Workshop Tour Makes Us Drool; Ache With Envy

[Mtneer_man] has a workshop to die for. The slide show that he set up covers the different workbenches and shop setups that he’s had over the years. He’s got a core set of beliefs when it comes to his work area. He prefers to have several different work areas for varying degrees of dirty, greasy, stick, or precision projects. These are luxuries that most don’t have the opportunity to enjoy.

With a setup this nice and this clean it’s amazing he does any projects at all. Wait a sec,his workshop IS a hack. The more recent collections of his prolific Flickr sets he details the building and outfitting of yet another workshop in a new structure on his property.  We’re going to keep our eyes on this and see where it ends up.

[via YourlTronics]

38 thoughts on “Workshop Tour Makes Us Drool; Ache With Envy

  1. Wow, that is one hell of a beautiful shop, it looks like Mike has a strong case of OCD. I can only imagine the work he must be ale to dream up in there, at least I would if I had something like this.

  2. Awesome shop, there should be a website, where people post pictures like this, I love looking at this kind of stuff. He’s obviously collected tools for a long time, and put a lot of thought into where they all go, good job.

  3. OMG. Now I know what the military means when they say “shock and awe”.

    BTW, is that an original HP oscillator he has there? WANT. NTSC waveform generator? Commodore 1702 monitor? Bet there’s a Video Toaster in a box somewhere…

  4. OCD… :) While I am jealous of his wide selection of tools, there are just too many redundant tools there. 15 pairs of needle-nose pliers? 8 tape measures? Three electric drills? And tools that would likely never be used taking up valuable space… Hand crank drill? 1960’s oscilloscope? Just wow…

  5. just jizzed in my pants… sorry tiny shed workshop but it was too awesome!

    @vr44 wtf man i have 4 cats and i live alone… damn i just realized my neighbors think i’m a rapist now

  6. There is only one thing I can determine from this slide show. Mtneer_man is NOT a man… At least not a HUman… I have yet to see a male with a room/workshop this clean!
    I have trouble just keeping my work area clean, myself. This person must have people come in and organize/clean for him. He must be rich too, judging by the vast amount of equipment he has.

  7. You don’t need to be rich to amass a huge tool collection. I just buy them as I need them and take care of them. Most tools last damn near forever when cared for properly. Except drill bits and saw blades, those don’t usually last nearly long enough.

    I’m impressed by the attention to detail and orderliness in these photos. It must be nice knowing exactly where everything is when you need it. It does away with the adventure of finding the right tool or making the right tool though. I’d just be happy to achieve even a small percentage of this degree of order in my shop.

  8. I’ll probably be chided for this, but that guy’s hobby is adding stuff to his workshop rather than actually building or working on stuff in it (not that there’s anytihng wrong with that). To me it seems a mishmash of electronics, engineering and auto repair, and not set up for any of them spectacularly well.
    With a shop like that, the most important item (missing in this case) is a FIRE EXTINGUISHER. No workshop should be without one or more.

    The lathe area is impossibly clean… anyone who has used one without a spray/splash guard behind the chuck knows about the spray line of oil, grease and grit going up the wall. Having a power outlet right where swarf can get in, what was he thinking??
    It’s a workshop but not a WORKshop.

  9. Wow, just wow I am 100% jealous of this workshop. This kind of workshop for myself and my projects only exists in my dreams.

    Well actually I’d go for Tony Starks basement workshop first, this second.

  10. it’s really “weird” how clean dude is,and questionable is he really using those workshops…here is some “proof” that he is…his mech shad – http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtneer_man/sets/72157617640355198/ [look at the table]
    [p.s. he has many albums,and some of them are from different workshops – different time,so i wont link one at the time,but i shall give you “main” list,so you can find them yourself – http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtneer_man/sets/ ]

  11. I’m not sure.
    Someone in comments said Love and Hate. It’s something like that. Someone else in comments said: Need fire extinguisher. So yes it’s a brilliant, giant setup of a tools display. There are things I’d definitly would want to have laying around. Most tools tho I think I’d never touch.
    Some things come in handy, some are indeed redundant.

    I wonder what the purpose of this is other than gathering tools. I don’t see myself working at all of these desks, maybe at one of these desks.

    That and, these are pictures from, like, 2006 ?
    It would make me wonder how many tools he’s found and stored additionally. It is 2010 now guys, come on.

  12. I would almost lay a bet this guy is in his 40’s and has been a tinkerer his whole life. Why? I have a similar collection. I have my Dad’s tools from the 60’s, I have tools I bought in my teens and won in competitions, and tools I have found on the side of the road. A matching set of Kobalt, Craftsman in a big shiny box is the sign of a tourist…:)

    One problem with the shop! Dust control. Everything in there will collect dust and be a pain to clean. My shop went with the house in the divorce, but in my next shop I will have cabinets for everything.

  13. @Robert – DIY has a show called ‘Garage Mahal’. It covers how to set up a dual use space. Get the wife watching it and you will end up getting the whole space on the weekends. :)

  14. It’s great to have 5-10 copies of a single tool for stuff like pliers, adjustable wrenches, hammers, etc. But wouldn’t it be easier to put them into a few big roller cabinets instead of spread out all over the walls?
    I’ve found that my shop stays much neater and the tools stay cleaner when everything is in drawers.?

    One never ending problem I seem to have is how to organize the nuts and bolts.

    His little lathe bench is great though!

  15. @dman
    ironic that the thing he’s building is a shelf to store more stuff in…

    @ladz
    organise them by size.

    Shit, I just bought a second girding tool; Better buy 7 more and make a wooden rack for them to all fit on the wall…

  16. not a shop for electronic engineering… where are the esd mats and air filters? more of a auto-shop if anything

    I own over 100K in tools and most of them are programs not simple test tools.

Leave a Reply to Brian AdayCancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.