One of the things that has kept this hobby interesting, I mean other then all the chicks throwing themselves at me in the paddock, is fabrication. I’ve had a hankering for a while now to improve upon the incredibly bad fabrication quality that I’ve been doing with hand tools. I want a lathe, mill, and a decent size brake/shear.
The Ranger Machine Shop was a long term project tho because there were some hurdles that had to be overcome. A significant hurdle was getting more work space. That’s getting a huge step forward with the garage expansion. 9’ doesn’t seem like much, but it means that all work on the car can be done in the back garage and the front garage can be converted to a shop. No more will I have to put the car in the front garage for the quarterly engine swap. The garage expansion isn’t done yet, the contractor seems to have gone AWOL the way all contractors do, but I’m confident that it will get finished in the next couple weeks. Yesterday I bought all the electrical stuff I need to wire in new outlets and lights.
I’ve been watching Craigslist and making a few phone calls on mills, lathe’s and combo machines. I’ve not yet decided whether to go new or used. Being in a small town, everything I see on CL is 3+hrs away.
Harbor Freight has a 25% off on everything on Easter, or something like that. They are currently sticking this coupon in your bag when you make a purchase at the store.
Todays shop project was to continue cleaning and organizing the garages. Organization is the only way you can make a small space work. I have 18 bezillion bins, shelves and drawers, some in the garages and some up in the attic. After ~8hrs of cleaning and organizing over the last couple days, I finally have room for the future lathe and mill.
Today’s project was the grinders. I’ve been wanting a grinder, wire brush and buffer. The buffer’s purpose is to clean up fasteners. I’ve grown to like nice new looking fasteners so I’ve been cleaning and blasting them. Last year I bought a vibrating polisher, and although it was a step in the right direction, it wasn’t really good enough.
If buffing them doesn’t turn out that well, I might send them out to be plated. I have an absolute ass-load of carefully organized fasteners, and it irks me when they look like crap. There’s something cheery about a job that is done with sparkling fasterns.
Of course, the problem is space. I was going to need two grinders. One would have course and fine grinding wheels, and one would have the wire bush and cotton buffing wheel. HF Parts list:
2X 6" grinders, $39 ea.
Generic tool stand, $19.
Wire bush wheel and buffing wheel, ~$10 total.
Once I assembled the stand I made a table out of a piece of plywood and some hardboard. Then I put feet on the stand. The objective was to make the whole thing just high enough that it would fit under the relatively tall workbench that is in the background of the pic. So when it’s stowed away it doesn’t take up any space at all. It’s all about space.
I had a vice laying around that needed a home so I put it on the grinder table too.
Now back to looking for a small lathe and mill.
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