Useful things--- rolling chair with Skating wheels that can run over chips, snatcher/grabber poles and telescopic magets ( several) to pick up things without bending over, several flashlights scattered around. these items help a lot for folks with disabilities
Great stuff. I'm 55 and building a new shop that I hope to work in for the rest of my life. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront of my mind during the inititial design phase.
At 64 years of age, I find that I have several blocked arteries in my legs so walking and standing are difficult. I recently re-arranged my 1 1/2 car garage/shop to make life easier, maybe someone might benefit from what i did. I basically moved my work bench with bench top milling machine, a large roll away tool box with my mini lathe and my Smith 3 in 1 lathe, mill drill combo and arranged them in a rectangle, with one corner left open for access. the back of the rectangle has a very large storage cabinet with consumables etc. Now I am going to get what is called an Architect's chair. Basically a telescoping office type chair that is elevated and has a ring at the bottom to rest your feet on. Placing the chair in the middle, I will be able to just roll from one machine to the other. I have a TH-cam channel that has been dormant but will put up a video tour here in the future so it can be visualized better, You have raise the awareness of a very important subject sir and I salute you for doing it.
Sounds like a good solution. The only concern that I have is most chairs have small wheels and the bits of swarf I generate jam them up. I have some sheetmetal trays around my gear to try and catch chips before they fall on the floor and get in the way. In addition to those, one day I need to get around to making up some moveable deflector shields so that when doing heavy milling I can stop the chips flying everywhere.
I love riding and restoring motorcycles, I had some fantastic advice to put some sort of crane or lifting point in my garage about three decades ago. Third iteration and I now have a gantry that is perfect for lifting. Some of the nest advice I have ever received. Becoming more relevant as I get older.
If I built my shop again I would put a laminated wood beam in each corner in a vertical position well anchored to the floor, or better yet imbedded in the concrete and extending almost to the ceiling. I would connect the top of each beam to one other one with a small I beam. Between each pair then put another I beam on rollers and hang a trolley and electric hoist on that. Use a retractable electric cord reel to travel with the cross beam to power the hoist. In essence you have made a minature traveling factory type overhead crane. The I beams would be the most expensive part, but over time you would save money on lifting carts, dollies, trips to the doctor or chiropractor, and etc. and achieve far far better results.
I can't easily do that as the roof space is being used to store stuff, but yes, if designing from scratch, a gantry like that is probably a good idea (although I'd get it checked by a structural engineer - those long spans can deflect alarmingly).
Whilst not too bad now in my mid 40s eyesight is something that plays on my mind. I will be going digital for all my measuring gear as vernier scales are getting harder to read accurately.
Mitutoyo is not too bad for battery life in calipers; other brands I can't comment on, but the cheaper ones certainly chew up batteries. For commonly used stuff I have digital but for things not used as often, the dial versions may be worth thinking about (or a large magnifying glass!)
@@occasionalmachinist I mostly commented as the pneumatic cylinder for drawbar action and tool change is 99% for machines which do not use the quill function anymore and have disabled it (otherwise the quill will be pushed down when activating the pneumatic cylinder). Using an impact driver that sits above the drawbar and can be lowered and spun either right or left is the solution for manual mills while keeping the quill functionality.
@@joansparky4439 I've seen it done, and for some people it is a great improvement. I think there are even kits available these days. I was told by a toolmaker once that milling with the quill extended causes more wear (better to use it just for drilling), so even those machines with a quill could productively change over.
@@occasionalmachinist if the quill isn't available for extending while drilling it would need to be done with the head / table .. (I wouldn't mill anything serious with quill extended farther than 1/2 of the large tool taper diameter). The pneumatic systems rely on belleville washers and the quill being locked + wont work on mills with MT taper. So impact driver it is ;-)
I have a duck board 'mat' for both my mill and lathe, made from recycled pallet material. I don't like the feel of swarf under my feet, and I found with a rubber mat it would sit on top but with the duck board it would slip through the gaps. Probably a little more spring to it too.
Thing is, by the time you realise that you need some of this sort of stuff, it becomes marginal whether you are able to get it in place. I'm doing this sort of thing in my shed now because I'd like to be doing things in there long past the time when setting up heavy lifting devices for example is beyond me.
Useful things--- rolling chair with Skating wheels that can run over chips, snatcher/grabber poles and telescopic magets ( several) to pick up things without bending over, several flashlights scattered around. these items help a lot for folks with disabilities
For time reasons there were lots of things I had to leave out, but they are good ones
Great stuff. I'm 55 and building a new shop that I hope to work in for the rest of my life. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront of my mind during the inititial design phase.
It's certainly worth thinking about now rather than (too) later.
At 64 years of age, I find that I have several blocked arteries in my legs so walking and standing are difficult.
I recently re-arranged my 1 1/2 car garage/shop to make life easier, maybe someone might benefit from what i did.
I basically moved my work bench with bench top milling machine, a large roll away tool box with my mini lathe and my Smith 3 in 1 lathe, mill drill combo and arranged them in a rectangle, with one corner left open for access. the back of the rectangle has a very large storage cabinet with consumables etc.
Now I am going to get what is called an Architect's chair. Basically a telescoping office type chair that is elevated and has a ring at the bottom to rest your feet on. Placing the chair in the middle, I will be able to just roll from one machine to the other.
I have a TH-cam channel that has been dormant but will put up a video tour here in the future so it can be visualized better, You have raise the awareness of a very important subject sir and I salute you for doing it.
Sounds like a good solution. The only concern that I have is most chairs have small wheels and the bits of swarf I generate jam them up. I have some sheetmetal trays around my gear to try and catch chips before they fall on the floor and get in the way. In addition to those, one day I need to get around to making up some moveable deflector shields so that when doing heavy milling I can stop the chips flying everywhere.
I love riding and restoring motorcycles, I had some fantastic advice to put some sort of crane or lifting point in my garage about three decades ago. Third iteration and I now have a gantry that is perfect for lifting. Some of the nest advice I have ever received. Becoming more relevant as I get older.
Well done - it's certainly one of those "should have done this years ago" sort of things
If I built my shop again I would put a laminated wood beam in each corner in a vertical position well anchored to the floor, or better yet imbedded in the concrete and extending almost to the ceiling. I would connect the top of each beam to one other one with a small I beam. Between each pair then put another I beam on rollers and hang a trolley and electric hoist on that. Use a retractable electric cord reel to travel with the cross beam to power the hoist. In essence you have made a minature traveling factory type overhead crane. The I beams would be the most expensive part, but over time you would save money on lifting carts, dollies, trips to the doctor or chiropractor, and etc. and achieve far far better results.
I can't easily do that as the roof space is being used to store stuff, but yes, if designing from scratch, a gantry like that is probably a good idea (although I'd get it checked by a structural engineer - those long spans can deflect alarmingly).
Good stuff to consider, cheers mate!
All food for thought
Thank you.
No problems Mark - hope there is something there you can use.
Whilst not too bad now in my mid 40s eyesight is something that plays on my mind. I will be going digital for all my measuring gear as vernier scales are getting harder to read accurately.
Mitutoyo is not too bad for battery life in calipers; other brands I can't comment on, but the cheaper ones certainly chew up batteries.
For commonly used stuff I have digital but for things not used as often, the dial versions may be worth thinking about (or a large magnifying glass!)
for a manual mill and changing tooling - look at power drawbar (usually done with an impact wrench either air or electric).
Yes, although I'm lucky as the draw bar is at my eye level, and that's with the mill being on a platform that brings it up around 200mm
@@occasionalmachinist I mostly commented as the pneumatic cylinder for drawbar action and tool change is 99% for machines which do not use the quill function anymore and have disabled it (otherwise the quill will be pushed down when activating the pneumatic cylinder).
Using an impact driver that sits above the drawbar and can be lowered and spun either right or left is the solution for manual mills while keeping the quill functionality.
@@joansparky4439 I've seen it done, and for some people it is a great improvement. I think there are even kits available these days. I was told by a toolmaker once that milling with the quill extended causes more wear (better to use it just for drilling), so even those machines with a quill could productively change over.
@@occasionalmachinist if the quill isn't available for extending while drilling it would need to be done with the head / table .. (I wouldn't mill anything serious with quill extended farther than 1/2 of the large tool taper diameter).
The pneumatic systems rely on belleville washers and the quill being locked + wont work on mills with MT taper. So impact driver it is ;-)
Thx for the vid.
No probs.
Obligatory algorithm boost 👍👍
Ta
Filing cabinet 🤣 lol very good. Interesting video.
I couldn't think of anything else to call it...
@@occasionalmachinist meant to say I can recommend a thick rubber mat in front of machines less tiring than standing on cold concrete flooring. 😃
@@julias-shed Yes highly recommend some thick mats.
I have a duck board 'mat' for both my mill and lathe, made from recycled pallet material.
I don't like the feel of swarf under my feet, and I found with a rubber mat it would sit on top but with the duck board it would slip through the gaps.
Probably a little more spring to it too.
@@occasionalmachinist the mats I’ve used are mainly holes so the swarf falls through. But duck boards would be a great option 😀
some food for thought there
Thing is, by the time you realise that you need some of this sort of stuff, it becomes marginal whether you are able to get it in place. I'm doing this sort of thing in my shed now because I'd like to be doing things in there long past the time when setting up heavy lifting devices for example is beyond me.
@@occasionalmachinist I agree, It's certainly got me thinking