Personal Shop Solutions

[PatRobinson]

Hi guys, this my first post in Stunt Hanger.  I have a narrow basement shop with a low ceiling and not much available wall space for airplane storage so I have to keep moving my planes to make room to work.
Well I decided to find a solution. What I came up with was a 2' x 3' x 3/4" base of
melamine covered fiberboard that I put 4 casters on. On the top I added 3 pairs
of 1.5" pvc pipe topped with pvc piece forming a 7" wide "U" that I covered with foam.  This rig holds 3 airplanes by the wings with the nose in a down position.
I can easily roll roll my planes out of the way as needed.
The thought occurred to me that modelers are an inventive bunch of folks and there are probably tons of clever soultions that you guys have come up with to make your shop time easier and more productive.
I have been in buddies workshops and I saw clever and neat ideas that they had
never even given a second thought to because it was just how they chose to fill
a particular need.     So guys, lets hear your your personal shop solutions.

[Ralph Wenzel (d)]

No joke. When we first came down here to look for a house, I made sure I found a large garage with a house next to it.   Three car garage, but one side is a shop and only one car gets into this garage, The wifes of course. Now if I only had a pot, deep sink and a cot, I'd never go in except to eat. 

And your Honey wouldn't be there, either! <Grin>

[Randy Powell]

When we built our house, we designed a detached garage. It has a second floor that is my shop. To match the house, it has a very high pitched roof (14x12 pitch). Consequently, the shop has a very high ceiling. Bad for heating but lots of area for storage. I have a plane rack in each gable. One stores only two planes, the other 4. I've started putting eyelets in the sloping ceiling and tying planes to to that. It's interesting.

[Phil Coopy]

If you build a detached shop make sure that you have 10 ft ceilings.  The additional cost is minimal and you will be very happy to have the extra storage space for hanging airplanes especially if you get into the big stuff.

Phil

[Bob Hudak]

My attached garage has a pitched roof. I put an eyebolt on each side of the roofline. Then I ran a piece of guy wire and cable clamped the wire. I could hang up to 10 planes by the tailwheel to the guywire. It up high enough to where I don't bump my head on airplanes.

[Jim Pollock]

I have a pretty good building shop now.  It's on the corner of the property but the previous owner was quite a handyman.  Lots of electrical outlets, some really good and some not quite as good cabinets.  Lots of bench space and building area.  I'll have to keep my riding lawnmower in it though.  I'll also have to fabricate some plane storage areas.  Plenty to keep me busy this fall, winter and spring!

Jim Pollock   

[Bill Little]

I have a 1600 sq. ft. basement.  I started out with about 400 sq. ft. of it.  Now I am ever so slowly taking over more and more!  Up to about 800 sq. ft.! 

Bill <><

[the original Steve Smith]

Hey Pat!

How about a picture for us visual learners?   

[PatRobinson]

Hi Steve,   I haven't finished my roll around plane stand yet so will try to get
some pictures of how components fit together before I glue them together
and also provide a shot of the partially finished stand holding an airplane.
My next big shop project will be a roll around shelf system to hold all my balsa
plywood, wire, tubing , carbon fiber tubes & etc. It will also hold my growing collection of plans.  At this point , job one for me is getting my shop back in shape
from the chaos of a flood I had some time ago.  Do all you guys have any neat
storage solutions? I would love to hear about them.
                                                                                                Pat