Gotta love America. Truly is the land of plenty.

"….With a shop like this a guy can make almost anything…."

…..almost…. But, it's the indian not the arrow…….

At Epping Forest Horology Club we have some amazing craftsmen (and women) but some of the most special work is done in amazingly bleak and illequipped circumstances….we have a man who makes amazing unique one-off clocks from scratch in a tiny connecting passage between two basements in his sons house, and another wonderful craftsman who has no lathe in his carpeted garden shed. There are others who work in their lofts and on the corner of their kitchen tables……..

My own specialist 'clock workshop' is a 5ft length of racking that I'm allowed to keep and operate in my conservatory…just small lathe and 'Aldi' drilling machine plus dremel and vital sundries on four shelves with detachable vice. I like it and give mental thanks every day! …..If I can't do good work there with a mug of tea and Classic FM then I need to call it a day.

Well he said he's a one-man show so no work going on while he's talking to the camera. Looks like he has a milling machine and a Sunnen hone set up permanently for each individual common Harley machining procedure, so I imagine his turnaround time would be pretty quick. He had a good stack of rods there waiting to be honed, and a stack of flywheels waiting for something.  Sounds like jobs come in in the morning and go out that afternoon. LOL, but they all say that!)

What he does is actually fairly straightforward machining, for the most part. Just having the dedicated machine for each operation saves massive time on the set up — which like much machining can be more than the actual cutting time. Most of what he does would not be as complex as quite a few things model engineers do in their home shop, just bigger and set up to be more commercially done in less time.

I get a feeling he may do a little gunsmithing too, looking out the back door there. He certainly didn't buy all that machinery from standing around flapping his gums none too much.

Edited By Hopper on 01/07/2018 09:18:27

Edited By Hopper on 01/07/2018 09:26:55

'Zactly!

I think he does a lot. Look at his vest. Either he's got another workshop set up for that, or the Harley stuff's just a front…

He does say over and over again that he does Harley rebuilds. This is a commercial advert for his business. It is only about £50k in machines if second hand which is not much for a business.

There are several much larger and amateur machine collections, and custom made barn sized workshops that get mentioned on forums such as HSM. The problem is partly getting the space.

" with a digital readout everything comes out perfect"

I obviously bought the wrong kind !

Nice layout for a machine shop… does he actually do anything with it ? never noticed a bit of swarf, no employees around, all machine tables in pristine condition no engines at various stages of disassembly. I reckon his major income is from the ranges.

George.

From what I've heard that is quite good for a Hog

45 years experience and still leaves the chuck wrench in the chuck. Prefer simple shops.

Good point! On the rare occasions I do this myself it reminds me I'm still learning….

Me to Fizzy

Mick