When people think of the word "machine shop," they often think of dark, dirty, oily shop filled with huge, noisy machines. Tabletop machine tools like those offered by Sherline take machining and woodworking into new territories...like your basement, den, kitchen or even a closet! You don't need a lot of space, and you don't need to make a big mess. Because miniature machining projects for the most part don't use the larger tools you might use to work on your car or do other construction jobs, they don't have to be located in the same area. You can bring your machine tools indoors to work in the evening in heated or air conditioned comfort. If you have an apartment or condominium you don't have to be left out of the fun of making fine, small projects. These machines make little more noise than a sewing machine and the mess they make can be cleaned up with a small vacuum cleaner or mini-shopvac.
Joe Martin notes that one of the keys to working efficiently in a small shop is to clean up after yourself often. Containing chips and vacuuming often will also help keep from tracking them into other parts of the house. Working small tends to force organization on you because you can only set so many tools down on your bench before you run out of space. Keeping your work surface free from clutter means having a designated place for everything and putting each tool or accessory in its place when you're not using it. The good part about this is when you are done, almost everything is already put away!
Shown below are some shops put together by people who had limited space but the desire to make things. Without much effort you can probably imagine a shop like one of these in your house, no matter how pressed for space you are. If that is what has been holding you back from making the projects of your dreams, these shops might give you some ideas on how you can finally build the things you've been wanting to do in spaces you may not have considered.
A list of shops:
1. Marvin Meit's shop in a closet
2. Jerry Kieffer's traveling workshop
3. Ronald Melvin's compact home workshop
4. Portable workshop in a tool box by R.W. Markgraf
5. Steve Peirce's kitchen workshop
6. Chris Rueby's woodworking shop
7. A traveling shop in a 5th wheel tow vehicle by Lloyd Leech
8. Joe Martin's garage workshop
9. Paul White's "world's messiest shop"
10. Phil Bee's closet shop with big capabilities
11. Boxed lathe and mill by C.B.
12. Jason Chastain's flying Sherline workshop
Below is a photo of Marvin's shop. It takes maximum advantage of the confined space of a 6-foot closet. Anyone who thinks they don't have room in their house for a shop should study this photo. Organization is a necessity when combining this many tools and materials in such a small space, but it definitely works.
Marvin makes custom components for Pocher and other large scale model cars to super-detail them. You can see his wooden steering wheels on the workshop page.
Taking small projects to the extreme is a hallmark of Jerry Kieffer's work. As compact as the above shop by Marvin Meit is, Jerry's traveling shop would be hard to beat for combining the most in the smallest space. Jerry travels to clock shows and does demonstrations, and this solid oak traveling case allows him to take along everything he needs to set up just about anywhere. The case is built to the level of quality of all of Jerry's projects, which is to say "perfection". Inside is a high-intensity light to spotlight the work area. Mounted next to the lathe is a vertical milling column for use on the lathe when needed. The drawer underneath includes a variety of accessories including a rotary table, vise, drill index, compound slide and a complete set of WW collets in two layers. The tools themselves, though perfectly adjusted and aligned, are factory stock with no modifications. A fine display like this really showcases the quality of your tools and also adds to the pleasure of using them.
Many of the projects made in Jerry's workshop can be seen in the model engineering section of the Internet Craftsmanship Museum at www.CraftsmanshipMuseum.com.
Notice the finger joints at each corner on the cover. The case is 26" long by 11" wide by 13" high and made from 3/8" oak.
Just add electricity and you're in business virtually anywhere. A drawer underneath includes all the accessories. The vertical milling column is mounted behind the lathe for travel. A high intensity light with a flexible arm is mounted at the left corner.
In addition to the projects produced, many of you are interested in seeing how others with limited space set up a workshop in their homes. Canadian Ronald Melvin is a relative newcomer to small machining, but he really set up his small basement shop with organization and utility in mind. Notice also the attention to good lighting on the 5-foot long work surface. The small furnace room off the main shop also has an additional 3-foot work surface for rough work. (See photos 1 and 2.) His bench grinder is kept in the unheated garage to keep grinding dust out of the house, but a heated shop is a necessity for extended work during the cold Canadian winters. His first project was a PM Research steam engine, and he's now working on his second; a Little Angel hit 'n miss engine. With the help of expert friend Bill Huxhold, he is well on his way to completing a second beautiful engine while still a novice. Certainly the neatness and organization of his compact shop go a long way to helping him get a lot done in a small space. Below are some photos of his shop and some details of the Little Angel engine in progress. (Click on any of the small photos to see a larger image.)
Below are a couple of close-ups of the work in progress on Ronald's "Little Angel" engine. Details about how to order the plans for this nice engine and others designed by Bob Shores and appropriately sized for Sherline equipment can be found on the RESOURCES page on this site. Notice the nice quality of finish on all the aluminum and 303 stainless steel parts.
(Click on any photo for a larger image.)
Robert Markgraf of Roslyn, PA bought a Sherline mill and several accessories including the P/N 3200 indexing attachment. When he took it out of the box, he thought he had received a small lathe by mistake. After looking the accessory over, he decided that he could make it into a small jeweler's or watchmaker's type lathe with the addition of a few parts. He mounted the bed to a pipe column and base and then fitted the motor and speed control from his mill on the left end of the bed. He modified the tailstock to include a through spindle with a left-handed nut and mounted it on the right end. Then he added a rack gear to feed the carriage but also uses a leadscrew and split nuts to engage the carriage. By pulling out the knob on the carriage handwheel hub, the carriage can be controlled from the tailstock end. He also made a hinged T-rest for hand turning and mounted a dial indicator to show carriage movement.
What is most interesting about the project is how he packaged the lathe and all its accessories in a relatively small carry-around tool box. The box includes all chucks, drills, measuring tools, gravers and related parts to set up shop anywhere there is electricity. He didn't say what the box weighs, but he sure has packed a lot of utility into a small area. This would be a great vacation take-along took setup for those who don't like to leave their shop behind when they travel.
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This lathe started life as a Sherline P/N 3200 Indexing Attachment. R.W. Markgraf added a carriage and feed and modified the tailstock. He mounted the motor and speed control from his mill and set the whole unit on a single post mount like a traditional watchmaker's lathe. |
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Here the carriage is fitted with a compound slide. In the back you can see the dial caliper mounted to indicate carriage position. |
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Here the carriage is moved out of the way and a watchmaker's T-rest is fitted. The T-rest is hinged so it can be flipped out of the way for changing parts. |
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The lathe comes apart and the tailstock and motor/speed control unit are mounted to the base. The chuck also has a fitted compartment. |
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The wooden base with partially disassembled lathe is set in the tool box. Other components like a drill index, measuring tools and accessories are fitted into the compartments around the sides. |
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A tray containing more tools and accessories is set over the top and the box is closed up. This puts a lot of function in a very small package. |
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The closed tool box gives no hint of what is inside. With this setup you could take your hobby on the road with you just about anywhere there is electrical power to plug in to. |
In 2003 Steve Peirce was just getting started in machining. He entered in the "Novice" division of Sherline's Machinist's Challenge contest at the NAMES show in Michigan and took top honors in that division. In 2004 he came back to the contest with two entries and ended up finishing 2nd and 4th overall and only missed first place by 10 votes. With his combined winnings from both projects he ended up the top money-winner in the 2004 contest. He built two very detailed compressed air engine models of two different Maxum engines. In the 2005 contest, his two-cylinder "Achilles" engine took the overall win, completing his move from novice machinist to first place winner. All that award-winning work came out of this tiny kitchen shop, again proving that bigger isn't always better.
Steve's kitchen workshop keeps everything within reach. He's within an arm's length of both the refrigerator and a radio and has plenty of light from overhead. (Click on photo for larger image.)
This is actually the 2nd shop Steve set up. His first was even smaller (see below), and the above shop is soon due to move to another location to make the kitchen more useable as a kitchen. No doubt it will be just as neat and organized, although Steve does admit that when he is in the middle of a project the shop doesn't look like this. He also notes that the "Cannery Row" street sign is genuine, coming from outside Doc Ricket's Laboratory one block from the Monterey Aquarium. It was a gift from when he returned from Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1990.
Steve's first shop fit on one desk. (Click on photo for larger image.)
Chris Rueby sent in some photos of the wooden clocks he makes using Sherline equipment, but along with the e-mail he included a photo of his shop. It seemed to fit right in with this page, so I have included it here. It is another good example of a den or bedroom shop that takes up very little space but obviously turns out a lot of good work. He sent no details about the ship or aircraft models, but below is a photo of one of his wooden clocks.
About the clocks, Chris says, "I cut
the gears using the milling column with the rotary table and a slitting saw. The
shafts were all turned down on the lathe. Turned out nicely, and keeps good
time. Everything but the clock dial and hands are Beech, the hands are walnut
with a cherry plywood dial face. The only metal in it is a pair of drafting
weights for the weight. The rotary table made cutting the gears a breeze—only
about 20 minutes for the larger gears."
Lloyd Leech enjoys working with miniature machine tools while on the road. (Click on photo for larger image.)
When advised by the “boss” in 1996 that we were going to quit our investment jobs of 25 years and hit the road full-time, I was confronted with a huge challenge represented by hundreds of pounds of metal- and wood-working machinery and the hobbies attendant. With two years to prepare, I set out to reduce a shop that occupied a full garage bay to a shop that would travel in a fifth-wheel and/or truck and travel inconspicuously.
Lloyd's choice of vehicle included the proper tool boxes to include his hobby tools for a life on the road. (Click any photo for larger image.)
Having no idea that such a mission was practicable or even reasonable, we began looking for tool solutions concurrent with evaluating vehicles and coaches for living on the road. Fortunately, I had been using Blue Ridge Machinery in West Virginia as a source for lathe tools and had a dog-eared copy of their catalog on a workbench in the bay. Routinely thumbing through the pages one day, I noticed the “tools, not toys” introductory admonition to the four pages of Sherline products that Blue Ridge distributed. Grabbing the phone, I called Blue Ridge to talk with Chuck Feeney, who manages sales for the company and had helped me with tools in the past [note: It probably was Rob Stonestreet, Paul’s son, who since has made the incomprehensible decision to become a damn lawyer]. Thrilled with the explanations and descriptions of the small tools, I ordered a 4500 long bed lathe and a 5500 mill, each with an assortment of chucks, collets and tools.
Our shop hobbies ranged from making half-scale Civil War cannon to building modern semi-auto handguns, from carving large wood sculptures to turning sophisticated patterns for use by a local foundry for molds. Some capabilities we were willing to lose as impractical or unworkable in a mobile environment, but the bulk of our capability to fabricate were important parts of our lives – hobbies that lent joie to our vivre.
Despite the great “marketing” answers from the Blue Ridge folks, I was very skeptical about these Sherline mini-tools that I’d ordered. The ability to continue making chips was certainly an exciting prospect, but ultimately only if something useful would result! Cutting modern gun steel, as an example, requires both muscle and accuracy from the tools employed, particularly stainless gun steel. After two hours of testing the new arrivals, I was satisfied that the solution exceeded all hopes, let alone expectations. Using discretion in depth of cuts and feeds, I found that the small DC motors did yeoman work on the toughest steels that I had in stock. We began 1997 with the hope that we could find coach and tow vehicle manufacturers that met our needs as well as the Sherline machinery.
Lloyd's big Ford F-550 and Hitchhiker 5th wheel get them wherever he and his wife want to go. Once there, he breaks out the tools for a session of machining...in this case on a handy picnic table. (Click on photo for a larger image.)
Fortunately, Hitchhiker and Ford produce wonderful vehicles that provide great comfort and performance with proper customization. The boxes that we use on the F-550 tow body are custom made by Highway Products to our specs and provide great storage facilities for the Sherline tools as well as other electronic and hand tools.
Regards,
Lloyd L. Leech, III
Joe's shop features good natural light, carpet on the floor and a TV. (Click on any photo for a larger image.)
Joe Martin took advantage of some pre-fab drawer units and Formica countertop material to extend a workshop area down the rear wall of his garage. At the left end in a small alcove is a desk that serves as a quality control area. This is where Joe does his measuring and checks parts against the plans. Three florescent fixtures around the wall give plenty of light, although this photo does poor justice to that feature. Small free-standing machines do the job of cutting material to length. A grinder on top of the tool chest at the right is for sharpening tools. Cabinets and countertops like these are readily available at most home supply centers and can be customized to fit most garage applications.
Joe is a big fan of making your shop a comfortable spot to spend time. He feels that carpeted floors, heating/air conditioning and plenty of light are important to enjoying time in your shop. If this is your favorite hobby, you should make your time spent there as pleasant as possible. Joe even has a TV on the bench for background entertainment and a coffeemaker in case friends drop by to shoot the breeze.
A portion of the workbench along the back wall of Paul White's single-wide coach was constantly covered with tools and projects. He was always just too busy to clean up. On the lower bench you can see a functioning model jet turbine engine Paul constructed from scratch in his tiny shop. (Click on photo for a larger image.)
The late Paul White's shop had two distinctions: 1) It was about as messy and cluttered as any shop you'll ever see and 2) more work came out of this shop in a month than is produced in most shops in several years. Paul's shop was across the end of a small single-wide coach, separated from the kitchen by a large towel hanging across the door as a curtain to keep dust out of the rest of the coach. Airplanes and other projects covered most of the other counter surfaces, chairs and bed in the coach too. Before you could sit or do anything, you had to move at least one project. He was always making something and would often have several projects going at the same time. He only took enough time to clear the space needed for the next operation. (Married men will note this is a shop that only a bachelor could get away with.)
In addition to his models, Paul was noted for his work on full-size race cars for shops like Dan Gurney's All American Racers and custom aircraft that won awards at the EAA show in Oshkosh. He also built from scratch a jet turbine engine that is on display in the Foundation's craftsmanship museum* in Vista, CA and did much of the restoration work on the vintage IndyCar that Joe Martin raced for many years.
*See www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com
In 2003, Paul was killed by a hit and run driver while crossing the street near his home. His loss is a big one for the world of modeling and he will be missed by his friends. You can learn more about Paul and his shop in Joe Martin's book, Tabletop Machining.
A lot of tools can fit in a small space if you keep it organized. (Click on photo to view a larger image.)
Phill Bee has jammed a lot of capability into a small area with his shop. This whole shop fits in a six-foot closet. He has also made some modifications to his machines to increase the size of part and tool that can be held in the lathe and mill. Larger chucks, riser blocks, big vises—all look like they belong on larger tools, but he has managed to get everything to work. Phil demonstrates once again that with Sherline tools you need not blame space issues for not being able to do good work. He shows you can fit a lot of capability into a very small area. The worktop sits atop an old sewing machine cabinet with plenty of drawers and just about every square inch of space has been thoughtfully devoted to either storage or work space. He says the Vicmark chuck and ER32 collets have increased the size of parts he can work on while still maintaining a high degree of accuracy.
More photos of the tiny shop show details of the lathe and mill in use. The lathe is set up with riser blocks left in
place and is fitted with a power feed. Both the lathe and mill are equipped with
digital readout handwheels, and the common readout box is mounted to the back
wall of the workbench. (Click on any photo to view a larger image.)
Here is Phill's Vicmarc chuck with
an adapter to fit Sherline's 3/4-16 spindle thread. On the back of the chuck is
an indexing plate with 24 holes.
The lathe box closed (L) and open
(R). Notice the light above the lathe and the custom power feed with universal
joint in the lower left-hand corner. All the accessories are accessible once the
box is opened for work. (Click on either photo to view a larger image.)
The mill box closed (L) and open
with a detail of some of the tool storage blocks on the inside of the door.
Electrical boxes keep the wiring safe, and a built-in light makes it easy to see
what you are doing. The mill X-axis has a handwheel at both ends of the table. (Click on any photo to view a larger image.)
I set my lathe and mill up in enclosed wooden boxes because they are in my garage and it helps both keep them clean and free up bench space. I have modified my lathe with a home made power feed. The mill I modified by purchasing an extra feed wheel and replacing the feed screw with a longer one so I could feed with either my right or left hand.
I set the lathe up on a one-inch
piece of wood, which makes the handwheels easier to use. I should have done that
with the mill, and I think I will. I intend to re-build the mill enclosure to
be a bit bigger, as I didn't allow enough space for some of the accessories
Sherline makes.
The tool holders you see are just scrap pieces of wood. I drill the holes needed
for the tooling, and then coat the wood in oil. I use oil liberally on
everything because my shop isn't heated. I use 30 weight motor oil and slather it
on everywhere.
I didn't use anything to mount the machinery on, just bolted it to the wood. The
enclosures do not increase the vibration or noise that I've noticed. I did mount
handles on the boxes to make them easier to carry, but they are bolted down, and
I haven't yet taken them anywhere. I cut off the power cords and ran them into
electrical boxes. I ran lights around, as you can see.
I use my Sherline machines for home repair, repair and modification of other shop tools
and for firearm work (that's my hobby).
—CB
Home, sweet home and Jason's travelling shop. Jason is the copilot of an
aerial tanker. He and the crew are constantly on call during the fire season and
travel from fire to fire. They can't venture far from the plane, so his tiny
shop is on board. He builds small IC engines between fires but must be ready to
pack up and go at a moment's notice.
As you can see, the compact work area is a good fit for the Sherline Model 4000 lathe. The tool box was purchased at Lowes. (Click on any photo to view a larger image.)
Jason Chastain has been flying for 12 years, the last six of which are in aerial tankers. He is under contract with Neptune Aviation out of Missoula, Montana as copilot of one of their Lockheed P2V "Neptune" tankers. He flies in the USA during the summer fire season and then goes to Australia for the winter, which is summer over there and does the same thing. It's a pretty nomadic existence, and the runway is his home for most of the year. Each night the crew checks into a motel. The next morning they pack up their belongings, load them into the plane and stand by near the aircraft awaiting a call to fight a fire out of the current airport or another somewhere else. If no call comes, they go back into town and check into the motel for another night. When not flying, there is time for hobbies, but very little room for tools.
One day, Sherline dealer Jim Clark of Billings, Montana got a call from Jason who was in town to fight a large forest fire nearby and had a day off. His firefighting aircraft was parked at the nearby airport and he wanted to acquire a small lathe to keep on board to help him build small IC engines between flights. Jim loves airplanes and this sounded interesting, so he took a ride out to the airport to get these photos after delivering a lathe and accessories to Jason. Jim says the nifty black box into which the lathe fits so nicely is an SUV box from Lowes and costs under $30.00. It would work work well for a traveling shop in any kind of RV, not just an airplane.
For you aircraft buffs, here is another of the company's aerial tankers. It is an AirTractor 802F made in Texas. It may look small, but take a closer look at the size of the seat in the cockpit, the 5-bladed, turbine-driven prop and other details to get a better idea of how big it really is. The manufacturer claims it is the world's largest single engine airplane. The 802 is designed as a crop duster, with the "F" model being specialized as a water dropping fire fighter. (No, there is no machine shop in this plane...yet.)
