Shop Update

A lot has happened over the last few weeks, and I thought it was time to update everyone.   If you not one for reading a long post, feel free to skip to the end and find some links to a couple of video tours.

On day one, we hired a company to move my current shop to the new facility.  It went pretty well, but the crew definitely worked harder and not smarter, even though I tried to point out easier ways.  Muscle won the day.  Only a few items got damaged, and all are in the new shop.

The next order of business was getting electricity to all the locations.  This was a lot more work than I thought, but thankfully, with the help of my good friend and electrician, John Carlson, we pulled a lot of copper and got the results I was hoping for.  Another friend and Electrical Engineer, Tim Nolan, had the great idea of making drop boxes at each location with 208v and 110v outlets.  He even built the boxes and helped with the installation.

Once the electrical was in, it was time to start putting all the equipment into place.   At this point, I was starting to feel pretty good about the layout.  There are still a few tools on order that should be in in the next week or so, but every location has something.  We also removed the terrible mercury vapor (green) gym lights and put in new LED High Bay fixtures with a nice 4000k color temperature that should provide enough light that won’t tire the eyes.

Another group of friends started assembling all the bench room workbenches.  It is a lot of work, but they have knocked out 5 of the six benches.

In addition to all of this, we have internet and wifi up and running, security cameras working, and ready for action.  I still need to install the NFC locks on the doors, but that should be pretty easy.

Many other little things have happened along the way, and I feel we are progressing well.   I stopped by this morning to drop something off and stared in amazement, looking at all that had been accomplished.  It’s starting to feel like my home shop.   I can’t wait to show everyone in person.  I’m very proud of this place.   I feel like we are looking good for the grand opening on October 1st, but I will keep you all updated on this blog and the socials.