lol

No, just two other tool boxes... but not the rolling chest... who'd a thunk a bunch of mechanics want to keep their rolling tool chest

 

[Matt-Aburg]

Next item on the agenda....

Energy. Dijon mustard with whole seeds, prosciutto, swiss cheese on a really great rustic loaf of bread.. and coca cola for the caffeine and boost to my blood sugar. Now I don't have to worry about getting dizzy and falling off a ladder.

View attachment 29068

Again I missed a ton of photos. But the gist of things is that brother backed into the drive. We quickly erected the crane yet again and lifted the lathe PDQ because we left the shackles and straps in place during transit so we didn't need to adjust the load on the crane again. Once in the air I again held a pipe to steady the lathe and turn it ever so slightly as my brother pulled ahead with the trailer.

Once the trailer was clear I dropped the pallet behind the lathe and kicked it into place under the lathe. I don't ever get underneath a load... Then I simply lowered the lathe onto the custom made pallet. Ran the pallet truck under the pallet and was ready to push it up the driveway. Pushed with all my might and nada... 1650 lbs didn't want to move under my force alone. It barely moved with the two of us pushing at first, and the neighbour eve felt compelled to ask if we wanted a hand... but we declined and cleared a little ice that was degrading our traction and away it went.

View attachment 29069

Almost home... now to take down the gantry crane yet again because it wont fit thru the door, chain fall too.

View attachment 29070

This will do for today... tomorrow the tire rack will come down, the gantry will get erected again, the chain fall hoist attached and one lift to be able to remove the pallet. Then the crane will remain in place, since this is the best storage location. The lathe looks closer to the wall than it is... my brother has a 5c collet chuck for this so no worry about room for a drawbar. A Lista cabinet will just fit between the lathe and the entry from the garage.

View attachment 29071

That ceiling is high. You should be able to get a VMC in there NP (depending on the door)

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Two lathes, a bridgeport and a surface grinder now fit better in this space than the the previous layout did with just one lathe.

The chipmaster is a short term resident here, so yeah a shaper does sound very nice... my brother is biased against them, but perhaps a nice looking small atlas shaper can sway his opinion.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

That ceiling is high. You should be able to get a VMC in there NP (depending on the door)

VMC?

 

[TorontoBuilder]

To wrap up today, no one was killed, nothing was broken, and only one minor ding as I managed to let the pallet get away from me when I was moving it. It dropped on my foot. It missed the steel toe entirely and hit me in the top of the arch with only the tongue of the shoe for protection.

The irony is I was forced to wear the steel toe shoes due to the venue, but my heavy boots would have afforded much more protection to the upper arch area. Just a minor bump and abrasion...

Oh and I got a splinter from said pallet as well.

 

[Matt-Aburg]

VMC?

Vertical Machining Center...

Precision Compact Toolroom Mill

Easy to set up and move. The flexibility & accuracy of the CM Series is perfect for Toolroom, Job Shop & Secondary Operations. Simple Conversational Programming.

www.fryermachine.com