Tools and Equipment
My workshop is one of the upstairs bedrooms in the house measuring 11 feet x 12 feet so I can always work in the warm and the dry! (At my parents house the lathe finished up in a lean to at the side of the house. In the winter it was always cold and damp which made it difficult to keep rust at bay). As the house is a semi, noise can be a problem but my neighbours are pretty noisy anyway so I'm not too bothered about that!
Machine tools consist of the trusty Myford ML7, with the usual vertical slides, chucks, etc., and a small vertical milling machine. I bought this last year from Chester UK but I wish now that I had paid more for a sturdier model. At the time I was only interested in O Gauge models and this would have been more than adequate for those. However, I have now progressed to larger gauges and it's not really up to the sort of machining needed . Consequently the miller is used mainly as a drilling machine and most milling jobs are done on the ML7. I will probably try and get a larger milling machine when funds allow. I've just purchased a kit for the Kennet Tool and Cutter Grinder which should make tool grinding a lot easier (when I get around to finishing it!)
The lathe and miller are mounted on top of a length of kitchen worktop fastened along one wall and another worktop is fastened on top of some old kitchen units along a second wall. Two wooden tables occupy the remaining two walls. Most of the wall space above the work benches is filled with shelves of various sizes for storage of tools, materials, fastenings, etc. I found a very useful source off Ebay for plastic screwtop jars which are ideal for small nuts and bolts, rivets, etc. A sheet of 1/2" plywood is screwed to the wall behind the lathe and miller and various small tools and bits for the lathe are hung on this.
Plastic Jars for screws, bolts etc.
Racks for material storage
14/08/2011
Now that the new workshop in the garden is virtually finished, most of the stuff from this upstairs workshop will be transferred but I'll still keep this as a second workshop. I've got to make a proper stand for the ML7 though before that is moved. I might get hold of a small mini-lathe to keep in here for making stuff like injector cones which are a bit fiddly on the ML7. We'll see.