Hi friends,
I challenge you all! Here is the idea: post a couple of pictures of your workbench and/or train room BEFORE and AFTER you cleaned and organised it. I heard most of us tend to scatter everything around and make a mess we're used to live with. But here is an incentive to clean the place! (plus, wife might be happier)
Show us your clean and tidy workspace. Challenge accepted?
:)
Antoine
Isn't clean and tidy one of those oxymorons?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Antoine L.I challenge you all!
THIS is the After photo!
The camera was buried so I couldn't get a before view!
Still... I tolerate the chaos then reach a point where I'll start sifting through the layers until I uncover the bench top. Then the cycle starts all over again.
...and its all great FUN, Ed
Seems to me the challenge only makes sense if the participants are actively modeling and doing stuff to a similar level. A clean workspace is a snap if you are inactive.
Dave Nelson
Hi Antoine:
If I put everything away I'd just have to turn around and get it all out again!
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Seriously, I consider my workbench cluttered if I don't have enough clear space to work on the current project. Most of my stuff is 'put away' and I only have tools and supplies on the work mat that are currently in use. My problem is that I have run out of storage space so the back of my workbench has filled up with boxes of projects, some of them finished, and some with work left to do. There is also an area to the right of my seat that holds larger items like my Optivisor, power supply, pipe wrench pliers for opening paint jars, paper towels etc. Some parts like LEDs and wire also stay on the workbench, again because there isn't any place else to put them. The key issue is that I know where everything is and I can put my hands on what I need immediately.
Sorry I can't post a picture. My browser is acting up.
Here is the picture. It looks worse than it is - really! OK, the files are supposed to be standing up in the wood block but I stopped doing that because I would get skewered by them when I was reaching for stuff behind.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Like Dave, if I put everything away, I would not be able to find things. I know under what pile of stuff things are [approximately]
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I can't tell if the before pictures are of my workbench are neat and organized or vice versa, but here goes.
Before I start on a project or after it's completed and I've straightened it up.
It can easily look like this mid-project.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
I have no pics to add, but my own workbench is rarely "neat and tidy". Actually, it was back in 2008 when I painted the hobby room........
Here is the thing.... some of the most beautiful and notable creations were made on really messy workspaces. In fact, years ago MR had an article on a master builder and they showed a pic of his work bench. It was a TV TABLE !!!!!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Marlon:
IMHO, mid project looks far more productive than the wide open spaces.
Funny this topic came up. My wife was in my trainroom and looked at my workbench and said I have too much stuff on it and I should put it away. I told her that I like it with stuff piled up all around me as I am more creative that way. She just shrugged her shoulders and went back to her hobby room, which is not very neat.I liken it to desks at an office in which some people have nothing on their desk and others are buried. Something about a very neat desk at work that is just not right, IMHO.
I once heard a theory that students who are trying to decide on a college should look at the bulletin boards. If the bulletin boards are neat, there's not much going on that would be exciting, original, or even interesting on that campus. If that principle can be applied to workbenches, I'm a genius.
Tom
Here's what you'd see entering my workshop, although I've added some more free-standing shelf space since these photos were taken:
When the lid isn't covered with on-going projects, I like to play records on this old stereo:
Here's the "workbench", an old student-type desk:
...and as seen from the opposite side:
The closet behind the door in the photo above is storage for magazine collection, reference binders, and future projects:
The door seen in the third photo leads to another area, used mostly for soldering and other metal work, and it also has a test track:
This room also housed my spray booth, but that's since been moved to its own small room in the garage. This area is now covered in other on-going projects:
Most of the time, everything is covered in on-going projects, like this almost-ready-to-be-painted stuff:
Once a project is completed, there's usually a general tidying-up, then a fairly rapid return to chaos.
Wayne
What wife or significant others told you to send this message?! What a great note about cleaning up. I too am guilty. Glad to see others have similar issues and like going from 'thing to thing on the layout. Not to hijack your post, but perhaps start another of how many bought something they thought was 'lost' only to find it after cleaning up their workbench? ME. But can always use another soldering iron!!
Suzy, is this 'really' you?
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
Wayne:
I love the antique office chair!
doctorwayne When the lid isn't covered with on-going projects, I like to play records on this old stereo: Wayne
R-E-C-O-R-D? How is this thing called re-cord?
Ster-e-o? how is that?
Gee, and I just got rid of my old 8-tracks!
Ps: you just have waaaaaay to much space devoted to trains...
some of us are jealous!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
hon30critter Wayne: I love the antique office chair! Dave
galaxy R-E-C-O-R-D? How is this thing called re-cord? Ster-e-o? how is that? Gee, and I just got rid of my old 8-tracks! Ps: you just have waaaaaay to much space devoted to trains... some of us are jealous!
I never had much in the way of eight tracks - a few for the car back in those days, and I don't have more than a couple dozen CDs, also for use in the car.
My record collection is mostly from the late '60s-early '70s, but too much trouble to bother replacing with something more up-to-date. Most of the time, the turntable isn't accessible anyway.
As for space, there's not really that much: the magazine and reference storage is a closet under the basement stairs, and the room with the spray booth is only 4'x8'. The stereo, student desk and chair and a couple of bookshelves leave just enough room to walk through.
I've moved the spray booth out to a separate room in my garage, but even it is only 4'x7'. It at least allows painting at any time of the day or night (the latter more usual), but requires quite a bit of pre-heating in the winter if I leave the compressor there. It's an oil-filled rotary type, and a bit of a pain to lug its 85lb. bulk the 100'-or-so from the house to the garage.
I once saw a picture of John Allen's work bench. It was a mess. If messy was good enough for him, it's good enough for me.
South Penn
This is from a recent post, but it applies here. My main work space:
This challenge is far too challenging for me.
First, I'd have to spend several weeks cleaning and organizing the garage, so that I'd have some place to put at least some of the stuff that's currently piled all over my office/modeling space.
Then I'd have to spend a few months trying to sort and organize all the piles of stuff, while also trying to make the things needed to properly organize and store it.
All of that is just the easy part... the hard part, the impossible part, would be trying to do something about all my wife's stuff that has gradually taken over my entire storeroom and vast sections of my office/modeling space.
Southgate, Is that a genuine Grestner tool chest? I am a tool maker and have several. Before I left dayton, Ohio I had visited the factory several times.
A clean workbench is the sign of a sick mind!
Whew! At least we are all sane.
God's Best & Happy Rails to You!
Bing (RIPRR The Route of the Buzzards)
The future: Dead Rail Society
Sorry, I haven't seen my workbench since it was devoured by a hungry pile of tools, parts, and models.
But I do have a couple of clean work surfaces that appear now and then, the kitchen table and a big folding table for when I get really ambitious. But that has to disappear when the better half gets home...
Steve Hunter
My desk looks like this at the start of any project. It doesn't take long to get messy though. The room is also lined with Ikea shelves that keep everything in its place and easy to find.
I had just moved into my new house and was looking to outfit the trainroom office. One day while working I had to stop in at the headquarters of the RCMP in Vancouver and this desk was sitting out on the loading dock. Apparently public works had sent out a huge moving van to take surplus furniture to the auction. Well this one desk would not fit in the trailer and they were told to throw it out, as that would be cheaper than sending the moving company back for one desk. So in my work truck it went as I had the perfect use for it. Once back at the airport I moved it into my pick up and all was right with the world.
The stars were aligned in my favour that day, as not only did I have to drop in at RCMP headquarters, but I also had my pick up at work instead of my RX-7.
Maybe the next thread can be "how messy is your layout". Right now mine is nothing to be proud of. But at least the track is clear so I can run trains.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
[/quote]
slammin Southgate, Is that a genuine Grestner tool chest? I am a tool maker and have several. Before I left dayton, Ohio I had visited the factory several times.
Nope. It was, however a gift from my wife. It helps me keep as organized as I can.
The benches and shop get out of hand to a certain point, especially when I'm really into an exciting project (aren't they all?) but when it becomes too messy, I have to stop and totally clean up. Clutter impedes my process.
Same with the garage, wood shop, yard work, any projects. Dan