Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
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Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Lathes?! We don't need no stinkin' lathes!
(For those of you unfamiliar with the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges )
The fish-stringer looking things on the wall are stem blanks, btw. Kept like that for fast visual matching without having to sort through drawers. (The stems have labels which point to the right drawer.) And before you ask, no, I don't use Italian or Greek vulcanite blanks. Everything I have is NOS pre-WWII through mid-century German and English rubber of stellar quality. All acrylic is also German.
The big green robot is an adjustable speed / adjustable-belt-width knife grinder. The slickest rod stock shaping tool on the planet.
For you sharp-eyed types, the drill press says "JET," but it's not. It's an Arboga. JET just imports and distributes them. There's a "Made in Sweden" badge on the side.
The reason for two Foredom tools is one is a high rpm, reversible rotation model, and the other is a low speed/high torque one. (They look the same, but there's almost no mission overlap)
The adjoining room is two thirds shipping/packing area, and one third business office. There's still another area in an adjoining bedroom that's dedicated to purification processing. No pics of those, though, because 1) It's boring, and 2) they're messy.
Daisy the Shopcat made herself scarce when the camera flash started up, so no kitty.
(For those of you unfamiliar with the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges )
The fish-stringer looking things on the wall are stem blanks, btw. Kept like that for fast visual matching without having to sort through drawers. (The stems have labels which point to the right drawer.) And before you ask, no, I don't use Italian or Greek vulcanite blanks. Everything I have is NOS pre-WWII through mid-century German and English rubber of stellar quality. All acrylic is also German.
The big green robot is an adjustable speed / adjustable-belt-width knife grinder. The slickest rod stock shaping tool on the planet.
For you sharp-eyed types, the drill press says "JET," but it's not. It's an Arboga. JET just imports and distributes them. There's a "Made in Sweden" badge on the side.
The reason for two Foredom tools is one is a high rpm, reversible rotation model, and the other is a low speed/high torque one. (They look the same, but there's almost no mission overlap)
The adjoining room is two thirds shipping/packing area, and one third business office. There's still another area in an adjoining bedroom that's dedicated to purification processing. No pics of those, though, because 1) It's boring, and 2) they're messy.
Daisy the Shopcat made herself scarce when the camera flash started up, so no kitty.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Holy crap. That's an awesome setup you've got! Add a lathe and you're a proper pipemaker!!!!
Btw, thats a lotta buffing wheels
Btw, thats a lotta buffing wheels
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Oh man, I would love a space like that. At first I couldn't tell if you were showing us your shop or your dentist's office. It's SO clean!
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Holy crap! That's the cleanest and best organized shop I've ever seen!
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
I'm digging the cardboard box air intakes at your sanding and buffing wheels....great idea.
Am I Calamity Jane or Annie Oakley??...depends on the day.
www.ladybriar.com
www.ladybriar.com
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Beautiful set up, George! Wish I had your hardwood floors in my shop... I've thought about trying to retrofit my garage conversion workshop with a wood floor, but it would be crazy... Too bad you couldn't keep the fireplace. I'd love to have a wood burning stove in my shop. I ruin a lot of briar, and have a lot of scrap that could help keep me warm in the winter.
Scott E. Thile
Collector, smoker, and aspiring pipemaker.
http://sethilepipes.com
Sysop: http://pipedia.org
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Collector, smoker, and aspiring pipemaker.
http://sethilepipes.com
Sysop: http://pipedia.org
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- Tyler
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Is that...the living room?
Tyler Lane Pipes
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
As defined by me or the builder?Tyler wrote:Is that...the living room?
Most people have really strange priorities. Proof: I knew a woman once who didn't like machine tools in a space she insisted on calling "her dining room." Can you even imagine such a thing?
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
I knew it was the living room as soon as I saw the floors and trim. I think it's cool. In a perfect world my house would be two huge rooms....kitchen and shop....with a bed stuck in a corner somewhere.
Am I Calamity Jane or Annie Oakley??...depends on the day.
www.ladybriar.com
www.ladybriar.com
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
It has to do with why Trever T calls pipe repair work a "deadly trap": You must be equipped to handle whatever lands on your doorstep. If you make pipes, you only need what your designs require in terms of tools, materials, and techniques. If you repair them, you must have on hand what every maker's designs require. (Not literally, of course, but functionally speaking.)The Smoking Yeti wrote: Btw, thats a lotta buffing wheels
When it comes to buffing wheels, that means wide ones, narrow ones, soft ones, hard ones, large diameter, small diameter, cotton, flannel, loose, sewn, and so on. Whatever it takes to get into the delicate nooks, crannies, and graceful, hard-to-access curves that some of the Danish and German makers use. (Though an American maker holds the single-specimen degree of difficulty record. I once got sent jeff Gracik's "Unicorn" to be refurbed... a pipe whose stem had a one-piece spiral blade that wrapped around the shank, Yes, really. (He made it mostly just to see if he could.) It had been caught in a chemical accident of sorts, and Jeff himself declined to mess with it a second time. )
Expand that example to cover finishes, materials, connectors, fitments, and etc., and soon walls lined with eight foot high shelves won't hold it all.
Last edited by LatakiaLover on Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Sorry I quit reading everything thing after "No Kitty".
Joking. I know now where to send people for repairs. Sweet shop!
Joking. I know now where to send people for repairs. Sweet shop!
Ryan Alden
http://www.aldenpipes.com
http://www.aldenpipes.com
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Neat! I see pipe repairmen need 2 pairs of spectacles.
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Three if you count the visor. Close, closer, and closest.Charl wrote:Neat! I see pipe repairmen need 2 pairs of spectacles.
Some tasks when working with collectables require stupid precision. The other day I had to drill out a badly discolored ivory dot on an old Dunhill stem to replace it with a new one. It was an early specimen from the Tiny Dot era, meaning only 58 thousandths in diameter. Being off by virtually any amount would make the hole egg-shaped as well as leave a sliver of the old dot material on one side. The hard part (with the right tools) isn't mechanical accuracy, but alignment accuracy, and that means being able to see what you're doing. In my case, bright work lights, a head lamp to eliminate shadows, and two stages of magnification are the only way my old desert-cooked eyes can mange it.
Last edited by LatakiaLover on Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
- bikedoctor
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Pure OCD George....and I love it.
Kevin
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Pretty kick ass shop and fantastic tools, makes me ashamed to show my workshop now. While I am sure I would love the challenges of pipe repair having seen how much stuff and work goes into it, I think I'll stick to pipe making
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Only selectively. (Is selective OCD even medically possible?) If something doesn't factor into, or contribute to, achieving excellence, I care little about it. If it does, it receives my maximum effort. Been that way since I was a kid. It's a common profile for craftsmen and artists, I think.bikedoctor wrote:Pure OCD George....and I love it.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
That is a very impressive workshop, thanks for sharing it George.
- UncleDraken
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
I think I spot a recycled Laphroaig container in that first picture.
The question is though,
Are you sure you have enough lamps?
The question is though,
Are you sure you have enough lamps?
Brent
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein
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Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Aye, you have a good eye.UncleDraken wrote:I think I spot a recycled Laphroaig container in that first picture.
I no longer drink at all---and never did much or often---but when I did it was Laphroaig, Lagavulin, or Ardbeg.
The tube now holds something far less noble and interesting: extra-long pipe cleaners.
Actually, I've been meaning to install another on the Green Robot, so there's light hitting the work from each side.
The question is though,
Are you sure you have enough lamps?
One day I finally had enough of chasing myself from station to station with a desk lamp, is all, so mounted one near each machine. No more cords to tangle, bases to tip over, or wattage limits to deal with. Having bright light instantly where its needed both speeds things up and reduces stress. Should have done it years ago.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
Re: Repair workshop photos (it'll look funny to most of you)
Damn. That is a beautiful shop. Thanks for the photos!
If you don't mind, what models are those benchtop buffers?
If you don't mind, what models are those benchtop buffers?
Drew
"Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice."
"Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice."