What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[NUTTSGT]

Just outside since all the boys are full. Oil change in the truck.

 

[oldman_pottering]

Made formwork from some scrap timber for a concrete slab for the new hot water system, got it setup up and leveled, mixed some concrete, realised I didn't have enough and did the 20 min dash back to the store for more, got it done

 

[kaymccampbell]

Made formwork from some scrap timber for a concrete slab for the new hot water system, got it setup up and leveled, mixed some concrete, realised I didn't have enough and did the 20 min dash back to the store for more, got it done

I hate that mad dash halfway through a pour. I always buy double the Portland, so I don't get caught.

 

[BetterDays]

Trying to figure out where to start....
Realizing my "want to do hobbies" are accumulating dust as my time and energy are limited.
Do I keep the clutter or start selling off to help free the mind, as it would all be sold should be opt to pack up and move?
---leaning towards accepting reality and starting the sell-off // purge.

 

[niget2002]

Spent a few hours working on the kayak. Chopped the bow and stern off and fitted the outer stem.

Need to wait for the epoxy to cure so I can shape them.

 

[02Xterra]

Primed and painted 'hunter green'.

 

[Mike65]

Installed the starter, attached the starter cable from the solenoid, reinstalled the r/s header pipe, installed the r/s hood hinge & ordered a l/s hood hinge to replace the bent one.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Printed out some letters for a friend to read. More CAD ****. Lit the Ender. A few bad slices later, 8 hours to print.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Trying to figure out where to start....
Realizing my "want to do hobbies" are accumulating dust as my time and energy are limited.
Do I keep the clutter or start selling off to help free the mind, as it would all be sold should be opt to pack up and move?
---leaning towards accepting reality and starting the sell-off // purge.

Cleaning out your closets is alway therapeutic.

 

[Snip's]

Today I finished working my wife's Ford Explorer... A week or so ago I replaced the rear brakes pads... My wife had her second total knee replacement and PT is every other day during the week, since I'm the driver, I had to wait until the weekend to finish the brake job...
Today I replaced the front pads and did a final fluid flush...
Took a hot shower and two Tylenol Extra Strength...
I don't remember brake jobs being so strenuous... Sheesh...

 

[scooby074]

Finished the ford but not before one last hiccup. Siezed caliper slider. Lucky it didnt destroy the pads somehow. It was siezed with a capitol S. Required O/A heat to free up. Old slider was mangled in the process. Lucky dealer had a slider pin and seal kit in stock for a cheap fix.

 

[rcktpwrd]

Got home from work and the wife had half the wagon apart! Headliner out so that can get recovered and had the roof rack mostly off the car to fix a water leak. Needed two people to remove the center ribs of the roof rack. Once that was all off, she cleaned all the gunk off the roof under the rack parts and cleared the entire rack itself. I got out the 3" D/A and compound and cleaned up the areas that have been covered since 1995 when the car was built..,

This was just before buffing, got a lot of the edge stains out/lightened up. I will hit it again tomorrow, I only did the roof edges and the ribs.

 

[DAVE94LIGHTNING]

Started building a light bar for my truck. The desert roads out here have no street lights and it’s pitch black. These two Auxbeam 9 inch spots will definitely help light the way.

 

[kbeefy]

Got tired of drilling with a cordless drill and decided to get a drill press.
HF happened to have the big one on sale with a $200 discount, which put it in the same price bracket as a nice used one... I bit the bullet and got the HF one.

Holy cow its heavy!
I was working by myself and used a gantry to put it together.
Some sketchy things probably happened... it's together, it works, and I still have all my toes.

 

[oldman_pottering]

Started building a light bar for my truck. The desert roads out here have no street lights and it’s pitch black. These two Auxbeam 9 inch spots will definitely help light the way.

What's the machine in the first with your truck ?

 

[oldman_pottering]

Some sketchy things probably happened

This made me smile, sounds like a typical day here

 

[Old Man Roger]

What's the machine in the first with your truck ?

That’s a tubing bender.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Pulled this hopefully improved master off the Ender.

 

[Maxcustody]

Got the new wheels and tires on the Dart...................I love the old-school Cragars much better than the aluminum slots I had on there.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Kay, that's printed right? Not what you were casting the other day?

 

[Old Man Roger]

Got the new wheels and tires on the Dart...................I love the old-school Cragars much better than the aluminum slots I had on there.

I had those on a few cars back in the 80's

 

[NUTTSGT]

Just outside since all the boys are full. Oil change in the truck.

I just realized this morning that I should have pulled the Mustang out of the garage..... I need to rotate the tires.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Kay, that's printed right? Not what you were casting the other day?

Correct. That's the 3D printed master, that casts the plaster, that casts the aluminum.

 

[DAVE94LIGHTNING]

What's the machine in the first with your truck ?

That’s my hydraulic tube bender.

 

[LeeG]

My 2010 F150 has been leaking windshield washer fluid. They worked fine, so I suspected it was the gasket between the tank and the pump. It was the pump itself, so I had to make an extra trip to the dealership.



You can see where it was leaking. I spent more time driving back and forth to the dealership 3 miles away than I did on the rest of the job.

Lee

 

[micromind]

That’s my hydraulic tube bender.

I've used benders like that to bend electrical conduit. One model will bend 4" rigid.

 

[Blue Chips]

The original ID data plate for my 1954 Dodge M37 was missing, so I decided to create a replica etched-aluminum data plate from scratch. I used Adobe InDesign to create what I think is a pretty accurate facsimile (below) of the original ID data plate design that is appropriate for my truck.



I based the above design on a number of photos of original data plates found on 1954 models, all of which were beat up or corroded to varying degrees, but they still worked as models for me to work from.

There were several steps involved in creating a new etched-aluminum data plate.

First, I printed a mirror image of the design on a special kind of inkjet film that is used for screen printing. These sheets have a slightly frosted coating on one side, which apparently allows them to accept more ink than an ordinary transparency film. I maxed out the CMYK channels for the black areas in InDesign and set the ink density higher in the printer control app in order to achieve pretty decent opacity.



I then adhered a sheet of photoresist film to a carefully cleaned aluminum sheet, working under subdued incandescent light (the film is UV sensitive). It's hard to apply this stuff without trapping bubbles. There is a 'floating it on' technique for doing it with water, but I tried it and didn't like that method, as I found it too time-consuming, so I just refined my pressing and rolling technique on a few practice pieces until I managed to adhere some sheets without bubbles. Here's one of them:



I placed the printed film image emulsion side down on the photoresist film, placed a sheet of plain window glass (not sun-blocking glass) over it, with a piece of foam rubber behind it to keep it pressed tightly against the glass, and exposed it to direct noon sunlight for about 30 seconds.

After exposure I removed the thin plastic protective layer from the photoresist film and 'developed' the photoresist in a mild solution of washing soda, which removed the unexposed (unhardened) portions of the photoresist. I then etched the aluminum with an acid solution (I'm still working on figuring out the optimum formulation, so I won't list it here yet). I had a few trial and error (mostly error) runs before I got a couple of decent results. Here's one:



Next, I chemically darkened the etched area with Aluminum Black from Birchwood Casey.



Soaking the plate in acetone for a few minutes loosened the photoresist and allowed it to be brushed off easily with a soft brush. I then trimmed the edges to the cut lines with a shear.

Here's the end result so far. You can see some reflection from the protective satin coat that I sprayed on, but the background is actually a nice solid black.



The etching leaves the letters slightly raised, like the original data plates. I think I'll punch the rivet holes with my Roper-Whitney punch instead of drilling them. I plan to use a 3/32" number and letter punch set to add the serial number and other data. I'll probably make a couple of extra plates in case I mess things up when I'm punching the data onto the plate. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to spray the protective coating on until after I punch the data onto the plate. I suppose I can just dissolve the coating and then re-spray it after punching.

There are a lot of variables involved, and it took about eight attempts before I got a couple of plates that I was satisfied with. I'm sure that with practice I could streamline the process and improve my success rate, but that can wait. On to other tasks...

By the way, the ID plate is mounted on the glove compartment door, which isn't exactly a secure location, as the door is easily removed, but the vehicle's serial number is also stamped permanently in large characters on the frame of the vehicle, so the serial number on this little plate is basically just for convenience.

 

[larry4406]

The original ID data plate for my 1954 Dodge M37 was missing, so I decided to create a replica etched-aluminum data plate from scratch. I used Adobe InDesign to create what I think is a pretty accurate facsimile (below) of the original ID data plate design that is appropriate for my truck.



I based the above design on a number of photos of original data plates found on 1954 models, all of which were beat up or corroded to varying degrees, but they still worked as models for me to work from.

There were several steps involved in creating a new etched-aluminum data plate.

First, I printed a mirror image of the design on a special kind of inkjet film that is used for screen printing. These sheets have a slightly frosted coating on one side, which apparently allows them to accept more ink than an ordinary transparency film. I maxed out the CMYK channels for the black areas in InDesign and set the ink density higher in the printer control app in order to achieve pretty decent opacity.



I then adhered a sheet of photoresist film to a carefully cleaned aluminum sheet, working under subdued incandescent light (the film is UV sensitive). It's hard to apply this stuff without trapping bubbles. There is a 'floating it on' technique for doing it with water, but I tried it and didn't like that method, as I found it too time-consuming, so I just refined my pressing and rolling technique on a few practice pieces until I managed to adhere some sheets without bubbles. Here's one of them:



I placed the printed film image emulsion side down on the photoresist film, placed a sheet of plain window glass (not sun-blocking glass) over it, with a piece of foam rubber behind it to keep it pressed tightly against the glass, and exposed it to direct noon sunlight for about 30 seconds.

After exposure I removed the thin plastic protective layer from the photoresist film and 'developed' the photoresist in a mild solution of washing soda, which removed the unexposed (unhardened) portions of the photoresist. I then etched the aluminum with an acid solution (I'm still working on figuring out the optimum formulation, so I won't list it here yet). I had a few trial and error (mostly error) runs before I got a couple of decent results. Here's one:



Next, I chemically darkened the etched area with Aluminum Black from Birchwood Casey.



Soaking the plate in acetone for a few minutes loosened the photoresist and allowed it to be brushed off easily with a soft brush. I then trimmed the edges to the cut lines with a shear.

Here's the end result so far. You can see some reflection from the protective satin coat that I sprayed on, but the background is actually a nice solid black.



The etching leaves the letters slightly raised, like the original data plates. I think I'll punch the rivet holes with my Roper-Whitney punch instead of drilling them. I plan to use a 3/32" number and letter punch set to add the serial number and other data. I'll probably make a couple of extra plates in case I mess things up when I'm punching the data onto the plate. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to spray the protective coating on until after I punch the data onto the plate. I suppose I can just dissolve the coating and then re-spray it after punching.

There are a lot of variables involved, and it took about eight attempts before I got a couple of plates that I was satisfied with. I'm sure that with practice I could streamline the process and improve my success rate, but that can wait. On to other tasks...

By the way, the ID plate is mounted on the glove compartment door, which isn't exactly a secure location, as the door is easily removed, but the vehicle's serial number is also stamped permanently in large characters on the frame of the vehicle, so the serial number on this little plate is basically just for convenience.

Very impressive!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Not in the garage but my work area at the station.

I needed a 10' cord for the trailer. I bought a 25' 12ga and a pair of ends. Now I have a 10' and 15'.

 

[rcktpwrd]

I went over the entire roof of the wagon with my D/A and a 6" pad and compound, cleaned up decently. You can still see most of the marks where the roof rack sits on the paint but it is a lot cleaner and the paint is nice and smooth. The rack is going back on so it's not a big deal, but it's way easier to polish the roof in general without the rack in the way. I also buffed the hood. I still have to put some wax/sealant on the roof and hood. She had some left over POR15 from a different project. So, she did the multistep process on the rivnuts in the roof. Hopefully we will be able to get the rack reinstalled later today.

 

[bulletpruf]

The original ID data plate for my 1954 Dodge M37 was missing, so I decided to create a replica etched-aluminum data plate from scratch. I used Adobe InDesign to create what I think is a pretty accurate facsimile (below) of the original ID data plate design that is appropriate for my truck.



I based the above design on a number of photos of original data plates found on 1954 models, all of which were beat up or corroded to varying degrees, but they still worked as models for me to work from.

There were several steps involved in creating a new etched-aluminum data plate.

First, I printed a mirror image of the design on a special kind of inkjet film that is used for screen printing. These sheets have a slightly frosted coating on one side, which apparently allows them to accept more ink than an ordinary transparency film. I maxed out the CMYK channels for the black areas in InDesign and set the ink density higher in the printer control app in order to achieve pretty decent opacity.



I then adhered a sheet of photoresist film to a carefully cleaned aluminum sheet, working under subdued incandescent light (the film is UV sensitive). It's hard to apply this stuff without trapping bubbles. There is a 'floating it on' technique for doing it with water, but I tried it and didn't like that method, as I found it too time-consuming, so I just refined my pressing and rolling technique on a few practice pieces until I managed to adhere some sheets without bubbles. Here's one of them:



I placed the printed film image emulsion side down on the photoresist film, placed a sheet of plain window glass (not sun-blocking glass) over it, with a piece of foam rubber behind it to keep it pressed tightly against the glass, and exposed it to direct noon sunlight for about 30 seconds.

After exposure I removed the thin plastic protective layer from the photoresist film and 'developed' the photoresist in a mild solution of washing soda, which removed the unexposed (unhardened) portions of the photoresist. I then etched the aluminum with an acid solution (I'm still working on figuring out the optimum formulation, so I won't list it here yet). I had a few trial and error (mostly error) runs before I got a couple of decent results. Here's one:



Next, I chemically darkened the etched area with Aluminum Black from Birchwood Casey.



Soaking the plate in acetone for a few minutes loosened the photoresist and allowed it to be brushed off easily with a soft brush. I then trimmed the edges to the cut lines with a shear.

Here's the end result so far. You can see some reflection from the protective satin coat that I sprayed on, but the background is actually a nice solid black.



The etching leaves the letters slightly raised, like the original data plates. I think I'll punch the rivet holes with my Roper-Whitney punch instead of drilling them. I plan to use a 3/32" number and letter punch set to add the serial number and other data. I'll probably make a couple of extra plates in case I mess things up when I'm punching the data onto the plate. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to spray the protective coating on until after I punch the data onto the plate. I suppose I can just dissolve the coating and then re-spray it after punching.

There are a lot of variables involved, and it took about eight attempts before I got a couple of plates that I was satisfied with. I'm sure that with practice I could streamline the process and improve my success rate, but that can wait. On to other tasks...

By the way, the ID plate is mounted on the glove compartment door, which isn't exactly a secure location, as the door is easily removed, but the vehicle's serial number is also stamped permanently in large characters on the frame of the vehicle, so the serial number on this little plate is basically just for convenience.

We're gonna need to see some pictures of that M37...

 

[bulletpruf]

Ran out of room in the garage about 6 months ago and gave my homemade chainsaw workbench to my neighbor.




Then I rented a 20 x 50 shop and moved the majority of my tools there. Now I have room in the garage again for another chainsaw workbench...



Actually had someone local build this one for me; working with wood isn't my wheelhouse and he's cheap, he delivers, and he does really nice work.



I stained it. Don't ask me why. I just did.



Added some pegboard.



Now I need some storage underneath for my chainsaw-specific tools. Might see if I can find a toolbox that will fit or maybe build a cabinet with drawers.

 

[Blue Chips]

We're gonna need to see some pictures of that M37...

You can see a few pictures HERE, where I started posting my recent progress on the Steel Soldiers forum. You may see some overlap with some of my posts on the GJ forum.

When I have a little time, I may start a new dedicated M37 thread on the GJ.

 

[niget2002]

Worked on shaping the bow outer stem on the kayak. Quickly discovered I made the rough cut piece WAY too big. This is going to take a while with the tools I have on hand. I have a spokeshave on order that should speed this up a bit.

 

[KwikFab]

Not in the garage but my work area at the station.

I needed a 10' cord for the trailer. I bought a 25' 12ga and a pair of ends. Now I have a 10' and 15'.

Exactly what I did!

Was cheaper too; my air dryer didn't come with a cord and I needed a shorter extension cable for one of my angle grinders.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Took the forge outside with the Dingo. Broke up hundreds of hard drives. Hauled them to the forge. Brought the forge back inside.

 

[Old Man Roger]

So you’re melting the hard drives?

 

[LeonardY]

Killed a couple of mosquitos with my electric fly swatter.

 

[kaymccampbell]

So you’re melting the hard drives?

Yup.

 

[rcktpwrd]

So you’re melting the hard drives?

She's controlling the rise of the machines!