Shameful and Gratuitous Workbench Photos

[CPMcGraw]

Several folks have already shared with this forum some photos of their workbenches and rocket collections. What I'd like to do is start a thread on our workbenches, not just for photos, but on how we arrange them, keep them accessible, how often we bulldoze the piles... :eek: :o

I don't have a permanent workbench with shelves or sliding drawers to work from. I keep several folding tables for multiple projects. One is a six-foot conference table with an interior door laying on top. This door becomes a very substantial building sub-surface. I have a layer of pressed-paper (backing) board about 1/2" thick glued to one side as the actual building surface, into which I can stick "T" pins for holding strips of balsa. I'm also into RC aircraft, so the door is just the right size for constructing a full-length fuselage on, or a wing panel.

In the attached photos, I have an eight-foot folding table for setting these rockets on (not really the intended use, just the default use until I can get some racks built).

And, no, I really don't have an accurate count of how many rockets are sitting here. :D

This room pulls double duty as my computer room / office / design studio...

Craig McGraw

[Ltvscout]

Several folks have already shared with this forum some photos of their workbenches and rocket collections. What I'd like to do is start a thread on our workbenches, not just for photos, but on how we arrange them, keep them accessible, how often we bulldoze the piles... :eek: :o
Eeeeek! Most of those rockets are nekkid! :eek:

[Eagle3]

When my wife and I rebuilt the downstairs I told her I wanted two things, one was to divide the game room so I could make a den/office and the other was to turn the bedroom down here into a hobby room. It took a lot of work, but I finally have my dream room. :)

PS - belive it or not there are a lot more rockets in other rooms of the house. :rolleyes:

[Bob H]

Those can't be workbenches, I can see the surface. :p Where is the big pile of rubble??

It would probably take me a week to get my workbench half as clean. :rolleyes:

[Eagle3]

Those can't be workbenches, I can see the surface. :p Where is the big pile of rubble??

It would probably take me a week to get my workbench half as clean. :rolleyes:

Notice you don't see a whole lot of the floor in those pics? ;)

[CPMcGraw]

Eeeeek! Most of those rockets are nekkid! :eek:

Well, not all of 'em... :o

Some are just in their underware! :D

I plan to get a bunch more into their underware very soon... ;)


Craig...

[CPMcGraw]

Notice you don't see a whole lot of the floor in those pics? ;)

Man, that's one nice work area. Clean, neat, everything in its proper place... :rolleyes:

You're one sick puppy, there, you know that? :eek: Now I gotta go back and clean up my workbench again just to keep up with you. :D

And yes, I'd believe you about having more in other rooms. Ditto, here...

Craig

[Ltvscout]

Man, that's one nice work area. Clean, neat, everything in its proper place... :rolleyes:
Hehe, which is why I'm not posting pics. I can't even get to my workbench anymore due to all the "collectibles" stacked up here in the basement. Needless to say my wife is not happy.

[John Brohm]

I thought I'd share a few shots of my shop. It measures about 20' x 8', and has a built-in bench across the one end. The peg board is mandatory in my case, because if I can't see the tool, there's a good chance I'll just buy another one!

The other end of the shop has a small desk that I do a lot of the finishing work on. I've mounted a number of cabinets, shelves and storage drawers at each end of the room to keep the small parts organized and near the work centers. I have a celing fan that I use to vent fumes (mainly solvent-based adhesives, and the airplane dope used to finish fins); all my painting is done in the garage because I find it just generates too much dust.

A couple of Christmases ago, my family bought me a small TV and DVD player, which I've mounted over the work bench. This lets me play some old SciFi movies or LDRS videos while I'm filling seams. Not allowed to have a fridge - wife's afraid I'll never surface!

John

[ScaleNut]

very nice shop!

[CPMcGraw]

All of these shops are giving me ideas. That's dangerous.

Good looking shop, John. I see you're into the CL stuff (Lil' Satan), and into plastics as well.

Craig...

[Ltvscout]

All of these shops are giving me ideas. That's dangerous.

Good looking shop, John. I see you're into the CL stuff (Lil' Satan), and into plastics as well.

Craig...
Yup, great shop, John. Wanna come over and organize/clean my basement for me? ;)

I noticed that Lil' Satan as well. I "had" one as a kid. Crunch!

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Clue us rookies in. What was a Lil Satan?

[Eagle3]

Control line combat plane.

Sweet shop John!

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

If nothing else, this thread should make my wife happy. I spent the afternoon and early evening organizing the garbage picked Steelcase desk that serves as my workbench and storage space. It's still not picture ready, but I'll try to comply later in the week.
As a side note, I'm truly amazed at the number of projects that I found half finished or outright abandoned. I have a box of BMS nose cones that I've never even touched, all for Estes classics that I now get to go back and figure out the identities of.

[John Brohm]

Thanks guys - I certainly enjoy the shop, at least when I'm home!

And I know what you mean Bill; I keep getting distracted by the next project, so I've ended up with a couple of Rubbermaid containers (small ones, thankfully!) filled with primed, or ready to be primed, models. I suppose that if I ever get possessed by a painting spell I could progress these, but I find painting is something you have to be in the mood for in addition to having cooperative weather.

My son's in his second year of Ohio State; my daughter, who's a Junior, is starting to check out colleges; it looks to me like no one is really using the rest of the finished basement. A shop can never be too large, you know...

John

[John Brohm]

Oh and about the other models...

That's from a prior modeling life. You've got to keep it quiet about the plastic and balsa airplane models. Mrs. B has already raised some concerns about the rocket kit collection (that's in excess of 700 kits now); I'll be in big trouble if she finds the plastic and balsa kit collection...

Sshh...

John

[Phred]

I build and design in the basement. Here are a few pics:

[Phred]

OK, let's try that agin...

AHEM...

I said...

"Here are a few pics"

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

I build and design in the basement. Here are a few pics:

Everything's so BLUE! :D

[John Brohm]

Ok Fred - that's awesome. It's like you're running a store out of your basement or something. Wait a minute... (!)

[CPMcGraw]

"Here are a few pics"

Now, I'd feel right at home in your shop. A pile for everything, everything in a pile... :D

I can even smell the balsa dust and the odor of paint solvents...

Ahhh...

Picture two is frightfully close to home... :rolleyes:

In photo four, there's a joke forming: "How many Alphas does it take...?" :eek:

I love it!

Craig...

[Phred]

Yes, my building space has a comfortable feel to it...

The funny part is that I cleaned for about an hour to get those photos!! :eek:

And yes, ALPHAs are my favorite I especially like to collect 'kid built' Alphas with crooked fins, upside down fins, an kid-quality finishing jobs.

Ph

[Doug Sams]

It's my birthday. I'm FFF (Forty Frickin' Four) today.

My family got me new Nikon D70 to replace my deceased Nikon KoolPix.

Now that I have a camera again I can show you my shop: http://home.flash.net/~samily/shop/

Doug

[CenturiGuy]

It's my birthday. I'm FFF (Forty Frickin' Four) today.Happy Frickin' Birthday! (I'm wondering if I should quote Dr. Evil from Austin Powers. "Are those frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads?" :p )

Seriously, enjoy your day! :D


Cheers,

--Jay


P.S. I'm about 7 months behind you (FFF on January 3, 2006) , so "here it comes!" :cool:

[CPMcGraw]

It's my birthday. I'm FFF (Forty Frickin' Four) today.

My family got me new Nikon D70 to replace my deceased Nikon KoolPix.

Now that I have a camera again I can show you my shop: http://home.flash.net/~samily/shop/

Doug

Doug,

I like those "rolling shelves" in one of the photos. Are those commercial units, or did you have plans, or did you create something to fit a need?

Nice reminder :o , those hanging remains of your L2 attempt... What was it originally, and did you succeed later?

Craig "FF3 and counting" McGraw

[Doug Sams]

I like those "rolling shelves" in one of the photos. Are those commercial units, or did you have plans, or did you create something to fit a need?

Craig,
I built those back around 1990. There are two of them, nearly identical. They were built as utility carts and somewhat patterned after the kitchen carts popular back in the 60's. In fact, I still see them from time to time in restaurants, usually made of stainless.

In my original plans, a tool box was stowed on the bottom shelf, and its tool tray placed on the middle shelf. I envisioned using them while working on the car, being able to roll one right up to the fender and placing tools and parts on the top level. In fact I have done that once or twice :)

Reality is that any horizontal surface tends to gather junk, so they are often just junk piles on wheels :) But when I can keep one cleared off, it's super handy in the shop.

I've thought about putting stirrups on one of them (ala the field boxes the RC guys use). It would make it super easy while assembling a big rocket. You can easily move it around for lighting, tool access, etc.

Nice reminder :o , those hanging remains of your L2 attempt... What was it originally, and did you succeed later?

It was a 6" Midget sustainer. http://home.flash.net/~samily/midget600/midget600.html

I have replacement parts, but haven't gotten around to building another L2 bird yet. Maybe this fall. Besides another 6" Midget, I have a couple other ideas. My next HPR project is an upscale single stage Avenger (with faux booster section) to fly on SRS hybrids. I could maybe try to L2 on that. And eight 29mm motor tubes fit nearly perfectly around a 54mm motor tube leaving just enough room for eight fins between the 29's. The forward half of the Avenger would be used with this booster section. I'm gonna call it the Doug-1b :)

Doug

[CPMcGraw]

I built those back around 1990. There are two of them, nearly identical. They were built as utility carts and somewhat patterned after the kitchen carts popular back in the 60's. In fact, I still see them from time to time in restaurants, usually made of stainless... Reality is that any horizontal surface tends to gather junk, so they are often just junk piles on wheels :) But when I can keep one cleared off, it's super handy in the shop.

Reason I ask, those would be useful accessories for any model builder. If they're your own creation, or if they're OOP commercial designs, BARCLONE could use some drawings on how to build them from scratch. Anything that makes building models easier can be submitted...


It was a 6" Midget sustainer.

Funny, I never would have guessed... :eek: :D


My next HPR project is an upscale single stage Avenger (with faux booster section) to fly on SRS hybrids. I could maybe try to L2 on that. And eight 29mm motor tubes fit nearly perfectly around a 54mm motor tube leaving just enough room for eight fins between the 29's. The forward half of the Avenger would be used with this booster section. I'm gonna call it the Doug-1b :)

Has anyone air-started a hybrid successfully? The Avenger (or its Centuri cousin, the Long Tom) both look like natural candidates for solid-to-hybrid boosts.

Craig

[John Brohm]

It's my birthday. I'm FFF (Forty Frickin' Four) today.

My family got me new Nikon D70 to replace my deceased Nikon KoolPix.

Now that I have a camera again I can show you my shop: http://home.flash.net/~samily/shop/

Doug

Happy B-Day, Doug. Nice shop!

[JRThro]

It's my birthday. I'm FFF (Forty Frickin' Four) today.

My family got me new Nikon D70 to replace my deceased Nikon KoolPix.

Now that I have a camera again I can show you my shop: http://home.flash.net/~samily/shop/

Doug
Happy belated birthday, Doug. My birthday is 29 days after yours, and I'll be FF8!

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

We closed on our new house yesterday and my wife suggested that I take the "bonus room" as my workshop/hobby room. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it's bigger than 15' x 15'. It has a built in workbench and shelves, as well as an exit door that leads out to the side yard/paint booth. Nothing's moved in as of yet, but I'm thinking that it will be my first big project, followed by many smaller projects. :cool:

[CPMcGraw]

We closed on our new house yesterday and my wife suggested that I take the "bonus room" as my workshop/hobby room. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it's bigger than 15' x 15'. It has a built in workbench and shelves, as well as an exit door that leads out to the side yard/paint booth. Nothing's moved in as of yet, but I'm thinking that it will be my first big project, followed by many smaller projects. :cool:

Lots of potential there, Bill. Plenty of parts storage area, and what looks to be a usable work surface. Quick, cheap method of having a really flat work surface -- pick up a bare, no-detail interior wood-sided hollow-core door. Glue a 3/4" thick piece of either Homosote board, or "blacking" board, to one side. Flip the door over depending on whether you need a hard, smooth surface to just assemble something on, or if you need a softer surface to stick T-pins into while constructing something that needs to be held in place while glue dries. Lean it up against the wall if you don't need it, lay it over saw horses if you need additional area...

[JRThro]

We closed on our new house yesterday and my wife suggested that I take the "bonus room" as my workshop/hobby room. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it's bigger than 15' x 15'. It has a built in workbench and shelves, as well as an exit door that leads out to the side yard/paint booth. Nothing's moved in as of yet, but I'm thinking that it will be my first big project, followed by many smaller projects. :cool:
Is that like a basement room that has a door to the outside? Looks cool!

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Is that like a basement room that has a door to the outside? Looks cool!

It's a HUGE room, maybe as big as 20' x 20', all concrete, and under the garage. It's listed as the "bonus room", and yes, it has a door to the side yard with the deck above for shelter.
Last night we were cleaning out the kitchen and found a pair of dice. They were the kind that you roll to find what action to take on what part of your partners body. :eek: Ownership has yet to be determined because we've had a few visitors. So far the only one I haven't been able to interview is my sister in law. If she doesn't own up to leaving them, they must have belonged to the previous owners.
What I want to know is, why the kitchen? Where do I need to scrub?

[Ltvscout]

Last night we were cleaning out the kitchen and found a pair of dice. They were the kind that you roll to find what action to take on what part of your partners body. :eek:
Don't keep us in suspense, what did you roll?!?

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Don't keep us in suspense, what did you roll?!?

Spit-shine pituitary gland. Whee.

[sandman]

I didn't want to start a new thread so I decided to put it here.

A real classy way to store your tools!

ON SALE ALL NEXT MONTH at Woodcraft Supply for $50 off.

If you have too much disposable income.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5901

That is classy! :cool:

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

I didn't want to start a new thread so I decided to put it here.

A real classy way to store your tools!

ON SALE ALL NEXT MONTH at Woodcraft Supply for $50 off.

If you have too much disposable income.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5901

That is classy! :cool:

It'd be classier with chrome side pipes and some neon tubing on the bottom. :rolleyes:

[barone]

I didn't want to start a new thread so I decided to put it here.

A real classy way to store your tools!

ON SALE ALL NEXT MONTH at Woodcraft Supply for $50 off.

If you have too much disposable income.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5901

That is classy! :cool:
Gee.....I could buy one of Sheri's Hot Rockets for that :rolleyes:

[Rocketflyer]

I thought I'd share a few shots of my shop. It measures about 20' x 8', and has a built-in bench across the one end. The peg board is mandatory in my case, because if I can't see the tool, there's a good chance I'll just buy another one!

The other end of the shop has a small desk that I do a lot of the finishing work on. I've mounted a number of cabinets, shelves and storage drawers at each end of the room to keep the small parts organized and near the work centers. I have a celing fan that I use to vent fumes (mainly solvent-based adhesives, and the airplane dope used to finish fins); all my painting is done in the garage because I find it just generates too much dust.

A couple of Christmases ago, my family bought me a small TV and DVD player, which I've mounted over the work bench. This lets me play some old SciFi movies or LDRS videos while I'm filling seams. Not allowed to have a fridge - wife's afraid I'll never surface!

John

I noticed a hammer on the peg board. Is that for kit"bashing" Man, sure wish I had a work area like you guys do. I go through kitchen tables every year :p

[Rocketflyer]

It's my birthday. I'm FFF (Forty Frickin' Four) today.

My family got me new Nikon D70 to replace my deceased Nikon KoolPix.

Now that I have a camera again I can show you my shop: http://home.flash.net/~samily/shop/

Doug

So, Doug, who/what do you want to be when you "grow up"? :p

Jack

[Rocketflyer]

We closed on our new house yesterday and my wife suggested that I take the "bonus room" as my workshop/hobby room. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it's bigger than 15' x 15'. It has a built in workbench and shelves, as well as an exit door that leads out to the side yard/paint booth. Nothing's moved in as of yet, but I'm thinking that it will be my first big project, followed by many smaller projects. :cool:


Wow, Bill. Like the rest of the guys, you have something good going there. Keep us posted on your progress in getting it "outfitted". :)

[Doug Sams]

So, Doug, who/what do you want to be when you "grow up"? :p JackHi, Jack,

This thread is nearly two years old - I'm almost FF6 now :) - but I still haven't grown up.

I'm trying to learn RF. I went to school to become an engineer, and to learn all about electronics. I've done pretty good, but radio frequency stuff has always been beyond my grasp; I'm not even sure that waves actually propagate :)

So recently, I've actually gotten out some old college text books and have been trying to relearn what little I knew about radio waves. I'm actually looking at Gauss' laws, Faraday's law and Ampere's law, trying to climb to ground zero so I can then go forward and learn _and understand_ something actually useful.

Anyway, my current desire is to be an RF engineer ! Of course, this time next week, I might want to be a car hop - I always wanted one of those change machines on my belt :D

Doug
Channeling Jethro...

[JRThro]

Hi, Jack,

This thread is nearly two years old - I'm almost FF6 now :) - but I still haven't grown up.

I'm trying to learn RF. I went to school to become an engineer, and to learn all about electronics. I've done pretty good, but radio frequency stuff has always been beyond my grasp; I'm not even sure that waves actually propagate :)

So recently, I've actually gotten out some old college text books and have been trying to relearn what little I knew about radio waves. I'm actually looking at Gauss' laws, Faraday's law and Ampere's law, trying to climb to ground zero so I can then go forward and learn _and understand_ something actually useful.

Anyway, my current desire is to be an RF engineer ! Of course, this time next week, I might want to be a car hop - I always wanted one of those change machines on my belt :D

Doug
Channeling Jethro...That'll take a powerful lot of cipherin'!!

[Arley Davis]

I can do one better last week I turned 1 plus ½ century that is. Anyway that’s what I told my grandson when I told him it was my birthday. As I told some one in another thread at least growing up in the 60’s was great even without Cable, Video Games, and Computers.

I have yet to get my Work space set up, for winter came before I could get help getting my rocket stuff out of storage, maybe the first part of MAY.

[handeman]

I spent several hours cleaning the "shop". A couple of more hours and I might allow a picture to be taken.

[Rocket nut]

Our basement is half finished and the unfinished side is split between 60+ rockets, 20 r/c planes and aquariums, but we still find room to build our projects. Here is the rocket corner.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u229/cessnapilot2007/DSCN0195.jpg

[CPMcGraw]

...split between 60+ rockets, 20 r/c planes and aquariums...

It amazes me how we tend to follow similar interests on this forum. Rockets and RC airplanes are a natural combination, but the reference to aquariums knocks me out.

I currently keep two bettas in 2.5 gal tanks. At one time, I had three 29 Gal sizing tanks, ten 10 Gal breeding tanks, and 12 dozen wide mouth quart Mason jars, each with a single male in it. Not anymore...

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

It amazes me how we tend to follow similar interests on this forum. Rockets and RC airplanes are a natural combination, but the reference to aquariums knocks me out.

I currently keep two bettas in 2.5 gal tanks. At one time, I had three 29 Gal sizing tanks, ten 10 Gal breeding tanks, and 12 dozen wide mouth quart Mason jars, each with a single male in it. Not anymore...

I've had several aquariums over the years with everything from Rainbow Sharks to Betas to Puffers. I bought my wife a small aquarium when she was in grad school and stocked it with Tetras and Tiger Barbs. I put it together for her on Friday and she called on Sunday, frantic because her fish were dying. They had ick. I had to drive an hour on one of the most dangerous roads in Ohio in a driving rainstorm to treat the fish for her. Didn't make a difference. They died anyway a few weeks later. After that I bought her a Beta and it's become known as "The Fish That Wouldn't Die". It lived for years and ended it's days in a mayonaise jar when she moved back home after grad school.

[sandman]

I have a pond in my garden that was constantly being emptied or fish by Blue Herons.

Now I stock it with blue gills...free fish. :D

And my dog can catch them and I don't care!

[ghrocketman]

Sandman,
Sounds like the same story as my brother's pond about 15 miles south of Flint off US23; the Blue Herons constantly pluck the Bluegills & Sunfish out of his pond.

[Rocket nut]

It's kind of funny that I simply mentioned aquaruims and people start talking about fish in a rocket forum. It's great that we all have more of the same interests than just rockets. :cool: I have been keeping fish(11 years) for roughly same amount of time as doing rockets.