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I found a lot I could resonate with in that post. My father was in the Air Force and retired at 40 after 20 years in the service. It seemed to me like he had a

I found a lot I could resonate with in that post. My father was in the Air Force and retired at 40 after 20 years in the service. It seemed to me like he had a great deal, a retirement check to cover expenses and time to do what he wanted to do[1]. I wanted to do something like that as well so I resolved to retire at 40 :-). But what I was missing was the understanding of skills that would be useful while "retired." Thinking about that only came later and so I have spent time (and money) on creating space for lots of exploratory activity. The result is a fairly complete lab where I can work on things and learn new stuff. The goal being a space that is fun and engaging to work in until I die[2]. It wasn't what I expected I would be working toward when I was a kid. [1] I later learned that money was pretty tight during that period but as a kid I didn't have any visibility into that. [2] EDIT: It goes without saying that the lab has a low cost to operate so it isn't a drain on my funds over time. My wife commented "You're life's work is to build a fun play room eh?" Which isn't too far from the truth :-)

zxcvbn4038 7y ago
Military used to be a plumb deal, growing up I knew families where mom and dad were both in the National Guard, they did their one weekend a month, and easily doubled their income. But then the first Iraq war happened, and they started deploying the National Guard, and suddenly kids were left alone with both parents in active war zones, and that killed the deal.
- forkerenok 7y ago
  Found this interesting and read up on it a bit. While war is a terrible thing, I appreciated that the irony wasn't lost on the National Guardsmen :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_weekend_a_month,_two_weeks_a_year#/media/File:USAR.OneWeekendMyAss.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_weekend_a_month,_two_weeks...
chrisseaton 7y ago
Another problem with retiring early from the military is that they retire you at that point because you’re going to be broken - knees, back, etc. So you get time and a pension but you’re hobbling around.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Depends on what you're doing for the military. The further you get from infantry the less likely it is.
  - mcguire 7y ago
    I've actually seen evidence of a dipper-scooper: at work, one car has a retired military sticker (Army, IIRC) and a retired from NASA sticker. Whoever it is has three income streams.
anon1m0us 7y ago
I'm in the process of creating such a space for myself. How much space should I dedicate to such a lab? I'm interested in IoT, robotics, databases, wood and metal working. I'm designing the house around the room. I basically want to build a research lab where I could make any idea a reality -- within reason of course. Could you offer any guidance from your experience with such a lab? I have a lot of questions like, What kind of floor should it have? How tall should the walls be? How much space do I need for each of the tasks I want to perform in the lab? Which tools will I need and how much space does each one require? Can I make the tools movable or should the be fixed in place? Do I need a gantry crane?
- ChuckMcM 7y ago
  It kind of depends on what you're doing. Two of my friends have done the 'double decker garage' idea, which is to put the machine/wood shop on the ground floor and the office/electronics on the upper floor. My wife still believes that cars go in garages so I have yet to claim the full downstairs :-). Things I find most useful in my space are the electronics bench, the computer "station" (3 monitors on a desk), and the "small fab" bench (3D printer, mini-mill (Sherline), various holding jigs). I've got parts and such upstairs but they could reasonably be anywhere. My activities are primarily small circuit design/build/test, small mechanisms (robot) design/build/test, and algorithm research. These things don't have a lot of consumables per hour of engagement so they can go for a long time on relatively low additional investment. For larger fabrication having a garage door and a concrete floor are essential. But the kinds of things you want to work on and create is pretty intensely personal usually. A friend who likes to build airplanes built an assembly hanger that was roughly 40' x 60'. I have never found the space I have above the two car garage (and the same size square feet wise) to be an issue. What I have done over the years is look at the projects on the queue, and the things I want to learn, and then built to support those efforts.
  - anon1m0us 7y ago
    Awesome!@ Thank you. I didn't realize there were benchtop mini-mills like that. That's perfect for what I want to do. I think I'll have enough space! I'm pretty much interested in the same things.k

zxcvbn4038 7y ago

Military used to be a plumb deal, growing up I knew families where mom and dad were both in the National Guard, they did their one weekend a month, and easily doubled their income. But then the first Iraq war happened, and they started deploying the National Guard, and suddenly kids were left alone with both parents in active war zones, and that killed the deal.

forkerenok 7y ago
Found this interesting and read up on it a bit. While war is a terrible thing, I appreciated that the irony wasn't lost on the National Guardsmen :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_weekend_a_month,_two_weeks_a_year#/media/File:USAR.OneWeekendMyAss.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_weekend_a_month,_two_weeks...

chrisseaton 7y ago

Another problem with retiring early from the military is that they retire you at that point because you’re going to be broken - knees, back, etc. So you get time and a pension but you’re hobbling around.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Depends on what you're doing for the military. The further you get from infantry the less likely it is.
- mcguire 7y ago
  I've actually seen evidence of a dipper-scooper: at work, one car has a retired military sticker (Army, IIRC) and a retired from NASA sticker. Whoever it is has three income streams.

anon1m0us 7y ago

I'm in the process of creating such a space for myself. How much space should I dedicate to such a lab? I'm interested in IoT, robotics, databases, wood and metal working. I'm designing the house around the room. I basically want to build a research lab where I could make any idea a reality -- within reason of course. Could you offer any guidance from your experience with such a lab? I have a lot of questions like, What kind of floor should it have? How tall should the walls be? How much space do I need for each of the tasks I want to perform in the lab? Which tools will I need and how much space does each one require? Can I make the tools movable or should the be fixed in place? Do I need a gantry crane?

ChuckMcM 7y ago
It kind of depends on what you're doing. Two of my friends have done the 'double decker garage' idea, which is to put the machine/wood shop on the ground floor and the office/electronics on the upper floor. My wife still believes that cars go in garages so I have yet to claim the full downstairs :-). Things I find most useful in my space are the electronics bench, the computer "station" (3 monitors on a desk), and the "small fab" bench (3D printer, mini-mill (Sherline), various holding jigs). I've got parts and such upstairs but they could reasonably be anywhere. My activities are primarily small circuit design/build/test, small mechanisms (robot) design/build/test, and algorithm research. These things don't have a lot of consumables per hour of engagement so they can go for a long time on relatively low additional investment. For larger fabrication having a garage door and a concrete floor are essential. But the kinds of things you want to work on and create is pretty intensely personal usually. A friend who likes to build airplanes built an assembly hanger that was roughly 40' x 60'. I have never found the space I have above the two car garage (and the same size square feet wise) to be an issue. What I have done over the years is look at the projects on the queue, and the things I want to learn, and then built to support those efforts.
- anon1m0us 7y ago
  Awesome!@ Thank you. I didn't realize there were benchtop mini-mills like that. That's perfect for what I want to do. I think I'll have enough space! I'm pretty much interested in the same things.k