When your shop is so full of crap you can't move

pescadoman

pescadoman

Randy
Silver Member
I'm starting to lose my mind...seriously. I have 2 of just about everything just so I can find ONE. Everywhere I look is an unfinished project and I can't find ANYTHING when I need it! I'm constantly stepping over CRAP!

Everything has been put on hold here recently so I can plumb up the air(again) and the time and money is bleeding me dry. I've spent more money on couplers, copper, regulators, and crap than I have invested in my compressor and dryer! I've moved 3 tons of equipment around and tried to free up every inch, but it's not enough......

That's all I've got......
 
Same situation. My solution, I'm in the process of adding a second story to my building.
The roof is on and the gable-end walls are almost done. The roof is Mansard style.
The balance of the exterior work may have to wait until Spring.
I can no longer work outside in the Winter. Actually, anything below 50* and I'm screwed.
It's been a fun project, 2 yrs in the making. Doing it yourself takes time.

Any chance you could put a pre-made storage shed close by ?
 
Roller carts help. Just got one from Sam's. Getting another with 9 drawers at HD.
You should really move to OC so we can split a shop. 😀
 
Mcues said:
Stay away from Craig's list :)
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I know....I could use some more Lista cabinets though. Think I've spent a total of 700.00 for 5 cabinets and 2 butcher block tops.

Hard to pass up a 5 year old 2500.00 compressor for 450.00

The Sharp TMV mill takes up a TON of room, but I've got less than a grand in that. Came with Kurt power drawbar, Servo 140 and 150 powerfeeds. Couldn't pass that up.

I WANT to build a shed, just can't afford it.
 
One of the things I've been working on is "going vertical" with storage instead of horizontal. For instance, many pliers hang in a smaller footprint than laying down in a drawer.

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I've also finally started my lathe toolboard project, which arranges a number of tools vertically in an otherwise wasted space. While I got the idea from Searing, it also utilizes Mythbuster Adam Savage's "First order of retrievability" idea pretty well.

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Searing's lathe toolboard (pictures from the net).
 

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I really like that Go vertical approach.
Will have to make some things now.
Thanks for the tip and post.
Neil
 
If your problem is similar to what I see in the 1st & 2nd pic, your solution is obvious.
What I see are at least 6 Crescent wrenches (all apparently of the same size),
6-7 sets of diag. cutters and at least a doz. needle-nose pliers, again, all the same size.
Redundancy is a waste and in this case, a waste of space. Find ONE and stick with it.
If you MUST have two, separate them with one at either end of the shop.
There's a lot more to those pics than what meets the eye.
 
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I like having each machine with all it's own tools.
Just like little waste bins,can't have too many of them.
Neil
 
If you havent seen it already you might want to check out the video I did at Ernie's shop. He has things pretty nailed down as far as organization. Of course he has a huge shop with a ton of room to store stuff outside the shop but you may get some inspiration on how he has tooling and stock set up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpl9ANYjjWE

Tony Sciannella's shop is pretty tidy as well with an area for everything. There are some pics on google.

I spent the first half of my life in machine shops and factories big and small. The ones who had their shit together all had two things in common:

- A place for everything and everything in its place
- Little to no clutter. If it wasnt being used it was in its spot. If it didnt have a spot you made one or it went away.
 
My Dungeon is 12 x 10. My tool box is on a roller box. As Joey mentioned, my drill press and stand for my sanding lathe will be getting wheels soon.
3 work benches. Deluxe is sitting on 2 of them side by side. And another bench for doing other jobs. Not crowded at all for the moment. Just kind of cozy. Let's just say that I don't have to walk too far to get anything.

My Band saw is on a set of wheels so I can raise and lower it to its base. It resides outside the room.

One option is to knock down one wall, which will give me access to half the basement.

All I would have to do is to get rid of all the stuff on the other side of the wall.
 
pescadoman said:
It's hard to know when you mean what you say Joe....
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I don't quite understand. Everyone I know, the vast majority, including myself who are successful, are well organized. They spend their time moving forward and not moving things or looking for things nor do they work in complete chaos. If your business and life are organized things progress much more easily and thus more productively and therefore more successfully.

Of course, I could be mistaken because I'm on AZ where there are many daily "experts"; so what do I know.
 
Haha, Joe, considering the size that I have to work in, I have to be organized so as to not be tripping over everything.

All one has to do is to view Joe's Cue DVDs to see that everything has it's place in his building.
From other things, I would believe that Joe doesn't tolerate messiness from employees.

Myself, just downsizing my basement. I have generations of things that belonged to Parents and Relatives. No longer feasible for me to think about keeping this stuff any longer.
 
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