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re: I'm building a Metal Shop
Posted on 12/29/25 at 12:18 pm to The Mick
Posted on 12/29/25 at 12:18 pm to The Mick
My shop will be a combination of woodworking and metal work. I like building custom gates and plan to get a plasma cnc at some point in the future. Ive done pipe fences and outdoor decorative trellises. Id really like to get into machining stuff but I literally have 0 experience with a metal lathe. Ive built all of our household furniture. Some of it is metal with wood inlays and the bedroom furniture is all wood. Ive built cabinets and bathroom vanities also. Just enjoy building stuff in general but even a 3 car garage gets tiny when you build anything with any size.
As of right now I dont ever plan on retiring per se but once my current software development gig comes to an end i want to build stuff for income. Just havent honed in on exactly what it is I want to do.
As of right now I dont ever plan on retiring per se but once my current software development gig comes to an end i want to build stuff for income. Just havent honed in on exactly what it is I want to do.
3
Posted on 12/29/25 at 1:06 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
Very nice...... well good luck with rest of the build.
Posted on 12/29/25 at 1:48 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
If you're interested in a small blasting cabinet and air compressor for your shop, let me know. My dad died back in June and left it for me to deal with. He was using this equipment to do blasting and etching on stainless tumblers and gifts, but I think you can crank up the pressure and change substrates to blast just about anything. I can send more info if you think you may be interested.
Posted on 12/29/25 at 2:36 pm to coverboy
quote:
If you're interested in a small blasting cabinet and air compressor for your shop, let me know. My dad died back in June and left it for me to deal with. He was using this equipment to do blasting and etching on stainless tumblers and gifts, but I think you can crank up the pressure and change substrates to blast just about anything. I can send more info if you think you may be interested.
Sorry to hear about your dad.
Unfortunately I'm pretty set on the compressor, and so far I haven't had a need for a cabinet blaster.
Posted on 12/30/25 at 10:15 am to WhiskeyThrottle
What a cool project and it's amazing how you wrangle the different professionals to all contribute to your vision.
What kind of woodworking do you do?
What kind of woodworking do you do?
Posted on 12/30/25 at 1:01 pm to idlewatcher
Furniture is my current interest mostly out of frustration. Most furniture stores are insanely overpriced crap. And furniture that is well built is even more expensive.
Most of the furniture I've built is just alder but I've worked with walnut, mahogany and cherry also.
Once I get the shop finished, I am going to try to source some black limba to build an office desk out of.
I've posted these here before but this is the bedroom furniture I built.
And this was the first piece of furniture I built and I think the first thing I welded even.
Most of the furniture I've built is just alder but I've worked with walnut, mahogany and cherry also.
Once I get the shop finished, I am going to try to source some black limba to build an office desk out of.
I've posted these here before but this is the bedroom furniture I built.
And this was the first piece of furniture I built and I think the first thing I welded even.
Posted on 1/2/26 at 4:16 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
And here I am can’t figure out how to get my sink from leaking…
“Go to college” they all said….GTFOH!
“Go to college” they all said….GTFOH!
Posted on 1/5/26 at 7:56 am to xBirdx
I think I'm officially framing complete now.
I'll admit I've gone the cheating route and hired a couple of guys to put the siding and roofing on and all the trim. That would have taken me too long and I don't want to drive 3000 screws into metal to do this.
Hoping the siding and roofing material shows up today. Ordered it last Tuesday.
I'll admit I've gone the cheating route and hired a couple of guys to put the siding and roofing on and all the trim. That would have taken me too long and I don't want to drive 3000 screws into metal to do this.
Hoping the siding and roofing material shows up today. Ordered it last Tuesday.
Posted on 1/5/26 at 9:12 am to WhiskeyThrottle
quote:smart move. do watch them at the start especially on the roof...dont let them over drive the screws and "oil can" your sheets. the neoprene washers should be fully seated but not compressed. make sure you have stitch screws (shorter self tappers) for the highs where the sheets overlap, and rope tape under that connection. if they know what they are doing you'll be fine
hired a couple of guys to put the siding and roofing on and all the trim
Posted on 1/5/26 at 10:33 am to cgrand
quote:
smart move. do watch them at the start especially on the roof...dont let them over drive the screws and "oil can" your sheets. the neoprene washers should be fully seated but not compressed. make sure you have stitch screws (shorter self tappers) for the highs where the sheets overlap, and rope tape under that connection. if they know what they are doing you'll be fine
I lucked out. These guys do this for a living. A buddy runs the business and he is in a lull with work and when I called him last week he asked if I could use them. I said send them.
I've been working with them over the last week and feel pretty comfortable they know what they're doing.
I ordered all the screws and got lapse screws along with whatever the normal self tapping screws are. Interesting to see different things called different things. Instead of rope tape, they called it tacky tape. But he had me place it on the order so I assume he knows where it goes.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 8:36 am to cgrand
I have 4 walls now. The last wall at the back is enclosed but I didn't get a picture of that yet. Allergies have me a bit confined to the house at the moment. I guess I'm deathly allergic to tree pollen and every time I go outside I pay the price for a few hours. Guys are making good progress though.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 8:37 am to WhiskeyThrottle
Also, I'm starting to think about framing out the pool house and bathroom and getting electrical stuff going.
I'm a bit stuck on lighting for the shop. Anyone got any suggestions on how to light this thing? Suggestions have been all over the board.
I'm a bit stuck on lighting for the shop. Anyone got any suggestions on how to light this thing? Suggestions have been all over the board.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 9:18 am to WhiskeyThrottle
quote:
bit stuck on lighting for the shop
5 years ago, I would have said 8 foot florescent low temperature lights, like the ones made for industrial freezers. That's what I have in my shop.
I have been gradually replacing them with the cheap 8 foot LED getups. If I was starting from zero, I would use 8 foot LED's, and rig them with a plug out of one of the side knockouts and put an outlet by each fixture. That way when I needed to replace one, I could just put a plug on the new one while i was on the ground, go up and replace the light, plug it in, cut the plug off the failed one and toss it. Have one switch to turn on half of them and another switch for the other half, with them staggered, and one set being set to max brightness and the other set to half bright. Having stupid bright lighting is nice for working on stuff but it sucks for social stuff. That's what I'd do if I was starting over from zero.
Screw dealing with ballast and being able to get this tube but not that one and all that bullshite.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 9:23 am to WhiskeyThrottle
250Watt UFO LED lights, with a 0-10V controller.
Can go incredibly bright, or dim. when you want it. I typically keep mine at about 40%.
These: LINK
Can go incredibly bright, or dim. when you want it. I typically keep mine at about 40%.
These: LINK
Posted on 1/9/26 at 9:52 am to Geauxkart
quote:
250Watt UFO LED lights, with a 0-10V controller.
Can go incredibly bright, or dim. when you want it. I typically keep mine at about 40%.
These: LINK
I notice they have a dimming wire, so I guess you can't hook these up to a traditional dimmer switch?
Posted on 1/9/26 at 9:58 am to Geauxkart
quote:
250Watt UFO LED lights, with a 0-10V controller.
I had a very similar product saved to my amazon list. Leaning towards going this direction.
And to downshiftandfloorit
quote:
put an outlet by each fixture.
This is exactly how I was planning on running the electrical. There are so many lighting options it's hard to know which one gives a decently broadcasted light without having dead spots.
I think I like the direction of the UFO lights ultimately. Might buy a round of them and see how well they light, but if they're adjustable then that sounds like I have some flexibility.
Posted on 1/11/26 at 1:07 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
Man, this is coming along nicely! Make as much progress as you can while the weather is nice!
Posted on 1/12/26 at 6:20 am to xBirdx
quote:
And here I am can’t figure out how to get my sink from leaking…
I was thinkng, I cant nail two boards together straight and this motherfricker is building a airplane hanger in his back yard.
Posted on 1/12/26 at 8:50 am to LanierSpots
quote:
I was thinkng, I cant nail two boards together straight and this motherfricker is building a airplane hanger in his back yard.
Posted on 1/20/26 at 4:03 pm to idlewatcher
Really glad I contracted out the siding and roofing. That's way more than I think I could do by myself and I don't have enough IOUs out there to get friends to help me that much. There is a ton of very small details to the trim work also that I don't think I could make them look presentable, so I feel like I made the right decision there.
A little more trim work left, but they just finished the roof.
I installed the meter base and breaker panel this last weekend. Municipality documents don't require an external disconnect, but after I got all done installing according to their plans, they call and tell me about the disconnect. NECS added that requirement a couple of years ago, but the electric company didn't feel the need to make that a documented adoption of the code. Bunch of crap but whatever. No getting around it. Now I get to do a little re-work.
A little more trim work left, but they just finished the roof.
I installed the meter base and breaker panel this last weekend. Municipality documents don't require an external disconnect, but after I got all done installing according to their plans, they call and tell me about the disconnect. NECS added that requirement a couple of years ago, but the electric company didn't feel the need to make that a documented adoption of the code. Bunch of crap but whatever. No getting around it. Now I get to do a little re-work.
This post was edited on 1/20/26 at 4:08 pm
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