This post is part of a series on making and using the Gingery Foundry.

The principle behind metal casting is simple: heat up metal until it’s a liquid, and then pour the molten metal into a mold. The mold itself is usually prepared in one of several ways:

Green sand casting involves using a wooden pattern blank. Molding sand is packed into a frame around this pattern, and then the pattern is removed to leave a pattern-shaped void in the sand. Molten metal is poured into this void to create the cast part. The shape of the part being cast is constrained in some ways, since you need to be able to remove it from the sand without destroying the mold.

In the 1980s, David Gingery published a series of books entitled Build Your Own Metalworking Shop From Scrap. The principle is reasonably straightforward: use common materials and scrap to bootstrap a set of progressively more complicated machines until you have a complete machine shop. Like many straightforward ideas, the execution turns out to be surprisingly complicated.

[Image credit to Arc Pacific]

After getting my workbenches built and installed, I wanted to make some improvements to clean up the shop space a little. I got some storage bins that (mostly by luck) exactly fit in the bench shelf. These give me some pseudo-drawers that can be used as project storage space, and pull all the way out so they can be carried around. I also added some bins in the corner for trash, sharps, and wood scrap.

To improve the functionality of the bench a little, I added a mechanic's vise to one corner. For better organization I put up a pegboard for hand tools, got myself some little drawers for hardware, and moved in an old bookcase for the tools that are too bulky to live on pegboard.

After finishing the shop floor, I wanted to build myself some workbenches. The first was going to stay an open bench, and the second was going to gradually get filled up with bench-mounted machine tools. I spent a few days sketching out designs until I had something I was satisfied with.

I’ve appropriated a nook in the basement to become my shop / makerspace / scrap depot. (Sidebar: why is “mad scientist” a thing, but “mad engineer” not?) When we bought the house most of the basement wasn’t wired for power, so the first order of business was to get an electrician in and add some outlets. I considered doing it myself, but a) I didn’t want to have to jump through all the hoops to get it permitted and inspected, and b) I’d rather not die or burn the house down. So electrician it was.

Next I wanted to do something about the floor. Originally the floor was covered in old carpet, laid directly on the subfloor. I didn't want to have a carpeted shop floor because it eats sawdust and chips and becomes dirty and uncomfortable pretty fast. I also wasn’t thrilled with the idea of getting rid of the carpet and working directly on the subfloor because it’s expensive to replace and I didn’t want to damage it. Clearly the next order of business was to refloor this corner of the basement.