Setting up your dream hobby shop

[Ckgworks]

I have a question for you guys that have a shop set up with lathe and mill.......I might be finally able to move my hobby stuff out of my garage and basement and in to a detached shop, and I'm trying to come up with a plan for an ideal set up......if you had a large shop that was semi conditioned (insulated and a wood stove) and another area 14'x20' that was fully conditioned, what would you put in the condition space? As of now, I plan on putting all dusty wood working tools in the main shop, with a stock making/checkering/finishing area in the conditioned space, as well as a cerokote oven. There is still plenty of space, and I'm wondering if anyone would put a lathe or mill in the conditioned space or leave in the main shop. I always assumed a lathe would be pretty messy, but I stopped by a little gun shop that had a lathe right in the middle of it, and it was spotless.....I'm trying to figure out if he never used the lathe or have I only seen lathes run sloppy, lots of oil splatter, etc.... I have never run a lathe, but will have one set up soon. At this point I'm just trying to get electrical wiring and plug locations figured out. Any help is appreciated....... How is your shop set up?

 

[Jud96]

I don't have my own personal shop yet, but I work in a machine shop and I'm a machinist. Lathes can be messy but it depends what you're doing with it. If you're just threading and chambering rifle barrels, you'll only have about a cup full of chips to clean up. You'll have to run some sort of coolant when you chamber, but you can keep that contained if you block it from going all over the place. If I was spending a lot of time running the lathe, I'd put it in the conditioned room just to stay more comfortable. If you want to keep the full conditioned small room super clean, then I'd just put the lathe in the main shop. Milling machines tend to throw chips all over the place and are a little more messy than a lathe in my opinion and experience. I'd put the mill in the main shop to keep it from throwing chips on things I didn't want metal chips on.

 

[Ckgworks]

Thanks Jud96.......I hope someday I'll be able to to do rifle barrels, but in the mean time, that's about as much work as I plan on doing on it. Meaning making small parts/pins, threading etc.....Just basic farm and hobby stuff. I'm not expecting the room to be super clean but it will be primarily hand tools in there. I just want to avoid big oil chip messes, which it sounds like I can. The Lathe does have a chip pan so that may help..... Someone else recommended a hood fan above the lathe to help keep the room cleaner, any thoughts on that? I hope that I end up using the heck out of it but until I start running it it's hard to say! I might just have to splurge and spend the money to put a plug in both spots just so I have options down the road.