Inside the garage

The welding and cutting center

The tour starts here with the welding and cutting center. Just about any kind of welding, brazing, filling, cutting, or gouging of material can be done here. I started my journey into welding with Oxy Acetylene Welding and went from there into MIG and finally TIG welding. I can also cut material using the oxy acetylene torch or my handy new Plasma Cutter. I finally sprang for the plasma cutter since it is just too much of a pain to always use a jigsaw with a bi-metal blade to make inside cuts.

Although it may not be visible at first, I will try to show where all of the tools are located in relation to each other. In the direct center of the photo is a large gas bottle for welding. This is where we will start the journey, and it is the Oxy Acetylene torch area. Directly in front of the bottle is a MIG welder sitting at an angle on the welding cart. To the direct right of the bottle on the bench is my TIG welder and welding station, and to the left of the bottle on the opposite bench is the Plasma Cutter and station.

Keeping all of the welding equipment close together provides me a way to get my jobs done quickly and efficiently without always having to go looking for the tools for the job.

The machining area

Moving on further to the left in the garage is the machining area. All of the parts that I create are machined here. This is a fairly new area to the garage, and came about after the jet kart creation. Since I am trying to advance my engine designs to get the best possible thrust, I knew that I would have to have parts machined to better tolerances, and figured it was time to make the plunge. I am a novice machine operator, but am learning quickly with the help of a few friends to steer me in the right directions.

Moving from the far left to the right in the picture, the tools are a large radial arm saw, a Mini Milling machine, a Drill Press, and a Micro Lathe. These tools are perfectly suited to work on smaller parts, and can be upgraded if the need arises. Once again, having a setup with all of the related tools near one another cuts down on the time it takes to do a job. Little things such as having all of my precision measurement tools located in this one area really helps.

Garage overview

Taking a step back a little further into the garage, it becomes clear that there is a good amount of space to work on my projects. I have plenty of floor space, and a nice large workbench in the middle as well (shown in the left foreground here). My workbench always seems to be covered with something, as most generally are.

I hope you have enjoyed to tour, but more importantly that you enjoy what comes out of the garage. Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to drop in again from time to time to see if there are any new additions to the lineup of ever growing tools!

Gary Richards

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