What's your build area, shop, room look like?

I guess I can show my last house rocket building area, heat and cooled by a mini-split HVAC unit, 5.1 sound system

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10 foot long fold down bench for long rockets


8 foot long ,104 dB efficiency subwoofer (1943 RCA Shearer horn)for proper rocket building fidelity and 118 inch diagonal screen for LDRS video sessions


Loft for rocket storage, carpeted too:

I hesitated to share my shop because it's tight and I don't have a wide angle lens, but figured that might be like many other people here. Our house has a split three car garage- two car together behind one door, and then a single bay at 90 degrees. That single bay is my man cave, into which I've packed 4 hobbies- rocketry, brewing, woodworking (to a degree) and electronics. I'm not very good at any one of them, so it's helpful to have them all within arms reach, so when I get frustrated, I can either move on to the next or take a break...truth be told I haven't done anything productive in there except brew a Rye IPA in the last few weeks. Highlights for those who are considering similar (in other words, things I would definitely do again): high-grade epoxy floor. Things I wish I had done: insulated, provided some AC/Heat out there, installed more/better lights (can still be done).
Lighting is crap, so I bought three 5m strips of adjustable RGB LEDs thinking i can use them for white light where I need it, and can switch to red when I'm doing photo-sensitive PCB work. What I realized after I hung them and confirmed in these images is that they're REALLY HEAVY into the UV band. My camera couldn't autofocus with them on. Makes me think I need to revisit that choice and go with something a little warmer?

I did a thread on our rocket room back in 2013. Since then, stuff has spread all over the house, that's what happens when your wife decides to get her L3....
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?49732-The-Rocket-Room

Someone me<script id="gpt-impl-0.28719804460589526" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gpt/pubads_impl_107.js"></script>ntioned carpet... I say, "Avoid it!"

For years my hobby rooms were in apartments with carpeted floors. I hadn't done rocketry since I was a teen living at home, and that could be done at the dining room table for the most part. Most of my adult life has seen me involved in R/C airplanes and I like to build, which means glue, paint, and sanding. Carpet is horrible! Glue/paint drips (epoxy especially) are impossible to clean up. And sanding dust gets trapped in carpet, no matter what version of the Dyson vacuum you own, you're not getting it all.

An epoxy coated floor would be great, if you're workspace is viable for that option. My shop now is an upstairs spare bedroom of the house I bought last year. After removing the carpeting and exposing the bare plywood subfloor, I debated on installing a light colored hardwood laminate floor, but then decided I really didn't want to risk dripping glue or paint on a nice new floor either. In the end I decided to use up some white primer wall paint on the sub floor. Since it was a work shop, I wasn't particularly careful in my application. I just used a paint roller on an extension handle and rolled it on, not even getting right up to the edges of the walls. Now if I drip paint/glue, it's no big deal. And it's easy to vacuum up any sanding dust just using a shop vac.

I just have a spare bedroom that is not being for anything else but rockets. In the next 2 years my wife and I are going to build a new house together. We have plans for 1000 sq ft shop on the property. (I have plans for a 1000 sq ft shop) lol (her idea is around 400 or so)

My shop is in an unused upstairs bedroom. Made it into the Rocket Lab since really, the whole house is my Man Cave.

My whole house, every room, wall to wall.

This is my shop, not much of one compared to the one I had in the basement at the house, or the wood shop.
But, it's what I got for now.
Tasha, my 10 yo Jack Russel Terrier in our bed/Recliner.
My office area.
Tool boxes, work bench, wood tool box has the leather crafting tools in it.
My wet bench I built for my wet stones and sharpening, now the Rocket Bench too.
Closet full of boxes full of rockets, 2 in the laundry room.
Black storage box for bigger stuff to build.
Make fun it, I do.



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Continued...



Almost forgot what's in the cabinet...

Woody: You sure have a lot of tins of chew, but I don't see a brass spitoon anywhere?

Nice Woodcraft stool too.

I assume that all the "good" hats are out, since all the "bad hats" are in a box?

Woody: You sure have a lot of tins of chew, but I don't see a brass spitoon anywhere?

Five in picture #4 alone....are you getting product placement money? :wink:

Haha, chew cans are the poor mans epoxy mixing cups.
Holds thinned TiteBond, and unthinned TiteBond.
I have a bunch full of different sized screws n such.
As far as the brass spitoon, no.
That's what the black plastic cup is for.
The ceramic cup is my Earl Gray Tea mug.
Oh, and the unmarked box on the shelf is my knife collection, little that it be.
I'll have to get it down and post pics of those. Some are kinda nice.

I just figured out what you meant about the hats as I was diggin around in top the closet.
I have a ton of hats. Use to collect them. Ware them until they are just threads left.
Those are dups of the collectors so good ones to ware if I go somewhere.
Otherwise, I ware the raggy ones.
All my collectors hats are in storage, probably being eating my mice and moths.

hobie1dog said:

Woody: You sure have a lot of tins of chew, but I don't see a brass spitoon anywhere?

Nice Woodcraft stool too.

I assume that all the "good" hats are out, since all the "bad hats" are in a box?

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WOW! You guys make me envious. I wish I had my house back now, ah well. I'm in an apartment now so space is limited. The wife gave me one corner of the living room--my desk-- it's a bit grainy - bad lighting----a 47 inch Hisense HD monitor--guess what project is next!!----the junk corner, we all gotta have one!----and of course the ever present "Carl the turtle", who, as it turns out is actually Carla, ---the supply area is in a drawer stack in the deck closet and paints are kept on a shelf in the master closet. Any power tools are kept in a nice foot locker inside----BUT, in the more pleasant months my work is moved out here--

FredA said:

Woody: You sure have a lot of tins of chew, but I don't see a brass spitoon anywhere?

Five in picture #4 alone....are you getting product placement money? :wink:

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I quit chewing 6 years ago, and damn if looking at those pictures didn't raise the desire again!

I quit once, cold turkey for over 2 years. Took a bet, won the bet, but it started me up again.
I might try again at 12/31/2016 at 12:59:59. see how it goes.

soopirV said:

I quit chewing 6 years ago, and damn if looking at those pictures didn't raise the desire again!

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Woody's Workshop said:

I quit once, cold turkey for over 2 years. Took a bet, won the bet, but it started me up again.
I might try again at 12/31/2016 at 12:59:59. see how it goes.

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Good luck, I'm happy to provide some support if you need it! I chewed for 16 years, and quit when that became half my life. Cold turkey for me too, but it was by far the HARDEST damn thing I ever did. So glad to have that behind me though. If I wasn't eating or sleeping I had a dip in. Even in meetings and while delivering presentations (learned to gut it pretty well).

1. Also curious to know what lighting you guys have found that works best over the build table? I was thinking that in the next house I might try some track lights so that I can direct some led spot lights down to the top of the rocket. I've always used fluorescent lights before.

2. I noticed that most people have a cutting mat, do you use it that much?

hobie1dog said:

Also curious to know what lighting you guys have found that works best over the build table? I was thinking that in the next house I might try some track lights so that I can direct some led spot lights down to the top of the rocket. I've always used fluorescent lights before.

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I prefer the flourescent tube style LEDs in my shop, the a flex type light on the bench for spot work. I usually use a 4' dual LED tube fixture over the bench. I get migraines so the flicker of flourescents are not acceptable for my work areas.

I got that one lamp in the pics, that's it. Have a fluorescent bulb in it.
I do have 2, 2 bulb T-12 fixtures to hang up once I can afford the bulbs and chains to hang them.
I also have lighted magnifier light that switches out in the mount when needed. Also with a fluorescent bulb.
Being poor, I just have to make do most of the time.

hobie1dog said:

1. Also curious to know what lighting you guys have found that works best over the build table? I was thinking that in the next house I might try some track lights so that I can direct some led spot lights down to the top of the rocket. I've always used fluorescent lights before.

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I use a fluorescent lamp for ambient lighting over the bench. But I have a task lighting in lamps on both sides of the bench with high wattage LED

hobie1dog said:

2. I noticed that most people have a cutting mat, do you use it that much?

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Since I work a primarily with balsa, Yes!

Fluorescent lamp recessed above the bench.

Cutting mat - Oh yeah....use it all the time. Do everything on it. I get a new one maybe twice a year.

hobie1dog said:

1. Also curious to know what lighting you guys have found that works best over the build table? I was thinking that in the next house I might try some track lights so that I can direct some led spot lights down to the top of the rocket. I've always used fluorescent lights before.

2. I noticed that most people have a cutting mat, do you use it that much?

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1) LED "tube" lights are awesome.

2) Yes, use the thing all the time. Not just for rockets, but it is a good place to tear things apart for repair also.

In the second and third photo in my original reply you can see my T8 lighting. I absolutely LOVE it! It provides a very bright, white light so there's no eye strain at all from any dim lighting. You can also see, on the short side of my "L", the 24 x 36 cutting mat that I use. What you don't see are the two smaller cutting mats I have if I'm working away from my main work bench.

My shop is probably the cleanest, because there's nothing in it yet! This weekend I got the sub-floor down, using a product call DriCore that is underlayment and sub-floor all in one. I think the rubber on top of this will be much more comfortable than just the rubber rolls on top of concrete.

John, If you need help setting things up let me know.

Tony

I bet you still end up using rubber mats if you stand in place very long.
I did total wood frame floor in my wood shop, and I still used rubber mats.
You'll be able to tell before too long. Your feet, knees and low back will tell you.
Looks like quite a big shop. What's the size? Ceiling?

Woody's Workshop said:

I bet you still end up using rubber mats if you stand in place very long.
I did total wood frame floor in my wood shop, and I still used rubber mats.
You'll be able to tell before too long. Your feet, knees and low back will tell you.

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I agree. On top of the sub-floor I'm going to use 8mm rubber rolls (as shown in my video).
These things are great if anyone else is interested:
www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-roll/pre-cut-regrind-roll.html

Woody's Workshop said:

Looks like quite a big shop. What's the size? Ceiling?

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The space is 24' x 48' with 12' ceilings so it will definitely be a larger space than I had before, which I am looking forward to. I'm planning for a 5' x 15' work table, which I'm really looking forward to!

Very nice shop John, old and new!
Mine was only 24x24x8, originally cold storage for boat, camper and snowmobiles.
After a bout of surgery and off work awhile, I got a little behind and sold all the toys.
Once back on my feet, I turned it into a wood shop I always wanted. Getting too old for toys anyways.
That rubber your using looks similar to the stuff we use to lay down on rubber roofs for walkways.
It was made out of recycled tires tool
That's what I had down on my wood floor in my shop.
I pulled it before I left and save it so if I ever get back on my feet I can put it down in my next shop.
Enjoyed the movie.

JohnCoker said:

I agree. On top of the sub-floor I'm going to use 8mm rubber rolls (as shown in my video).
These things are great if anyone else is interested:
www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-roll/pre-cut-regrind-roll.html



The space is 24' x 48' with 12' ceilings so it will definitely be a larger space than I had before, which I am looking forward to. I'm planning for a 5' x 15' work table, which I'm really looking forward to!

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What HVAC system are you putting in?