Building Out a Workshop

[BeardyMentor]

Speccing out, purchasing, and creating operating plans for model shops and makerspaces at universities and corporations is my job. I would like to share with you some pitfalls that are too easy to fall into.

1) Maintenance and operating costs money. Remember that you are going to need replacement parts, consumables like cutting tools, oil and grease. All of these cost money. Make sure you budget for these. If you are purchasing through a school, build operating costs for a minimum of 5 years into your budget. Always be thinking about sustainability.

2) Plan for training. Just because someone there right now knows how to use these tools does not mean they will be there in the future. Make sure you have a plan for training at least a few people. For manual machine tools this may just be watching some youtube videos. For CNC machines and other more complicated machines, you may need to pay to have someone trained by the manufacturer or put together resources for learning how to operate it.

3) Remember you need tooling. budget 20-50% of the purchase price of a machine tool for work holding and tooling. In similar vein; Make sure you have the software you need. For example; a CNC mill is not a whole lot of use without CAD *And* CAM software. It can be a killer if your school gives you a grant for that $50,000 vertical machining center but not for the CAM software to drive it.

4) work space is just as important as the tools to go in it. Make sure you budget for work benches, storage, power distribution etc.

5) focus on the basics, then move to the more complex stuff. Make sure you have a good set of hand tools before you start moving to machine tools. With machine tools stick with the most universal stuff first then move to the fancy computer controlled stuff.