AlasdairM's workshop

[Deleted]

Rather cramped especially with my radio-controlled helicopters and planes - but my retreat from the world where time has no meaning at all ;D

Wall 1


Wall 2


Wall 3


Wall 4

[drjohn]

And not a trace of swarf or metal shavings ....

DJ

[Deleted]

You'll never know how long it took me to clean up ;D

[Prowe]

Alasdarim,
Now thats what SWIMBO would call neat and tidy, not at all like my workshop.
It looksfrom the photos as if it is located in an upstairs room, I am very interested in any vibration/noise problems that you may have experienced, as I can see the appeal of an inside workshop in the winter instead of my usual trek outside and having to wait for the heating to have some effect.

Phil

[drumkilbo]

Amazingly tidy, I've just spent a day or two cleaning up and it still looks like a sh*te hoose.
I admire all the wee boxes for keeping things in, again I've done something similar recently...and now I can't find anything.

Ian

[Deleted]

Apr 6, 2010 10:36:30 GMT drumkilbo said:

Amazingly tidy, I've just spent a day or two cleaning up and it still looks like a sh*te hoose.
I admire all the wee boxes for keeping things in, again I've done something similar recently...and now I can't find anything.

Ian

As I posted in another thread, I do cut metal in there, but since I work on heli engines + covering fixed wing models etc., which means things have to be clean, plus using the room to socialise in (as my children live with me and space is very much at a premium), even though I have no SWMBO, it has to be kept cleanish.

Advantage of indoor workshop is ability to work through the winter - disadvantage for me is having to keep it so clean! I would love to have an outside workshop for model engineering (which would probably only get cleaned annually, if at all) plus a room indoors for the RC helis etc. but unfortunately this is not possible.

Regards, A

[weldsol]

Its a lot cleaner than mine

Paul

[drjohn]

Alasdair, I was just pulling you leg - you live in the wrong country - my workshop is almost always spotless too now that I've trained one of my many staff to use the wet 'n dry vac to clean up my mess! It certainly makes you feel more inspired to do something when you know the mess will be cleaned up and you don't have to dig through the swarf to find the lathe chuck key! Lol! ;D

DJ

P.S. that's a weeny P51D up on top in the first picture?

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2010 7:10:37 GMT weldsol said:

Its a lot cleaner than mine

Paul

But you use yours "properly" having seen some of what you make - your Shay I think is superb.

I am still very much at the learning stage so lots of "practice parts" are added to my rejects bin each time I go to make something! Still, I wouldn't want it any other way - the enjoyment I get out of it all is enormous.

A.

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2010 7:21:47 GMT drjohn said:

..P.S. that's a weeny P51D up on top in the first picture?

Certainly is Dr J - electric - does not look at all scale when it is on the ground, but once it's in the air it really looks "the business" and I love the profile - although the Supermarine Spitfire pushes it close!

A

[drjohn]

Alasdair - as you're into RC stuff, you maybe should look at my son's site in the UK - the last picture of the cougar - I held the model speed record with my one for a short while:-

jim-flint.com/photos/photos/Photos/Pages/My_Models.html

DJ

[Deleted]

The Cougar on your son's page certainly looks a "lean mean" machine.

When I started RC flying in the early 1970s a flyer (Reg Nicholls) at the club I joined had a Cougar as he entered the national aerobatics championships - his was set up for agility rather than speed, but I remember it (especially the noise!) well.

Nowadays the mufflers/silencers are a lot more effective, and four-stroke is very affordable. Back then a four-stroke cost about as much as a half-decent second hand car I seem to recall.

A

[drjohn]

Those were the days - with a mildly modified OS Max 40 with an improved carb and polished ports, I could get the prop tips supersonic in a dive! Noise - yup! Now it's all almost silent electric stuff with these new brushless engines where the coils are static and the magnets rotate - not the same - the nitro used to make your heart pump and give an adrenaline rush ......

DJ

[spamcanman]

I wish I kept all my petrol vintage engines I used in my free flight days,
oh, and my olly tigers.

[drjohn]

I appreciate this is now well off topic from Alasdair's workshop, but my son emailed me to say he's building a 69" span P51D with an electric motor to spin a scale prop and speakers to emulate the sound of a Merlin - how daft can you get?

DJ

[Deleted]

OT is fine with me, and far more interesting as well ;D

Although I fly both IC and electric models, there are days when I appreciate the "cleanliness" of electric. No need for a heavy flight box with battery + fuel + spare glow plugs etc. - just plane/heli, transmitter and a battery or two. Chuck in back of car, and if time permits it's off to the field for a quick fly.

Having said which, I do like the sound of IC and ability to fly, land, fuel up and be off again without having to worry about charging batteries at the field.

IC vs Electric is a perennial debate with advocates on both sides with very firm views

[dscott]

What a lovely workshop, I am lucky in being able to machine most of my metal at work, certainly all the cast iron, and my resemblance to a Philippine rice planter (ask D.J) gets washed off before I get home.
I work in the loft so all the warmth goes just where I want it, and I spent so much on insulation that our roof is the last one in the road with snow still stuck to it.
Working in the house does have its advantages, and one day I will learn the Mandarin word for swarf!! I missed most of the words for "I have just stood on a sharp child's toy and please tidy up Katie"
but I expect they will be the same.

I too love all sorts of machinery, and have been known to watch air displays, an extended tea break on the Hoe in Plymouth last summer, saw the Red Arrows and other slower flying jets.

Plus work on my V 4, 4 stroke engine is going steadily, I just keep on having ideas on how to build it simply, and was pleased that that part had not been started yet. It has to be a V to get it in the engine, and it will be a shame that refueling has to be done away from the steaming bays, outcast.

Oh the wonders of electric power an an MP3 player!!

David.

[Shawki Shlemon]

DJ , like father like son , I wish my son or son in law were interested in what I do ( building and running steam trains ) , they don't even have to build them , just come and get one or two . That is the reason why I started lately selling some of my engines . Now to the workshop which is the topic of this thread , one can only say it is clean not like mine , it is well organized not like mine . My excuse not to clean and organize is if I do , I will not be able to find anything and I don't have the time so it stays as is . very impressive workshop .

[steammadman]

will have to make sure H.W.M.B.O, doesn't see that workshop, only been in mine 34 years
but i "did " clean it up once,years ago, dont have time to keep mine spik and span, life is tooooo short, and i have a long list of got to do jobs,. but well done mate, your shop should be an example to us all. WELL DONE

[tim]

Hi All
nice work area alasdairm, i have a bv 20 lathe as well great lathe, what model is the mill please and what do you think of it ?
cheers
tim