Avery Todd writes:
> I want to build a large shelving area to hold grand actions and
>smaller type of case parts, screws, etc. while other work is being
>done.
Piece Rack ....... Two designs come to mind. A pair of 2x4's, measure down
the skinny side, and make a mark about every 12" for the top couple of
shelves, and then space them apart farther for the remaining lower 3 or four
shelves at 16" or better. Center each mark side to side and drill a 7/8 to
1 inch hole with a spade bit. If you drill all the way through, you can
drive a dowel all the way through and have a two sided piece rack. If you
go only part way through, you attach the 2x4 with all it's holes to the wall
spacing them apart at about 4 or 5 feet and level in referrence to the
holes, that should have a matching pattern on each 2x4 by the way. A third
one can be made for more support. Now put a matching diameter dowel in each
hole, cut off at the same length, say about 2 feet or so. For long pieces,
such as fallboards, key slips, vertical piano lids, knee boards, grand music
racks, and the like, just simply cover the dowels with pipe insulation and
presto, instant padded piece rack. A piece of piano crate plywood makes a
nice shelf for the remaining ones or can be used to place on top of the
padded ones. Rip it to the same length as the dowels and pile one of top of
the other to free up the padded dowels when you need them. I have one of
similar design in my shop attached to the exposed trusses above, positioned
out of the way of passing traffic, including an occasional piano here and
there, but still in-between to two work benches ..... a short walk either
way. This same idea can be incorporated into a roll around unit, and small
triangular pieces of plywood make excellant shelf braces if you need them.
I have found the dowels to be sufficient to hold some really heavy loads
including grand actions.
The other design is similar, but a bit more permanent in location.
At the PianoDisc/Pianomation installation stations I have dowels glued in
the wall located at the studs, starting at about 6.5 feet up, covered with
pipe insulation. These handle the storage of the grand music rack, keyslip
and fallboard while I'm installing the playback unit. They are the first
things to come off, and the last things to go on. An extension cord dangles
from the ceiling at each station with a heavy duty grounded three way
adaptor, at about 2.5 feet from the wall and they dangle such that they end
up at about the junction of the keybed and the backposts when a grand is on
it's side positioned against the wall. The wall is padded with that thick
white firm foam found in grand crates, to protect the lid should it happen
to hit the wall without a pad. With three stations that makes the entire
shop covered for power where ever I need it. When the stations aren't in
use, or I don't need the cord dangling in my way, I have a clip, or hook
attached to the wall to hold the cord out of my way. These cords are in
addtion to the usual wall sockets every 8 feet or so.
The fourth corner is where the bench is. It's a metal bench commercially
available, about 32 inches by 5 feet or so. I found mine used, with working
casters, and a lower shelf for about $50 I think. I attached a power strip
to one end and a very small bench vise on the other end. This bench is
covered with a thin moving pad, similar to a wool blanket.
The walls are a collage of storage variety. What ever I could dream up to
store things in, it's there. I have vaulted ceilings and so the two 5 sided
walls are covered with storage. The higher up stuff is for
"dead" storage (stuff I'll never need for the next 10 lifetimes is at the
very top), and the lowest shelf is just above a grand on a skid. The shelf
brackets are the commercially available ones that come in heavy guage sheet
metal, stamped into brackets, at various lengths. I then put piano crate
plywood on them. I also have made my own brackets out of whatever my torch
will melt together, typically left over QuietTime rails, left over 7/16
round stock, them square piano crate lag bolt washers for bracing, threaded
rod left over from, ......... yep, PianoDisc installations, and so on. I've
taken shipping tubes, ..... ahem ...... like the ones they used to ship
sensor strips for PianoDiscs in, and cut them at 12 inch intervals to make
pidgeon holes. You attach the first few to the underside of a shelf, and
then attach the rest to each other. I've taken one, cut about a 1/4 round
out of it lengthwise (about 2 feet long), and made a nice bit storage rack
for all the driver bits I've been accumulated over the years.
> Do you recommend a peg-board system on the wall for hand tools,
>rather than shelving?
A previous shop of mine had pegboard 4x8 sheets with holes starting at about
the 3 foot level off the floor and painted white. Nice idea, it helped sell
the house really fast, but I'll never do that again. The special hangers
fall off the wall, they cost a bit more than piano crate plywood and
brackets, they almost never make the exact bracket you need, and there's an
awful lot of wasted space at the studs and also because you can only store
things so close (not close enough for me) with that system. With shelves
and lots of boxes that are labeled, you can store lots of stuff. Hand tools
are in my tech case, and it sits on a stool near where ever I'm working, and
the not so commonly used hand tools, or shop only hand tools are kept in a
small metal chest of drawers (Kennedy), or for the larger tools, a tool
cabinet just like the ones auto mechanics use (Sears, Snap-On, Homar, etc).
> Right now, my new shop is basically a decent size room with a sink
Mine is 13 by 30 attached to a 30 by 30 garage (no you can't park a car in
there). The 13 by 30 is heated and the vaulted ceiling is no higher than
the apex of the garage. Sure makes pianos sound nice in there. The garage
is where all the dirty work is done, drilling, sawing, torching, BIG BENCH
VISE type stuff, explosive chemicals are kept out there where the breeze
blows freely through the leaky walls and such, the big bench is there, and
some pianos are stored in there (all mine). That's also where my
compressors are and all that other hefty manly stuff is out there, smelling
funky and looking tough. My sink consists of some scattered one gallon milk
jugs full of water. One at every bench and one near the welding area, in
case my shirt or jacket catches fire while welding ...... the rest of the
shop is insured. These milk jugs double as a drinking receptical, and make
a great sound when they are thrown and actually happen to hit the occasional
visiting possum, bear, or lovely neighborhood children. It's that kind of
sound that would only satisfy the excremating ear (ooops wrong word, oh
well, can't think of the right one, and this is close, eh?). Also, milk
jugs are cheaper than plumbing, you never have to clean them, not that
anyone ever cleans their shop sinks, and they promote brotherhood/friendship
and all that kind of soft gooshy stuff. It's totally cool to hold it for
someone while they wash their hands under it's flow. If you've had a
particularily difficult day with this person, you can ooops a little on
their shoes, or pant leg ........ not that I've ever done this or nuthin.
Shops are fun. Mine is not only a nice place to work, and an efficient
place to do nice repairs, but for me, it's a place to express myself through
storage mediums, static displays, name tag collections (from PTG functions
only), box labeling (Jack's Prings, Used Charps, Whippen Butts, Convention
Gimmies, etc.) and on one of my walls I have an APOT Tilt Guage. Yep, a
genuine first issue.
All them goof balls that chequed out of "The LIST" sure missed a bunch of
useful info with this post, I'll have you know!!
lar
Larry Fisher RPT
specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
http://www.pacifier.com/~larryf/ (revised 10/96)
Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water
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