Ah yes, the backs and sides of cabinets are useful for tools too. I have half my files on the side of a Bisley filing cabinet below the pillar drill and next to the vice. They live on a magnetic strip. I expected that to cause problems when filing steel, but it doesn't seem to.
@FletchFFletch: I figured they were probably LED fluorescents. I assume you know not to use both isolation transformers at once? I favour the library style arrangement of storage cabinets because you don't need much standing room between facing storage and it's amazing how much room you can sometimes need at a workbench. My workshop is very badly laid out and inefficient to use, but the main bench has half a ton of machine tools on it, so rotating it to allow all the machine tools to be in library style rows and give quick access would/will be an enormous job of work. Trouble is, it evolved, rather than being planned. I started with just one small lathe, mill, and drill. Then a beautiful BCA3 jig borer was spotted, then a Colchester Bantam mkI lathe, then a bigger and better bandsaw, likewise pillar drill, etc, etc. I keep thinking I'd like a Hardinge lathe but I can now (with serious concentration) machine to <6um on the Bantam, and a Hardinge is seriously expensive.
@FletchFFletch: I figured they were probably LED fluorescents. I assume you know not to use both isolation transformers at once? I favour the library style arrangement of storage cabinets because you don't need much standing room between facing storage and it's amazing how much room you can sometimes need at a workbench. My workshop is very badly laid out and inefficient to use, but the main bench has half a ton of machine tools on it, so rotating it to allow all the machine tools to be in library style rows and give quick access would/will be an enormous job of work. Trouble is, it evolved, rather than being planned. I started with just one small lathe, mill, and drill. Then a beautiful BCA3 jig borer was spotted, then a Colchester Bantam mkI lathe, then a bigger and better bandsaw, likewise pillar drill, etc, etc. I keep thinking I'd like a Hardinge lathe but I can now (with serious concentration) machine to <6um on the Bantam, and a Hardinge is seriously expensive.
I just saw a link to a video on YouTube, shipping containers converted to various uses.
Those sell for scrap metal price at times.
If you have room, worth thinking about, many advantages.
Those sell for scrap metal price at times.
If you have room, worth thinking about, many advantages.
Years ago, some military surplus shipping containers were advertised fitted out as a mobile workshops. They included a barely used Harrison M300 lathe, pillar drill, cabinets etc. They had excellent security compared to a shed, but no windows and I figured SWMBO would object to such a thing in the back garden, even though it was camouflaged. It even had air filtering (good for hay fever) and was a bargain. I really regret not buying one.
Couldn't you have mounted some railings around the top, stick a table and chairs on the roof, and use it as somewhere to have a coffee with a good view?
Of course it would be rather dependant on how close you are to neighbours.