January 12, 20197 yr Popular Post Around the end of the year, the furniture bank where I do volunteer work signed a lease for some new property. Just down the street from the current location. It will merge the offices. warehouse and furniture builds into one nice building. As far as we can tell, it was a lab for Proctor & Gamble. Our work area will have a dock with an overhead door. Plumbed for pneumatic and outlets about every 8 feet, already got some 240V outlets. We divided the area into two parts, and the landlord is doing the upgrades. The "dirty room" where we keep materials, do sawing, Kreg holes, dadoing and routing (routering???), double doors to the "clean"room where we will do assembly, cleaning and repair. Lockable tool room. Up front, there are 5 office areas plus reception, a meeting room, break room, two large warehouse areas and a mezzanine level with more storage for household goods. Short term (next Monday & Tuesday & later if needed) we will be moving the shop - SawStop, miter saw, panel saw, Shopsmith 10ER, Kreg Foreman, Delta table saw, dust collector, air filters, compressor, hand tools, drills and impact drivers, routers and pneumatic brad guns. Next month we'll probably make more storage shelving (got one done yesterday), work tables, and hook up equipment and do a dust collection ductwork. Edited January 12, 20197 yr by kmealy
January 12, 20197 yr I have this dream about a 10,000 sq ft shop that requires a golf cart to go back and forth. It's a start as Stick might say.
January 16, 20197 yr Author Popular Post Spent all day yesterday and today packing up the shop, parts in progress, and storage shelving to move the the new location. Shop is not completely set up yet, but the main machinery is in place (outlined a couple of weeks ago with painter's tape). Here's some of the in-progress shots. It's about 3-4 times our old area and divided into the "machine room" (AKA "dirty room") and assembly/cleaning/repair area (AKA "clean room") It was previously a P&G lab so we have lots of outlets, plumbed in compressed air (no more noisy compressor!), loading dock access, HVAC, good light, and a nice tool room.
January 16, 20197 yr Wow, nice space! Congratulations Keith. There should be a bunch of happy crewmembers with this new setup...
January 16, 20197 yr Author Popular Post The room behind the wall of the panel saw is a "break room" that includes tables, microwave, sink, bathrooms (with a shower). We're in high cotton. The crew member from SC told us the proper response to anything starting with "I'll tell you what..." is "You got that right."
January 25, 20197 yr Author Popular Post This week two of us spent a couple of days building a 4x8 outfeed table that will double as another work station. Today we built a couple of cabinets that will hold the air filters up near the ceiling. Dropped ceiling did not lend itself well to hanging them. And above the drop is a lot of HVAC, wiring, sprinkler pipes and pneumatic air lines. We'll use the area below for short term storage. Next week, we'll get started on re-assembling 3 4x8x8 storage racks that we built last year and building seven 2x8x8 shelving for the household goods (kitchen equipment, dinerware, linens, cleaning supplies, etc.) Interesting observation. I bought some 2x10 #1 SYP and ripped in in half to yield two heavier than 2x4s. Not only was it much better wood (fewer knots, drier, almost no warpage), but doing it came out with rift-sawn lumber. And it was marginally cheaper than buying the construction grade 2x4s
January 25, 20197 yr It is getting tough to find decent 2x4's today. Last project where I needed several I searched 3 suppliers, 2 bb & my normal "go to" for lumber and none of them had anything close to decent 2x4's. I sometimes wonder about the quality of homes being built today...
January 25, 20197 yr Great work for an even great cause Keith. Blessings to you for giving of your talent, time & paying forward.
February 8, 20197 yr Author Popular Post The new lease got signed first of the year and January was spent moving out the shop (and office and warehouse) to the new location. I've spent a couple of days a week getting things set up The landlord installed a new partition wall to separate the machine room (AKA dirty room) from the assembly room (AKA clean room) and warehouse. In addition to the shop, we disassembled and then reassembled three 4x8x8) storage shelves that we build for housewares. Then at the new site, just built 7 2x6x8 shelving units for linens, dishware, cleaning supplies, and other "welcome home" items for the clients. We got a suspended ceiling that ruled out hanging air filters from the joists, so we needed platforms for them, a parts-in-progress storage area, installed retractable casters on the six assembly tables, and a new outfeed & multi-purpose table next to the table saw. One thing we did find out was that it is cheaper to buy #1 SYP 2x8 and rip them in half than it is to buy crummy knotty, warped, and split 2x4 studs. We ended up doing with 2x10 actually, since we had 8' spans on the shelving units. Still a bit of shop cleanup to do with the spare parts that we'll use to make a couple more things. All the shelving units are on the second floor and the elevator is nor working. We're tired puppies.
February 8, 20197 yr It is coming together now Keith. Gonna be great when the move is completed and everything set up working normally.
February 8, 20197 yr Author Popular Post 4 hours ago, Stick486 said: that's no shop... where's the saw dust... Bob likes to sweep up. Go to it, Bob.
February 8, 20197 yr Popular Post 8 minutes ago, kmealy said: Bob likes to sweep up. Go to it, Bob. Visit members and their shops... bring Bob w/ ya...
February 8, 20197 yr Author Popular Post We have an interesting core of guys. Me - 30 year software engineer, then furniture repair guy Vince - Chemical Engineer for a major company and he specialized in tissue paper manufacturing, Air Force family kid, grew up mostly in New England and Thailand Bill - a biochemist that got switched over to IT because he was the one guy in the company that knew how to turn on the PC. Worked for medical labs, Western KY native, but we can still understand him. Sideline furniture maker now Charlie - chemical salesman that traveled all over the midwest, though he's a native South Carolinian, we can still understand him. Last week he told us that any conversation that starts with "I'll tell you what..." the proper response is, "You got that right." Bob - chemist that worked for PPG in their paint and non-paint divisions Will - mechanical engineer that worked on jet engine design & manufacture, Maine native Joe - another mechanical engineer that also worked on jet engine design & manufacture, Purdue grad so I assume he's a midwesterner
February 8, 20197 yr Popular Post 1 hour ago, kmealy said: Western KY native, but we can still understand him. 1 hour ago, kmealy said: though he's a native South Carolinian, we can still understand him. The bigger question here is, do they understand all, y'all?
February 8, 20197 yr Nice digs Keith for a majestic cause. Good on all of you for the giving of your time & talents.
February 8, 20197 yr Popular Post 1 hour ago, kmealy said: Bob - chemist that worked for PPG in their paint and non-paint divisions You forgot to add; "and likes to sweep up". John
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