On Mar 2, 2:58 pm, "Too_Many_Tools" wrote:
Say you want to setup a home shop for both metal and wood
working....what older American or European machines would you choose
to populate the shop with? In a home shop environment, the size of the
work envelope can vary greatly with the work done so a number of
different candidates exist for the same function performed.

With welders, I would consider that newer machines might be more
desirable.

I have listed what categories I would consider might be wanted in a
combination metal and wood work shop for the serious hobbist.

I look forward to hearing of your choices and the reasons why.

And feel free to add any tool that I might have forgotten.

Thanks

TMT

= Metalworking
- vertical mill
- horizontal mill
- metal shaper
- slower drill press
- small metal lathe
- larger metal lathe
- horizontal metal bandsaw
- vertical metal bandsaw
- surface grinder
- bench grinder
- band/disc sander
- belt sander
- tool grinder
- air compressor
- arbor press
- hydraulic press
- heat treating furnace
- bender, brake, shear, slip roll

= Woodworking
- table saw
- cross miter saw
- radial arm saw
- scroll saw
- vertical wood bandsaw
- jointer
- planer
- wood shaper
- wood lathe
- faster drill press

= Welding
- ARC welder
- TIG welder
- MIG welder
- A/Ox welder

= Material Handling
- SMALL forklift (1000-2000lbs.)
- Pallet jack



TMT Unless you have a LOT of room and ideally a 2 room shop the wood
and metal combo can be pretty evil. But the thing is what are you
doing with them all.

As a home shop unless space and budget are infinite you have to make a
few choices usually.

the first thing that i think of is what are you doing with it.

Basically you need to decide whats going to be the core tool of the
shop for the work you do. the Core tools should be the best you can
possibly get and well setup and tooled to handle as many functions as
possible. For those who dont have infinite space it becomes far more
important to think of "Can i do it with what i have and just maybe
adjust the tooling" thats why all of the model engineer books form way
back post WW2 were so LATHE centric because milling machines were not
cheap or common but in comparison functional lathes were the trick is
to decide on the best tool to do the most jobs well. And ideally the
best tool for the job you do most at the same time. the trick is to
get the right tools at the heart the building out is easy.

the woodworking equivalent of the Well tooled lathe is a well equipped
tablesaw for almost any woodworking requiring right angle type cuts
and a good bandsaw for stuff like boatbuilding and luthier type work
where almost nothing is at right angles and even LESS is in a stright
line

Most Home shops will do mainly one or two things and hopefully be
adaptable to cope with other needs

A few general examples of the "core tools" and where a shop should
focus

A welding shop doing ornamental iron will have a good welding machine
(Process chosen by user preference) good O/A for heating shaping and
specialized cutting stuff, drill press, horizontal bandsaw, good
benches and vises as the "heart" of the shop But mills and lathes are
not critical in a shop wherer most of the work is by eyeball and
welding

a Machine shop will be focused on the Lathe and mill and associated
tooling as its core and the associated tooling and measurement a close
second. Stuff like grinders and jigborers and even to an extent
welding equipment are secondary since it can be worked around if need
be they are important but the shop wont grind to a halt or turn down
work because the jig borer is on the fritz

A forging shop needs a furnace to make castings.

On the woodworking side a furniture shop needs the tablesaw Jointer
and planer, Specialist shops might need steam bending equipment and
the bandsaw as their core

A luthier will be all planes bandsaw and benching as his primary
tools. Butthe drum maker (Luthiers backwoods cousin) will either have
a giant lathe or a router with all sorts of weird jigs as the core

A woodturning shop will be focuses on the Lathe Sharpening and tooling

And the list can go on and on from there.

Apologies to anyone who disapproves of my example of a core tools list


To me I do occasional woodworking stuff but my shop is drifting to be
what i would consider a prototype shop. I have a background in
electronics so my tools there are top notch which are kind of
Unnecessary when this is posted in welding woodworking and metal
newsgroups so i'll spare the details But making circuit boards and the
parts to control what i want to make is important. So the Core of my
shop right now is a well tooled lathe and a Good Tig welder and a
compressor to power hand tools, A milling machine is VERY much in the
cards but a CNC circuit board router is WAY up on my list compared to
just about EVERYONE reading this but by the same token my Machinists
Vice and a good array of hammers get as much mileage as my bench
grinder.

the woodworking stuff i have gets used often enough

but that having been said my secodary is metal art and thats a lot
looser in terms of specs since its all in how the eyeball likes it and
because i TIG weld i get secondary side jobs of just about anything
broken that anyone has in metal

I think the list is overkill because sets of it are perfect for
everyone but its too much for any one human. that haivng been said i
would LOVE to have the space to amass that much but the trick is to
find a core and build it up.

I will likely get a a milling machine then get a big lathe and using
my smaller lathe and mill recondition the big one then get rid of the
lightweight atlas and get another machine to recondition with the big
lathe and mill etc.......

but its all about finding the core that lets you do the most with the
least and working up form there

Brent
Ottawa Ontario