Workshop spaces…untidy.

I had a chance to do a bit of a cleanup before christmas but since then I’ve been making stuff all over the place so I’ve just made everything just one big mess and have ended up working outside on the pathway. So before I go and tidy everything up and maybe even make some more shelves here and there I thought I’d photograph it all so everyone who reads this can see how potentially untidy I can get.

But I suppose that while you’re waiting for all the photos to upload I can briefly say whats been going on for the last few days. Well, the money thing has ended and the flows back on mainly from sales on Trade me but my gallery man decided to flick me a few hundred on tick as well… so I’m basically set for another month, all bills paid, enough to finish up most of the projects and keep myself in coffee and cigarettes… if I’m careful, what more could one ask for?

So theres also a bit of work in the pipeline with some stuff for the lovely Sheena who sells stuff at Titirangi market and maybe some electronics for Jamie Bowen the comedian. So there all back from holiday and my services are required…. good!

Yesterday I went out for a wee shop to surplustronics and got a small bag of needed stuff and dropped in at Ben’s later and got a bunch of telephone carbon mics to play with. But I also dropped into the tool barn, in Panmure, earlier and got a choice little forged, as in blacksmithing, bench vice and a small box of brass screws, N04, which are quite hard to get these days. He also had a box of technotool wood lathe accesories and they are just the kind of stuff I need to get my own monster wood lathe together ’cause I’m actually quite keen to make up some shapes and do some metal spinning. I offered him a swap for a swedish small model makers unimate lathe I picked up years ago and his eyes absolutely lit up and he was real keen. The box of stuff was priced at 250.00 and thats fine by me and I know these unimates are getting horrendously high prices on Ebay these days but I got it for free so anything is a bargain really.

Should have loaded by now. One other thing but I’ll wait till the end and it may make more sense by then.

This is where I am now and it’s dismal how underutilised this room is. It’s in the house and one day I’ll move out completely to my sheds and lean to’s.

Then it’s out of the house, Mums, and this is my lean to shed where I do most of the metalwork but have recently been doing just about everything in here as it’s the only good sized space thats under cover. I do like floors… big and empty, and work alot kneeling and sitting on my ass.

This is what the lean to leans on…my house, upstairs is where I sleep ( you can just see the sloping stair beam) and to the left is the room which I’ll tidy up to get painting some pictures and eventually the place where I’ll keep all my paperwork but on the floor right in front is kinda my musical instrument storage space. Hard left I’m going to put some shelves in and theres quite a big space above where I’m going to hang the bigger instruments.

Now were entering the shed proper and the floor is strew with tools that should be put away but because I’ve been working in the lean to I just unfurl a power cable and pick up and return all the tools to the floor by the door.

This is supposedly where I do all the solid state electronics but its not been tidied in quite a while and needs a thorough going over.

And hard in behind the electro SS bench is just loads of stuff that needs a proper place to be stored and not just clutter the place up.

From the end of that room we see the tube bench up against the window which is suddenly much in my mind these days as SS just means lots of buying new parts whereas tubes is just picking and choosing of the parts already rummaged and chucking stuff together. Much more mechanical and chunky type stuff… plus it’s alot more dangerous.

Then it’s through the next door and my last bit of floor that was useful for making things but has recently just become a tool depository.

Back wall behind the main working bech is the place where all the bits and bobs go.

This should be completely clear. Its the main bench for doing mostly clean work with really sharp stuff. But it’s littered with just about finished stuff… and more tools that should be put away.

This shows the floor, a little, of the main thoroughfare between outside and the main workshop and it’s completely littered with stuff. When I’ve finished at night and turn the lights out I have to negotiate this space in pitch black and I leave little footholds where over time I’ve been able to remember. I know thats kinda good to be able to do things like that in the dark, spatial sense relative to body etc, but it’d be a lot better if I was just tidy.

Now I’m going into town to get a photo of an old ham radio sitting on a toilet cistern in a cafe, and get some photos of buildings vying for attention, old and new, to do some paintings then stop into Panmure with a rusty old bunch of swedish steel to get some much nicer and cleaner English steel.

I was going to talk about the valve radio, in the cafe, and the late great Fred Nachbaur… but I’ll get the photos first. Meantime go look at his site.

Or have a good look around here at this wonderful site. I want his books!