Show us your Shop and Equipment
- Thread starter Lil Foot
- Start date
I moved here in 13
when I moved I had nothing, $13 as I remember, in my bank accounts (all of them combined).
I had basically a left over couch, my JD LX188 to keep the yard cut and a weed eater; and not enough gas to fill them up and not enough money to anyway. My neighbor came by the day I was mowing and introduced herself; she apparently used to own the house I moved into and raised a family there. We came in and chit-chatted a while and she quickly realized that I honestly had....NOTHING. I slept on the floor with some leftover carpet and some raggy worn out clothes for covers. Neighbor lady gave me some stuff she had in her storage of which I am extremely thankful for.
So I decided that I need to do something for some money, aside from working on Kubota's which was barely paying the bills and I mean barely. I did work on the neighbor's bad boy mower a couple times and that was a tremendous help financially. I have wonderful neighbors and most of the time I feel like I aint' giving enough to them or thankful enough for their help
Out behind the house is a 12x16 storage building. I made the storage building a shop; it already had a work bench in it and a loft for storage, and the previous owner of the home had it set up pretty nice for extra parts (blades, etc). So I started buying lawn equipment on the used market, fixing them to make them close to new again, and selling them. My brother had an old JD 165 Hydro that he was letting sit and rot, gave it to me and said do whatever with it and that was the very first job I did. Had zero compression, intake valve was sunken into the block so I pulled the head, removed the valve, replaced it and set the valve clearance (dump valve kawasaki). I had like $80 tied up in it total. After a good polishing/cleaning/servicing/repairing, it was good as new and a man offered me $750 for it, and I happily let him take it home. Couple weeks later he calls and says can I bring it back? Wife wants a new one and I ain't got no use for this one. Sure, I refunded him his money, and sold it to someone else for $800. The first buyer has sent me tons and tons of business over the years. If you do what's right, and stick to your guns, people notice that. But if you don't, they'll go elsewhere, in a matter of seconds, and you will never see them again.
$23,000 in one year out of a 12x16 storage building. Paid for the 30x40 that I wanted to begin with but couldn't afford.
No pics but you get the idea.
Darn storage building still sees some work in it from time to time. Right now it's got a blade grinder, precision blade balancer, and some weed eater parts leftover, still do some handheld work. Most of my larger repair jobs and flip stuff is gone/done, my health isn't stellar and I am slowing down considerably. I'm fine with it. big shop houses the Mustang and some tools and that's about it. I put a 2 post in a couple years ago for working on the Mustang and haven't used it all that much since I don't drive the car that much.
the guy who originally bought the JD 165? He brings me a set of blades for his bad boy twice a season for me to sharpen and balance. Then during the season I get calls from many others who need theirs done too. It's not hard work, but the kicker is that the dealers don't typically like to sharpen blades, they want to replace them and for good reason. A set of blades is like $60 (3 blades) or 1/2 hour of sharpening can be the same price so why spend 1/2hr on sharpening blades when they can have brand new ones for the same price? I sharpen/balance them typically for half that and most of the time LESS than half, and they are sharp and properly balanced. Most new blades (right out of the box) are not balanced either. It makes a difference. Not making much on that stuff anymore but just providing a service and most importantly leaving an impression on folks that not all of us are out to take people's money.
when I moved I had nothing, $13 as I remember, in my bank accounts (all of them combined).
I had basically a left over couch, my JD LX188 to keep the yard cut and a weed eater; and not enough gas to fill them up and not enough money to anyway. My neighbor came by the day I was mowing and introduced herself; she apparently used to own the house I moved into and raised a family there. We came in and chit-chatted a while and she quickly realized that I honestly had....NOTHING. I slept on the floor with some leftover carpet and some raggy worn out clothes for covers. Neighbor lady gave me some stuff she had in her storage of which I am extremely thankful for.
So I decided that I need to do something for some money, aside from working on Kubota's which was barely paying the bills and I mean barely. I did work on the neighbor's bad boy mower a couple times and that was a tremendous help financially. I have wonderful neighbors and most of the time I feel like I aint' giving enough to them or thankful enough for their help
Out behind the house is a 12x16 storage building. I made the storage building a shop; it already had a work bench in it and a loft for storage, and the previous owner of the home had it set up pretty nice for extra parts (blades, etc). So I started buying lawn equipment on the used market, fixing them to make them close to new again, and selling them. My brother had an old JD 165 Hydro that he was letting sit and rot, gave it to me and said do whatever with it and that was the very first job I did. Had zero compression, intake valve was sunken into the block so I pulled the head, removed the valve, replaced it and set the valve clearance (dump valve kawasaki). I had like $80 tied up in it total. After a good polishing/cleaning/servicing/repairing, it was good as new and a man offered me $750 for it, and I happily let him take it home. Couple weeks later he calls and says can I bring it back? Wife wants a new one and I ain't got no use for this one. Sure, I refunded him his money, and sold it to someone else for $800. The first buyer has sent me tons and tons of business over the years. If you do what's right, and stick to your guns, people notice that. But if you don't, they'll go elsewhere, in a matter of seconds, and you will never see them again.
$23,000 in one year out of a 12x16 storage building. Paid for the 30x40 that I wanted to begin with but couldn't afford.
No pics but you get the idea.
Darn storage building still sees some work in it from time to time. Right now it's got a blade grinder, precision blade balancer, and some weed eater parts leftover, still do some handheld work. Most of my larger repair jobs and flip stuff is gone/done, my health isn't stellar and I am slowing down considerably. I'm fine with it. big shop houses the Mustang and some tools and that's about it. I put a 2 post in a couple years ago for working on the Mustang and haven't used it all that much since I don't drive the car that much.
the guy who originally bought the JD 165? He brings me a set of blades for his bad boy twice a season for me to sharpen and balance. Then during the season I get calls from many others who need theirs done too. It's not hard work, but the kicker is that the dealers don't typically like to sharpen blades, they want to replace them and for good reason. A set of blades is like $60 (3 blades) or 1/2 hour of sharpening can be the same price so why spend 1/2hr on sharpening blades when they can have brand new ones for the same price? I sharpen/balance them typically for half that and most of the time LESS than half, and they are sharp and properly balanced. Most new blades (right out of the box) are not balanced either. It makes a difference. Not making much on that stuff anymore but just providing a service and most importantly leaving an impression on folks that not all of us are out to take people's money.
No pictures from me either but I have a pretty complete machine and fabrication shop with some expensive metal working tools. Right now I'm rebuilding an excavation bucket for a Deere articulated loader (I have an overhead crane in the shop for heavy stuff). needed a new side sheet and the bucket heel was pretty thin so I had a new one sheared for me (the throat on my shear isn't big enough) and I'm putting it together right now. Side sheets no issue. I have TIG and MIG and gas and a engine drive for remote jobs. 2 vertical mills, one CNC, 3 engine lathes, one is a LeBlond Servo shift and a surface grinder as well as a Wysong hydraulic shear and a Pexto brake and slip rolls, and that's enough, probably too much actually but, it's all paid for so it owes me nothing and I can go out to my shop and work alone and no one bothers me and I make some pretty good money perusing my hobby and gentleman farming too. Anymore, I turn a lot of stuff down. very particular about what I do. Getting old has made me less patient and somewhat crabby.
Told the wife when I crap out she's gonna have a helluva sale but she will need a professional rigger to get some of it out. Some of the machines are very heavy.
Told the wife when I crap out she's gonna have a helluva sale but she will need a professional rigger to get some of it out. Some of the machines are very heavy.
I started a new project for the shop. This 24” gear was scrapped by a machinist at work so my boss let me have it. I had thought about building a table out of it but I decided the shop needed a new clock. The pieces between the spokes are rough cut cedar tongue and groove. I need to find a clock movement yet.
Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
Thanks. No point throwing out a perfectly fine piece of scrap. Lol
The clock is functional now. Going to paint the clock hands so they stand out against the gear.
Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
Very Nice! I like the juxtaposition of materials; the wood grain, the machine gear, and metal numerals.
Thanks guys! I enjoy repurposing materials that most people would toss in the trash. Here’s some of my other projects.
A bench made from old cedar fence posts from a fence row I took out along my property.
Table made from a slice from a hickory stump from my back yard. I didn’t carve the cardinal.
Hand carved piece of cedar from fence post.
A bench made from old cedar fence posts from a fence row I took out along my property.
Table made from a slice from a hickory stump from my back yard. I didn’t carve the cardinal.
Hand carved piece of cedar from fence post.
Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
My assortment of shop equipment.
Craftsman drill press, Miller 211 MIG, OLD (circa 1980) Buffalo band saw, Jet BD920N lathe, Eastwood TIG 200, Hypertherm 1000 Plasma cutter, oxy- acetylene torch and Dewalt 6" grinder.
I have an assortment of angle grinders and drills also.
I modified the Eastwood press brake with a multi-angle die for easier and more accurate bending of stock at 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° angles.
Thinking about a Precision Mathews mill in the spring to round out the equipment roster.
Craftsman drill press, Miller 211 MIG, OLD (circa 1980) Buffalo band saw, Jet BD920N lathe, Eastwood TIG 200, Hypertherm 1000 Plasma cutter, oxy- acetylene torch and Dewalt 6" grinder.
I have an assortment of angle grinders and drills also.
I modified the Eastwood press brake with a multi-angle die for easier and more accurate bending of stock at 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° angles.
Thinking about a Precision Mathews mill in the spring to round out the equipment roster.
Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
That's a parts cleaner.
Those are steel wheels off an old oxy-acetylene torch cart we had at the family construction company. I think dad said they are from a mill cart from the the Studebaker plant in South Bend where grandad worked in the 40's and 50's. He were scavenged them off a junk pile and were eventually put on a torch cart back in the '50s. The cart was made of 3/4" pipe and weighed a ton, so I kept the wheels and scrapped the rest. The GF's daughter collects all kinds of steam punk stuff and she wants them. They were a little to heavy to put in her carry-on bags when she flew back to CT though. She's going to drive out some time and get them. She wants the pipe vise behind them too.
