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Inside The Secret Underground Laboratory
- Thread starter Bruce Johnson
- Start date
Today I finished up most of the major reorganization of my shop, to compress it down into a smaller size. I needed to lose over 1000 sq ft. I spent the last several weeks shuffling boxes of junk, moving shelving around, moving machines and workbenches. It was a logistical puzzle, fitting everything together into area where I can still access everything and, you know, use my machines to build basses. I think I've got it into a reasonable arrangement, for now.
Here's the new Buffing Bench. It was made by a previous Tenant here, who gave it to me when he left. He was building up a 3-D Printing company and needed a bench to clean and polish up his plastic parts. He built this bench but never finished it, before he moved his company to Texas. It will be perfect for us here, for buffing out the finishes on instruments. Up until now, I had been doing the buffing on the same bench as sanding the finishes. That caused problems with crowding and contamination and clutter. Now the other bench, which is just a few feet away, will be for sanding finishes only, and this one will be for buffing only. It should make our whole painting process more efficient. And the new spray booth is right back behind there.
On this bench are the three Jewelry Buffers. The one on the left with the small wheel is for polishing smaller metal hardware, like parts for tuners. Like old tarnished Klusens from old Ampegs. The one on the right without the shroud is the ebony buffing wheel, specifically for buffing up ebony fingerboards. The one around the corner is for polishing larger metal parts.
A look down the 3rd bay of my main Unit 14 shop. A few weeks ago it was dark and jammed full of loose junk. Now, I've cleaned the junk up, put up new LED lights, and rolled in all the machines that were down the hall in Unit 16. It's crowded in here, but I've placed the machines so that I can actually use most of them. And they are on wheels, so I can easily pull them out to get to the shelving units behind them.
These are mostly secondary metalworking machines, ones that I don't use that often, but are still needed for some jobs. My hydraulic press, the bandsaw set up for cutting steel and stainless, two more smaller Die Filers, my Savage Sheet Metal Nibbler, a small sheet metal brake, etc.
In the foreground is my Kidder 18" sheet metal shear. It snips aluminum plate like a pair of scissors. Behind it is my crowd of prized antique machines, the ones awaiting restoration and repairs. They are packed in there tight, too close together for me to get much work done on them. But they are safe. That will have to do for now.
In the right foreground is my 1937 LeBlond #2 Tool & Cutter Grinder. An amazing machine, the universal tool grinder and sharpener. With different attachment fixtures (which I have), it will grind circular saw blades, end mills, planer blades, taper reamers, etc. Almost anything linear or circular. It's in running condition now, although I'm going to make a few more mods and upgrades to it. I located it in the front, so I can plug it into an extension cord and use it.
The grey mill behind is my most prized antique machine: a 1907 LeBlond #0 Horizontal Milling Machine. The last one known to exist. I've owned it for 40 years....and I still don't have it running yet.
In the back is the 1907 Knecht Brothers Sensitive Drill, with the crazy double cone drive. In the left foreground is my 1925 Royersford 20 drill, mostly disassembled. Behind it is my 1915 Buffalo 20 Drill Press. In the shelves behind them are my row of small bench-top size Buffalo Drill Presses. Stored away, until I can get to them.
Crowded, but workable for now.
My plan is to move this long shelving unit out of here this spring. I have another space next door, Unit 15, which is a clean storage space and my music room. That's getting a cleaning and reorganization coming up, and this shelving unit will go in there.
That will free up some space here to spread these machines out so I can work on them and with them. This will become my secondary metalworking shop.
And there's the Assembly Bench. It will get a carpeted pad surface. That's where the Scroll Basses will be assembled and strung up. The bench to the right will now be strictly pickups and electronics.
It's all coming together, finally. I'm building up a compact operation for building Scroll Basses efficiently at a rate of 1-2 per month.
Here's the new Buffing Bench. It was made by a previous Tenant here, who gave it to me when he left. He was building up a 3-D Printing company and needed a bench to clean and polish up his plastic parts. He built this bench but never finished it, before he moved his company to Texas. It will be perfect for us here, for buffing out the finishes on instruments. Up until now, I had been doing the buffing on the same bench as sanding the finishes. That caused problems with crowding and contamination and clutter. Now the other bench, which is just a few feet away, will be for sanding finishes only, and this one will be for buffing only. It should make our whole painting process more efficient. And the new spray booth is right back behind there.
On this bench are the three Jewelry Buffers. The one on the left with the small wheel is for polishing smaller metal hardware, like parts for tuners. Like old tarnished Klusens from old Ampegs. The one on the right without the shroud is the ebony buffing wheel, specifically for buffing up ebony fingerboards. The one around the corner is for polishing larger metal parts.
A look down the 3rd bay of my main Unit 14 shop. A few weeks ago it was dark and jammed full of loose junk. Now, I've cleaned the junk up, put up new LED lights, and rolled in all the machines that were down the hall in Unit 16. It's crowded in here, but I've placed the machines so that I can actually use most of them. And they are on wheels, so I can easily pull them out to get to the shelving units behind them.
These are mostly secondary metalworking machines, ones that I don't use that often, but are still needed for some jobs. My hydraulic press, the bandsaw set up for cutting steel and stainless, two more smaller Die Filers, my Savage Sheet Metal Nibbler, a small sheet metal brake, etc.
In the foreground is my Kidder 18" sheet metal shear. It snips aluminum plate like a pair of scissors. Behind it is my crowd of prized antique machines, the ones awaiting restoration and repairs. They are packed in there tight, too close together for me to get much work done on them. But they are safe. That will have to do for now.
In the right foreground is my 1937 LeBlond #2 Tool & Cutter Grinder. An amazing machine, the universal tool grinder and sharpener. With different attachment fixtures (which I have), it will grind circular saw blades, end mills, planer blades, taper reamers, etc. Almost anything linear or circular. It's in running condition now, although I'm going to make a few more mods and upgrades to it. I located it in the front, so I can plug it into an extension cord and use it.
The grey mill behind is my most prized antique machine: a 1907 LeBlond #0 Horizontal Milling Machine. The last one known to exist. I've owned it for 40 years....and I still don't have it running yet.
In the back is the 1907 Knecht Brothers Sensitive Drill, with the crazy double cone drive. In the left foreground is my 1925 Royersford 20 drill, mostly disassembled. Behind it is my 1915 Buffalo 20 Drill Press. In the shelves behind them are my row of small bench-top size Buffalo Drill Presses. Stored away, until I can get to them.
Crowded, but workable for now.
My plan is to move this long shelving unit out of here this spring. I have another space next door, Unit 15, which is a clean storage space and my music room. That's getting a cleaning and reorganization coming up, and this shelving unit will go in there.
That will free up some space here to spread these machines out so I can work on them and with them. This will become my secondary metalworking shop.
And there's the Assembly Bench. It will get a carpeted pad surface. That's where the Scroll Basses will be assembled and strung up. The bench to the right will now be strictly pickups and electronics.
It's all coming together, finally. I'm building up a compact operation for building Scroll Basses efficiently at a rate of 1-2 per month.
Bruce,
Looks like you are making the best of a less than ideal situation. I have to ask, during your reorginization, did you find anything you literally forgot you owned, or have been searching for years? On a much smaller scale, I find myself unearthing things, after buying a new one, of course. I've reached the point where there is some perverse pleasure in getting rid of junk, the stuff you "might need some day", but....never do. Of course the hard part is weeding out the truly potentially useful from the crap retained for sentimental or more nebulous reasons. Surely a huge PITA, but maybe this enforced downsizing is making your operation a leaner, more efficient enterprise? At least that's how I'd spin it to myself.
Looks like you are making the best of a less than ideal situation. I have to ask, during your reorginization, did you find anything you literally forgot you owned, or have been searching for years? On a much smaller scale, I find myself unearthing things, after buying a new one, of course. I've reached the point where there is some perverse pleasure in getting rid of junk, the stuff you "might need some day", but....never do. Of course the hard part is weeding out the truly potentially useful from the crap retained for sentimental or more nebulous reasons. Surely a huge PITA, but maybe this enforced downsizing is making your operation a leaner, more efficient enterprise? At least that's how I'd spin it to myself.
Sometimes it takes a catalyst (jerk landlord) to get us to finally organize ourselves. It seems like the reorganization might actually benefit you despite the fact that it was dictated to you in a pretty unfriendly manner.
Bruce,
Looks like you are making the best of a less than ideal situation. I have to ask, during your reorginization, did you find anything you literally forgot you owned, or have been searching for years? On a much smaller scale, I find myself unearthing things, after buying a new one, of course. I've reached the point where there is some perverse pleasure in getting rid of junk, the stuff you "might need some day", but....never do. Of course the hard part is weeding out the truly potentially useful from the crap retained for sentimental or more nebulous reasons. Surely a huge PITA, but maybe this enforced downsizing is making your operation a leaner, more efficient enterprise? At least that's how I'd spin it to myself.
Oh yeah, lots and lots of lost treasures were uncovered. It's been exactly 10 years since I moved here from Burbank, and in the last two weeks I've opened maybe a dozen boxes that I had not opened in those ten years. So yeah, I'm asking, if I haven't needed it enough in the last ten years to even open the box, do I really need to keep it?
There are a couple of things that I've been searching for, which I know I packed up in Burbank, but I still haven't found.
Now that the main machine-shuffling is done, I'm almost compressed down into the smaller space. I've still got a mound of "semi-junk" out in the back to be sorted through and reboxed. That will be my side project through the spring; going through all the stuff in boxes, getting rid of some of it, repacking what I'm keeping more compactly. And also organizing and marking things so I can find them again.
That's my overall plan for 2024. Shrink down and organize. And start cranking out Scroll Basses! See how things go with the building. By the end of the year, I'll be in much better shape to move, if I have to.
That's how I'm looking at it. I needed to pause and do this now. The shrink down is going to save me $1000 a month in rent too. That's continuous income that I can use to buy small tools and parts to fix up the machines that I have. I need to stop renting floor space to store non-running machines. Get them operational and able to earn their floor space.
Database. Or if you go that way, (I still don't) tell your "digital assistant" what's in which box, and where you put the box (which is a different way to do database)
Establishing a shelf-identifying method as well as a box numbering scheme would help (do as I say I'm going to and/or should, not as I have done, or else abandon all hope ye who...)
Speaking of antique machinery and uncovering treasure:
A pair of Century electric motors, from the 1920's. About 100 years old. These were high quality expensive electric motors from that era, when machine-size electric motors were beginning to be manufactured. Beautiful iron castings and construction. I believe these motors are both rated at 1 HP, although they run at different rpm's. They are wired for 120VAC. You can see that the one in front has a crude wire and plug hooked up. The guy I bought it from plugged it in and ran it for me! They weigh about 140-150 lbs.
The are both in good nearly-running condition. Nothing appears to be broken or missing. They mostly need to be disassembled and cleaned thoroughly before it will be safe to apply electricity. And they'll run for another 100 years.
Obviously, one of these motors needs to be restored and matched up with the 1907 LeBlond #0 mill. Maybe I'll use the other one on the Knecht Bros Drill Press?
A pair of Century electric motors, from the 1920's. About 100 years old. These were high quality expensive electric motors from that era, when machine-size electric motors were beginning to be manufactured. Beautiful iron castings and construction. I believe these motors are both rated at 1 HP, although they run at different rpm's. They are wired for 120VAC. You can see that the one in front has a crude wire and plug hooked up. The guy I bought it from plugged it in and ran it for me! They weigh about 140-150 lbs.
The are both in good nearly-running condition. Nothing appears to be broken or missing. They mostly need to be disassembled and cleaned thoroughly before it will be safe to apply electricity. And they'll run for another 100 years.
Obviously, one of these motors needs to be restored and matched up with the 1907 LeBlond #0 mill. Maybe I'll use the other one on the Knecht Bros Drill Press?
Yes, I sort of do that now. Most of my oldest boxes of treasures (from the '70's and 80's) are numbered on the outside. And, somewhere around here, is a small notebook with lists of what's in each box. Boxes of accumulated stuff from the last 25 years are mostly labeled in Sharpie on the outside. As I was doing all this shuffling, I made sure the boxes are positioned on the shelving so the labeling is visible. And I also re-grouped stuff of the same type in the same area. So, I can quickly find most of my Stuff.
I'll be doing that when I go through Unit 15, too.
Some good news to start the year:
I had a long conversation yesterday with Toni, the boss of the management company that runs our building. We went over most of the problems, and she explained what they are doing, the long term plans, and the problems they've been having with managing the construction crews. They definitely want me and the other craftsman tenants to stay here long term. We are a big part of their overall plan for the building.
So, that's a big relief. I probably won't need to move. But I'm still going to hold off on signing a long term lease for a while, to see how things go in 2024. Do they make good progress repairing the building?
She says that it's really difficult right now to find construction crews and contractors in Southern California. They are all booked up or out of business. And banks are unwilling to loan money to do commercial building improvements. And the city governments are loading them with new codes and requirements. It's hard to get anything done on commercial properties in CA right now, because the market is so uncertain.
It's probably going to be fairly quiet here this year. Which is okay by me. I need to hunker down and get my Scroll Bass Factory fully up and running, pumping out basses.
I had a long conversation yesterday with Toni, the boss of the management company that runs our building. We went over most of the problems, and she explained what they are doing, the long term plans, and the problems they've been having with managing the construction crews. They definitely want me and the other craftsman tenants to stay here long term. We are a big part of their overall plan for the building.
So, that's a big relief. I probably won't need to move. But I'm still going to hold off on signing a long term lease for a while, to see how things go in 2024. Do they make good progress repairing the building?
She says that it's really difficult right now to find construction crews and contractors in Southern California. They are all booked up or out of business. And banks are unwilling to loan money to do commercial building improvements. And the city governments are loading them with new codes and requirements. It's hard to get anything done on commercial properties in CA right now, because the market is so uncertain.
It's probably going to be fairly quiet here this year. Which is okay by me. I need to hunker down and get my Scroll Bass Factory fully up and running, pumping out basses.
It’s good to hear things are looking up. I think you’re right not to let your guard down completely but at least they’re willing to talk. And, even more importantly, willing to explain what’s going on.
A fresh round of turmoil, upheaval and machinery moving going on here.........But with a better end result....
Two weeks ago, we had a nasty rain storm here. About 3 inches of rain in 2 hours on a Sunday evening. This building took on some serious water. Some of the watertight hatches failed, and the bilge pump was overwhelmed. But, our valiant efforts kept her upright and afloat. We made it through the night, back to the dock.
Seven of the basement shops got drenched and flooded. My Unit 2, where Jeremy works, had water pouring down from the ceiling and coming in from the walls. The floor was completely flooded. The SPRP got a bath. It was a big sloppy mess. We did an emergency shuffle, rolling machines down the hall, toweling them off. The SPRP spent a few days in my main shop, getting dried out and repaired. It's okay, back in service now. My main shop, Unit 14, only got a small amount of water, fortunately.
Meanwhile, our Property Management Company announced that they are farming out the management of our property to another Property Management Company. And they have a Manager who lives nearby, so she can drop in frequently and address our concerns......She stopped in for an introductory visit last week, and got quite an earful from us. She was rather surprised to find out about all the serious problems here.
Anyway, if you remember, last November they ordered me to move out of Unit 16. For undefined reasons that didn't make sense. I had been leasing Unit 16 for several years. That's the space that my old Friend Mike Lipe was in. It's a nice shop with walls and 3-phase power, and no water leakage....
At the meeting with our new Manager, I requested/demanded to move out of Unit 2 and back into Unit 16. My request was granted, and I've started the move this weekend.
Here's a picture of Unit 16, starting to move machines in......It's about 200 sq ft larger than Unit 2, which is helpful. Everything from Unit 2 is moving in here, including the routing bench, the SPRP, Jeremy's bench, and his machines and tools.
And the Fret Slotting saw. I dragged it out into the hallway and mounted a new pair of caster beams to the frame. Now it's on wheels and rolls around easily. I needed to do that anyway. These are another set of those really nice locking casters that I've been putting on most of my machines.
And here's its new home in Unit 16, right inside the front wall. But, it can be moved around as needed.
I'm about to start some upgrades on the Fret Slotting Saw. I'm building a better sled and holding fixtures, and an improved indexing mechanism. That's coming up soon.
Two weeks ago, we had a nasty rain storm here. About 3 inches of rain in 2 hours on a Sunday evening. This building took on some serious water. Some of the watertight hatches failed, and the bilge pump was overwhelmed. But, our valiant efforts kept her upright and afloat. We made it through the night, back to the dock.
Seven of the basement shops got drenched and flooded. My Unit 2, where Jeremy works, had water pouring down from the ceiling and coming in from the walls. The floor was completely flooded. The SPRP got a bath. It was a big sloppy mess. We did an emergency shuffle, rolling machines down the hall, toweling them off. The SPRP spent a few days in my main shop, getting dried out and repaired. It's okay, back in service now. My main shop, Unit 14, only got a small amount of water, fortunately.
Meanwhile, our Property Management Company announced that they are farming out the management of our property to another Property Management Company. And they have a Manager who lives nearby, so she can drop in frequently and address our concerns......She stopped in for an introductory visit last week, and got quite an earful from us. She was rather surprised to find out about all the serious problems here.
Anyway, if you remember, last November they ordered me to move out of Unit 16. For undefined reasons that didn't make sense. I had been leasing Unit 16 for several years. That's the space that my old Friend Mike Lipe was in. It's a nice shop with walls and 3-phase power, and no water leakage....
At the meeting with our new Manager, I requested/demanded to move out of Unit 2 and back into Unit 16. My request was granted, and I've started the move this weekend.
Here's a picture of Unit 16, starting to move machines in......It's about 200 sq ft larger than Unit 2, which is helpful. Everything from Unit 2 is moving in here, including the routing bench, the SPRP, Jeremy's bench, and his machines and tools.
And the Fret Slotting saw. I dragged it out into the hallway and mounted a new pair of caster beams to the frame. Now it's on wheels and rolls around easily. I needed to do that anyway. These are another set of those really nice locking casters that I've been putting on most of my machines.
And here's its new home in Unit 16, right inside the front wall. But, it can be moved around as needed.
I'm about to start some upgrades on the Fret Slotting Saw. I'm building a better sled and holding fixtures, and an improved indexing mechanism. That's coming up soon.
Yeah, that's it. The new Property Management Company has been hired only to handle the Tenant Relations. Collecting the rent, keeping the lease paperwork up to date, and asking us if we have any Maintenance Issues. The Communications with us Tenants. Okay, I guess that's a good thing. But, the owners and the original management company still control the overall plans for the building and management of all the construction and repairs. The new company is just another layer of management. Not likely to be any improvement in the upper management's decision making.
So, this place is probably going to cruise along just like this for a couple more years. Very slowly repairing things and fixing up the appearance. Never getting closer to approval by the City. Because the City will continue to demand more. Charging high rent rates to those of us who have stayed, and having a hard time finding new Tenants. After a few more years of this, the owners will run out of patience and money, and put the building up for sale. Then it may sit on the market unsold for some years, because the price exceeds the value. Eventually, it will get sold at a loss, and the cycle will start over.
I'm good here through July 2025. I don't know whether I'll renew and stay after that. It depends on how much progress they've made on the repairs, what rate they are going to charge me to extend the lease, and how I'm doing financially by then. But I'm preparing for the option of having to move out.
So, this place is probably going to cruise along just like this for a couple more years. Very slowly repairing things and fixing up the appearance. Never getting closer to approval by the City. Because the City will continue to demand more. Charging high rent rates to those of us who have stayed, and having a hard time finding new Tenants. After a few more years of this, the owners will run out of patience and money, and put the building up for sale. Then it may sit on the market unsold for some years, because the price exceeds the value. Eventually, it will get sold at a loss, and the cycle will start over.
I'm good here through July 2025. I don't know whether I'll renew and stay after that. It depends on how much progress they've made on the repairs, what rate they are going to charge me to extend the lease, and how I'm doing financially by then. But I'm preparing for the option of having to move out.
Getting moved into Unit 16:
Rolling in the machines, and dragging in the benches and shelves. Most of the machines are on casters, so they roll around easily. Most of these are coming out of Unit 2, about 100 ft down the hall.
Here's the infamous SPRP. Its table is freshly refinished from the water damage a few weeks ago. And now it has some streaks of wenge dust ground into it, from Jeremy router planing some fingerboards last week. Its new home will be here in Unit 16. Nice and dry.
And here's the new home for the routing bench and its two cabinets jammed full of routers and accessories. The back end of Unit 16 will be the Routing Room, where we'll do all of our hand router work. The sawdust zone. I realized the other day that I built the routing bench in 1993. The cabinet with the smaller accessories is from 1985. The rack holding the routers is from 1988. Antique furniture.....
And there's the newly-operational Powermatic bandsaw. It'll be the bandsaw in this shop, mostly for Jeremy's use. He's been using it already and likes it a lot. Notice how it's carefully labeled, so we don't mistake what it is. It came from a high school wood shop....
The fret slotting saw will normally be up there in the front end of Unit 16, to keep it away from the heavy sawdust. Other machines parked randomly are my New Hermes Engraver and my 1907 Bardons & Oliver Turret Lathe.
This side of the room is going to be parking for random machines and storage for my epoxy products business. In the back corner will be another workbench, which Rob Allen gave me, and some more routing equipment.
This week, I'll be putting up the new LED lights, and then moving Jeremy's main bench and stuff in. That's going to go right about in the middle of the room. That will be his main working area.
The right side forward area will be storage of fixtures and machines. I have a lot of fixtures and machines......
Rolling in the machines, and dragging in the benches and shelves. Most of the machines are on casters, so they roll around easily. Most of these are coming out of Unit 2, about 100 ft down the hall.
Here's the infamous SPRP. Its table is freshly refinished from the water damage a few weeks ago. And now it has some streaks of wenge dust ground into it, from Jeremy router planing some fingerboards last week. Its new home will be here in Unit 16. Nice and dry.
And here's the new home for the routing bench and its two cabinets jammed full of routers and accessories. The back end of Unit 16 will be the Routing Room, where we'll do all of our hand router work. The sawdust zone. I realized the other day that I built the routing bench in 1993. The cabinet with the smaller accessories is from 1985. The rack holding the routers is from 1988. Antique furniture.....
And there's the newly-operational Powermatic bandsaw. It'll be the bandsaw in this shop, mostly for Jeremy's use. He's been using it already and likes it a lot. Notice how it's carefully labeled, so we don't mistake what it is. It came from a high school wood shop....
The fret slotting saw will normally be up there in the front end of Unit 16, to keep it away from the heavy sawdust. Other machines parked randomly are my New Hermes Engraver and my 1907 Bardons & Oliver Turret Lathe.
This side of the room is going to be parking for random machines and storage for my epoxy products business. In the back corner will be another workbench, which Rob Allen gave me, and some more routing equipment.
This week, I'll be putting up the new LED lights, and then moving Jeremy's main bench and stuff in. That's going to go right about in the middle of the room. That will be his main working area.
The right side forward area will be storage of fixtures and machines. I have a lot of fixtures and machines......
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I'm really, really tempted to write "BAND SAW" on one of my bench grinders now.
Huh?
