Is your Hobby Shop located in your home? Or is it located in a barn shed, or other external building on your property, or is it in a remote location!

Eric

Right now mine is in a shed at my parents house, I just bought some property behind my house and had it leveled, so I can put a shop there. All I have to do now is raise the money to build it.

Attached garage.

Mine's in the garage, started with a small lathe with the urge to design and build model engines, then came the small crucible furnace, bandsaw, molding bench, then the cnc router plus a couple of linux servers and ........

You know, whatever size a garage is it's not big enough!

Had our home built recently with attached garage and purpose built shop, after final inspection added another detached storage for the shop with an isolated welding& grinding area .
Visited frequently by deer, javalina,cayote and occasional bobcat.

A 2,5 x 3 meter room in my appartment.
It's not big but I'm happy with it.

well. i know i am the only one with a lathe and milling machine in the kitchen... however, the kitchen is aropund 1,200 square feet.. so it has the space.. also in my kitchen is a wide array of other tools, big work benches, etc.

in the past i have had a recording studio in the kitchen(differnet place)

i think the kitchen is an ideal place for machinery or equipment. (apparently)

a drill press in the kitchen could function as a can opener or mixer with the appropriate attachments. :) unfortunately mine is in the basement.

Half my basement. About 600 sq ft. I have some woodworking stuff in there too.

Allright vacpress....but doesn't all that lubricant make your coffee taste funny.....

Nah. For a hardcore hobbyist it tastes funny *without* any way oil in it ;)


Tiger

well.. i find the texture of aluminum shavings rather tasty.

OK?

also, i havent got a basement, or a garage..or a porch even.. it isnt a normal place. but check this out:
http://www.robertguyser.com/1318cermak/images/zoom/HTKZNB/small_studios.jpg

The 'shoptchin' is the far rear left-most room.. For scale, the whole place is around 5000sf.

My home is located above my hobby shop, lets get the priorities straight here :)

Mine used to be a detached, 400 Sq.In. garage. - Ooops - I mean SqFt... It's way too small.

Now I lease a 1500 SqFt site with 16' ceilings. It's about 2 miles from my home but it has a kitchen, a bathroom with shower and an office area with a lovely view of the shop. It's my second home.

Scott

Mine used to be a detached, 400 Sq.In. garage. - Ooops - I mean SqFt... It's way too small.

Now I lease a 1500 SqFt site with 16' ceilings. It's about 2 miles from my home but it has a kitchen, a bathroom with shower and an office area with a lovely view of the shop. It's my second home.

Scott
\
That explains the Drill Press in the Kitchen! :rolleyes:

Eric

Mine's in my bedroom... Really. I've got a cnc Taig in my apartment's bedroom.

:cool:

We call it a barn because it used to house horses. 1600 sq ft but not all of it is used for the shop.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/shop1.jpg

The wife said "build your shop" and so we did! It is 20' high, 30' wide and 75' long. With 2250 sq' of space on the ground and a 400 sq' mezzanine it is bigger than the house! :rolleyes:

Cal Blacksmith.....darn wish I had a sweetie that told me that....hmmmmm....come to think of it....no sweeties telling me what to do....just need a job to pay for my dream.....which is what you've built for yourself.....excellent! Any pics of the inside?

IN the cellar/under the bedrooms/24LX10W/ definately need more space, can't work too late at night/ can't spray chems/have too keep chips from being dragged upstairs
onto new hardwood floors or the wife will kill me ,,nice to have somewhere to go

well. i know i am the only one with a lathe and milling machine in the kitchen... however, the kitchen is aropund 1,200 square feet.. so it has the space.. also in my kitchen is a wide array of other tools, big work benches, etc.

in the past i have had a recording studio in the kitchen(differnet place)

i think the kitchen is an ideal place for machinery or equipment. (apparently)

Dont tell me, let me guess...
You drill your own holes in the swiss cheese and turn your own hotdogs ???

Lol.
Cool kitchen.

.JW

I built my new shop last year about 50 yards from the house! 24' X 32' X 10' which I thought was bigger than I would ever need - yeah right!!!. To afford it, I did all the finish myself thus the entire summer was shot.
Now for the awwwwwwwwww, During the build, I only had one accident. Fell of a 12' ladder while pushing new flooring into the rafters for the attic floor. Ladder fell from misplacement and mainly from an over abundance of stupidity!!!!
Well, about 5 months later, a pain in the right hip sent me to the family saw bones. :violin: Several xrays and a complete MRI fater, I was informed that there was damage in the right hip!! A trip to a specialist said not to worry about the right hip because if we act fast, we may save the left hip which hasn't even started hurting yet!!!
New specialist on Monday and schedule a little down time 12 - 16 weeks, a total hip replacement (right side) and a core (whatever that is) on the left side. New Garage, 15K. New hip 150K. Lesson in stubidity - Priceless!!!!!!!!
Cheers!!
:cheers:

hope your luck turns around soon Billyjack!

Damn Bill, that does hurt ! Whew !! Let that be a lesson to everyone, I just got done refinishing my Townhouse flatroof, took two days in smoltering sunny ole Florida. On a winter day I probably could have had it done in one day but it was sooooo damn hot I had to work 10 minutes break for 15 just to stay alive, and I was extra careful around the ladder making sure I didn,t go near it if I felt dizzy.

Had our home built recently with attached garage and purpose built shop

MY DREAM!!! Savor the taste of having your shop made the way you want the size you want it and where you want it....

just let someone else do all the ladder climbing!

Hi Guys, I,m new to the site and when I saw the title of this post, I had to chuckle. I owned a Radio controlled model shop until 6 weeks ago when the lease ran out, I literally have the shop in my house. (A few thousand £'s worth of stock anyway).
Over here in good 'ol Blighty, we're lucky if we can afford a house let alone a workshop!. Mines a 16'6"x6' shed in the backgarden.
Jealous isn't the word!

Colin31.

My work areas consist of a shed and a garage (I gave the storage shed to the wife to use as a summerhouse lol ) In the winter I sandcast and in summer I just potter about and ride my motorcycle.... I guess i'm a confirmed tinkerer :D How many of you guys have a wife who agrees to allow you to spend £1000's on hobby materials? (song lyrics) Me i'm just a lucky guy.....

My workshop is only in the planning stage, but it will be in the chook shed, at least as soon as I can move those pesky chooks out...lol dont worry they are getting new accommodation (not the dinner plate!!!).

Will be pretty small - 7 by 3 metres, but I plan to maximise space, mostly machines/work benches besides I only have my CNC router (when its finished), drill press, bench grinder and a faceting machine. (so far)

I will be running phone and data from the house as well (fibre optic) so no pesky memory sticks to transfer my g-code from the house to router.

Russell.

Garage workshop here, but I do have to tollerate the tumble drier in there so not all my own space 8-)

I do however have a small cnc machine on the kitchen table, so I guess that makes up for the tumble drier... My other half also lets me spend on big toys when I have the money... She has an engineering background too, and like trains and engines... Lucky man, that I am.

Joules

I have been renting space in the basement of a friend's business. Just today he mentioned, only half jokingly, that I could expand beyond the 400sf used now to the entire 5,000sf if I need to. Great. Only trouble is, until I excavate, which I also have permission to do, my headroom is limited to about 6'4". It's all I can do to keep from breaking those darn light bulbs!

I have my shop in a spare bedroom. I put a wood floor in and made a big bench for my mill and drillpress. I put my lathe on a small bench I made for it. I also build models on a desk in the same room. I have 4 foot shop lites all around the room. I kept it pretty clean ,my landload thinks its cool that I can machine stuff without making it look like a garage. I will try to post some pics.

Mitch ....................

well. i know i am the only one with a lathe and milling machine in the kitchen... however, the kitchen is aropund 1,200 square feet.. so it has the space.. also in my kitchen is a wide array of other tools, big work benches, etc.

in the past i have had a recording studio in the kitchen(differnet place)

i think the kitchen is an ideal place for machinery or equipment. (apparently)
Not in the kitchen but,very close.In a room in front of the kitchen.Used to be a patio before I enclosed it.I paid a lot of money for the mill and lathe.I want them in a place where I can control temperature and humidity.Another benefit is that it forces one to keep everything clean.There is a window between the shop and kitchen.Great place for the coffee maker.I use a wet/dry vac to clean the machines and,occasionally I clean them with a good degreaser and a toothbrush.They look and work like the day I bought them.The crucible furnace is another story.It resides in the garage.

My is located in the detached garage. there is no more room for car

Hello to all, I'm new to this site and I just can't get enough of the commerodery here ! so, I guess I'll weigh in too.
Like many of you I'm a glutton for punishment as well so, my work is also my hobby.
My first "shop" was in an old milk house at a friends farm. Just a little bigger than a large closet, but easy to heat in the winter, did alot more drinkin' there than ever turnin' on the old Atlas but, I was young and bumb then.
My first real shop was in the basement of our first house, used a boat winch braced in the door jam to ease my newly perchaced Harding tool room horz. mill down the steps (still dumb)
A couple of houses later and my wife and two small boys and I are in a small farm a ways out in the country. I must confess to an embaresment of of quality shop space now.
I am able to have my mill, Atlas lathe, an 8" shaper, a Linly jig borer and a few other small bits down the basement again. I'm also able to set up a basic blacksmith shop in the corner of one of the out buildings( just an anvil and portable forge to be used for meditation)
I have complete accsess to my employers shop but , I do find it nice to just have a putter when I want to and not feel compelled to get somthing done every time I walk in the door.

Mines in the basement.
It was kinda a pain getting a Cnc'd 900 pound Grizzly 3102 mill down there ,but its nice being able to work where its warm and cozy.

Just gotta get a couch and TV down here and I'm set.

Now I need to figure out how to get a 3000+ pound lathe down here too...

:eek: :eek:

I did have a garage shop, until the roof started leaking majorly, and i had to evacuate all my tools. Now i have half of the lounge in my flat used as a shop, its very pokey, and i can just use everything, but at least the lathe and mill arent rusting out in the garage.

RBIEZE,
I happen to see your head scratching on the 3000lb lathe.
I used a pair of 1/2 inch wall 4x4 angle iron "tracks" to slide my machines down the basement steps, nothing over a thousand pounds though.
I don't think this would be suitable for your situation but, I also considerd replacing the basement steps with a platform elevator run by cables and a winch.( wife said much on the subject... all of it bad)
I believe Harbor Frieght sells somthing like this.

merl

At the moment we're looking for a new house.

My only request was that it either have a garage/outhouse/big shed that I can convert into a workshop, or enough land that I can build a workshop. Im thinking 32'x32' or equivalent floor space in whatever measurements are cheapest, and Im seeing 220V and 110V mains supply, plus seperate 110V wall sockets run off my yet to be built wind turbine(s) to save some money on the electricity bills....:fingers crossed: :)

SWMBO's only request was that whether there is somewhere for a workshop already there, or it has to be built, that the house is completely finished first because she doesn't want to live in a building site while I make my workshop into luxury. I think thats a fair deal. :)

At the moment our terraced house just doesn't have anywhere to do 'stuff', so I invade my parents garage almost daily and drive my wonderful mother mad while I try to work around all the bags of vegetables, the boiler, the freezer, the dryer, and the random garden stuff she has in there. Shes in for a surprise when I finish my router and need somewhere to set it up! :o It'll probably end up running in the attic, and I'll have to carry wood up, and chips down, the attic ladder. :D

....I really need my own workshop! :(

Mines an 9' x 6' Shed. Contains a 5' 6" x 3' 3 axis CNC machine, PC, Tall Freezer, compressor, pillar dril, scroll saw, belt sander plus a libarary of books. Its starting to defy physics the amount of stuff crammed in their.

I haven't got a clue how am going to build the first 7' span RC plane that the router cuts.:confused: On the bonus side its fully insulated and I even put a carpet down and have a swivel chair.

Liam

I wish people would post some pics of their shops. I'd start the ball rolling but dont think the parents would appreciate me putting pics of their house on the internet! But when I have the workshop in a few months :touch wood: I'll post pics :D

bigz, I'd love to see that Harry Potter style magic shed! ;)

For some reason I feel the same way about posting pics...mostly I'm just embarassed about the mess. Mines an attached garage. I get one of three spaces for machine shop, 1/2 for motorcycle work area and 1 1/2 for wife parking. I'm still trying to finish setting it up...just got my lights & electrical mostly finished.

Well myself and the missus still haven't bought a bigger house for my workshop, but I have managed to upgrade to a temporary shed for a while. So anyone else got pics? :)

Hi all, My very first 'shop' was a 6ft square wooden hut I built while serving my apprenticeship, from scavanged bits of timber in 1958.

Although the cat hit the walls when I swung it round, the bench and micro micro piddly little effort someone had the balls to call a lathe, added to my knowledge of engineering, and got most of the model engineering projects off the ground.

I now have a brick garage, 4 metres X 7 Metres, and regularly wade in and try to get rid of the accumulated bits of "treasure" that are going to be handy to build something one day.
The conclusion of it is that anyone who dabbles with tools, and has a yen to make things, needs somewhere to go so that you can sit in that dumpmaster reclaimed revolving office chair and stare at the walls while dreaming of the things you can make if you had the time.

Most of the time it serves as a service depot for the car,boat, garden machinery, decorating tools and a mass storage for all the worn out household junk that is too far gone to work but too good to throw away.

There are a lot of model workshops around, but they're not half as much fun to work in as one that is just for pottering in and odds and ends manufacturing.
It's a blokes world, where the male dominator can exercise total authority, entertain his mates and know that anything left lying around will be exactly where he left it, and not be put away never to be seen again.
Ian.

Hi all again, when I was in UK in the 70's I had a prefab concrete panel garage.
This was beut, but in the Spring and Autumn the cold nights and warm days caused the heavier bits of metal to sweat gallons of water, and so it was a battle to keep the rust at bay.

In spite of that, just to have somewhere to do things was freedom unparalleled by any posh shop.
Gotta go, I'm bidding on a tool and cutter grinder on the US Ebay site, and might just get lucky.
Ian.

My shop is in my attached garage with no room for a car of any size.

Vince

I had my wife take some pictures of my shop with her new digital camera so I could e-mail them to a friend of mine-- Good Lord! what a mess!! It's no wonder I get so much more ass time done down there than actual work.
I ended up not sending the pictures out of embarassment and took the pledge not to start any new progects untill it was cleaned up.
I decided as long as I'm cleaning I'll finely paint all the machines one color, of corse you can't do that without degreasing them and, if you're gonna' do that you might as well take them a little further apart to do a realy nice paint job and then, as long as yer' gonna' go that far I'll think real hard about scraping the ways on the shaper and....
Can't deside if I'm a perfectionist, just like to putter, or am obsesive compulsive?

Out of embarrasement, here is one picture of mi junk shop... :rainfro:

I took it 6 months ago. Now I have also a 10 Hp CNC lathe stuffed in here!

:D

erd39030

Don't feel bad my shop looks alot worst...look at what you have there and add two sofas stacked on each other and a laundry room to boot.

:confused:

Vince

IN MY BEDROOM where i live, in my van that i drive, and in my shop where i'm saposed to be working. When ever i can sneek in some hobby stuff, i'm all over it.

located at room:-)

My shop used to be the spare bedroom/office in me 15th floor apartment and the 50sq ft balcony (a sheet of plywood s 32sqft lots of room to maneuver). It had along one wall a fold-down Murphy bed that i made from a kit, and along the other wall a computer desk/workbench. Whenever i wanted to start tinkering, i had to clear the desk of the office stuff and take the tools and gear needed out of the modest closet (jammed floor to ceiling with woodworking, metal, and electronic tools -- even the table saw and router table were stored in the closet) and setup the bench for the project i needed. When the day was done all the gear had to go back into the closet lest my two toddler boys eat the little wires, metal shavings, bits of wood and plastic, or as they did to my stepper controller i made up on a breadboard, tear all the connecting wires out.

But now I've moved into a townhouse, i've taken over half the basement. One room for the wood/metal shop, and half the laundry room for my electronics shop. I'm so happy that i can finally leave projects out over several days without little "helpers" destroying it all.

I added a small room behind my attached garage. I can fit 4 cars in there and still have room to putter around.

Mines an 9' x 6' Shed. Contains a 5' 6" x 3' 3 axis CNC machine, PC, Tall Freezer, compressor, pillar dril, scroll saw, belt sander plus a libarary of books. Its starting to defy physics the amount of stuff crammed in their.

I haven't got a clue how am going to build the first 7' span RC plane that the router cuts.:confused: On the bonus side its fully insulated and I even put a carpet down and have a swivel chair.

Liam

Belated photos of my tiny shed as requested by Thinkoutsidethebox. Just put the house on the market so hopefully will have something larger when I move to NEW ZEALAND.

Above the freezer on the left is a homebuilt table saw for balsa only(anything heavier I cut at work). On the right of door and under CNC machine is parts for another 3 axis machine. Currently tidying on the wiring for tool height setter.

Cool, thanks for posting. :D I like the way you fitted in the cnc. :)

My shop area is in the attached garage. I've made the Gingery machines including the metal lathe, metal shaper, horizontal milling machine and sheet metal brake. I still have some accesories to make for each of the Gingery machines, and I need to finish the tailstock for the milling machine. The newest addition is the SyilAmerica SX3 CNC mill and I just need to finish the Enclosure so I can implement the flood coolant with it. I also have a moulding bench for green sand moulding and a small furnace(about 2 qt capacity) for melting aluminum. I can post some pictures but it is very cluttered now with misc. boxes etc. It does not tend to motivate me when I have to clean an area before I can get to the machines ;(
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9282/gmiller23dq4.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gmiller23dq4.jpg)
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8210/glathe22aa8.th.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=glathe22aa8.jpg)

Regards,
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1795/gbrake2th9.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gbrake2th9.jpg)

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/3756/gshaper23vc8.th.jpg
(http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gshaper23vc8.jpg)
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8561/sx3basepu2.th.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sx3basepu2.jpg)

I have small detached house next to the shop.:rainfro: