Full Machine Shop Tour - Everything I Could Fit In A Single Car Garage! 

@Wszyc - Ha! Thick coveralls, stay safe. :) Thanks for the comment.

@lamesalegend - Ha, thanks. When the shop is so small, no choice but to keep it clean and organized. It gets messy fast and it cleans up fast. One day I will have a larger messier shop. Thanks for the comment.

@essexmirage Thanks, appreciate the comment. All the best getting your space set up. Nothing but enjoyment out of my shop, can’t imagine not having it. 😀

Michael Koch - Appreciate the comment and the feedback. Cheers!

Frankie Stein - Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed the video.

Jay Gee - Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

@OmeMachining - Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

@ronbianca1975 - Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

@user-vq7ho9wj5q - Welcome! Thanks for the comment.

dermot kelly - Thank you for the comment, I agree, never enough room. All the best getting your shop together the way you want.

I gotta clean up my garage/shop. Lol

@@wilde.coyote6618 Ha. Yes, it is therapeutic and makes working in it more enjoyable. 😁

Ozyrob2 - Thanks for the comment and the sub!

MrBCRC - Thanks for the comment. The rubber floor helps make clean up pretty easy. I have a very course bristle broom to get up most of the chips and I finish with the shop vac. You have probably seen in other videos when I run the manual mill it throws chips everywhere, by far my messiest machine. I don’t use coolant on the manual mill or lathe so that helps keep the mess down as well.

Legally Free - Good plan, a little clean out now and then is not a bad thing. I also have a good set of each I regularly use. I do like to save the small ones though, if they are good steel, they grind up nice into little flat screwdrivers or little scrapers when you need them. Thanks for the comment.

@@BladesIIB Thats a good point, however I am confident 95% of those I threw away were made with "minimum viable steel" quality :) , and an excess of little screwdrivers that have also shown up in kits as freebies is a whole separate thing for me! (Have not thrown that collection away yet but I have cheap little phillips and flat heads laying all over the place plus a drawer that probably has at least 10 in there...)

@@legallyfree2955 I gotcha. Makes sense.

@jeepfauzidin1460 - Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

Uncle Buck - Ha! Yes, I do need to manage my spill over. I did look at other lathe options, I did not want to go much smaller than 1440 and I really wanted one with a heavy base vs a stand. In the end availability played a big factor and I am really happy I ended up with this TL series from PM vs the GT series. No change gears and a few other nice features.

Prohodaction - Thanks for the comment. 😁

Brenton - Had not thought of that, great suggestion. New to have a surface grinder in the shop and it is a dirty machine, wish I had room at the other end by the other grinder. May try to set up a dust collector for it. But getting some outlet plugs is easy, will definitely do that - Thanks.

When i set up my shop i did it to all of my outlets. Didnt want any oil slinging in the holes either

@@jerkfaceskater Yeah that makes good sense. Chips off the lathe etc. and those plastic plugs are cheap.

@@BladesIIB exactly. They suck when you need the outlet but for guys like us with small shops it is a nice security.

NS Gearhead - Congrats on the new shop. 24x30 should be a good size. You can get equipment and benches around the perimeter and still get a car in the middle if that is your thing. All the best putting your machine shop together. Great hobby to get into.

@@BladesIIB For sure. The plan is to keep the benches and tools on the sides so my truck with plow can still fit in the middle. Permanent ladder and freight elevator at the back to access the bonus room (12'x30') upstairs. That will remain un-insulated and act as storage to keep the clutter down on the main floor.

@@wannabejeeper The bonus room for storage will be amazing especially with an elevator. Well thought out for sure. Enjoy.

Ale - Glad to hear the video offered some inspiration to help you get set up. Great question, I did not mention power. I have a sub panel for the power in the shop and have a 220V 20A breaker for the kiln and another for the Tormach. The AC has another 220V and I think 30A breaker and then I have another 220V 50A breaker to a plug that I share for the Jet Mill Drill, the Lincoln welder and the Lathe. Both the welder and the lathe need the 50A, the Mill only needs 20A and has its own fuse for protection. The lathe is also 3 Phase running off a VFD so the 220V 50A power is feeding the VFD enclosure. I hope that helps you think through power. Ideally hard wired or dedicated plugs would be ideal but I had that 1 plug available and I can’t run two manual machines and weld at the same time so sharing 1 plug has not been an issue yet.

@@BladesIIB Thanks for the super clear answer. That helps a lot

@@Ale_Lab Welcome, happy to help.

Nick King - Yes no matter the space or what you have when it comes to machines and tooling there is always a want for more. Good luck.

@@BladesIIB what's a good cheap cnc machine to start off with. Thanks

@johndebrular979 - For sure. On my wish list. 😀 Thanks for the comment.

Tyler Fu - Thankfully with the big box stores here you can often find tool storage on a pretty good sale. Mine definitely cost a lot less than my lathe and with a small shop, keeping everything organized is a must or I would be tripping over everything and spending all day looking through piles to find what I need. As for turning brake discs, I thought I answered this for you already, but here goes again. I have not turned them on a lathe, I have used a disc/drum turning machine before. Since they are cast, and now embedded with brake dust, they will be very messy to turn, I recommend covering your ways with cloth and then cleaning up right after to remove all the abrasive dust to prevent future wear. Turning a few should not be a problem, if turning a lot of them the wear and abrasion can be an issue. They are all shaped a little different so holding can be a challenge. You may need to turn a plug to put in the end to your center can actually hold it aligned better if you don't have a pipe center. With a plug or pipe center you should be able to hold them pretty secure for turning. Good luck.

@@BladesIIB No I don't think I asked you about brake disc turning before, or if I did you didn't answer (or I did not see the answer). Anyways I seen a few videos and I will probably keep a shop vac hose hear the tool bit as I turn... to hopefully minimize the dust. It's just a small money making opportunity for me, at least so I can pay for stuff like tooling or a good 3 jaw chuck (ones like the one you have that have bolt on jaws). In Taiwan those tool chests are never on sale and are imported, thus the high price. Right now my shop has the lathe, a mill that uses ISO 40 tooling (I was actually going to ask why not go with BT40 tooling for your Tormach considering that with BT30 pull stud breakage can be a problem. I know someone who told me to avoid BT30 because if you take a cut that's a bit too heavy the pull stud will break and it will basically ruin the CNC. He said he'd go with BT50 if he could), and a giant 26 inch bandsaw that I use for wood. Don't have a metal bandsaw, if I needed to cut stock I'll use an angle grinder to do it... Or at least order stock in the length I need... I use my mill for many things, such as sanding wood and other stuff.

@@taiwanluthiers Was in an email, and if asking again I must not have given a thorough enough answer 😁. Happy to answer again. Keeping the dust sucked up should work great. The Tormach only comes with a BT30 spindle. That is actually a recent upgrade from the R8 version with a different tooling set up that was not a taper and not as good for tool height. I agree 40 would be a nice option if possible.

@@BladesIIB Yea for some reason R8 is real popular in the US but in Taiwan nobody heard of R8's. Even all Bridgeport clones used in Taiwan does not use R8, they use NT30 spindle. My mill uses NT40 spindle, and the nice thing is I can use BT40 tooling too, as the friend I mentioned ended up leaving a few face mills for me (its insert screw broke and so it was useless for him). In fact it is impossible to buy R8 tooling in Taiwan. One problem I have with the lathe is that since it does not use camlock spindle, I do not know where to buy collet chucks for it. One of these days I may machine one myself to take ER40 collets. Another problem with my lathe, the tail stock seems to have different alignments depending on its position on the ways. It means if I push the tailstock close to the head, it will break center drills. On the other hand, it aligns perfectly fine on the far end of the lathe. I think there may be a head stock misalignment (Abom has a video on this for his Victor lathe).

@@taiwanluthiers Tailstocks are meant to be moved off center to turn long tapers. Maybe it was not moved back correctly. Should definitely be able to test and set up the alignment the way you need.

MagnetOnlyMotors - Yes, you have to make your space work for you and your needs for sure. Thanks for the comment.

Elliott Brown - Thanks for the question. I just use the Mobil DTE Heavy Medium as my layer on for rust protection. Typically wipe it up before using a machine to wipe away any dust it has collected and make it easier to clean up chips after using.

RAREFORMDESIGNS - LOL, May need to see a pic to determine if I need to charge by the square foot or the square inch? Thanks for the comment, all the best!

@shawnwebb5261 - This is not my full time work/business so I did not seek a business loan. I acquired a lot of the hand tools and some equipment over many years and more recently got back into machining and got the lathe and CNC. Even those I purchased a couple of years apart to spread out the cost of the machines and the tooling that goes along with each one. I am sure loans are available if you are starting a full time business and put together a business plan. Thanks for the question.

faxoli - Thanks for the question, that will definitely be cutting it close. According the the Tormach typical footprint specs they say 96". I have their machine print downloaded in Fusion and just looked at the total height dimension on there and it is 94.3" but it looks like the leveling feet are all the way out. I just physically measured mine and not easy to measure to the top of the cable chain but I get 87" from the floor where mine is currently leveled. Not sure what the ceiling above it would be, but the only thing that needs that height is the cable or energy chain and it is pretty small if you needed to cut a space for it to fit. I would definitely call Tormach and talk to them. The customer service is great and I am sure they could give you a more definitive answer. My thought is very close but should be able to make it work.

faxoli - I just accidentally removed your other reply. Sounds like you have a good plan and some options. I hope you are able to get one. Great machines.

Loebane - Pretty close, it is actually 12x23. Thanks for the question.

Herschel French - I assure you it gets plenty of use. Small with a rubber floor so easy to clean up. Hopefully you have a chance to check out some of my other videos. They will show the shop in use and sometimes I try to get a good shot of the mess before I clean it up. Appreciate the comment.

Wags - Just to clarify, I was a full time machinist 30 years ago in a large shop. Part time another 4 years while in college. Since then and currently I have another full time career. Check out my channel and you will see I have only gotten back into actual machining in the last couple of years. My shop is a home hobby shop so it has bits from all of my shop and home projects. What I have works well for me and I expand and add where I can. Sounds like you have an amazing shop as well. Congrats to you and all the best on your learning journey. The learning never ends for me.

Karna Torgersen - I don’t understand what you mean by this? Happy to reply if you have a question. Thanks.