What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[kaymccampbell]

what decorations Kay? Any pictures?

Just a bunch of trains and maple leaves for orders. You're in luck, I have pictures, but not recent.

 

[msharley]

Just a bunch of trains and maple leaves for orders. You're in luck, I have pictures, but not recent.

Beautiful!

 

[LeonardY]

Shuffled a few things around. Put a thing or two away.

Measured the new printer so I can model it. I want to modify it like my other printer.

 

[Bessy]

I've got the same problem. I'm at saturation, and shouldn't be. I need to consume some materials, finish some projects, then go through a major reorg. As it is, my **** is affecting my ability to think. Every place I look needs something, and it's slowing my mental processes by wasting cycles on the misplaced stuff, and not the projects.

Feeling this in a big way right now. Now that the stress of moving has subsided, I can stress about the amount of **** that has moved but not necessarily to it's final, most logical resting place.

The last few days have been largely outdoor projects, but the other day I managed to get a few lumber racks hung up on the wall, and started racking some of my stock (which is entirely too much) of wood. It's funny, I've got so many of these jointed maple panels, but they're all odd sizes which make them very difficult to use in any intelligent way. Beyond that, I have a little bit of a whole lot, it seems, when it comes to species of wood. Very few species in my current collection seem to be of sufficient quantity to complete a project.

Then there are the projects... I'm REALLY good at starting projects; I can begin almost anything.

Finishing is another story. Not because I don't want to, not because I get bored, it's more a matter that there comes a point in almost all projects where either 1) Analysis Paralysis takes the wheel as I succum to the effects of letting great get in the way of good; 2) I run out of or have a hard time obtaining stock in what I need, so I stall, or 3) I get discouraged after one too many instances of resistentialism on the part of the project or tool I'm currently working with. There's probably somewhere in there also that one could say I bite off more than I can chew (a fellow GJ'er used a term "Ambition outweighing talent" which I 1000% identify with).

Getting the rest of the lumber racks installed and much of the material off the floor will be a BIG win in my book, but I could really use another body for both moral support and to make the task of installing racks move more quickly.

 

[swsman]

I am in the similar predicament as Kay and Bessy,

Garage and projects have been on mind for a while now, just no drive to give it my full attention.

With the passing of my dad last week I have been giving it all a lot more thought. Think a good purge is coming.

Moms car needs a new steering rack, and HVAC actuators, well within my abilities and think I am tooled up for the work.

My F250 at 151k is in need of a front end service, time to make it nice and tight again. I maintain it well and am not looking for replacement anytime soon.

Fun car (NB Miata) has been sitting garaged for closing in on two years, I was very busy with work and what time I did have was enjoyed motorcycle riding.

Picked up a very nice 1st gen KLR 650 in July last year - in October an inattentive driver pulled an illegal Uturn right in front of me.
I cashed a life out that day.

My Ninja 650 is still there for me to ride, however I have been thinking about something different.

Yamaha 450 Kodiak ATV is a small repair away from being enjoyed this coming season, need to replace a fuel float bowl and change the oil. Already went through differentials, brakes, and some other bits.

I have majority of my workbenches/tool boxes set up the way I like them.
Now a big job ahead of me is purging extra tools and getting the garage under control, basically I want my project space back like I had prior to amassing extra toys.

Thinking about moving on the fun car and Ninja 650 - turning that into a ZX14R (I never said I was smart).

That leaves me with my truck, atv, camper trailer and a very capable motorcycle.

Plan for the bike is to take it cross country - have a good friend in TX, other friend in AZ. Always wanted to do a decent motorcycle road trip...

Life is short boys, we better get busy.

 

[M.Brane]

Some big projects are not by choice, but necessity. The blood pressure medication is helping with my motivation. Still way too much work, and not enough play.

 

[vwpieces]

Buddy sent me a Mercedes fuel pump to take apart and reseal. Believe it or not, it wasn't leaking at this rusty body Oring. Leaked at the electrical connection seal.
Always draw blood opening one of these and this one was no different. But it works well and no leaks.

 

[ambenz]

Nice day yesterday for an oil change. I use Mobil One Full Synthetic 10,000 mile 5W20 and only ran 4,000 but it was over a year since I put in the last change, so...could I have ran the full mileage and forget about how old the oil is??? IDK for sure and the reason I changed it.....

 

[niget2002]

I aired up the tires on the Ranger today, I saw someone had a Milwaukee version of this tire inflator on here, I bought this one when I saw his a while back, just because I have more Dewalt batteries... regardless of brand, these things are amazing. I haven't use my compressor since I got it!

I bought the same one. I have to agree. It's pretty amazing. It put a few smaller pumps I own out of business.

As for me, I modified the kayak rails for the lumber rack to fix something I didn't like. Then I painted them and reinstalled them on the rack.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Stained 22 pieces of beadboard last night. 176' LF and a pita.

 

[zanyad]

The cardboard made in USA foldable containers turn out to be inexpensive, rugged, and very space efficient for organizing.

@Prospecter, do you have a link or source for those? TIA!

 

[Prospecter]

Amazon.com

I bought mine off Amazon. There seem to be multiple sizes and multiple US manufacturers. Probably doesn't make much difference who you order from.

 

[Outlawmws]

Fell off this thread since last Friday or so!

No, just trying to get it to work period.

It pops a warning that the Start Menu is broken and will try to fix on the next log in and wants you to log out.

It can get past the warning but the start menu doesn't give you access to anything. Keep getting a McAfee expiration window and wants to renew. I can't even access the Apps to delete it.

This thing is jammed full of pictures and Hymnal files they used for church. I was trying to delete that stuff trying to see if it would at least speed up a bit.... At one point, emptying the Recycle Bin, it flashed over a gig being deleted.

Yeah, I don't know... probably wasting my time but on the bright side, I'm not at work.

Dismantled said computer...

are you trying to recovers the files and such? You can change drive jumpers and make it a secondary drive, and likely go get them with a different OS that does work.

it's material and supplies that create most of the disorganization.

This it for me; and projects, both current and future... Plus we are still assimilating from my mom's estate.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Fell off this thread since last Friday or so!






are you trying to recovers the files and such? You can change drive jumpers and make it a secondary drive, and likely go get them with a different OS that does work.

I had already gotten the pictures off the PC. I was trying to get the thing to work. It's not longer an issue nor is it in one piece. It originally started with a CMOS issue and I was trying to reset it. However, apparently it had other issues. I "resolved" those issues.

 

[CoogarXR]

Went out to fire up the Cougar for the first start of the season the other day. The battery was dead. So I put it on the charger all night and it fired up fine the next day. Today? Dead again. I looked at the date code, the battery is 8 years old. Man, time flies. Called around a couple places, they all wanted $150-220 for a new battery. Money is tight right now, so I just went to the junk yard and bought a $40 used one. I plopped it in there and hopefully I'm good to go for a little while.

At least at the junk yard I was able to experiment with sizes. It always had a group 56 battery, and I was able to squeeze a 24 in there just fine. That's nice because 56's are so chintzy. At least now I know a 24 will fit in the future.

 

[imagineer]

Daughter Imagineer asked if I could come up with something to make it easier for her to clean the covered chicken run . . . so I present, the Coop Poop Super Scoop!

I rummaged the bins of scrap materials and found some perforated stainless (from a retired powder coat oven) and some tubing (from a retired bicycle carrier) and whipped this beauty together in about 15 minutes.

 

[partsguy5768]

Nothing yet...but headed that way this afternoon to work on my new paint booth and maybe the car. I did get my entry in for the Redwood Ralley as registration opened at 12.00 noon and you have to be on as all 280 entries sell out in a few minutes. Maybe I'll pull the ****** this afternoon in the car as I hurt it in last years event...

 

[2Rocky]

Welded the 3/4 inch tubing leg back together on a Horse Hayrack. Found an old bolt to put inside it and slathered some molten metal around enough to make it hold. Used a scrap piece of angle iron to go over the fracture to lend enough strength. Will be a race to see if it rusts out or breaks again first.

 

[Magnum440d100]

Nothing much, but gotta be able to get the red truck out. But there is wood in the way.


It’s JUNK wood. Twisted/no good. The above pic was after I already chopped some up. But I got the majority of it chopped into wood stove size

And pulled the nails out

Got the driveway clear.

With the weather warming up, I will probably be finishing the motor on this truck. I need heads and such. Plus I wanted my parking spot back! lol

 

[GRN96WS6]

Started disassembly to re seal the erl pan.

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

A bit of progress on the bilge plate. The aluminum plate and aluminum/ powder coated battery tray arrived. Basically roughed it out, test fit, a smidge of finish work and called it done for today. I dug through my scrap pile of aluminum, gonna have to order some, I don't quite have enough 1/2 or 3/8s to make the mounting pucks I have in my head. I'll snag some hardware tomorrow and get the battery tray and oil tank holder mounted/ through bolted. Oil tank holder holder is in line for some primer and paint as well. Pics no order...

Edit - I'm certain the reduced price of the battery tray is a result of the color...its NC blue in person, not the dark blue that is the signature color of where they cam from..but aluminum powder coated tray for what I payed, they could be any color. I ordered 4, I'll get to the other 3 batteries later. Need some R&D time for them and this project allows me to work on the other three without touching this one.

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

Started disassembly to re seal the erl pan.

That sounds like an in depth task...that I wouldn't be interested in.

 

[Outlawmws]

And pulled the nails out

Unless its in the way of the blade, I long ago stopped pulling staples and nails from firewood. It's far easier to use a garden claw and magnet to remove them from the ash...

 

[smackey05]

Found my RC cars from college and have been working getting them running. The truck on the right is now running! Had a frozen carburetor and what was left in it for fuel turned into gel. Lots of work to clean it out and get it going again. Still needs some tuning work, but happy it is running!

The buggy on the left is a 1/8 scale Ofna. Engine is frozen, pull start is broken, rear driveshaft is missing, and it feels like the rear differential is missing. I've been spending time on ebay sourcing parts since they don't make these anymore..

 

[PassnThru]

Day 2 of a project I'm not sure I ever should have started.
Our front door is original to the house - solid pine - very heavy door - a little over 50 years old at this point. It was white when I bought the house - I painted it green. We've been thinking about repainting it but couldn't really decide on a color. I remarked to SWMBO that it would be nice if we could strip the paint off and stain and poly it. I think I would like it to be natural wood again but she really latched on to the idea so off I go.
Before:

Here is where I'm at after day 2:

I've never really done paint stripping on this level before so it's been a learning experience. I did actually get twice as much done today as I did yesterday so hopefully that trend continues but I really wasn't prepared for the amount of work this would involve.
Gonna be a slow grind to the end.
I really need to start thinking these things through before I jump in.

 

[SouthernIllinois]

Got radiant tube heat installed and I got my redneck compressed air cooler/dryer put together.

 

[XJSuperman]

Another day, another piece

 

[Outlawmws]

I remarked to SWMBO that it would be nice if we could strip the paint off and stain and poly it. I think I would like it to be natural wood again but she really latched on to the idea so off I go.

We stripped some french doors from the 20's (skeleton key locks) that were once either front or rear doors to an old house in "that part of town". Many, many layers of paint, and I used stripper to keep the lead dust problem down. We had some patching of holes and such to do, so painted them again. These are now the double doors to the "office/den/bedroom" we use as an office.

Well worth the work and should be good for another 100 years. I replaced the locks with working originals, and even have the key for them. All original glass near as I can tell. If we ever sell the plan is to take the doors with us... I'l replace them with modern.

I'm still watching for 2 sets of the fancy ornate hinges...

 

[Kent_B]

To add to the chain of foolishness. I think I've got too many interests. Gardening, landscaping, home repair, auto repair, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, swimming, motorcycling, metalworking, boating, woodworking, turning, machine work, electronics, CNC laser, stained glass, painting, programming, you-name-it. And all the maintenance n whatnot that goes with them. Most folks I know have one or two things they do. I just can't imagine cutting back.

you're severely multi-talented.

This evening my daughter's girlfriend & I did an oil change on her 2018 Focus, cleaned up a horribly corroded battery terminal and reset her oil life light. She's game to learn anything and is a pleasure to have in my garage. She also has an uncanny ability to anticipate any tool I might be thinking about and have it at the ready. She's a natural, Her new name is "Radar."

 

[Outlawmws]

Another day, another piece

That is looking great!

 

[kaymccampbell]

Prepped the hopefully, hopefully, last last last, shipment until Fall. Unwrapped some Jeff's Happy Jungle goodies. Recased my tablet. Cut up some PVC pipe. Checked a big conversion chart. Dreamed.

 

[kaymccampbell]

you're severely multi-talented.

Sorry. I forgot 3D printing.

 

[GRN96WS6]

That sounds like an in depth task...that I wouldn't be interested in.

It's not too bad, remove a brace, downpipe, transfer case and oil drain tube from the turbo. Easy work.

 

[DGersic]

We’re finally getting some nice weather here. Unfortunately, I’ve been kept busy with family stuff, then spent a week being sick, and now am having the dual joys of plantar fasciitis (left foot) and something that went “pop” in my right knee. So the stuff I want to be doing, isn’t getting done.

I did at least spend some time in the garage, mostly puttering.



Drained the gas out of the snowblower and ran the engine to empty the carb bowl. It’s ready to be stored, barely even got used this year. But I didn’t feel like rearranging the shed to “summer”, so the snow blower can stay in the garage a while longer yet.

A month or so ago, had a roof leak fixed, and got a new vent installed for the kitchen. When the old one was removed, the roofer found the remains of bread stuffed in it. Seems the squirrels stored some in there. The new vent has a piece of hardware cloth as a (factory) squirrel deterrent. Nice. I have the same vent on the bathroom. So a little Cardboard Aided Design using the old vent cover.






Not climbing on the roof right now, so the installation will have to wait.

Cleaned off both workbenches.



There was some other cleaning and flinging, and rearranging of the cabinets above the workbench.

Now if I could just get my knee to cooperate.

 

[kaymccampbell]

We’re finally getting some nice weather here. Unfortunately, I’ve been kept busy with family stuff, then spent a week being sick, and now am having the dual joys of plantar fasciitis (left foot) and something that went “pop” in my right knee. So the stuff I want to be doing, isn’t getting done.

I did at least spend some time in the garage, mostly puttering.
.

Puttering is a time honored tradition. I need to do about 3 months of it. Then 9 more months of pounding out real projects. Then I'll be where I was supposed to be at Xmas.

If you tape the ball of your foot, and the heel. Then run a tight strap of tape between the two, so that the arch isn't allowed to stretch out, it'll give you some relief. Or you can go see the podiatrist to get it taped.

For the popping knee, I'd put an Ace bandage on it, not too tight, to hold the knee cap still and give things some lateral support.

 

[DGersic]

Puttering is a time honored tradition. I need to do about 3 months of it. Then 9 more months of pounding out real projects. Then I'll be where I was supposed to be at Xmas.

If you tape the ball of your foot, and the heel. Then run a tight strap of tape between the two, so that the arch isn't allowed to stretch out, it'll give you some relief. Or you can go see the podiatrist to get it taped.

For the popping knee, I'd put an Ace bandage on it, not too tight, to hold the knee cap still and give things some lateral support.

Podiatrist has me doing some stretches and using diclofenac gel,on the foot. Seems to be helping. It wasn’t bad just annoying ache in my heel.

Other doctor has me using a brace and steroids for the knee.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I bought the same one. I have to agree. It's pretty amazing. It put a few smaller pumps I own out of business.

As for me, I modified the kayak rails for the lumber rack to fix something I didn't like. Then I painted them and reinstalled them on the rack.

How fast is it? Any 12 volt one I’ve ever had was slow as hell. The type that plugs into the cigarette lighter. That’s power port incase any millennials are reading this.lol

 

[niget2002]

How fast is it? Any 12 volt one I’ve ever had was slow as hell. The type that plugs into the cigarette lighter. That’s power port incase any millennials are reading this.lol

It's probably about the same speed. But the chuck screws on and it has an auto shut off. If I'm just topping off it's not too bad. If it has a lot to fill, then I hit start and go do something else.

I mostly only use it where the big compressor doesn't reach. It is faster in that I don't have to drag out a hose or extension cord to use it.

 

[zmotorsports]

Found my RC cars from college and have been working getting them running. The truck on the right is now running! Had a frozen carburetor and what was left in it for fuel turned into gel. Lots of work to clean it out and get it going again. Still needs some tuning work, but happy it is running!

The buggy on the left is a 1/8 scale Ofna. Engine is frozen, pull start is broken, rear driveshaft is missing, and it feels like the rear differential is missing. I've been spending time on ebay sourcing parts since they don't make these anymore..

My son had several nitro RC's that he played with during his college years. He boxed them up when we moved 8 years ago and only recently took them from our house to his home and I think he has now started tinkering with them along with his 2-year-old son who thinks they are the greatest thing.

 

[rcktpwrd]

Moved a 10' A-frame ladder out of the garage and hung it on the side of the shed with a couple hooks I picked up at Harbor Freight. I already had the extension ladder hanging there.