Quote Originally Posted by Toolmaker51 View Post
Free and low cost are tough to beat; except for one.
Everyone obsesses about square feet, while forgetting cubic feet.
Flooring top of a container is GREAT use of cubic feet; sturdy framing, no structure to avoid, and looo-ng!
All hail the mezzanine.

We discussed placement of the Cleereman. It's there for obvious reasons, sharing operations. Plus 6 drill table supports long work in the Cleereman, which has considerably more spindle power and feed.
Yep and since I already have the 8 by 12 ft work station set up on the truck flat bed for my plate roll and forming break the 8x 16 mezzanine between the school bus and the work station will be great for adding a shelving unit against the shop wall while still leaving lots of space for other things to be stored up there Like maybe my 1951 Cushman Truckster the 500 amp Heli arc will probably not be going back up there. Later on I may add an 8 to 10 ft wide Mezzanine cantilevered along the side of the container the full length of the shop but I will have to fabricate a deep bar joist to carry most of the weight tying it to the the 3 center trusses As long as I keep the dead and live loads within reason I wont have a need for posts but a center post strong enough to mount a 270° swing 30 ft 2 ton jib crane is not out of the possibilities either It would mean the post would have to be about 18" in diameter anchored 8 feet in the ground tied to the mezzanine and the center double truss some additional horizontal diagonal bracing would also be required to tie in the 2 other double trusses but anything is doable