Workshop Walk

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This is not my workshop.!

Some of you may have seen that I had to move my machines a couple of months ago through me moving out of where I was living. I was offered garages and containers to store my machines in until I get a new place sorted but a friend of mine said I could store and install them in his workshop if I wished. - This I think is much better option to be in a working 'oily' environment against being in storage. Plus of course I can still use them and the other machines in the workshop.

I promised a member here I would make a video of the workshop. Hopefully others will find it an interesting man-cave also and will provoke some discussion about the machines etc.

At one time (not so long ago) every town would have had several small 'jobbing' engineering machine shops such as this. - Now most are gone.! Visitors here are polarized. They either totally love the place, it's machines and a man actually making things or are truly horrified by the mess, metal, oil and truly feel that their eyesight has been violated.

Anyway ....................

You probably googled it since but I think its called a Gang drill

Excellent video !

It's good to see a traditional style workshop still operating and more importantly making money !

Here in Sydney Australia they are dwindling away slowly as it is hard to compete with overseas manufacturers or workshops with cnc tooling .

So when are you starting up your youtube channel ???

Thanks for the tour !

Ian .

Excellent, although you might not want to wear your best clothes in there, it really is a cave of delights.

I have a suspicion that such places, tools, and people who can operate them will continue to be required for years to come. As in the case you spoke about where gear shafts require machining to take replacement bearings, quite a simple matter really, but impossible without the sort of kit shown in your video. Since manufacturers don't consider long term servicing of parts as cost effective (which, to be fair, it isn't) then there's going to continue to be a need, I sincerely hope, for niche jobs such as that to continue to be done by workshops like Dennis's.

Best of luck finding a new home for your gear, and thanks for a good look round an interesting commercial workshop.

Thank's for than Nick, hope you get a chance to use a few of those while you can.

Emergency laundry services.

Washing overalls. They aren't welcome in a domestic setting I'm told.

I have never heard "gang drill" before, in my time they were known as radial arm drills.

Nice walk round the workshop - could do with scratch and sniff effect to go with the visual.

Rik

"There's the back of the old Colchester Triumph"

Thanks Nick, not quite steadycam, but it didn't make me seasick!

Nothing quite like a poke around a jobbing workshop, always nice to see machines that work for a living.

Neil

Doubt it. "Gang" as in several drill heads in a row, basically 2 or more identical drilling machines ganged together in line so you can pass a job along them sequentially. Radial drill has a (single) head on a radial swing arm. The head can travel along the arm and the arm can swing, allowing you to fix the work on the table and move the spindle to the correct hole position.

.

There is an Elliot radial arm drill in the video plus the drill banks.

Washing machine and tumble dryer. - No idea what they are used for. Perhaps just stored.?

"My own youtube channel" ............ Ha.!, I said I had access to the machines. I did not say I knew how to use them.

One bonus of such a shop is that there is virtually every test kit, tool, drill, reamer, cutter etc, etc all put away sharp and all top quality ready to use. I have also spent quite a bit of time there recently and have learned considerably by just watching and talking to him while he works. The place is a total visual jumble yet he seems able to put his hand on any item within seconds. - No.1 rule is whenever I use something is I put it back EXACTLY where I found it.!

Denis served his time with this company **LINK** where they had a dedicated training school. From there he went to British Areospace not far from Chester.

Nick

With the range of gear in that shop,they should be able to handle almost anything. Regarding what looks like a jumble,I had a similar friend years ago,who ran a small shop like that,and there was stuff lying EVERYWHERE!,and when I asked him "How do you find anything here?" hes reply was "T,is simply a matter of remembering where you last dropped it". At the same time,he knew where everything was.

When I growing up,there were small woodwork shops all over the city,not anymore,all gone,with the result that you cannot get a bit of timber cut or planed unless you have a friend with a bit of gear. There will always be a need for small shops,but will there always be the men to work them ?

H.E.A.T

At a guess the two temperature bands are permitted storage temperature and permitted usage temperature.

The wider limit for storage.

regards Martin

Regardless of what they can do and that Denis can find everything, I would still make them take a week off and tidy it up!

Hi Nick,

thanks for that, interesting.

My youngest lad managed a tool room in Warrington for many years.

I used to like calling in, not everybody's favorite but I loved the smell of the place.

Sadly he has moved on to a better job? No more free surface grinding!!!

Hope you get sorted soon, message me when you do, I'll give you a call

geoff

I had a friend with a workshop like that,and when I suggested that he could do with cleaning it up,his answer was

"When you have time to clean up,you,re not busy,but I am "

Looks like this guy thinks the same,although I dont like an untidy shop,so I tend to clean up after every job [that,s if the job goes well ! if it dont,well that,s a different story.]

As an aside,I came across a posting where someone was relating how his chucks were rusting all the time.

The strange things that my chucks never rust but the tools in my toolboxes do,odd? sure is !

I do have wooden boxes for both my chucks,but one or other is always on the lathe,but still,no rust.

Often when I take something from the tool box,I have to clean it up,and this after only a few days perhaps. Anti rust paper is not really practical in toolboxes. It,s OK for storage.

Could it be that the Rust Fairy is selective ?

Edited By JasonB on 17/08/2017 12:35:30