Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
I clean my train room about once a month which involves vacuuming the carpet and dusting. One of these days I'm going to have to remove all of the structures and so forth from my layout and give it a careful dusting and cleaning...
Tracklayer
"Rust, whats not to love?"
I am kinda with TrackLayer, Seems like once a month or so I get the bug and go out there to really straighten up and clean. For me, I got a whole garage to work with so itsa big room. I have a bad habit of taking glasses out there, but forgetting them. Imagine...
As far the work bench goes.. it depends on how often I am useing it or how mnay projects I am working on. All though, I admit, before I start a project, I always get it clean. Its like my shop where I work, I hate loseing time looking for something, or haveing stuff in my way when I need room.
Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
canazar wrote: I am kinda with TrackLayer, Seems like once a month or so I get the bug and go out there to really straighten up and clean. For me, I got a whole garage to work with so itsa big room. I have a bad habit of taking glasses out there, but forgetting them. Imagine... As far the work bench goes.. it depends on how often I am useing it or how mnay projects I am working on. All though, I admit, before I start a project, I always get it clean. Its like my shop where I work, I hate loseing time looking for something, or haveing stuff in my way when I need room.
Reference Paragraph 1 - I resemble that, although the thing that usually gets left behind is my coffee spoon...
In between the monthly deck sweepings, if I notice that the spot where I'm working has accumulated an excess of grunge (saw/drill dust, foam plastic shavings, odd bits of steel from working with steel studs) I'll spend five minutes with a foxtail and scoop (dustpan and brush to you landlubbers) and get down to bare floor over an area of a couple of square yards.
My work surfaces stay pretty clean, mostly because they get stored on edge when not in immediate use. Likewise, I'm pretty good at returning tools to their proper places at the end of a work session. [It's the middle of the work session, "Now where did I put that (fill in tool or construction material of choice,)" incidents that sometimes raise my blood pressure.] Part of that is my previous existence as a flight line mechanic.
I do my tracklaying and wiring with a work train in the immediate vicinity, so clipped rail ends (too short to use otherwise,) wire insulation, cut off ties and such are placed in the scrap car immediately, then emptied into the trash bag (hung off the end of a joist under the yard) when the train is returned to its terminal. Longer rail pieces get stacked on a small tray, along with my wood tie material, spikes and hand-laying tools, for eventual use as guard rails or other handlaid turnout parts.
In general, I try to keep things workshop clean, not avionics shop (clean room) clean.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
and it seems to make a mountain at the end of the month!!!
Brian
Tracklayer wrote: I clean my train room about once a month which involves vacuuming the carpet and dusting. One of these days I'm going to have to remove all of the structures and so forth from my layout and give it a careful dusting and cleaning...Tracklayer
Hi Tracklayer,
You mentioned above that you remove the structures for dusting. I bought the attachment in this link from Micro-Mark. http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=81064 My layout is 18' by 16' and I vacuumed all the streets and buildings in about an hour using this attachment which hooks up to my vacuum cleaner.
Hope this helps.
Mondo
Toro Electric Super Leaf Blower (Model #51591).
Oh...and be sure all your little detail parts and people are glued down gooood...
It took me a while, but, I finaly it out that when a wife says clean, about all that I need to do is organize it, then hit the area with a vacume is all that is needed, to make the wife think that I actualy put forth some effort for her , when in reality I realy didn't do much more than shift things around .
We vacuum the basement about once every two weeks...not a lot of traffic except for the laundry and me at the computer or layout. When I vacuum, I tidy up all the bits of 600 grit sandpaper, the bits of strip wood, the plastic ties, files, pliers, half-used bags of ground foam and cinders, burnt paper towel used to wipe the carbon of the soldering iron, tidy up the cords to the Dremel and soldering iron, and so on. I vacuum the rug thoroughly, and can then begin the enjoyable process of rendering it completely disorganized and messy over the next few days.
Let's not go into my work bench space....okay?
What else would cleaning be besides re-organization?
A book on the bookshelf is clean.
A collapsed stack of books on the sofa, well, maybe not.
Pulverized sand and organic material, commonly referred to as 'dirt' is perfectly well at home in the backyard, but not necessarily so, lining the kitchen sink.
Bacteria are at home in septic systems and the large intestine, where they are critical for proper systems operation. Bacteria on your dinner fork may not qualify as beneficial in the same degree.
Dirt is nothing more than matter that's in the wrong place.
Cleaning up is simply putting the matter where it belongs.
If you and Her Honor disagree where certain item's proper places are, discussion and probably compromise are in order.
If you find yourself cronically re-organizing certain classes of matter, a hard look at your organizational systems, and a trip down the Tupperware and closet shelving aisles at the local Wal-mart may save you a significant amount of time, regularly, for the rest of your life.
If something doesn't HAVE a proper place, or if its designated location does not square well with that item's purpose, and integrate well with the rest of your priorities, then it needs to find a new home, within your domicile or not, as the case may be.
jeffers_mz wrote: What else would cleaning be besides re-organization?
You wouldn't believe what some people consider to be clean. I know of one guy that pressure washes his garage, driveway, truck, and motorcycles 2-3 times a week - more if it rains. I know another guy that believes that if you can't perform major surgery, on the surface, it's not clean enough, and his wife is worse.
mondotrains wrote: Tracklayer wrote: I clean my train room about once a month which involves vacuuming the carpet and dusting. One of these days I'm going to have to remove all of the structures and so forth from my layout and give it a careful dusting and cleaning...TracklayerHi Tracklayer,You mentioned above that you remove the structures for dusting. I bought the attachment in this link from Micro-Mark. http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=81064 My layout is 18' by 16' and I vacuumed all the streets and buildings in about an hour using this attachment which hooks up to my vacuum cleaner. Hope this helps.Mondo
Wally World sells a similar attachment kit in their shop vac section.
Greg H. wrote: jeffers_mz wrote: What else would cleaning be besides re-organization? You wouldn't believe what some people consider to be clean. I know of one guy that pressure washes his garage, driveway, truck, and motorcycles 2-3 times a week - more if it rains. I know another guy that believes that if you can't perform major surgery, on the surface, it's not clean enough, and his wife is worse.
Ohhh YES I would.
The kid's mom is the queen of "sterile", and that's one of the big reasons I sixed her.
Right now, my living room, adjacent to the dining room's train layout, has:
1. On one couch, all the stuff that was on the 2x4 layout extension before I started laying track Saturday,
2. On the other couch, all the track I haven't laid yet, plus turnouts,
3. Every scrap piece of wood I own, (except the big timbers, which always stay outside) leaning against one wall,
4. On the coffee table, all the tools I used to build the benchwork last week, cordless, extra batteries, bits, drivers, screws, tape measure, framing square, two levels...
5. In front of the entertainment center, my Highpower cart and a keyboard stand, that used to rest under the layout,
6. Out in the middle of the room, three computer mice, and one 15 inch monitor that worked just fine the last time it was in service, but since then failed and didn't bother to tell me till it was hooked up on the new sound system shelf under the layout,
7. The shopvac,
8. Two unopened boxes containing two 3' x 6' x '1 foot shelving units for the master bedroom, because soon, I'm going to have to re-introduce sterility to the living room the kids are due to visit Friday, and all that stuff has to go somewhere,
8. And finally, the seven foot photo tripod I used to take pictures of the new benchwork, and will use again today or tomorrow after all the track is laid.
But here's the deal...
I'm in the middle of a PROJECT.
I need this project DONE by Thursday noon at the latest.
I'm not ABOUT to put away several sets of tools, half a ton of lumber, and all the rest, five times between now and then, just so I can dr-a-a-a-a-a-g it all back out the next day before starting work, and LOSE half the MISSION CRITICAL tools and components, usually right about the time when I need them.
I can get from any entry point in the room to the back door, the front door, the kitchen, the bedroom hall, and, with the relocation of ONLY the shopvac and one piece of luan, the coat closet.
I'm good!
No fire hazards!
Things are getting DONE!
SOME people spend their whole lives cleaning up.
I spent a good bit of time, ONCE, to make sure new acquisitions have a logical, orderly, efficient place to hang out, and then a very very little bit of time putting things back where they belong after I use them, and the rest of my time accomplishing things of REAL BENEFIT.
If you ask me, SOME judges need the occasional reminder that impeachment applies to the courts too, not just presidents.
If you go that route, though, don't lay it off on me. When I was shaking the monkey off my back, you were nowhere to be found, so this one's aaaallllll on YOU!
:-)