The Home Machinist!

I do use a vacuum for most all of my cleanup after a broom as you say Russ. Air can make for a disaster when it comes to stirring dust, even in a large shop but it certainly has its place. You do not need a lot air to blow out threaded holes etc though. Get one of those needle tips for the blow nozzle.
I have those yellow drop cords at my mill, drill press and lathe but the one I use most is at my two post lift where I have a 50' reel.

Consider an air filter too. If you are going to grind anything, that is a pretty small place and you do not want to breathe the dust.

Where are you from Josh?

I'm in San Francisco, CA. Speaking of, how do I set a location on my profile? I don't see that option in edit profile.

I do have a separate detached garage that has the rest of my tools, mostly woodworking and light welding, so I might try to confine my grinding and major cutting work out there (though a small portaband or similar in the metal shop will probably be a neccessity)

Yes, bandsaws take a lot of room. maybe keep it outside, under the eves, covered with BBQ covers. I keep a wood chop saw and table saw outside, because I don’t have any room for them in the shop. Found that BBQ covers work very well to keep them clean and dry.

Glenn

Click on your name in the upper right corner, click on profile then click on the "edit profile" after username.

I recomend putting the lathe in a location that give room to feed long bar stock thru the head stock. And also lots of clearance around both ends of the mill table to allow long items to hang off. I also recommend rubber flor mats, they not only make it easy on you but also protect work pieces and tools if the inavertntly get dropped or knocked off a bench.

As others stated good lighting and lots of power outlets.

Rob

You can say that again!!!
RussN

NP317 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:38 pm You can say that again!!!
RussN

Chuckle!

He did. Three times, total, in fact.
No harm done. Two of them were deleted.

H

rmac wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:14 pm Think drawers instead of shelves for most of your storage.

-- Russell Mac

Best storage for your small measuring tools is something called a flat-file cabinet.

My dad's had drawers 48" wide, 30" front to back and about 2" high. He had two units with five drawers each.

Lets you keep all your tools in one layer so you don't have to go digging for things.

You can have endmills laid out and banging into each other.

I would have grabbed them myself, but I don't have the floor space.

I got his printers cabinet and dental cabinet.

Steve

Those are great, when you can find them, and in good shape, and not silly priced. They can sometimes be had at older machine shop auctions as they were used to store large format engineering drawings "flat".

Speaking of silly priced, look into various "high density storage" options. Lista, Vidmar, Lyonn, and others make excellent examples. But price, ouch! And pricing is often by the drawer count. That said, over a period of years, I've had better luck finding these for way under typical asking prices. My favorite is ~5' high with over 20 thin drawers, much like a flat file cabinet. And each drawer is rated ~400 lb capacity. I've got some that are almost solid steel, being packed full of 123 blocks, parallels, setup plates, v-blocks, and so on. Likely well over 200 lbs, and it opens with 1 hand, though somewhat slowly, you still have to overcome inertia.

I made my own; I wish I'd found heavier drawer runners, but they're working ok. The wheels crank down, or rather, the whole thing cranks up.
Handles are some I had in stock for a long time.
Top is 10mm plate.

Here’s something in the lighting department that has worked out very well in my shop. I found these little no name LED lights on line, for a few bucks each. Very bright, but localized. They work well illuminating my work area on my Bridgeport and small horizontal mill. One on each side of the spindle. Literally like “night and day” when I turn them on.

Glenn

I just ordered one from Amazon.
There are several available in the same configuration, but I chose one with the flexible gooseneck covered with silicon tubing, like yours.
That and the black colored parts should work better in my shop environment.
Costs a bit more, but still a good deal. < $20 (US).

Thanks for your good idea, Glenn.
RussN