Where the Magic Happens: A Tour of My Underground Laboratory

Sure, some uncharitable people might call it my basement shop. Some particularly pedantic types might even note that I have a split-level house, so the basement isn’t even really underground. But screw them. I do experiments, so it’s a laboratory. And it’s probably as close as I’ll ever get to a supervillain’s lair. Let’s have a look!

As previously noted, the laboratory is located on the deepest level of my lair, along with laundry facilities, the climate control equipment, and various storage areas. Any resemblance to an ordinary household basement is entirely coincidental part of my evil plan.

Peeking in

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that it’s small. The whole room is roughly 10′ by 9′. You’ll also note that the lights are really bright (about half of the ceiling is a light fixture), and that there are metal shavings everywhere.

The milling machine

Stepping in, on your immediate left you’ll see the milling machine. A milling machine is sort of like a drill press on steroids. It can cut straight lines and slots in metal with a spinning bit. The work is mounted on a table that can be precisely moved from side to side and front to back, and the cutting tool can move up and down.

The white enclosure and the stainless steel pan under it are designed to contain splashing coolant, cutting lubricants, etc., as well as catching most of the metal shavings before they get flung everywhere. And it does catch most of them.

The mill and enclosure are firmly bolted to the workbench. The drawers hold cutting tools, fixtures for holding the work, holders for the cutting tools, and various accessories. The top shelf holds more cutting tools, the bottom shelf holds the coolant tank and pump, along with various cutting lubricants.

The pegboard to the left of the mill holds more clamps to hold the work to the table. The pegboard behind the mill holds various wrenches, hex wrenches, hammers and other tools for making adjustments to the mill, along with some tools to clean off the metal shavings.

Surface plate

Moving along the left wall, we come to the surface plate stand. The object on the right of the stand in the photo above is a surface plate. This is a chunk of granite that has been polished extremely flat – in this case to plus or minus 0.0002″ per foot. It’s very useful to have a flat surface for inspecting machined parts. Next to it is a set of drill bits.

Underneath I keep spare bottles and cans of oil, degreaser, cutting fluids, glues, etc., etc. Also some fluids that I don’t use very often, like the etching fluid for printed circuit boards.

The toolbox

Next up are the toolboxes. The wooden chest on top holds precision measuring instruments of various sorts. The top till has become a bit of a catch-all for things I use a lot, along with some things too big to fit in the drawers. The box itself looks fancy but was pretty cheap from Sam’s Club one Christmas a few years back.

The bottom tool chest is more of a mix. The top two drawers hold household tools like a cordless drill, hammers, screwdrivers and the like. The third drawer is stuffed to overflowing with taps, dies, and related accessories. The next drawer has large precision tools that don’t fit in the wooden chest. Below that is a drawer full of parts for projects and oddball materials (rubber sheets for gaskets, brass tubing, etc.) The bottom drawer holds large tools and parts that are too big for the other drawers.

The workbench

The workbench is the heart of the shop. The shelf above holds manuals for the machines, plans for projects, both pending and complete, the radio and clock, and a small multimeter. Further along are some old tools, pens and pencils, an eyewash cup and some clean water, and an assortment of emery paper, various grades of scotchbrite, and many grits of sandpaper. The pegboard below holds frequently-used tools.

If you’ve followed the alcohol stove build you’ve seen a lot of the the workbench already. The corner of the workbench holds the vise. Note that the vise is on a built-up wooden block to bring it up to a comfortable working height for me. The bench top itself is maple butcher block. I was fortunate enough to find the workbench on closeout at a local industrial supply store, so I got it cheap(ish).

There’s a magnetic holder on the side of the bench for disposable rubber gloves. The shelves hold a plethora of glues, lubricants, solvents, and other workshop fluids, along with more gloves and some part assortments.

The top drawer holds a calculator, knives and spare blades, tapes, cable ties, and assorted disposable shop supplies. The next two drawers are full of files (there’s a whole blog post about files waiting to be written). Below that is a drawer full of hammers, chisels and punches. The bottom drawer is mainly soldering and tools for electronic and electrical repairs.

There’s an anti-fatigue mat on the floor in front of the workbench. There’s also a stool, which serves as a seat when working at the bench, and a convenient flat surface when working at the mill or lathe. Speaking of, that brings us to…

The lathe

The lathe sits in the last corner of the shop. Like the mill, it’s bolted to a workbench. The drawers hold tools, accessories, spare parts and spare cutting tools. I also keep my woodturning tools there, in the wooden box. Under the bench I have put bins for short chunks of metal, which I organize by type. I keep my shop apron hanging on a hook in the doorway.

I will cover the lathe more fully in a later post. Lathes work by spinning the work piece and pushing a fixed cutting tool against it. They are really good at making things round. Lathes also can cut threads (like on nuts and bolts), and make extremely accurate holes.

Behind the lathe are the tools I use to adjust it, along with some often-used accessories. I borrowed the idea of an easel for lathe tools from a book called Shop Savvy by Roy Mountgoven. The book is probably out of print, but if you find a copy, grab it. It’s a gem.

And there you have it!

I hope you enjoyed