Benchwork

[DouglasSkinner]

Here's a picture of me at my school bench.  It's crowded.  We have, right now, 5 students.  We work in a close environment and are constantly engaged in each other's work.  Our hallmark is the apron because making parts by hand is often dirty work.  I apologize for my less than distinguished pose!  (Why can't my pictures be "slimming"!)

[ro63rto]

I like the LED penlight clipped to the apron.

[oldhippy]

How do you manage in such a small space.

[DouglasSkinner]

The LED penlight is a boon for finding flyers.  When a part flies I freeze and immediately reach for my light.  I illuminate my clothes and find that about 40% are there.

 

Yes, it's  a cramped space but you get used to it.  when not in use, my lathe, which is shown in the picture (Boley 8mm which I restored as an assigned project) is stored in a special suitcase I've adapted to the purpose.  We have a fair number of visitors and a lot of them say our shop/school looks like a movie set of a 19th century apprentice shop; which it is, in a way.  Most of the tools we use are vintage tools including our benches, most of which date from the late 19th century.  Our instructor is a lover of old tools and methods.  I believe there's a lot to be said for them but I'm also willing to modernize when I get out on my own.  And yes, I will have more space and a more clean-room look about my own working space someday.  We were supposed to move to a new, more spacious, location  a couple of months ago but something has happened to delay things.

 

 

 

[Geo]

It's always interesting to see others workplace.  Thanks for posting Douglas.

As an aside, if you had been looking slightly to your left, your pose would have well matched your avatar! 

[bobm12]

I have the same optics!!!