Workshop Diet

Glenn Bunt discusses getting back those valuable inches!

- Glenn Bunt

As with most model engineers my hobby and by that, I mean machine acquisition happened in stages. Initially I started off with a mini lathe, this would come in handy for making small repairs and replacement pieces on my clocks. Then I thought, why not engrave my own chapter rings and I purchased a Taig CNC mill. I then became more ambitious and purchased a Myford Super Seven lathe and the mini lathe was sold. Next, I purchased a Tom Senior Light Vertical milling machine and the Taig mill went. After purchasing a Startrite bandit 10 bandsaw and a CNC router my poor old garage was creaking at the seams!

The turning point came when I decided to upgrade and enlarge my CNC router/ engraver – there was just not enough room and head of the household said there was no way I would encroach further into the house!

In this article, I describe my workshop battle with room and some of the solutions I used to take back those valuable inches!

Formal negotiations started with the domestic management on plans for the way forward, the chancellor of the household exchequer reminded me that we were still in austerity and the bank account was in budget deficit. So extending the garage was out of the question!

Front of the Garage.

I had a problem! Anything in the front area of the garage needed to be a less than bench height as the up and over garage door would do a fine job of decapitating equipment and people as it opened! It`s ferocity reminded me of Arkwright’s till in Open All Hours!

Eventually after seeking domestic approval we opted to change the veteran garage door for a new electric insulated roller shutter door. Brilliant! now I could reorganise the space in the garage, photo 1. Winters in the workshop would be warmer due to the insulated properties of the door and there should be a lot less draughts!