What I've been up to - workshop tour.

It's been months of hard work & silly long days. The workshop is converted from a single skin weatherboard barn, so literally everything had to be done. 1" ply lining, insulation, 3 phase & single phase electrics, special daylight lighting, heating, windows, doors, etc, etc. Before this could happen, I had to build another outbuilding (pictured) to house all the crap that lived in the barn!

Anyhow, this is our new finishing shop. The shell shop remains in Teeside (a much bigger facility), & all the bare shells will come from there to this little finishing shop. The finishing workshop consists of three spaces: The main shop, the parts store, & the environmental room. Although it's fairly compact, it's spacious & pleasant in it's layout. I won't describe all the pictures, as most of it is self evident. Suffice to say that everything is specifically designed for the job, including some custom machine conversion. There's a lot you can't see, such as the new super accurate tooling, & lots of small stuff that's pretty boring, but very important. There's also stuff I can't show you, because the technology, although modest, is proprietary, & hard won. Stuff like the environmental room, laser marking systems, & other stuff that's unique to how we do things. Still a few things to install, like the extraction system, but pretty much ready to roll

I hope all you workshop heads enjoy these. I'm taking a day off, then starting work on the showroom next - phew. Remember, Guru is just two guys & an apprentice. All working our arses off, & determined to succeed. I did all this work on my own, & Dean has been putting in similar work at his location with new facilities too.

Wow!

Amazing photos. I love the measures takes to make precision cuts and drills.
That certainly is a lot of time/money/labor invested.

Although my favorite aspect is the "shells are sleeping" sign. lol.

Do Not Enter. Shells Sleeping. That is great! If I may ask, and it doesn't cross any lines of secrecy, is this environmental room how you cure the shells? You had mentioned in another thread about Uncle Larrys kit that the drums will only sound better with time as the shells cure.

All those drums, all that hardware, all those machines, I sure hope you have some crack head Rottweilers roaming the property.

Very nice work indeed Sir. I just got an idea as to how to make an inexpensive drum. Using the lumber you have for shelving, you could make ply-stave drums. What do you think? Would they sell? Kidding of course

Ah, the joys of a professional shop.

One never knows what one will find in a nondiscript building. Great pictures lad, thanks for sharing with us.

Don't worry, soon your wife will have her gardening gear in there. Your granite counters will be used for potting plants
Nice workshop Andy.

very tidy indeed. Love a nice shop, thank you for sharing!
Nice JET shaper too

DrumEatDrum said:

my favorite aspect is the "shells are sleeping" sign. lol.

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Haha, yes. As my family has access to the shop, I've threatened them with "a fate worse than death" of they open that door. (actually, a pretty silly saying if you think about it).

MrInsanePolack said:

Do Not Enter. Shells Sleeping. That is great! If I may ask, and it doesn't cross any lines of secrecy, is this environmental room how you cure the shells? You had mentioned in another thread about Uncle Larrys kit that the drums will only sound better with time as the shells cure.

All those drums, all that hardware, all those machines, I sure hope you have some crack head Rottweilers roaming the property.

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No Rottweilers, but some stout physical security, an alarm system, & two Welsh terriers with very sensitive ears. Honestly, crime here is uber rare.

As for the environmental room, it's simply designed to let shells rest after they've already been cured. Dean has a full environmental chamber in the main shell shop. That's bother temperature & humidity controlled. My room is just temperature controlled to guard agains extremes in the first few weeks after curing. What I mentioned about Larry's kit is ageing & sonic improvement over years, well after they've left our care.

GRUNTERSDAD said:

Very nice work indeed Sir. I just got an idea as to how to make an inexpensive drum. Using the lumber you have for shelving, you could make ply-stave drums. What do you think? Would they sell? Kidding of course

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Thanks Grunt, & erm - no! Cheap option though, & I'm sure someone could put a spin on it

Drumsinhisheart said:

Ah, the joys of a professional shop.

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Oh yes, & that's why the effort has gone in. This is only the last part of a much more complexed process, but having everything purposely designed to get the job done, really helps to get the job done, lol!

Killer

a granite top routing table might be the next thing on my dream list.......

for what purpose I have no idea

just love routers

Angus Macinnes said:

One never knows what one will find in a nondiscript building. Great pictures lad, thanks for sharing with us.

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Thanks Actually, the building this shop is part of, is anything but nondescript. The timber outbuilding (last picture) is the outbuilding I had to build first, to house all the crap out of the barn I converted.

bobdadruma said:

Don't worry, soon your wife will have her gardening gear in there. Your granite counters will be used for potting plants
Nice workshop Andy.

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Thanks Bob, a ton of work, especially on the building itself. BTW, the granite "counters" are a little more than that. Unlike kitchen counters, they're ground both sides to ensure even thickness, & they're then lapped, not polished. Flatness accuracy to within 0.01mm/Metre!

CraigG said:

very tidy indeed. Love a nice shop, thank you for sharing!
Nice JET shaper too

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Ah, you noticed the Jet They're not a great spindle moulder, but as the basis for a router, they're superb. The cast steel bed makes an excellent platform for a more accurate engineered stone top, & the rise & fall plus the induction motor are well suited to the job. I custom made a pulley drum to take the tool speed up to 16,000rpm, & the bigger (& more accurate) bed is superb for drums up to 26".

Most builders of our size use a hobby router. This is so much better, & also so much more "hands on" compared to the CNC option. We have a full $20,000 spindle moulder in our shell shop for all of the real shaping work

Just checking facts to pass on to Ian's wife, because that determines our level of hilarity. How many sheds do you have?

And for my own edification, what's the Ifor on the left? It's objectionably clean!

MrInsanePolack said:

the drums will only sound better with time as the shells cure.

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Yes, the lignins have to harden. Think of wood like fiberglass. Wood is mainly cellulose and lignins.The cellulose can be compared to the strands of the glass fibers in fiberglass and the lignins are the "epoxy" that binds it all together. When the tree is cut, the lignins are still "wet", they haven't crystallized. When they do crystallize, the shell becomes lighter and it transmits vibrations much more readily. This can take a few years, depending on environment. Andy seems to think 2 years will be a turning point for my particular set. I've had them less than 5 months at this point.

When I got my shells they were kind of soft and warm sounding compared to my 40 YO Ludwigs. I can hear a small change in the shells already. The tone is becoming harder and more penetrating. Which is exactly what I want. It still has a long way to go but they sound slightly different to me from when I got them in September. A little harder/brighter. Which will balance the tone nicely.

Andy, great shop. Very clean. How far is it from your house? You sir are THE hardest working man I ever knew. Really, I just have to sit back in awe at the magnitude of the boundless energy you have. I mean on your own personal property, you moved like what...50 billion cubic meters of earth all with a garden spade, right?

You really are an inspiration.

Very impressive. Would love to have a set up like that one day (and the skills of course).

When I was in Germany I spent some time touring Bavaria and visited a violin makers business and he had thin sheets of lumber hanging that had been "drying" for 50 years before it could be used in his instruments. Lumber will dry or age much quicker when it has been split. Beware the guy who is selling aged oak for your fireplace when you ask and he said he split it last week. That is not aged. andy have you thought of cutting your staves or blocks to be staves much earlier so they age quicker?

WhoIsTony? said:

Killer

a granite top routing table might be the next thing on my dream list.......

for what purpose I have no idea

just love routers

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Do we need a reason to have a nice router? Nah! Well, I do, but even if I didn't, I'd probably still have one for crafting cool stuff.

Magenta said:

Just checking facts to pass on to Ian's wife, because that determines our level of hilarity. How many sheds do you have?

And for my own edification, what's the Ifor on the left? It's objectionably clean!

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One "shed", & that's the one in the last picture. Bit more than a shed though, don't you think? Of course, because I built it, it's built like a brick shithouse. Framing is 6" x 4". Oh, I do have two wood sheds, do they count? Erm, & a barn.

The Ifor is used for PA & lighting.

larryace said:

Andy, great shop. Very clean. How far is it from your house? You sir are THE hardest working man I ever knew. Really, I just have to sit back in awe at the magnitude of the boundless energy you have. I mean on your own personal property, what, you moved like 50 billion cubic meters of earth all with a garden spade, right?

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Shop/barn is about 50ft from the house, so very convenient.

Haha, yes, I moved quite a few ton of earth & boulders, but 50 billion cubic Metres is stretching it a bit. Very proud of the new shop though. A lot of building work for sure. Happy about the machine & facility choices too, but I'm most proud of my refurbished 1950's radial arm drill

BTW, I don't have boundless energy. I finish work, & I'm pretty much asleep directly after eating. I do rise before 6:00 every morning though, even at weekends, unless it was a very late/heavy gig the night before. Even then, I might sleep in until 7:00. My wife hates just about everything about me

Really cool.

Thanks for the pictures.
I think I saw a glimpse of my future drum set somewhere in those pictures......................


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Nice shop Andy! I see all those lonely snare drums just sitting there waiting for a good home.

Very nice!!! It's so neat and tidy, it looks like nothing has ever been made in there.
Neal

larryace said:

Yes, the lignins have to harden. Think of wood like fiberglass. Wood is mainly cellulose and lignins.The cellulose can be compared to the strands of the glass fibers in fiberglass and the lignins are the "epoxy" that binds it all together. When the tree is cut, the lignins are still "wet", they haven't crystallized. When they do crystallize, the shell becomes lighter and it transmits vibrations much more readily.

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Excellent, thank you for the explanation.

Hollywood Jim said:

think I saw a glimpse of my future drum set somewhere in those pictures.....................

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I see mine, but I only want a snare. It is the one sitting sideways with the wood hoops. I think I can still hear it ringing from the last time it was hit!

Every time I see a picture of it, my bank robbery plan gets a bit more thought out.....