My garage was to be the new shop, convenient to my kitchen, bath, and bedroom – a perfect way to stay close to the project, as this will take a few years of commitment to complete.

I purchased a 1967 Bridgeport 9 x 42 3-axis mill along with a huge assortment of related equipment including milling vises, a 10″ rotary table, various end mills, collets, chucks and precision measuring tools.

It was a great deal and a super way to start my shop.

Next came a brand new Grizzly 11 x 26 gearbox bench lathe and cabinet.

Both the mill and the lathe were treated to digital readout systems with top-of-the-line magnetic scales from DROPROS.com. Precision is the name of the game here and these systems do not disappoint!

After re-positioning the equipment around the garage several times, I finally settled on what I felt was an efficient shop layout. An iPod cranking out tunes on overhead speakers completes the comfortable work environment.

A shop is not a shop until it gets a foreman’s desk. I picked this rough beauty up for $20 and after some sanding and painting it is ready to see some action.

A trip to Harbor Freight yielded this light-duty shear/press/brake. It’ll be fine for some of the smaller work but I needed something a bit more substantial to bend heavier gauge steel.

Using some scrap angle and pipe, I welded up my own bender onto a 1/2″ think steel plate for use in my 20-ton press. It made no fuss bending 3/4″ x 1/4″ steel bar.

I bought a Phase II quick change tool post for my lathe. This gave me a chance to mill a new compound tool post plate to replace the stock Grizzly one.

I’ve also been stocking up on steel and getting close to making chips fly…