FarmWrench
Well-Known Member
Some things make a lot of difference. What has made or wrecked the productivity of your shop or "someone's"? I need to build but "bigger"and "brighter" just leaves me busted.
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Good Shop.....Bad Shop
- Thread starter FarmWrench
- Start date
RobVG
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2009
- Messages
- 1,028
- Location
- Seattle WA
- Occupation
- 17 excavators and a stewpot of other stuff
Don't get me wrong, I love my shop but the bosses spec'd it. It has drive through bays but it's too close to another building so you can't drive a truck through. When I bring a pup trailer in, after closing the doors there's a foot of clearance between the pentle eye and the door, same with the back. They decided they needed a 2nd floor storage area. It's cool but the stairs go up inline with the edge of the doors- makes it pretty tight at times. More outlets would be nice. Still haven't figured out how I'm going to change the light bulbs...
his1911
Active Member
the shop I occasionally work from isn't terrible but it does have a few major faults!
We have two Bays that are drive in, not drive through, they work for smaller machines, but are a waste from tractor trailers etc.
We lost one smaller bay because my boss decided some machine shop equipment would be nice, and it is but I miss the extra bay at times!
Shop air lines needed oilers added!!! Major booboo!
We have two Bays that are drive in, not drive through, they work for smaller machines, but are a waste from tractor trailers etc.
We lost one smaller bay because my boss decided some machine shop equipment would be nice, and it is but I miss the extra bay at times!
Shop air lines needed oilers added!!! Major booboo!
FarmWrench
Well-Known Member
Good points. Location has held me up in planning. On the farm one site I can't get a semi to others are so far away as to require dedicated utilities and driveways.
I have three lathes and a few other machine tools. I am planning on an independent room.
I have found a lot of truck bays lost to wood stoves, storage, unfinished projects and loafers.
I have found (but only in massive shops) a kitchen and office give good returns.
I have three lathes and a few other machine tools. I am planning on an independent room.
I have found a lot of truck bays lost to wood stoves, storage, unfinished projects and loafers.
I have found (but only in massive shops) a kitchen and office give good returns.
Scrub Puller
Senior Member
Yair . . . If you are working any volume and have lathes that can swing a decent job we found an overhead rail and trolley system . . . particularly between lathe and mill was a (relatively) inexpensive improvement.
Cheers
Cheers
I would have it so i never stored any thing in the work area. Wright now i work out of my dads Shop/warehoues and part time on a fleet of trucks in a tire shop. I would have a tool room and a storage room. A buddy of mine has a trailer behind his shop. The back door of the shop faces the side door of it and they are on the same level. He has good lights wired in it very well organised.
grandpa
Senior Member
When I built my new shop, I put an outside underground storage tank for used oil. Then constructed a catch basin inside that can handle a cart and also a rack for dripping oil filters..... I enjoy the crap out of it!!!
richard.bessey
Member
I was just chatting about this with a relative, here is what I learned (This is his own shop behind his house)
We were walking around his shop, and he had a couple things that made me jealous:
A pull in work area, and seperate car parking areas.
The work area, he embedded rail road ties upside down in the concrete, so you can drive a tracked vehicle in on the ties and not scare up the concrete.
A restroom, fully insulated with an electric heater inside. Keep the door closed and never have to worry about it freezing. Inside the restroom he had a garden hose real, used for spraying down rigs.
A hoist mounted to pull engines
A wood stove for heat
Compressed plumbed throughout the entire shed
What he did wrong and suggested do differntly
Taller - Taller garage door and ceiling, he can't pull an engine out of a taller truck
Put the air compressor outside, with it running, you can't hear anyone else
More lighting
We were walking around his shop, and he had a couple things that made me jealous:
A pull in work area, and seperate car parking areas.
The work area, he embedded rail road ties upside down in the concrete, so you can drive a tracked vehicle in on the ties and not scare up the concrete.
A restroom, fully insulated with an electric heater inside. Keep the door closed and never have to worry about it freezing. Inside the restroom he had a garden hose real, used for spraying down rigs.
A hoist mounted to pull engines
A wood stove for heat
Compressed plumbed throughout the entire shed
What he did wrong and suggested do differntly
Taller - Taller garage door and ceiling, he can't pull an engine out of a taller truck
Put the air compressor outside, with it running, you can't hear anyone else
More lighting
richard.bessey
Member
One more thing - If I were to build a brand new shop, I would have a separated room from the rest of the shop as a workshop area. After you remove X part off of the car/truck/trailer/equipment, its nice to have a well lit, comfortable, heated/air conditioned area to disassemble smaller parts.
BIGcatT870
Active Member
Help,finding the correct hyd. Drive motor
For quite sometime I have been wanting to convert a PTO driven bush hog With a hydraulic drive. The fabrication I can do . My problem is getting the correct hyd. Motor I have an older model 773 ( probably about an1997). It is not turbo charged.
It's approx a 42 - 45 horsepower, 15 GPM and produces close to 3000 P.S.I.
I'm not sure either what the max RPM for the bush hog.
Thank you for you're time!
Thank you for your time
For quite sometime I have been wanting to convert a PTO driven bush hog With a hydraulic drive. The fabrication I can do . My problem is getting the correct hyd. Motor I have an older model 773 ( probably about an1997). It is not turbo charged.
It's approx a 42 - 45 horsepower, 15 GPM and produces close to 3000 P.S.I.
I'm not sure either what the max RPM for the bush hog.
Thank you for you're time!
Thank you for your time
FarmWrench
Well-Known Member
New York DEC, EPA would just have a good time with that oil tank!!! I like the concept.
I have grown up with forklifts and pallet jacks. We raise potatoes and store them in pallet boxes, dumping with a rotation head. I have built shelves for years and then had an epiphany, "if I ever build.....moving will su©k". So my new shelves aredeeper to allow a 4 way base making them easily moved with a jack.
Waste oil will also end up in a palletised tank.
I currently have 1500 gal tank for filling the sprayer that is really handy for cleaning the combine with a fire hose in the nearby field. Rental equipment gets a good bath, usually resulting in question about just how dirty I got it. A larger buried tank is a big must have for the new shop .
I have grown up with forklifts and pallet jacks. We raise potatoes and store them in pallet boxes, dumping with a rotation head. I have built shelves for years and then had an epiphany, "if I ever build.....moving will su©k". So my new shelves aredeeper to allow a 4 way base making them easily moved with a jack.
Waste oil will also end up in a palletised tank.
I currently have 1500 gal tank for filling the sprayer that is really handy for cleaning the combine with a fire hose in the nearby field. Rental equipment gets a good bath, usually resulting in question about just how dirty I got it. A larger buried tank is a big must have for the new shop .
Scrub Puller
Senior Member
Yair . . . Do you folks in the US like buried tanks because of issues with freezing . . . I would have thought groundwater liability and certification issues would be a nightmare?
Cheers.
Cheers.
Mike L
Senior Member
i worked for a truck dealership that had an underground waste oil tank. we had a big drain pan with a drain spigot in it. after draining oil, roll over to hole in floor and open spigot. no mess. slicker than greased owl s#^%! it was an 8 bay shop with a drain running down the center. for very 2 bays we had a pressure washing wand, 15w40 on a hose reel, and an extension cord on a reel. after every job, we were expected to wash the floor. also had a overhead crane on a trolley that would pull truck engines or pick up one end of a truck, separate wash bay, plenty of workbenches with vises, separate room for big tools, radiant floor heat, compressor was in a closed off room, hot water parts washer, tons of lighting, etc, etc. 10x nicer than any other shop I've worked in. very well thought out. wait, why did I leave???
FarmWrench
Well-Known Member
Having the right infrastructure is exactly what I am talking about! Truck shops always look so good..... until the small stuff piles up. Pumps, packers, signs, Maple syurip gear, and the things that go with so many farms. You had a job to do and then a recovery period between the next customer.
An old supplier of mine had a beautiful shop. It had three 20' doors and you could drive out any of the other from one. 5ton jib crane in the middle lots of power, great lights, bathroom but a poor office. Poor shop practices meant that at the auction each corner had an abandoned project with a improvised desk, phone and pile of manuals, catalogues notes. The calendar told when that corner was given up on. Storage of tires that had long gone obsolete (7:50-20 on split rims) still held prime real estate while current tires lived in a stripped school bus outback. Scrap metal was in piles and then in boxes for the forklift to move. A wood stove had been added apparently to deal with trash than to supplement the gas furnace going by the lack of wood. The shop was almost too big to maintain and too separated from the command center to be under control.
An old supplier of mine had a beautiful shop. It had three 20' doors and you could drive out any of the other from one. 5ton jib crane in the middle lots of power, great lights, bathroom but a poor office. Poor shop practices meant that at the auction each corner had an abandoned project with a improvised desk, phone and pile of manuals, catalogues notes. The calendar told when that corner was given up on. Storage of tires that had long gone obsolete (7:50-20 on split rims) still held prime real estate while current tires lived in a stripped school bus outback. Scrap metal was in piles and then in boxes for the forklift to move. A wood stove had been added apparently to deal with trash than to supplement the gas furnace going by the lack of wood. The shop was almost too big to maintain and too separated from the command center to be under control.
The shop where I work is better than most but not as nice as some. The underground oil drain system is the slickest idea I have ever heard of. My only complaint is my lighting I have 7 big 150 watt lights its dark, I want more lights but I have a 20 ton overhead hoist that is less than 4" off the ceiling so additional lights would be a bit problematic. Retractable light reels have helped but our other shop is bright enough you could operate in, they went overboard putting lights in there.
Don't forget you will need room for parts washer, press, drill press, air compressor room so you don't have to listen to it run all the time, I have a up stairs storage area for air filters, and a locked room that only 2 people have the key for that contains all the items that are known to grow legs in the night and walk off.
Don't forget you will need room for parts washer, press, drill press, air compressor room so you don't have to listen to it run all the time, I have a up stairs storage area for air filters, and a locked room that only 2 people have the key for that contains all the items that are known to grow legs in the night and walk off.
First off I want to say I love my in floor heat in the shop and the office and in the floor of the service pit, next thing is I like the service pit, best thing ever for working under machines, trucks and trailers. I also like my ventilation fans built into the walls. On the list of things I want to put in is bulk oil storage overhead in the loft with lines running to the main floor of the shop. I got tired of long air hoses and extension cords strung all over the floor, so we plumbed air lines on three walls, the fourth wall is the door, and in the service pit also is plumbed for air as well. I have electrical outlets on every wall about every ten feet, now I only need about a 25 foot air hose or extension cord to reach anything in the shop, we also screwed brackets on the walls every ten feet too to hold cords and hoses.
For tracking in tracked machines we use old conveyor belting and when not in use, we roll it back up and set it out of the way.
For tracking in tracked machines we use old conveyor belting and when not in use, we roll it back up and set it out of the way.
FarmWrench
Well-Known Member
Neighboring gravel pit had mine conveyor belt for a floor for years.
Randy88 I like the door you built. Speaking of belt and doors if I built a door a belt would be my hinge. Does your door flutter in thewind?
More importantly how do you deal with refrigerator sized stones when plowing in tile?
Randy88 I like the door you built. Speaking of belt and doors if I built a door a belt would be my hinge. Does your door flutter in thewind?
More importantly how do you deal with refrigerator sized stones when plowing in tile?
FarmWrench, my door weighs about 6000 lbs just the portion that hinges, not including the framework to hold it up, we used 8-1.25 inch pins to hinge it, as for fluttering in the wind, we don't open it fully up when the wind is over 25 mph, anything less than that doesn't effect it much if at all.
As for plowing in tile I don't, I dig everything in with a bucket wheel trencher, anything over basketball size we end up lifting the wheel out and using an excavator to dig them out, for two reasons, the first being they lock under the wheel if the wheel can dig them loose and second most times the wheel won't bring them up out of the ground, depending on the moisture and how hard the ground is, the dryer and harder the digging the less likely the wheel can jar them loose enough to bring them up. But that depends some on what type of rocks they are. I deal mainly with limestone and some granite and shale, the really granite prone area's I tend to avoid as much as possible, I'm busy enough the way it is, no need to slow progress from a slow walk to a standstill.
As for plowing in tile I don't, I dig everything in with a bucket wheel trencher, anything over basketball size we end up lifting the wheel out and using an excavator to dig them out, for two reasons, the first being they lock under the wheel if the wheel can dig them loose and second most times the wheel won't bring them up out of the ground, depending on the moisture and how hard the ground is, the dryer and harder the digging the less likely the wheel can jar them loose enough to bring them up. But that depends some on what type of rocks they are. I deal mainly with limestone and some granite and shale, the really granite prone area's I tend to avoid as much as possible, I'm busy enough the way it is, no need to slow progress from a slow walk to a standstill.