Philabuster's Hobby Shop

Well, I figure it's high time I started my own shop thread.

We built the 22' x 26' shop in the back corner of our yard back in 2007. The house sits in a cul-de-sac so the back yard is rather large compared to the front yard. The shop is 2 x 6 stick frame construction and has 9' ceilings. The floor is 6" thick, 5,000 psi concrete finished with an epoxy coating. Walls and ceiling have R30 insulation and we also installed a ductless A/C system with heat pump. Shop is a comfortable 74°F even in the blistering Phoenix, Arizona summer heat.

We ran a separate 200 amp single phase 240v service from the alley to the garage because the house was built in 1972 and has the dreaded aluminum wiring of the period. It was WAY cheaper to run a second meter (billed as commercial power) to the shop vs upgrading the entire house electrical system and pull the shop electrical from the house. Nowadays, getting a second meter installed at the same address is off the table. We lucked out building the shop when we did.

The shop was intended from the start to eventually be a machine shop one day. The first of the machines were officially installed in June of 2012. The first machine I purchased was actually from a board member here (ParkerBender) and it was his Black Zak as he called it--a 1987 Mazak CNC lathe. The second machine was a 1967 Hitachi Seiki 5A turret lathe I bought off Ebay.

I bought a Phase Perfect PT-380 (30hp) phase converter to power the entire shop.

The riggers placed the machines within an inch of where I laid out the floor plan. Turns out my floorplan on paper did not work out too well in reality. I ended up moving the machines by my self with a pinch bar and some wood and steel blocks. I moved one end of the CNC lathe in 1/4" bites with the pinch bar, then moved the other end, relocated the steel feet and moved it some more. I got the machines in a much better layout after a few hours of work.

Is that a scout II?

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chip_maker said:

Is that a scout II?

Click to expand...

Yes. It's a 1980 Turbo Diesel. One of only 5,200 or so made the last year of production. I bought it in January 2000. Still have it but it doesn't get driven a whole lot.

Well, the next machines I purchased within a month of each other around September 2012. The 1992 CNC Webb mill and a 1968 Tsugami Chucker lathe. I bought the mill off Craigslist and the Chucker came from HGR.

You can see the nose of the Scout II in the 3rd pic.

Well fast forward to June of 2014 and I am getting another machine installed--another Mazak CNC Lathe. This one is a slightly larger model than the one I bought from ParkerBender. The new one a ST30 ATC/MC and the one I got from Parker is a ST25 ATC/MC. The new (to me) Mazak came from HGR.

The shop is getting REALLY packed at this point.

Well, I worked on Black Zak on and off, but I never did get it to make parts. The tool changer needed a lot of repair and the machine did not have a tailstock. Fast forward to Feb, 2015 and I ended up buying another Mazak from HGR--this time a much smaller Mazak CNC lathe called a QT10N ATC/MC. This is the exact model lathe I have been running at work since 1996 and I love the little thing.

The QT10N sat at the riggers for almost a year (!) while I was trying to fix up Black Zak to sell it. I had every intention of fixing up Black Zak, but in the end, I ended up parting it out since the electronics and some other common parts could be used as spares in both the ST30 and the QT10N.

Now it's Feb, 2016 and I need to get the QT10N installed, which means moving machines around again.

Actually, I forgot about the small Italian toolroom lathe I bought off Ebay and drove over to California to get it. It's a Graziano SAG 12 and you can see it pushed in the corner.

Well, the layout for the ST30 didn't work out too well. It interfered with where I originally mounted the Phase Perfect on the wall. Time to re-do the placement of it. I scooted the ST30 over about 3 feet in order to gain access to the wall. I didn't have a hoist tall enough so I had to improvise like the last time I hung the PP. After the PP was hung, I scooted the ST30 back to where it belongs.

Here's a close up shot of the SAG 12 and also a current shot of the shop with the garage door open. Yes, the shop is a bit messy at the moment.

Philabuster said:

Now it's Feb, 2016 and I need to get the QT10N installed, which means moving machines around again.

Actually, I forgot about the small Italian toolroom lathe I bought off Ebay and drove over to California to get it. It's a Graziano SAG 12 and you can see it pushed in the corner.

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Hey! I was there for this post! LOL
Keep the posts coming Phil. This should get good!

Cant swing a cat in that shop, thats a lot of capacity in such a small space.

Charles

Glad to see you got a shop thread started Phil. Have you made any parts with Mazak 10?
Maybe one day I’ll figure out how to post pics and start my shop thread, all my machines are still manual, still looking for a small cnc lathe, and they are tough to find.

That is quite a "hobby shop", very nice! I think you have too many CNC machines to be called a hobby shop though. Every time I see a so called hobby shop with CNC equipment I think to myself, "must be a single guy", lol. Thanks for sharing!

One of my first jobs that I did in my shop was actually for WheelieKing. He had some large square aluminum blocks that needed the centers trepanned out. He was going to do them on his mill, but I suggested letting me give it a go on my big turret lathe instead. Looks sketchy as hell, but I was bracing the part in the chuck with the turret and a live center, not shown in the pics. The 3 jaw chuck is 15" in diameter to give the pic some reference.

Job turned out good for both of us.

I forgot about the air compressor too. I was using a consumer grade vertical compressor for a while, but the pump ended up seizing up. I scored a 3 phase 7.5 hp Atlas Copco off Craigslist for $300. It is sitting outside the back wall of my shop. I wired up a soft starter to it to keep the inrush to a minimum. I also plumbed it in parallel with the old compressor to give me more air storage capacity. Works great!

I also retrofitted the big turret lathe with it's own soft starter as well. The inrush from the turret lathe's 15 hp motor starting up kept shutting down the CNC lathes. The soft starter solved that problem.

I do have the spindle acceleration reduced on the CNC lathes as well. That way, I am able to run multiple machines in my shop at the same time and also have compressed air.

I didn't mention yet but all the lathes have their own names because I do have five of them crammed in my shop and my GF wanted an easy way to tell them apart when I was talking about them. The mill is just the mill. Lol

Big turret lathe = Dr Evil
Small chucker = Mini Me
Italian lathe = Guido
Big Mazak = Big Zak
Small Mazak = Junior

Phil that's a sweet setup for a hobby shop! That's funny she will remember those names forever. Lol

Looking forward to following along as you go.

Brent

Great stuff Phil, thanks for sharing!

Now you just need to cram a little Mazak VMC in there...[emoji2371][emoji23]

ToolCat Greg

Big Zak was purchased from HGR and as expected, the machine was not in pristine shape. The Z-axis way cover was beat to shit and the bearings in the integrated live center were shot. I removed the way cover and cut and welded in a new sheet metal patch. I also replaced the nasty window with a piece of Lexan.

The live center spindle in this machine uses a very heavy duty roller bearing to take the weight of the work piece. I priced out the bearings and they were damn expensive. I am never going to machine anything remotely close the this machine's part weight capacity, so instead, I machined down the spindle to use some much cheaper roller bearings and reassembled everything. Tailstock works great.

CBlair said:

Cant swing a cat in that shop, thats a lot of capacity in such a small space.

Charles

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You got that right! When you walk in the door, and scan what you can see, you can't help your jaw from hitting the floor!

And I thought my 800 Sq. Ft. hobby/commercial shop was full.