1Southpaw, I know just what you mean, that's why our workbench is so cluttered in all the photos we take. Why put the tools you use everyday away? You will Always find magic markers, carbide scribes, files, crecsent wrenches, centerpunches, bits of drill rod, at least three quarter sheets of wet and dry paper in 3 different grits, a small pc. of oak board for a sanding block, a hacksaw, some masking tape and some duct tape, a tailstock chuck key and a three jaw chuck key for the mini-lathe, etc. If all these things were put away, instead of being, 'At Hand', two things would happen, One, we could not find them when we needed them, and, Two, we would waste at least one half hour each day trying to find them and then putting them all away!! The only things we put away religiously are drill bits, because they get lost quickly if you don't. We Do Not fault craftsmen who are neat as a pin and put everything away, but that would drive us bonkers very quickly. Each to his own.
A warm place to work is good. It hasn't always been that way at Seacoast, in a former shop, a detached, one car garage with cinder-block walls, it got so cold one winter, we started adding a little coal to our pot-bellied stove in the corner. The bottom half glowed a nice cherry red and we had heat in at least half the shop! Good luck with the reorganized, heated shop, Ernie!
Allen, your idea for a work holding and tool alignment fixture would work very well and small diameter end mills can be had for very little money in 3 days from MSCdirect and other online sources. We made one of these two years ago when the Nano Rodman was being built. It was made from a scrap of cocobola and steel tube inserts. The devil is in the details, Allen. We would add a short pc. of brass rod in front of the set screw to protect the tube opposite the hand-milling. It's a good idea that we proved would work last time. This time I wanted to try everything free-hand to see if I still had the eye or not. I think I do, but we'll find out.
Thanks, Allen, this is a solid idea that anyone can use for more precise results as long as they can inspect the fixture they make for accuracy.
Two inches of fresh, blowing snow and car work to do. WHY did we convert the garage into a shop? Why??
Mike and Tracy