Forge / belt sander / turbine in unit 23

[Jim MacArthur]

There is a forge, a belt sanding machine and a wind turbine blocking access to the tool board near the sink in unit 23. Several of us have been using the workshop today and found it pretty inconvenient having to lean over them. I couldn't think of anywhere appropriate to move them to. Can we have a think about whether we really need these, and if so, where their permanent home will be?

People are more likely to put their tools away after use if we make it easy.

Jim

[Charles Yarnold]

I use the belt sander a fair bit, so would be nice to find a home for it, but the other 2 should find a home outside of the hackspace IMHO.

[Tim Hutt]

On 13 August 2011 20:49, Charles Yarnold <charles...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I use the belt sander a fair bit, so would be nice to find a home for it,
> but the other 2 should find a home outside of the hackspace IMHO.

Agreed. It would also be nice to find a smaller belt sander if
possible. It's pretty huge for what it is...

[Billy]

Think the turbine was Calum's.

I'll dismantle for parts if no-one wants it

As for the forge, i thought Glen said he wanted it back if people here
didn't want it.

Though, if it's going spare, i know a couple of other people who'd be
happy to have it...



On Aug 13, 8:55 pm, Tim Hutt <tdh...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Kal]

The belt sander is really usefull to me, don't mind if it gets moved
though. I think the problem is finding a convinient power socket.

[James Mastros]

On 14 August 2011 11:40, Kal <lamb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The belt sander is really usefull to me, don't mind if it gets moved
> though. I think the problem is finding a convinient power socket.

If there are not enough convenient power sockets in the workshop, then
I think we should, by all means, add more power sockets. Adding
sockets is easy ... though you should probably switch off the breaker
to do it, which is somewhat annoying in the LHS context -- though not
horribly if it's planned for first. Possibly we should make a
checklist for rebooting the various machines in the space -- it came
up the other day in the context of moving lovelace, as well.

-=- James Mastros / theorbtwo

[Sam Kelly]

IIRC, the belt sander has an empty pedestal, just to put the useful parts at the right height - anyone able to take a quick look to confirm this and see how difficult it would be to put it on top of a Useful Cupboard instead?

It might be worth doing a survey of the whole workshop, to see what's plugged in where, how many empty sockets we have, what the amperage of the various machines is, and whether we can rationalise the arrangements a bit. (My guess is "yes".)

--
Sam Kelly, http://www.eithin.co.uk/

That's it.  We're not messing around anymore, we're buying a bigger dictionary.  -  Tibor Fischer, The Thought Gang.

[Russ Garrett]

On 13 August 2011 19:59, Jim MacArthur <j...@mode7.co.uk> wrote:

> There is a forge, a belt sanding machine and a wind turbine blocking access
> to the tool board near the sink in unit 23. Several of us have been using
> the workshop today and found it pretty inconvenient having to lean over
> them. I couldn't think of anywhere appropriate to move them to. Can we have
> a think about whether we really need these, and if so, where their permanent
> home will be?

The belt sander is very useful and we should keep it. Ideally it needs
to be connected to a water supply, which is useful not just for wet
sanding but also for dust control.

The forge should go, IMO. It's cool, but I don't think we can use it
in our current space. If we need one, having an electric blower is
more space-efficient and useful.

--
Russ Garrett
ru...@garrett.co.uk

[Adrian Godwin]

Access to power remains a problem, though. It's not a particularly good location for the belt sander anyway as the power comes from the etch tank extension which is a bit of a stretch.

We could really do with a bunch more sockets in there. Extensions should be for temporary use only, not strung all over the place for etch tank / minilathe / plllar drill (and it was me that installed at least one of those so I'm not pointing the finger).

I put a butane torch with the forge as it seemed a useful place to keep it. If the forge goes, please consider separately whether to keep the butane torch. It's not ideal (not as hot as propane or MAPP) but is probably a lot cheaper to run than the can-mounted disposable torches.

-adrian

[Sam Cook]

On 14 August 2011 20:10, Adrian Godwin <artg...@gmail.com> wrote:

Access to power remains a problem, though. It's not a particularly good location for the belt sander anyway as the power comes from the etch tank extension which is a bit of a stretch.

We could really do with a bunch more sockets in there. Extensions should be for temporary use only, not strung all over the place for etch tank / minilathe / plllar drill (and it was me that installed at least one of those so I'm not pointing the finger).

Is this something that the space itself would consider funding? It seems that a lot of plans for the workshop (in terms of layout etc) get stalled because of lack of power on the back wall. This seems to be something that we _really_ need. As an aside would it be an idea to put some sockets in the ceiling for more central access to help reduce the number of extension cables, which can be a huge hazard at times. 

S

[Jim MacArthur]

There isn't any space against the back wall of unit 23, with power or without. To put it against the back wall, we need to reduce the size of the wood pile, the bike parts, or move some of the storage shelves somewhere else.

[Russ Garrett]

On 15 August 2011 10:52, Sam Cook <sam.lind...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Is this something that the space itself would consider funding? It seems
> that a lot of plans for the workshop (in terms of layout etc) get stalled
> because of lack of power on the back wall. This seems to be something that
> we _really_ need. As an aside would it be an idea to put some sockets in the
> ceiling for more central access to help reduce the number of extension
> cables, which can be a huge hazard at times.

Of course, I'm more than happy funding new sockets - it's infrastructure.

--
Russ Garrett
ru...@garrett.co.uk

[Jim MacArthur]

Perhaps making a fixed "island" station for some of the new tools - sander and router table for example - with power descending from the ceiling would work.

[Sam Cook]

On 15 August 2011 10:57, Jim MacArthur <j...@mode7.co.uk> wrote:

There isn't any space against the back wall of unit 23, with power or without. To put it against the back wall, we need to reduce the size of the wood pile, the bike parts, or move some of the storage shelves somewhere else.

The storage etc is there because there are no sockets there. I (and I think some others) have been looking at ways of making better use of 23 and one suggestion was to move _all_ of the storage stuff to the window end of the room (including a reduced wood/metal pile) and keep the other end for tools. This idea was rejected because of the lack of sockets etc at the toilet end. 

On 15 August 2011 11:00, Jim MacArthur <j...@mode7.co.uk> wrote:

Perhaps making a fixed "island" station for some of the new tools - sander and router table for example - with power descending from the ceiling would work.

This seems like a good idea. I would make a modification and say it should be the workbenches (maybe back to back) with the small tools on a board between them. This way we can keep the power tools to the wall, out of the way and in permanent positions. People then go to a tool to use it and hand tools are by the workbenches where they need to be. This may even (although it's unlikely) help people tidy up after themselves, especially if they don't have to reach over belt sander etc to get to the rack. 

S

[Russ Garrett]

On 15 August 2011 11:04, Sam Cook <sam.lind...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 15 August 2011 10:57, Jim MacArthur <j...@mode7.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> There isn't any space against the back wall of unit 23, with power or
>> without. To put it against the back wall, we need to reduce the size of the
>> wood pile, the bike parts, or move some of the storage shelves somewhere
>> else.
>
> The storage etc is there because there are no sockets there. I (and I think
> some others) have been looking at ways of making better use of 23 and one
> suggestion was to move _all_ of the storage stuff to the window end of the
> room (including a reduced wood/metal pile) and keep the other end for tools.
> This idea was rejected because of the lack of sockets etc at the toilet
> end.

There's also the view that we want to keep the woodworking and
metalworking equipment separate to reduce the amount of dust.

--
Russ Garrett
ru...@garrett.co.uk

[Robert Leverington]

If we aren't going to put up any partitions, to what extent does mere
separation actually help in this regard? Even stuff on the other side
of the workshop gets absolutley covered in dust.

I agree with the idea of a central island with a faux-wall in the
middle, wall space definitely makes arranging things easier.

Robert

[Tim Hutt]

What about removing the bike parts (I thought they were going
anyway?), shifting the wood pile to the left a bit, and putting the
sander next to it on the right?

[Billy]

I'm moving those this week, now my trailer's almost ready.