johnsmachines

This post was inspired by one of my readers sending me some photos of her workshop.  The photos grabbed my attention for several reasons.

Firstly, the metal working machines share the space with tomatoes!  Unusual, eclectic use of the space.  Secondly, the roof and walls are made of glass!   Great for natural lighting, and nice views for the machinist, and possibly the neighbours.  Thirdly, it is such a small space, requiring planning to accomodate quite a few machines and work space.   And fourthly, it is so neat and clean.  I do see an occasional bit of swarf, but it is so unlike the mess that I work in, that it is quite striking to see such a clean workshop.

Thanks to reader Jennifer for sending these photos.  For obvious reasons I will not publish further location details except to reveal that the location is in the UK.

Jennifer tells me that it is all double glazed, and is open to the living area of the house, so it is heated.  Apparently it never becomes too hot in summer.

And as a complete antithesis, this is my main workshop in Oz.  Bigger, messier, dirtier, darker.    Actually, when I looked over my photos I could not find one decent view of my workshop, so I took some new pics.  Needless to say, there was no special tidying for the photo.

It is a tin shed, unlined, but does have a wood heater.  This view takes in about 2/3 of the area.  There are 3 lathes in this shot.  Can you see them?  CNC lathe in foreground.  Also my CNC mill on the right.  There is also a tool and cutter grinder, vertical bandsaw, drop bandsaw.  And lots of ancillary tooling.

And a pedestal drill, 2 linishers, grinder, and part view of the drop band saw.  The anvil gets quite a lot of use.  It is mounted on heavy duty wheels so I can take it to the job.

My workbench in the foreground, A very heavy cast iron setup table (blue) with granite surface plate.  Shop made ring roller centre.

So, that is where I spend most of my waking hours.  The shed started life as a farm workshop, where a lot of welding, and repair and maintenance of farm machinery was done.   These days it is mainly used for model engineering.  In my working life I was an obsessively neat, organised and particular surgeon.  Not quite sure how my activities ended in this mess.  But you know what?… I feel totally comfortable here.

If you have some photos of your own workshop area, please send them in and I will publish them for the interest of other readers.  Big areas, small areas, old machines or new.  Show us where you spend your most enjoyable hours.   Send them to me at jviggers@iinet.net.au