Anyone else on Graveyard shift

[Skip]

How do you build or even work on stuff when you're on nights?  (6 PM - 6AM)  after getting 7 - 8 HRs sleep that leaves 1 hour at the most of bench time during the week,  maybe 3 - 4 Hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Got word on Friday my contractor on a large Bridge Project is going on nights through the first of the he year.  (No happy face here!).

The last bout on nights a year ago, I couldn't get motivated for anything to get my tired bunz up to the bench even to build for someone else.  As was I just barely made my deadline of my nephew's birthday.  Same nephew approached me a week or so ago to build a '53 F-100 for my brother who is having his full size F-100 restored.  I agreed to do the work with first week of December delivery.  Now I start nights tonight and am already getting ready to go panick mode!  Never missed a delivery date, this could be the first!

[jefropas]

I get in 30 min a day when I work, maybe a hour or 2 the days I'm off. Make for some really slow builds on stuff that should take a week...

 

Jeff

[Petetrucker07]

I don't exactly work nights, but I do work 12 to 14 hours a day, I'm a truck driver. I sometimes get an hour at the hotel to work on stuff, occasionally I'll get 2 hours. That's about all the build time I get having a 5 month old at home. IF I get any weekend building, it's only a few hours.

[blunc]

I get virtually zero bench time due to night shift and "honey-do" projects. 

 

[BubbaBrown]

I worked midnight most of my 40 years and I really didn't do much during the week but on weekends I built like crazy. If I wasn't working.

 

[Tom Geiger]

Many years ago I worked second shift,  4-12.   The place I worked ran people 1 week on second shift a month, 3 weeks on days.  That led to a lot of disgruntled employees, and people who never got used to the schedule.  I saw I could get a 10% shift premium, so I volunteered to do second shift full time. That was when my daughter was a baby (she's 31 now) and my wife was home and not bringing in a check so the money was needed.

Turns out I loved that shift!  I adjusted my life around it.  I'd get out at 12, drive back to my area and go grocery shopping.  Nobody was in the store then so it went quick and easy.  Other nights I'd decompress a bit for an hour and go to sleep.  I'd get up around 8am and had a whole day with daylight to do things until I left for work at 3pm.   I wasn't building back then, but I got a lot of 1:1 car work done.

There are guys who get a lot of model work done by planning a schedule.  Most of us cannot devote an entire weekend day to building, and I know guys who will work a half hour or an hour before they go to work.  They've planned this time into their schedule, getting up earlier to do so. They are getting things done in baby steps, and one guy said you focus better knowing you have a limited time.  At the end of the week, it's pretty much like sitting at the bench for an afternoon!

[Agent G]

I work 9pm to 7am four nights a week. I fit in bench time whenever I can. Having three days off helps. 

G

[B-Ram]

I work rotating shifts (6 to 6 ). When I work the night shift I will only spend a small amount of time building. What I will do is to plan out what I want to do and then when I get up I will only do what I have planned. Most of the time I sleep between 6 & 7 hours.

Bill

[peteski]

I work 4x10 (4 days 8pm-6am). I sleep about 6 hours a day and usually squeeze in some daily time for my hobbies. Sometimes an hour or two, other times 30 minutes. I have 3-day weekends, so I can spend some hobby time during weekends. But either way, I'm nor a very prolific builder - I waste too much time online on various group websites.

[av405]

I work 5 days a week, from 11 PM - 7:30 AM. If I do build during the work week, it's usually in the morning when I get home from work. However, there are weeks when there is OT aplenty and I end up working between 45-50 hrs. When that happens, I'm usually to unfocused to work on the bench. I hate this schedule but it pays well and I'm given a lot of opportunities to develop professionally.