First Class Portable Shop

First Class Portable Shop FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 26-5-40 One of the worst things about not living where you farm is not having easy and quick access to a good farm shop, says David Conlee, Moro, Ore., who farms rented land spread out across 25 miles. He eliminated the problem by packing his entire shop into a 66-passenger school bus that he can take anywhere. Behind the driver's seat down the right side of the bus, there's a valve grinder and a glass bead machine that he uses to clean and polish parts. Next are four big rollaway toolboxes full of hand tools. Beyond the toolboxes is a 25-ton hydraulic press that's powered by a hand pump. Toward the rear of the bus, he mounted a set of oxygen and acetylene tanks and hoses, with an anvil right in front of them. Finally, in the back corner next to the anvil and gas welder is a welding table. Across the aisle from the welding table, Conlee mounted a combination 9-kW generator and 350-amp electric welder, powered by a gasoline engine that's vented out the side of the bus. He mounted the generator/welder up high in the back corner to make space underneath it for a 210-amp wire welder. "The rear emergency door gives me easy access to the welding area," he says. And anything that he can't lift through the door, he can pick up and swing through with a hand-cranked cherry picker mounted on the rear bumper. "It was built to go on a service truck, but I modified it slightly to make it fit and work the way I wanted it to," he says. Next to the generator, he installed a power panel and a power inverter from an old recreational vehicle. "If I have access to a 220-volt outlet, I can plug in the entire bus and run my tools off that, rather than the generator. The inverter keeps the batteries charged up while we're plugged in," he says. Moving forward from the welder, there's a 2 hp grinder on a pedestal and then a floor model drill press. In front of these, located right over the wheel well, is a 5-hp electric-powered air compressor with a 20-gal. horizontal tank. "This particular bus has an emergency door on left hand side, too. In front of the compressor, just behind the emergency door, is my metal band saw. If I have to, I can swing the saw around and run the stock I'm cutting out through the door," he says. In front of the door is a combination metal lathe and milling machine. æIt's a full-sized machine," he says. "The lathe will swing 12 in. and has a 36-in. bed." Ahead of the lathe/mill, he put what he intended to be a reading area. "I put in a seat from the left side and one from the right side, so they're facing each other and then put a table between them. By the table, I installed a lighted magnifying lens on a telescoping arm, thinking I could use that to read manuals and directions with my tired old eyes," he says. The reading table has become more of a low workbench, where he can work on small parts while sitting down. The bus came with a roof ventilation fan that works great for exhausting gases when Conlee's welding inside the bus. He wired the bus with outlets every 6 ft. He also installed a refrigerator for keeping food and drinks cool. "The bus has a 26 by 7 1/2-ft. useable area, with about 6 ft. 3 in. of headroom at the center. I spent quite a bit of time laying it out so everything would work without running into something else. I would set the tools in place, then go home, and sleep on it. The next day, I would bolt it down, or move it to a different location I thought might be better," he says. Conlee says it's important to make sure everything is bolted down securely, too, so it stays put when you you're headed out over rough ground or have to make sudden stop. Conlee paid $1,900 for the 1987 bus. It has an International 392 gasoline engine in it with a 5-speed transmission. Conlee added a two-speed rear end salvaged from another old bus, in order to gear it down to a slower speed for driving across farm fields. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David Conlee, Box 174, Moro, Ore. 97039 (ph 541 565-3214; E-mail: conlee@gorge.net).

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