A little history tour.

[farmshop]

I have a very similar drill press to that big one. Still use it. Turns nice and slow and will run a 1 1/2" bit. Thats the problem with shops no matter how big they are they are not big enough. Either there is another tool on a third project to squeeze in. Nice that your neighbors stood behind you to get the ball rolling

[RaptorDuner]

I have way too many excuses to make something like this happen. Give me a minute and I could come up with more. I love the "mens" room door in the middle with no shop doors on either side. I commend you for "making it happen".

[irish fixit]

I have a very similar drill press to that big one. Still use it. Turns nice and slow and will run a 1 1/2" bit. Thats the problem with shops no matter how big they are they are not big enough. Either there is another tool on a third project to squeeze in. Nice that your neighbors stood behind you to get the ball rolling

Later I managed through a online hookup get a mint Canedy-Otto Cincinatti drill like it for $600 delivered. It was just like it had come off the show room floor. I'll get pics of it up once I find them. I ended up trading it straight across for a Cincinatti-Bickford 28" Super Service drill press in pretty good shape (if you don't know it's like a 2400lb drill press).

It was nice and timely as well. I didn't think that I needed them till I went to my bank and got the run around.

I have way too many excuses to make something like this happen. Give me a minute and I could come up with more. I love the "mens" room door in the middle with no shop doors on either side. I commend you for "making it happen".

I understand about the excuses. It's a lot like jumping off a cliff when you do stuff like this.

I'm not sure you caught it yet but that was originally the women bathroom door. One of my wifes friends kept giving me trouble about it being a house of ill repute and I scratched the "wo" off. The mens room door is in the back of the shop.

Thanks.

[irish fixit]

Ok here's some more. From the looks of this I'd say it's the spring of 02.

First is a shot behind the shop. Notice that there's a little step back there (about 30' down to the creek). I wish it looked this clean now.

Next is the south side before all the extra crap got stacked there.

Third is almost a shot of the front of the shop. Looks like I'm in the process of installing the new to me Bobcat 225G on the new to me truck. Actually the truck was my dads and I bought it from him. The welder I bought with blown engine and rebuilt the engine.

Fourth another shot of the front.

Fifth the old compressor I bought at my former employers auction. Looks like I'd just gotten it setup and running. I still have that compressor but I quit using it when I built my current one.

[7A749]

You have three phase power, right Wayne?

I remember driving thru the panhandle of Texas late December of '97.

It was frigging freezing. Talk about cold......

[irish fixit]

Hey Irish, reading about your score on the previous employers equipment, reminded me of my first foray into business.
The garage I was working at went belly up, small country town.....So I decided to start my own.
Everything went up for auction and, one of the other mechanics and myself were given the task of sorting the stuff out for auction.
We stashed all the good stuff in the bottom of boxes and covered them with trashy stuff.
Day of the auction, I started bidding on damn near everything....made some really good scores until others twigged what was happening and started looking deeper into the boxes.....That auction really gave my business the kick along it needed.....
...

It wasn't quit that bad for me. Actually I wish I'd had a little say in the packing but a big auction house was brought in and they packed stuff willy nilly. I'm still missing a die out of my Little Giant set because it was in a special handle I'd made and got packed into another box.

It did help that I knew what was the most useful and needed so could spend wisely. That combined with the fact that if the locals saw me bidding they stopped for the most part made it a very fruitful day.

You have three phase power, right Wayne?

I remember driving thru the panhandle of Texas late December of '97.

It was frigging freezing. Talk about cold......

Yep. I got lucky. I had to have at least one 7.5 HP motor for them to put it in for free and I got several in the auction. But the rules where changing at the end of the year so it was a close scrape getting it.

Nobody believes me about how cold it can get. I'll freely admit that it doesn't stay cold but in a way that's worse. In fact I think there's some pretty good pics on cold let me see.

Looks like these where downloaded from the camera on 1/1/98.

[Scott Young]

I take it all these shots are very earlly 2000's then?

Man, Wayne. That's cool. Ive looked at all the ones on your site too. I wouldn't mind digging thru your bone pile.

It's gotta be a littler bittersweet I'm guessing. I remember when you lost your house in the fire. Prolly brings back up some memories. I was trying to find an old business contact's information a few months ago & had to dig thru a bunch of stuff from 2007. That was the year I rented the building & started doing the business full time. Things were good with my first wife & I then.

Yeah, bittersweet.

Thanks for sharing it Wayne. I don't care what you say, you're my hero.

yeah you are one to look up to.

[walkerweld]

Well thanks for sharing this personal history with everybody.
You are my kinda people. Nuthin' yuppie about you.

[Fuelhead]

Wow! You put in a huge amount of work..Very nice job! From humble beginnings will greatness arise!

[VPT]

Love it all!

[7A749]

Yeah, you did get lucky on that Wayne. They charge a fortune to run it in here.

When we eventually leave Michigan, I'm going to try to find a retired farm property that had it for unloaders, grain silos, etc. I know a lot of older properties have it so it shouldn't be impossible. Either way, whether I find it or have to run it in, I'm getting it one way or another.

I know some lucky Aussie who has it in his backyard!!!!!

[el bob]

Thanks for sharing the story Wayne, it's inspiring and fascinating at the same time.

[shortfuse]

irish...

You have worked hard for everything you've got. Nothing given to you on a silver platter. You should really be proud of yourself! Great story.

[SPG]

i like the flip down tool box on your toyota; looks really handy

[SLAGINSHOE]

x2...Have some more pictures of the Toyota toolbox bed cutout?
I would love to see them...nice job on the shop setup.

[richey]

Irish I am very proud for you for all your accomplishment. I humblely understand where you came from and how you got started. you are to be applauded for your accomplishments. Richey

[SuperArc]

That is soooo awesome!!!! Love the photo-story you gave us!!!! Nice set up with nice tools too.

Hey, one thing I also gotta say is about that classic "bullet proof" blue Toyota truck!!!!! Those really are "American classic" trucks, even though they were made overseas. I miss my old Toyota!!! That old little 4-banger engine was awesome!!!! My friends in high school ran on 1.5 qt s of oil from San Felipe to Tijuana due to a horrible leak that was found too late and no oil to be found (until TJ)!!!!!! That Toyota kept on running through the night time desert!!!!!

You've brought back some memories for me now with your story! Thanks!!!

[irish fixit]

yeah you are one to look up to.

Thanks.

Well thanks for sharing this personal history with everybody.
You are my kinda people. Nuthin' yuppie about you.

Thanks.

Wow! You put in a huge amount of work..Very nice job! From humble beginnings will greatness arise!

Thanks.

Absolutely.....better make it in summer tho.....
...

Thanks. Summers not much better 110deg not unheard of. We go to extremes here.

Love it all!

Thanks.

Yeah, you did get lucky on that Wayne. They charge a fortune to run it in here.

When we eventually leave Michigan, I'm going to try to find a retired farm property that had it for unloaders, grain silos, etc. I know a lot of older properties have it so it shouldn't be impossible. Either way, whether I find it or have to run it in, I'm getting it one way or another.

I know some lucky Aussie who has it in his backyard!!!!!

I know. Fortunately it was just across the road so they only had to add one pole and the transformers.

Thanks for sharing the story Wayne, it's inspiring and fascinating at the same time.

Thanks.

irish...

You have worked hard for everything you've got. Nothing given to you on a silver platter. You should really be proud of yourself! Great story.

Thanks. It's been a hard climb with more than a few set backs.

i like the flip down tool box on your toyota; looks really handy

x2...Have some more pictures of the Toyota toolbox bed cutout?
I would love to see them...nice job on the shop setup.

I was wondering if anybody was going to notice that. Unfortunately I've not got any good shots of it. It worked pretty well and when properly organized held more tools than most people would believe. I covered a 10'x10' table with tools when I emptied that truck to sell it most of which came from that box.

It was also a LOT of work and never really finished out as invisible as I intended in the beginning. But then I learned a lot doing it. It was basically a 9 or so drawer Craftsman top box that I let into the floor of the bed as well as the fender well of the bed. It was then covered with a box on the back with the door made from the cutout piece of bed. What complicated it so much was I couldn't get the exact right size box to fit and rather than go to small I went to big. That forced me to go below the bed making the door about 10x more complicated.

I still have the tool box out of it. When I went to sell it my dad ended up buying for my nephew. Who didn't take to long to start tearing it up. It was finally finished when one of his friends rolled. I cut the box out before we sold the truck off to somebody for parts.

Thanks.

Irish I am very proud for you for all your accomplishment. I humblely understand where you came from and how you got started. you are to be applauded for your accomplishments. Richey

Thanks.

That is soooo awesome!!!! Love the photo-story you gave us!!!! Nice set up with nice tools too.

Hey, one thing I also gotta say is about that classic "bullet proof" blue Toyota truck!!!!! Those really are "American classic" trucks, even though they were made overseas. I miss my old Toyota!!! That old little 4-banger engine was awesome!!!! My friends in high school ran on 1.5 qt s of oil from San Felipe to Tijuana due to a horrible leak that was found too late and no oil to be found (until TJ)!!!!!! That Toyota kept on running through the night time desert!!!!!

You've brought back some memories for me now with your story! Thanks!!!

Yes they where. That was my second one. My first was in high school I had a yellow 1980 model which was as base as they come. I mud dragged and basically did everything with that truck. My sister managed to ruin it while I was in Germany so my dad sold it to get her a car.

When I got back from Germany I was looking for a truck and learned that this truck was for sale. I knew all about since it was the only other one in town. I'd talked to it's owner lots of times about them and knew it had been taken super good care of. Unfortunately unknown to me when I called about the truck was the fact that he had died while I was gone so when I asked for him it didn't make for a good start. But once that got smoothed over I managed to get the truck for $1700. It was a 1981 model SR5 so a step up from the old one. The reason it was so cheap was because it had 298,000 miles on it and it wouldn't stay in any gear except 5th.

I took the transmission out found one bearing out (I replace both main bearings while I was in it) and had it back in within 24 hours including waiting for the bearings to get delivered (I had to report to my next post).

I drove that truck from 1987 to 2000. I only sold it (along with a bunch of other stuff) to try and get enough money for a down payment to get a better house. The fact that I'd saved the money for the down payment and then had the loan for the used double wide I found turned down that I had the $2000 to start the shop with. (turned out one of dads cards was on my report but that's another story)

I have a history of buying vehicles like that. The blue Dodge diesel that's in the pics was a similar story. I bought it when it was basically 2 years old Jan of 95 for half of what others like it where bringing. But it had 235,000 miles on it. I knew they had to be highway miles. I finally sold that truck not much over a year ago.

[irish fixit]

This is what I mean about the weather. Can't make up it's mind.

80 deg today and freezing rain tonight with 45mph winds. Great

[farmersamm]

Time is short, and money's even shorter in supply. This looks like the average thing you see around here, except for the newbies that have moved in around here with pocketfulls of money. You have a nice place.

[irish fixit]

Time is short, and money's even shorter in supply. This looks like the average thing you see around here, except for the newbies that have moved in around here with pocketfulls of money. You have a nice place.

You make do with what you have and can afford.

Thanks.

[Hanzelz]

Crikey! You are pretty cool mate.

[1Shot]

Irish that is a neat story. I thought I had been all over Texas but learned a few years ago where Shamrock is as we went to Kansas a few years to phesant hunt. I never seen anything as cold as the panhandle!! I also never had seen a snow plow in Texas till the first trip thru there. Dinosaur around there somewhere isn't there??

[irish fixit]

Crikey! You are pretty cool mate.

Thanks.

Irish that is a neat story. I thought I had been all over Texas but learned a few years ago where Shamrock is as we went to Kansas a few years to phesant hunt. I never seen anything as cold as the panhandle!! I also never had seen a snow plow in Texas till the first trip thru there. Dinosaur around there somewhere isn't there??

Thanks.

Not hard to find. Just get on HWY83 or I-40 and head in the general direction. You'll run into it eventually.

The dinosaur is this side of Canadian. About 45-50 miles north of me.

[irish fixit]

Ok guys. I'm trying to get my stuff in some kind of order but there's so many copies of the same folders that it's going to be tough.

But I'm starting to find some of the earliest pics and I think now might be the time to go to my oldest pics of all. From what I can tell I no longer have any copies of these pics but I'm going to copy them from the RCM metalworking dropbox to here. These are from before I had a digital camera so I had to take shots with my old Nikon film camera and have the pics scanned when the film was developed. Unfortunately they did a absolutely lousy job of scanning them so I had to do massive enhancement just to make them usable. I also had to scale them down a little so I could upload them on my dial up connection so these shots aren't the greatest.

These are from when I was still working at my former employers.

The first is a rotary airlock. We built a bunch of these while I was there.



Next is the American Pacemaker 16" x 72" lathe. I spent many a hour in front of that machine.



Next is the D & M Economy lathe. That poor lathe has built thousands upon thousand of mixer pins for the carbon black industry. Fortunately by the time I went to work there we didn't do full time production on mixer pins but I've put more than a few batches through it. I'll have to get some pics of a few old mixer pins I have out in the shop but basically they where 1/2" or 3/4" stainless pins pointed on one end most of the time and threaded on the other. Most of the pins they made where hard chrome plated on the pointed end to extend there life. They where placed around a shaft in a spiral like a auger and used to pelletize the carbon black.



Next is the 27"x120" LeBlonde heavy duty lathe. Very old but still worked well. Looks like we where boring a airlock in it at the time. I made that boring bar and helped make the mount for it as well.



Another shot of the LeBlonde.



Another shot of the LeBlonde showing some of the tooling we made to do the airlocks.



Next is a shot of the Sidney lathe. I'm turning a rotor for the airlock in it. It's hard to see but I'm using a boring bar and I had to turn half the rotor from each end. I made a clamp to hold the boring bar that mounted to the carriage helping with rigidity. This is the lathe I bought at the auction and currently have.



Another shot of the Sidney



Next is a shot into the southeast corner of the machine area of the shop. It's got the American Hole Wizard 13"x 4' radial drill as well as the Regal LeBlonde lathe.



Next is a shot of the old shaper we had. I actually still have it but it's in storage right now. It sold first for cheap and I wasn't sure if I would be able to afford the Gemco that sold later but I ended up with both of them.