Tooling: A System Approach

Stewart Hart offers some advice on making things interchangeable.

When anyone takes their first steps into setting up a small model engineering workshop, they face a bewildering number of logistical problems Where and how to build the workshop; how big; how to power; light and heat; how to equip it. When I built my own workshop, I simply utilised the small concrete standing at the back of my garage, the space I had available controlled the size of my workshop. This governs the size and range of machine tools I could fit into it, stretching my ingenuity to its limits but in the end, I managed to shoe horn everything in. I think using the available space to the best possible advantage is what most model engineers do. All this takes time and money. Starting with a lathe and perhaps a pillar drill, and some basic equipment, you start making models or equipment for your workshop. Then gradually your workshop evolves and allows you to pursue your particular modelling interest to the best of your ability.