Workshop Information
Location
United States
My shop is an accumulation of machines and tools that began in 1957 when I was sixteen and using money I made working weekends and summers at a local hobby shop to buy my first machine, a Sears (Atlas) 6" metal lathe. I had read articles in Popular Mechanics, Science and Mechanics, and Popular Science (don't forget Mechanix Illustrated - yes, with an "X") about machining and it fascinated me. I was a teen age model builder of model airplanes which honed my building abilities. Then I bought a Sears 15" floor model drill press (that I still have and use) and a World War 2 vintage Walker turner 16" cast iron bandsaw (which I still have and use). Next was a Smith''s oxy-acetelyne welder. All of this before I got out of college at Georgia Tech. Later after marriage and a new home, I bought a Sears 10" table saw which I soon replaced with a Delta Unisaw.
As a sales rep for a very large printing firm, I called on corporations and advertising agencies which put me in touch with a fellow who repped a filming company that made television commercials. He was a hot rodder who asked me to do some welding from time to time. He gave me a call one day asking if I could could weld up a large 6 ft junk sculpture for an ad for a large bank (the ad was to show someone welding on the sculpture with the bank saying come to them to finance your hobbies). I made the sculpture, everyone was happy, and the swish big ad agency art director took the sculpture and put it in his back yard garden. Sort of the monkey doing a painting that ends up in an art museum kind of thing. After that , I began to get calls from the filming company to do all kinds of special props and gadgets for their films. This included a space ship that had to come in from outer space, land in a farm field, and a water heater had to appear and roll out - this to announce that Virginia Power and Light was introducing a new water heater with "space age" technology (I don't write 'em folks, I just build the stuff). This required a 100 sq. ft. table top scene and a 36" vacuum molded flying saucer with movie marquee-type lights circling the rim and a pulsating glow coming from in the saucer. Another project was a close-up view of the inside of a music box playing a bank's charge card and Christmas music. I machined a large brass cylinder with pins located to play the music exactly as it was written. There were lots of other projects.
I used the money to add to my shop, but I spent a number of long hours late into the night making the deadline. This on top of my regular daytime job.
Then one day a call came from a prominent local architect that is noted for his extravagant hotels with fancy elevators that they needed to have a 60 foot mobile made and couldn't find anyone to do it to their specifications. They had heard of me and wanted me to take a look at it. I did, and knew how to solve the problem. I got the project and, for once, had an adequate time to build the project. After this, I began to be called in to look at other decorative details in his hotels. The projects were bigger and there was no time crunch, so I slowly moved over to doing these rather than the television ad projects. Also, there were only four or five projects a year and this suited me as I still had my full time job.
All of this came to an end when I ended up with a divorce, The shop was put in storage until I was able to get a new house after a couple of years. I made sure the new house had a basement to accommodate my shop with no water problems, high ceilings, and plenty of room.
I never went back to building for money, I learned that I valued my personal time to build what I wanted to do now that I had all of the machines I could ever want. I am seventy seven now (2018) and even after 60 years of building stuff, I still spend my retired days messing around in my shop.
As a sales rep for a very large printing firm, I called on corporations and advertising agencies which put me in touch with a fellow who repped a filming company that made television commercials. He was a hot rodder who asked me to do some welding from time to time. He gave me a call one day asking if I could could weld up a large 6 ft junk sculpture for an ad for a large bank (the ad was to show someone welding on the sculpture with the bank saying come to them to finance your hobbies). I made the sculpture, everyone was happy, and the swish big ad agency art director took the sculpture and put it in his back yard garden. Sort of the monkey doing a painting that ends up in an art museum kind of thing. After that , I began to get calls from the filming company to do all kinds of special props and gadgets for their films. This included a space ship that had to come in from outer space, land in a farm field, and a water heater had to appear and roll out - this to announce that Virginia Power and Light was introducing a new water heater with "space age" technology (I don't write 'em folks, I just build the stuff). This required a 100 sq. ft. table top scene and a 36" vacuum molded flying saucer with movie marquee-type lights circling the rim and a pulsating glow coming from in the saucer. Another project was a close-up view of the inside of a music box playing a bank's charge card and Christmas music. I machined a large brass cylinder with pins located to play the music exactly as it was written. There were lots of other projects.
I used the money to add to my shop, but I spent a number of long hours late into the night making the deadline. This on top of my regular daytime job.
Then one day a call came from a prominent local architect that is noted for his extravagant hotels with fancy elevators that they needed to have a 60 foot mobile made and couldn't find anyone to do it to their specifications. They had heard of me and wanted me to take a look at it. I did, and knew how to solve the problem. I got the project and, for once, had an adequate time to build the project. After this, I began to be called in to look at other decorative details in his hotels. The projects were bigger and there was no time crunch, so I slowly moved over to doing these rather than the television ad projects. Also, there were only four or five projects a year and this suited me as I still had my full time job.
All of this came to an end when I ended up with a divorce, The shop was put in storage until I was able to get a new house after a couple of years. I made sure the new house had a basement to accommodate my shop with no water problems, high ceilings, and plenty of room.
I never went back to building for money, I learned that I valued my personal time to build what I wanted to do now that I had all of the machines I could ever want. I am seventy seven now (2018) and even after 60 years of building stuff, I still spend my retired days messing around in my shop.