HackLabNC™ Version 5.0 takes shape . . .

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

.  .  .  finally! It has been a LONG time coming. I thought I'd document the progress.

@BrettB: in response his comments about the IKEAboxen pyramid, the pet IIfx' TwinTPD workstation and the AppleDisplayUnit's tidy appearance at the opposite end of the somewhat constricted Dining/Living Room space of my apartment..

I always pictured your collection room as somewhere between Frankenstein's laboratory and a hoarder house.  Makes me laugh a little to see that I was wrong! 

I'm getting there, now the "hoarder house" section is behind the camera again, but distributed for project consolidation, sorting, sale/redistribution and storage in the "built in" wall unit/entertainment center overhanging/engulfing all but the front bezel/legs the 40" Roland CAMMJETT plotter/printer.

The Frankenstein's Laboratory analogy I'm not so sure about. Now that you've got me wondering about it, I'd like to think of it as more akin Dr. Jeckyl's basement workshop where he hacked together the upstairs ChemLab apparatus. I try to keep the electricity bottled up and surge protected from lightening strikes as opposed to being powered by them.

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edit: Pics are full size for detail, but that's OK, I've found that if you click "SAVE" such pics are opened in a new tab and scaled to fill your screen

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As a forward, this project is a consolidation of _?_ running feet of desk and work surface areas into a five foot multilevel, two sided workbench and the 32" wide rolling bookshelf/printer stand from the shop that's under the window. It held up the left side of the pullout work drawer under what was a 99" wide x 33" deep vacuum table/worktop from the shop during the service lives of versions 1-3 of the lab. You can add in the 52" x 33" remainder of that vacuum table as a 52" wide by 3.5" deep stowaway cutting surface that'll be hidden behind the four foot wide (plus multiple, application specific workbelts and hard hat hanging off the left end) wood/plexi/sheetmetal/ironworking bench under the other side of the corner windows.

So this has been a 65.8% successful step toward the oblivion the ex-grlf would have found acceptable. :



Hot air rework/soldering/de-soldering workstation mode: its now 16' on a direct line from the nearest smoke alarm and very close to the exhaust setup in the window for my weather resistant 20" box fan. I can also open the terrace door for fresh air and light when positive airflow ventilation is not required. The TeakHackStation™ in the bedroom was only 6' on a direct line and 40" removed from a very loud and annoying noisemaker. Hence the consolidation project and the electronics workstation's re-positioning and delightful conversion of the bedroom furniture back to it's HackLab Annex status.



Standard mode: I've got an iLamp on call, a multiple non-standard, traditional Mac resolution/refresh inviting 1024x768 17" KDS/Radius LCD anxious to jump down onto the work surface and a 22" ViewSonic Professional Series CRT (that's going to remain right where it is) with VGA and all important 5-BNC inputs available.

I'll probably figure out some way to mount a swing out screen door that doesn't interfere with the blinds the lease says I can't obscure on the swing out door of the exterior that's required to remain the way it is.

A plague upon their inside the box thinking houses! Mosquito season approaches, I like fresh air and the conventional minded shouldn't mess with the sorcerer or even his idiot (that'd be me in case you were wondering) apprentice.



Here we are all squared away. The workstation is tucked 6" underneath the ugly-ass/cheaper-ass shelving unit that was custom built to stuff as many shipping and moving boxes full of my various hoards as humanly possible into the cubic of a ten by ten, climate controlled storage room. I cut it down in width along with undercutting the depth by cantelevering the center support to define a 64" wide customized workspace that's snugged up tight against wall and wall unit.

Speaking of the wall unit, I need to make the frames and stretch the canvases for the 4' by 7' triptych that will conceal the storage cubic above the plotter. White will be much better than bare-assed nothing! I just need to decide what my next painting(s) will be. No, definitely not going to be Mac related!



The "basement workshop" side is about a foot and a half wider and may be in need of a little help. Maybe someday  .  .  .  sigh.

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So, mj, this is why your PartsBook1400 has been a bit delayed. The other set of shelves for the storage room and multiple work surfaces that were heaped with junk, toys and various project trays and boxen needed to be cleared before the 1400stack demolition derby could resume in earnest. [] ]'>

It'll be a while before this thread gets updated. [] ]'>

 

[joethezombie]

That looks like a productive and efficient setup. I really need to do something similar. The spousal unit is unhappy with the current state of the dining room table.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Spousal units are often unhappy with state of the dining room table even when a feast is laid out on Thanksgiving Day. Give it up, you cannot make someone else happy. Happiness is a pursuit, not an entitlement, she needs to make herself happy.

The most you can do is hope that in helping her to lower her misery index, it might be reflected in an improvement of your own  .  .  .

.  .  .  and that sweeping your stuff onto the floor never occurs to her as a pathway to happiness! :blink:

Oh, and thanks! [] ]'>

 

[MJ313]

Thank you sir, now you've gone and made me rethink that damn crawlspace and it's...errrr... potential....  

(I mean, it DOES have that sneaky window for a weather resistant box fan, so why not use it?)  

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Holy crap! 41.5 sq.ft. sounds like a lot for an area that's only 65" wide and 92" deep, but that's how it works out. Consider this: the 32" deep x 99" long vacuum table alone was 22 sq.ft. so that represented more than half of the finished workspace floor area. I guess the best way to look it might be that a sheet and a half of plywood is a full 48 sq.ft. in area. I'm pleased.

Now it's being set up for further reduction of what's been whittled down to a mere 17.5" stack of 1400 PowerBook/PartsBook goodness. [] ]'>



Here it is from its good side, taken at the best angle possible angle whilst leaning over and against the side of the heaps of detritus, leftover lumber and makeshift work surface heaped in front of the bicycles, faux wrought iron deck furniture etc.

I think I'm going to rest now.

 

[MJ313]

I think it's slick...Re: 1st and 2nd pic-- I like the dual operating mode of the slide out desk. Does the desk butt up against the computers that are set back underneath? Is there room for catastrophic system loss if that desk gets up a head of steam on its way into its docking bay? I would guess you have that figured out.  Also, does the desk slide out tray go all the way from one side to the other? Or is there a tray for each side? </echo>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

THX, the desk butts up against the cantilevered center support of the storage unit. The computers, Chest of HackDrawers and Storage boxen are all set back and well protected against bumpage. That's why the overhang is only six inches deep.

It's one big drawer, each side keeps the other from sagging/catastrophic droppage. The standard work side is patterned after a jeweler's workbench which has a work support and drawer to catch gold filings/gold sawdust. Ventilation unit isn't in the pics. It sits on the ledge of the window above/behind the 32" bookcase/printer stand.

I've decided to use this thread as a catch all for hacks that aren't worth posting as their own thread only to be ignored. I'm setting the workstation up for pics of them ATM in between laps around the apartment returning an obscene amount of tools to their rightful places in the triple-decker, etc.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

LaPorta aske to see our work areas, so it's time for an update:

I've made a 4 panel Shoji Screen to hide the rolling workbench side and have turned the living room in between there and the dining area into a cozy Washitsu Room for watching movies and for the rug rat to sleep on the "futon" inspired couch when he visits. I don't get it, a futon is a mattress pad and everything else called a "futon" here is an Americanized accessory. Woodworking/metalworking/plexi/ABS fabrication side is being cleaned up and the bench organized to look relatively presentable.

My design aesthetic runs the gamut from Japanese minimalism through Mid-Century Modern in Teak and on to Hoarder. :blink:

 

[LaPorta]

That is pretty darn amazing. I would like to replace the tables that I now have as my workspace with some dedicated built-ins. I won't be able to make anything as nice as what you have there. You're a real craftsman with your woodworking!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thanks, the nice parts are the two shelf levels cut from a retired two level corner computer desk I made in '04 when I moved down here. That I cut out of a 5' x 5' square partnership desktop I built for sitting atop four filing cabinets in the shop's office in the late eighties.

Customization isn't so hard, just plan it out iteratively, making scale models as you go.



This is what it looked like while I was painting frames and rigid foam panels for screens and doors.



It looks like this right now  .  .  .  well, not exactly right now.



There's plenty of fitted storage behind the plotter. Ends of the legs of its base are less than six inches from the wall and only that because I can store panels behind the unit underneath the very top cantilevered shelf which rests against the wall.

Study for door panels.



Decided it would be too busy with the cherry blossoms so that door will remain all white with only the two frame pieces in the top pic painted black and the left panel is shaping up to look more like this.



Aunt Mitsuko would have been proud I think. The worst things about all the couches they call "Futons" are that they're too low and the seat if FLAT! Fixed both right up.



Raised with more storage underneath and angled back for putting my feet up on the MacCoffeeTable for watching movies on the old 27" 720p TV/Monitor if and when. Big screen is mounted on the TelCo rack between the teak desk/workstation combo in the bedroom. Did a "Futon Loft" riff for more storage above and behind the couch with a shelf sized for my vinyl.



Place is a wreck ATM rearranging collections of several kinds into Jenga blocked storage boxes. Underneath the record shelf is pretty much the way it will be behind the couch when I'm finished, if ever. Home sick and miserable so getting these pics off the iPhone and on here is about the only thing I've done this evening. When I've got stuff stored away and the workbench in the corner windows straightened up I'll do another update. Now if I could just find those extra rope handles from the IkeaBoxen those unsightly white transfer box handles can go.

Definitely a bachelor pad, but it would have been good enough for a VERY fussy girlfriend to come over, but no worries about that ATM. []

 

[CC_333]

Hmm, my workspace at the moment is... dismantled

I have a few things left in my closet, but the rest of it is in storage units, including all my Macs (I only have a handful of laptops and my daily driver tower).

One day, I'll have it all setup again. One day...

c