Workbenches

Just got my first digital camera and felt like finally posting some pics. Im always interested in peoples workshops and their modeling areas, especially if they have any special tools like lathes, milling machines, you name it and how they work.

So here is my modeling table with my detail parts peg board. The entire desk is jam packed with stuff, the drawers hold kits, projects Im working on, and lots of scratchbuiling supplies. As you see, I need alot more space, and my lighting isnt that great. I have alot of stuff on the surrounding floor, and most of the time my workbench is just overflowing with stuff. On the top, I have some plans on the next project Im beginning, and of course tons of stuff covering anything. Like I said to watash before, I have a huge collection of detail parts, and they are always strewn on the top.

Ive also got another desk behind me for modeling, but it contains secret information

Mike

 

Looks like mine. Packed with stuff and you cant find the thing you are looking for because there is so much stuff piled up.

 

My dad was like you Alan, so I grew up with it. It was a mark of a man's capabilities the companies looked for. If the guy was neat and organized, he was considered to probably be the same way with his work. If he was not too neat, left his workbench covered in grease and oil, tools out of place, he was considered sloppy, and only given "rough" work to do. (It sometimes took me more time to gather up my tools to please dad, than the time I spent on my project). But, I always knew when a tool was missing, just by seeing the empty space where it was kept. Now that I have finally moved the last of his tools and machinery into my model shop, it is pretty crowded, so I'm going to have to sell off some odd supplies and keepsakes just to get room again.

 

Here's my workbench back when it was still pretty clean.




Well Maybe not

If you want to see it, It can be found here: http://content.communities.msn.com/SeabrookMountainRR/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=15

[ 17 August 2001: Message edited by: guppyman ]</p>

 

I need to get a picture of mine on here as well.

Looks a lot like mine mike. BTW, how did you get all the detail parts to hang sideways like that!??

jk

 

Well, my main work bench is in my garage with my layout. I have most everything I need for my trains and my radio controlled boats. A space for everything and everything in it's place with lots of wall cabinets and shelves. I think that the biggest problem with any work space is the floor. When you work with tiny parts using fingers or tweezers the parts sometimes like to fly away. I thought that painting my garage floor grey would help me to find the parts that "got away", however it hasn't seemed to help much. Multi colored carpeting is definitly a no-no, unless you like sifting through your vacuum cleaner bags. Probably a white painted floor would be the best but I can't see doing this to a floor which in the winter is partially covered with fender-bergs and road salt. I have a spare bedroom down stairs that doubles as my computer room/winter work shop when the outside temp is too cold but it has deep carpeting.

 

If I took a picture of my workbench, you would call the Red Cross, thinking a bomb had gone off. I try and try to get organized, only to start another project and things fall apart quickly.

Now, I would get organized and put all my parts in the small parts bin I bought, but I can't find it under the mess.....

Three DPM kits going, two IHM houses, an extension to the layout, and always building WS tree kits.....

Jeff
Augsburg & Concord R.R.
(a fictional shortline in Central Illinois)
http://www.geocities.com/revnjeff/index.html

 

Guys, I do not know how you can get any work done when you have to sift throught the mountain every single time you cannot find something. Of course, I was raised in a household in which my dad loved neatness, but never took the time to properly put everything in its place. I hate toolboxes, peg boards are better, and everything goes back into its place after I am finished, otherwise it gets lost into the ever growing mountain of clutter in the center of the bench.

I wish I had work space, it would be real nice.

The grey on the floor might not have been such a bad idea. If you drop something, turn off the lights, grab a flashlight, and shine it across the floor, that should work in most cases. course, if yuo work in a shoe box lid, or on a piece of wood shaped like that shoe box lid, the parts fall into the corral and cannot get out(just make sure to properly caulk the edges so there is absolutely no cracks to hid the parts.

Bright lights are a must, for some strange reason, they make everything so much easier to work with. A bright office lamp on either end, and a Magnifying glass/lamp with reach all seem practical, altough one well placed lamp is also perfectly adequate.

 

I usually have one project on the go at a time,But if one gets put on the back burner,it goes into a drawer.The best investment i made lately was a desk lamp.(The kind on an arm that swivels.)Next time i'm at Ikea,I'm gonna get another one to eliminate shadows(and slow cook myself,those 100w bulbs put out some heat!)Happy modeling!

 

My investment in a purpose-built workbench was one I should have made some time back. Unfortunately, the items used are all but superceded and I don't know of any replacement in the same range. It was from Ikea. Minor modification are all that were done. See it at - http://www.pnc.com.au/~audiosat/projects/workbench.htm - and this is before I have trashed it with work!
Like Dangerboy, the drawers are used as backburners as well. But I have more than one project going at any one time. I have to admit I miss my odd details and bits pegboard, though.

Gary.

 

oh,I should mention,I use a small parts organizer(you know,with a million little drawers)as spare parts and little bits storage.

 

My workbench is a piece of Formica countertop mounted to the wall. Overhead next to the ceiling is the sound system that is a must for my train room. CD's going all of the time if not music then switching yard sound tracks. Behind the workbench are two stacks of drawers, the kind you will find in a Hallmark Card shop under thier displays. My wife works part time in the Hallmark shop these came from and when they remodeled they were given to me. It is nice to ber able to work on something and if another item is needed just swivel the chars and thier they are. The bench is usually semi organized. All parts and stuff needed to fionish the job at hand are there and then put away when that project is done. The 8" piece of cermanic tile is really nice when doing any soldering. It keeps the Formica from getting burned/melted/messed up.

 

Workbench? I think I've got one here somewhere. I work(play) in so many different scales there must be at least a dozen projects or more at any given time going on in my basement.

 

It's reassuring to see that other people's workbenchs are a cluttered with stuff as mine.

 

Alan, do you WORK on that ever?

Hehe, nice bench. wouldn't mind one of those myself!