Clean
Your Room!
When
you see photographs of work areas that belong to the likes of Frank Tiano or
Mike Hurley, what do you see? Beautiful tile floors? A CAD computer? Or just a
great big work area with a huge, clean assembly table?
We
would all love the gadgets and gizmos we see in their shops, especially the huge
assembly table. But most of us are confined to a much smaller work shop with a
much smaller bench to assemble our latest creation.
But take a closer look at the hangar space they work in. What do you see?
Or better yet, what don't you see?
You
don't see bottles of solvents for cleaning paint brushes or piles of sanding
sheets that they use to get those flawless finishes you see in the end products
of their labors. You don't even see the various adhesives needed to build these
beauties. That does not mean they don't have all that stuff, it just means they
have "a place for everything and everything is in it's place!"
I
was nearing the completion of a project and was ready to say "this is good
enough, I'm done." Then I saw one of these articles and got a whole new
perspective of how to get a better looking model. What did I see? These guys had
some very clean and professional looking work areas.
Do
they have more skill than we do? Maybe. But I am willing to bet they just make
better use of their facilities. To get that fuselage "flat on the
board," one Must first find the board! Piles of junk and clutter do not
allow things to sit flat.
You
will notice they have nice little storage bins under their benches to hold that
block of balsa or the piece of plywood that "I just can't throw away
because I may need it someday." The question is, do you need it now? Do you
have enough room under your bench to put a shelf to store your paints and
solvents. "Tupperware" type Storage bins come in all different sizes
and shapes. I'm sure one of these would fit under your bench to hold those
valuable pieces of surplus materials.
I
know I have four XACTO handles for the number 11 blades. I dug through the
debris on the work bench three times before I could find one. No time savings
here. (I hate to admit it, but after doing a good clean up I found I had six of
them!) I also found, some really nice hardware under my bench that I thought I
had but just could not find.
Want
to make some points with your other half? Try cleaning the stairs from the hobby
shop that leads to the rest of the house. I found that this small acct of
kindness goes a long way. Peg boards are great for hanging stuff out in the open
for easy identification but get a bit pricey. A sheet of dry wall is cheap,
makes the room look better and readily accepts pins or staples to hold small
packages of hardware.
Used
filing cabinets are great for storing paperwork for your radio equipment and
even cans of spray paint. It also narrows down the places you have to look to
find something and most single cabinets will fit under your bench.
Dust pans, brooms and peg boards. Sounds a little too simple but trust me. A clean work shop gives you a better feeling for what you are doing. Maybe your next project should be giving a face lift to the old work area?
Now
it's time to go practice what I preach.
David
Hoffman