build a workshop

Got some new lights installed, the last key component is the completion of the electrics with the installation of more sockets. I’ve bought some battens to screw to the walls. The electrician had the good idea of simply using the spare armoured cable to run around the workshop rather than having extra conduit. Its quite thick stuff but should be on for this job.

After 2 weeks of rain and sun the lawn is almost back to normal. I’ve put up two 10W low profile fluorescent lamps, this is quite good but I’ll be adding another at the weekend. I’ve been mixing up some sand/clay for casting and creating single part a wooden flask (drag). If the weather’s good then I’ll be hopefully smelting some aluminium on Sunday.

After doing a lot of research into workshop power, waiting for the ground to be soft and the weather to be reasonable, I’ve finally got around to digging the trench for my workshop power cable. Will be getting the electrician in next week to ensure my supply meets the standards and is certified.

Our Hotel comes with its own workshop. Job Done.

I’ve begun assembling the bits and pieces of my little Taig lathe. So far, I’ve the lathe itself lapped and assembled, and I’ve bugun making a mounting board for it.

The biggest short-term challenge is machining an adaptor to let me use one of the motors I bought to power it. It has a non-standard stub shaft with a slot in it, so I need to make the adaptor so I can put the Taig drive pulley on it, but I can’t machine the adaptor until I have the lathe working.

I intend to rig up a tempory drive motor with the pulley chucked up on my power drill, just long enough to make the needed part.

Bought another benchtop drill press, far superior to the $80AU piece of crap I bought last year. The old one vibrated so much I was afraid it would break drill bits (it did) or even vibrate itself right off the bench (it didn’t, but only because I clamped it down).

I got disgusted with it and bought a display model of a 13” machine, 3/4HP for just $265AU. I measured a runout of 0.004” on the Morse taper in the spindle, so it’s not a high-end machine by any means, but it’s a darn sight better than what I had.

I’ve decided I am not a wealthy enough man to buy cheap tools; if I really need the tool, I’ll buy the best I can afford.

Patched holes in the corrugated iron roof of the shed. Next up: stapling the reflective insulation to the rafters.

The main thing keeping me out of my workshop has been the summer heat. It has a shallow sloped corrugated iron roof, and the Australian sun heats it up very efficiently.

Today I bought reflective building wrap (“sarking”) to cut down on the heat radiated from the iron roof. Radiated heat is the main culprit in warm, dry weather, so I’m hoping this will do the job.

Like Gearhead_Shem_Tov I’ve been decluttering my shed in preparation of turning it into a workshop.

A book I’ve been reading called The Amateur Lathe has got me worrying about the damp so have bought a couple of rechargable dehumidifiers from Ebay. I’ll also be making some dust covers for the key pieces of equipment like the lathe when it arrives.

I’ve got four banks of storage shelves up now, and by putting boxes in them I’ve managed to create aisles where I can walk nearly unimpeded. More progress.