The Shop

Well, I'm finally calling it 'done'. At least for now :-)

After moving into the new house, I started making progress on the setup of the new shop. It has been allot of fun designing an 'ideal' shop from the ground up. Below are a few pics of the final product. Normally the table to the left, is in the center of the room, to work on projects under the good lighting. But as you can see, there now is this big pole. It will be the backbone of my next project.

Need some light on the subject? You'll also notice several outlets between the lights. They are tied into the main light switch, so that all the ceiling outlets go dead, when you leave and turn off the lights....good safety idea if I leave tools (dremels, soldering irons etc.) plugged in by accident when done with a night's building. Also installed, is a compressed air outlet from the compressor that is stationed in the garage.

Just off of the main room, is this side room, that I've used as my 'hanger'. Also is included is a small workbench, for other projects.

Broader view of the same room, but now you can see the rack system I built to store the planes on. Those are hand made and welded steel 2x4's made out of 2'' square stock, with 1'' pipe for the 'arms'. Adjustments are every 6 inches, and they are secured to the wall, and ceiling joists with 7 lag screws each, going deep into the wood. Below the planes are padded packing quilts, that can be laundered if the planes drip grease and oil on them. 2 months time was spent working on this plane rack alone....and people wonder why, I haven't been building any new planes. :-)

On the backside of the airplane rack, I've got setup 5 outlets for all charging needs, The storage shelves contain all my field equipment, and radios.

The last room, is the Paint Room. I've got compressed air run to it, a ventilation system installed, and have just finished up the 'painting station', where you can mix your paints, and have a place for gun cleanup. The rest of the room, is just open 11 x 14 feet. Below is a shot of it temporarily serving duty as a place to cut fiberglass cloth for the Blackbird project.

Head back to the: Main Page