Rare clean shop photo

[McKenzie Penworks]

We took a few days after Christmas to clean the shop and do maintenance stuff. Figured I'd snap a photo of it while it was still clean. The casting room is in the far back left so you can't see it, which is good because it's still messy. Now we gotta try to keep it clean as long as we can. (I'm thinking maybe a week)

Just gotta get my wife to get her project chairs out of there so I can get a little floor space back lol

 

[JohnU]

That is Nice and Clean! I keep telling my wife, it's not that I'm disorganized… I just have too much stuff to fit in a small area.

 

[tomtedesco]

Show off!

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

That is Nice and Clean! I keep telling my wife, it's not that I'm disorganized… I just have too much stuff to fit in a small area.

We moved to this house 2.5 years ago FOR the shop. Yes, it was closer to family, etc but the real requirements were to have a usable shop space since the company was growing. Got unbelievably lucky that this house had a 1300sqft shop that has full HVAC and is insulated like a house. 3 roll up doors with the center obviously being rather tall and it has hot water and a bathroom. The casting room has its own doors so we can try to keep the dust and sparkles relatively contained in there. My big air compressor is in another closed in room to the left of this photo, behind the bathroom. Nice being able to keep the loud stuff behind a closed door! (On the rare occasion I'm running the vacuum pump it goes on a table back there as well)

Thought I had all the space in the world until I started down the pen kit path... Those finishing machines are big!

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

Show off!

Hey, I'm proud of my Christmas lights!! (Ok not really.. those were already here when we bought the place... but they're 15ft up in the air and the guy that had this place before me nailed them in like every 3 feet so it would take forever to move a ladder around the shop and get them out)

 

[showcaser]

I imagine you have some tools you never dreamed you would own when your casting business started a few years ago.
Keep up the great work
Very nice shop Tim

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

I imagine you have some tools you never dreamed you would own when your casting business started a few years ago.
Keep up the great work
Very nice shop Tim

You're not wrong... It helped that I had some great chats with a fellow turner that happened to work in the urethane business. He really was the mentor that I credit with any success we've had. He pushed me to look outside of the pen world to tools like mixers, ovens, etc. That check I wrote for the mixer had me not sleeping for a few weeks... and that was only a fraction of the cost of that finishing machine front and center in this photo. Manufacturing is HARD. But having the right tools sure helps.

 

[howsitwork]

Who was it that said a clean shop is a sign of a sick mind ? There should be a clear understanding that photos such as this , with the potential to cause major earache to-one's fellows should not be posted publically but shared on some sort of dark web !

Sure looks good though Tim.

Allow the chairs to stand a while , worth a few brownie points for the inconvenience ?

 

[showcaser]

Well I was just talking about the Red Fridge

 

[howsitwork]

Well I was just talking about the Red Fridge

Beer fridge? Standard workshop fitting in warmer parts of USA I am given to understand or are my friends winding me up ?

Wheres the coffee machine hidden Tim ?

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

McKenzie Penworks runs on Mt. Dew Gamer fuel I'm afraid... only 90 calories, plenty of vitamin C to avoid the plague, and same amount of caffeine as a cup 'o joe! My employee Steven has that fridge full of grape soda at the moment, his heart doesn't appreciate caffeine all that much. But yes, the fridge is pretty darn cool

The adult libations are brown in nature and are served room temperature back up at the house

 

[howsitwork]

it has an ice compartment so ben and jerries is a possibility . I have to walk next door to freezer in garage, hard life I know

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

There are occasionally some ice pops in there for the shop assistants during the summer months. Though they tend to disappear even when the wee ones aren't in the shop for some reason... Must be a gremlin or something lurking about

 

[greenacres2]

That is Nice and Clean! I keep telling my wife, it's not that I'm disorganized… I just have too much stuff to fit in a small area.

Oh John...we need to teach you some selling techniques for overcoming objections. The correct response should have been "I'm not disorganized...we just have too small an area to accommodate the growth of our business. I couldn't have done it without your support."
That sets the table for the expansion of space...You're on your own from there!!
earl

 

[JohnU]

Oh John...we need to teach you some selling techniques for overcoming objections. The correct response should have been "I'm not disorganized...we just have too small an area to accommodate the growth of our business. I couldn't have done it without your support."
That sets the table for the expansion of space...You're on your own from there!!
earl

I appreciate the help Earl! Lol

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

I appreciate the help Earl! Lol

He's not wrong! DiamondCast was started out of our two car garage at the old house. Just before Covid sent the kids home from school my wife quit her job to come work with me. We'd talked about how to find space and set out to get a quote to convert a room in the house to a separate office for inventory/shipping/etc. When the contractor never got back to us I casually mentioned "Hey... you know with my day job being remote and you working with me on the family business, we don't HAVE to live in Charlotte..." Pretty sure I was getting real estate listings before I finished that sentence.