Tiny Neon Shop — part 2

I have previously alluded to space limitations in doing my work in some of my other articles, among them “Tiny Neon Shop–part 1” ( http://www.novioljourneys.com/?p=508 )   Other than twice in my professional career, a lack of space has been the recurrent theme.  This issue evolved into the idea of building a shop I can bring places….something neater than the trailer I used to work in.

Presently, I am set up in a spare room in the house.  It measures roughly 9ft X 9ft…..or about a third of what would be considered minimally useful for the purpose by most.  It is, however, what I have….and once properly organized for me and with a few changes in habits to suit the understood limitations imposed by the space …it does work, and rather well really.  I can do neon and electronic projects, restoration work, and even some light mechanical tasks here.

The panoramic photo at the top was shot from near the doorway.  You can see it is pretty tiny….and that as a result, some things must serve multiple purposes.  The big gray workbench is used for doing electronics and some light mechanical tasks.  There are power supplies for some HAM radio or other projects, and even a built in dummy load for transmitter tests.  There is, however, not enough room for everything and so if a certain bit of test equipment is needed I have to pull it out from below or from the closet….this is part of the price of keeping only minimal items on the main bench surface.  The reasoning for this is that this main surface is also used for a bending table.  I simply remove other items and then roll out my patterns and go to town on them!

And those patterns?…..well, the most frequently used ones get stowed in a holder secured to the ceiling that was made from a couple of buckets.  Try it, you’ll like it.

For torches, I have my 5 point crossfire and 24″ ribbon burner that I have used since the late 1980’s when I first started.  But seriously?…in a 9×9 room?…..overkill, right?   Well, yes….for most purposes.  But again, it works.  I did, however, score some small vintage torches that date back to the 1930’s….a cute little 3pt crossfire and a 6″ ribbon burner.  These, and some other bench burners I have since found, became the basis for the tiny roll-around fire bench that was described in part one.  The vintage roots blower, riveted copper tank, and other fittings were to suit my desires and thoughts of what someone would have done if they had been building it just prior to WWII.  Period correct is important to me, not just in restorations but in the equipment used to do them.  For most small work, this is just about perfect.  As an added bonus, it can be moved to suit other work being done here or moved to “take the show on the road” to demonstrate or do training for others.

The processing bench is the one I have been using for a few years, but with an important modification:  I narrowed it to about 25″  …this still holds the components but now allows for easier mobility.  Placed upon furniture dollies or fitted with casters and it too becomes just as portable as the fire bench.  The pump bench is fitted with a vintage Sola 7.5kva bombarder with variac and contactor controls   (see, “The “Wrong Way” To Connect a Variac…”  http://www.novioljourneys.com/?p=581 )  that I built.  There are vacuum pumps and an old Townsend manifold….all within the 48×25 inch footprint.

The Townsend is a metal manifold and back in the day when we all had to hand build our glass manifolds it was quite the big deal.  The Townsend was the “hot item” that people wanted, but few could afford.  However, being a metal manifold, it has some severe drawbacks–leak finding and flashback hazard being chief among them.  Today, the all Pyrex, o-ringed manifolds are considered the best way to go.  …but the Townsend is what I have, it was had at a terrific bargain, and properly serviced and carefully managed it seems capable of processing some good quality units.  As a bonus, I expect that when fitted with metal gas canisters and mounted on vibration isolators, it will prove suitably rugged to become fully portable.  ….even on the frost heaved roads that we have up here!

Here at home, I can plug the bombarder circuit into the dryer outlet but at a remote setting if 240v power was not available, I would just swap out the Sola bombarder for a small one that I have that can be reconnected for 120v operations at 2.5 kva–very low power but would be enough to process small items in a classroom/display environment to demonstrate the process for others.

The fire and processing benches can thus do double duty here or in a remote setting.

A fan moving 825cfm placed in the window helps keep the temperatures manageable.  I like a cool room.  In addition, there are the usual tool boxes and the obligatory bookshelf.  Over many years, I have collected a lot of rare, unusual, and vintage technical books–too many to fit in here….but I pulled a few that seemed relevant and put them in the shop room for easy reference and inspiration.

So there it is.  A few ideas on how to resolve the problem of a tiny shop.  Try some of them and you’ll find that you, too, can work in a broom closet.  And even if you have the space, rethinking the way you use it may make the space you have seem a little bigger.