Three years this is what our shop looked like. It was a 20 foot shipping container with about 1/3rd being used for storage. We were able to field an Einstein caliber robot with what we had in there. It wasn't easy, but we never settled for good enough.
Our bench grinder wasn't even inside, poor thing was bolted to a broken table outside under the eaves. It has a much nicer home now and doesn't need to worry about being stolen anymore.
In fall of 2013 we got a Bridgeport mill and a Harbor Freight lathe(not shown) and wired our crate up with 3-Phase power via a $300 extension cable 50 foot long to plug into the classroom. We split the phases off to 3 circuits, one for north outlets, one for south, one for the
switchable overhead lights, and all 3 going to the Bridgeport at the back of the crate.
Even our shop last year and our meeting space were tiny and ill equipped compared to what we have now. But we only have it because of our persistence with the school and our eternal vigil on Craigslist hunting for good deals.
I really do miss being able to tell people we work out of a shipping container, it's really far more inspiring to people. I suppose that's the march of progress however.