What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[kaymccampbell]

I was trying to explain to a 30-something the other day how my control system for the brewery hot water works.

When I started explaining relay logic his eyes just glassed over... it's gotta use an Arduino or it just don't make sense.

That's like me explaining the electromechanical logic I designed for the dumbwaiter. You'd swear I was talking about alien tech.

 

[kaymccampbell]

This thing that we're looking at the back of

It's a horizontal mill. Kids....

 

[XJSuperman]

Puttered around putting things away last night, trying to be productive in the heat. Unfortunately the beer was cold and the garage was hot, so after the low hanging fruit were put away my motivation dropped off. Tonight might be more of the same, or possibly some rearranging/project wind-up.

 

[partsguy5768]

Always wanted one of those. I’ve moved so many times that it would have been worth it for me to pay full price for a new one, but I’m a cheap ***.

That’s a winter job if I ever heard of one.

Well this ended up being cheap. 97.00 but the china unit appeared used so i called Amazon... they just took 30.00 off. Now 67.00

 

[stihlcollector]

I built this coffee table my senior year of high school wood shop in 1976, for my Mom. It had a big oval piece of glass in it, which my younger sister broke twice, and then years later my niece broke twice, so mom was done and it ended up in the shed. I brought it home with me when I closed out their house in Texas a few years ago, and since there isn't room in the house, and my wife really doesn't like it anyway, I made a wood top insert and decorated it with car license tags.


Now it is a display table in the chain saw area and it fits right in. (The wife is from Alabama so I had to include one for her!)

 

[Old Man Roger]

I was talking about alien tech.

Mm hm.

Well this ended up being cheap. 97.00 but the china unit appeared used so i called Amazon... they just took 30.00 off. Now 67.00

I guess for that price, as long as it works.

 

[aaustins14]

Disclaimer: Non ‘in the garage’ post but relates to this thread.

I enjoy following along this thread and adding along when I have accomplished something in my shop or feel I have something somewhat useful to comment. Even if I’m not participating it is nice to have a thread that continues on like conversations with friends.

With that being said, I am very curious the age or position in life that y’all are.

I am a young man who has been blessed with a house with a 2 car garage + an attached 2car shop.

I’m just on the shy side of 30 years old, but it seems like age somewhat disappears on the forum and experience and life earned wisdom is what comes out.

Anyway I’m sure some of you could be my parents and probably grandparents. I won’t make the stretch and say great-grandparents but you never know.

Rant over. Good conversations with an age spread of probably 50? years.

-A

 

[partsguy5768]

Mm hm.

I guess for that price, as long as it works.

67.00? Good grief a good burger fries and drink is 15.00... just used it to unload 3/4 sheet of medite and rolled into the shop. It doesn't just work. It works just as it should. Smooth, quiet, rolls very nice, lifts at least 500lbs so far effortlessly. Not sure what else its supposed to do. I suppose a 21 year old fit chic in a bikini running it would make it better... but other then that not sure what would make it better in your book.

 

[Hooked]

Thought I'd give a report on the recent expenditure I was obligated to spend as a result of the LoadHandler link a week or so back.
The good news is assembly was easy then I hauled and, easily, unloaded 3, 2-yard loads of mulch on Tuesday. Only took a couple minutes per load. Actually unloaded 4 but one was done manually off my trailer, left there from last week because it started raining.
The not-so-good news is the mounting brackets don't fit properly on the tailgate of my 1994 F350. The instructions say it should be 'snug' but it is very loose such that when pressure is applied the whole things drops down degrading the effectiveness of the thing. So, each load we had to spend time messing with the thing to get it 'rolling' correctly. With that going on the mat rolled up off center which mashed it up on one end.
I plan to call them to see if I did something wrong or there's just an inherent problem with my particular tailgate size.

 

[oldman_pottering]

While everyone else was in their garages doing fun stuff, I was up in my attic crawling around trying to figure out how to make some duct connections.

Sucked to be me yesterday!

sounds like hot work, I imagine it's your summer time over there ?

 

[zanyad]

Is that a pantograph in the second picture?

Im not sure what your looking at but there is a lathe, drill press, Barker horizontal mill and a Bridgeport!

This thing that we're looking at the back of

Niget2002, I see the aforementioned Barker horizontal mill on a rolling table. It's got a swiveling milling vise on the table, a slab cutter in the spindle, and the overarm support above. The motor is hanging off the contraption at the bottom right, linked belt to the large pulley, V-belt (?) to the spindle pulley. Some major speed reduction going on there.

 

[Old Man Roger]

67.00? Good grief a good burger fries and drink is 15.00... just used it to unload 3/4 sheet of medite and rolled into the shop. It doesn't just work. It works just as it should. Smooth, quiet, rolls very nice, lifts at least 500lbs so far effortlessly. Not sure what else its supposed to do. I suppose a 21 year old fit chic in a bikini running it would make it better... but other then that not sure what would make it better in your book.

You misunderstood my post. My point was normally I would return a used part, but yours works and was super affordable. Like you, in this case, I would have been happy with the purchase.

 

[partsguy5768]

You misunderstood my post. My point was normally I would return a used part, but yours works and was super affordable. Like you, in this case, I would have been happy with the purchase.

Lol i guess i did. Have a great day!

 

[ATC]

97°F outside....probably 130 in the garage. I ain't doin' nothin' out there!

 

[partsguy5768]

97°F outside....probably 130 in the garage. I ain't doin' nothin' out there!

About the same here.... 72 in my shop. Mini split........

 

[SouthernIllinois]

Having a water heater in the shed cannot be overrated. Set that thing to stupid hot and it makes cleaning $hit “pleasant”.

Of course having a driveway will help with keeping mud out of the shed

 

[ObnoxiousFumes]

But I did try one hack that I saw on the tube of youse that worked. Had a helluva time seeing sat night. Headlight lenses totally fogged over.

Deep woods off, 25% deet, rinse with vinegar, perfecto. I have tried them all, bought the kits, but this is the best one. The cleanest I've ever got them. Now to see how long it lasts.

The problem is the UV protection layer gets removed, by sanding or whatever, and so they cloud up quite quickly again. The best way is sand them down and shoot a coat of good UV resistant clear on them.

 

[kaymccampbell]

The problem is the UV protection layer gets removed, by sanding or whatever, and so they cloud up quite quickly again. The best way is sand them down and shoot a coat of good UV resistant clear on them.

WipeNew provides a decent coating that doesn't cloud up, and doesn't require the paint gun. The Burg's headlights and dash are going on 10 years. The PT headlights are going on 6.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Shuffled the bench. Filled the chainsaw. Slapped the batteries in the chargers. Took the Dingo n PW out. Later, put the Dingo back in. Dusted.

 

[oldman_pottering]

Disclaimer: Non ‘in the garage’ post but relates to this thread.

I enjoy following along this thread and adding along when I have accomplished something in my shop or feel I have something somewhat useful to comment. Even if I’m not participating it is nice to have a thread that continues on like conversations with friends.

With that being said, I am very curious the age or position in life that y’all are.

I am a young man who has been blessed with a house with a 2 car garage + an attached 2car shop.

I’m just on the shy side of 30 years old, but it seems like age somewhat disappears on the forum and experience and life earned wisdom is what comes out.

Anyway I’m sure some of you could be my parents and probably grandparents. I won’t make the stretch and say great-grandparents but you never know.

Rant over. Good conversations with an age spread of probably 50? years.

-A

I never had old age when I was young

 

[kaymccampbell]

With that being said, I am very curious the age or position in life that y’all are.

I'm an early boomer, retired, Dark Princess of Halfassed.

 

[nadogail]

My Amazon order from yesterday arrived and after working with my fitness trainer and enjoying Lunch I center punched two holes drilled and tapped them for 10-32 and mounted the Switch Box on the bracket I welded yesterday.

The shadows began to get long and I decided to call it an afternoon.

The Part Time Office Manager has arrived and we will be going to work right away

 

[micromind]

About the same here.... 72 in my shop. Mini split........

Same here, swamp cooler.

 

[CoogarXR]

It was only 900 degrees today instead of the 1000 it's been for the last several days, so I hung some led shop lights in the new garage. Two over the bench/toolboxes, one over the parts bins. I have one more to put on the other side of the garage, but I was sweating too hard, lol. I'll leave that for another day. At least I can see now.

 

[Beerhippie]

It was only 900 degrees today instead of the 1000 it's been for the last several days, so I hung some led shop lights in the new garage. Two over the bench/toolboxes, one over the parts bins. I have one more to put on the other side of the garage, but I was sweating too hard, lol. I'll leave that for another day. At least I can see now.

Standing on a ladder up in the rafters isn't really the best place to be on a hot afternoon.

 

[kaymccampbell]

It was only 900 degrees today instead of the 1000 it's been for the last several days, so I hung some led shop lights in the new garage. Two over the bench/toolboxes, one over the parts bins. I have one more to put on the other side of the garage, but I was sweating too hard, lol. I'll leave that for another day. At least I can see now.

Crapazon sells nifty headbands. I wear one in the blistering heat, so the burning sweat stays out of my eyes.

 

[rd65]

Crapazon sells nifty headbands. I wear one in the blistering heat, so the burning sweat stays out of my eyes.

Damn straight, I've got a pair in the shop, garage, and work. Sweat running down your glasses lense just *****. I miss contacts.

 

[firebirdparts]

Calibrated my tire balancer today. Been putting it off forever. It's an old Coats 1001. thank goodness for the internet. You can even find the service manual out there for free.

 

[DGersic]

Fenders back on:



Part of that was yesterday, finished today & got the wheels back on.


Last time I used the tank weed sprayer, it‘s leaking. Debugging it:




The leak is at the cover for the spring on the trigger valve. Looks like this little piece of rubber is no longer sealing.




I tried cutting a rubber seal. It helped, but still leaking. So I goobered up the threads with some silicon. We’ll see if that helps. If not, I guess HF can sell me another one.




Cleaned, flung, and put away stuff. Benches cleaned off.

 

[oldman_pottering]

I tried cutting a rubber seal. It helped, but still leaking.

Could you try leather ?
I was in the shed of an old Italian bloke many many years ago and he had all sorts of bit's 'n bobs saved including tongues of old boots etc, he would make tap washers from them

 

[TurnipTruck]

Today’s goal was to fix this thirty five year old floorjack.

I loaned it out to a friend twenty years ago who bent it somehow, so it had a pretty hefty parallelogram to the frame. I straightened it out no problem, but it would immediately fold over again under load. To fix THAT, I welded plate steel to the bottom. After the repair, and since I had several other jacks, this one became the outside jack because it wouldn’t sink in the gravel.
Recently (this century, I think), the handle started jamming or popping out due to all the dragging and tugging it has suffered, and I had had enough. I unscrewed the handle capture bolt and found its little dog point had been jaggedly sheared off. I needed to make a new step bolt.

Here is the old and the new:


And the channel in the handle that the dog point engages: Focus!


BUT. To get to this point, I had to find a 3 jaw chuck, since neither of the chucks on my prewar Atlas Babbitt lathe would hold a small hex reliably. WTH, is that a 2.5 inch 3jaw?


I found a local machinist had a surplus new-in-box imported 5” 3jaw, and eBay had a cast iron back plate that would adapt it to my 1.5”-8 headstock with a little machining and a little drilling.

Viola! Chips!


And now I know a little more about what tooling this abused antique lathe needs. Also, I won’t have to crawl under another precariously-supported truck because the handle pulled off again.


Dog. Point!

 

[DGersic]

Could you try leather ?
I was in the shed of an old Italian bloke many many years ago and he had all sorts of bit's 'n bobs saved including tongues of old boots etc, he would make tap washers from them

I probably could have, but it’s now silicon in the threads.

 

[four.cycle]

My buddy came over earlier. He was going to start on the window crank on the Ranger, but we got distracted.
So he overhauled the garage door opener remote that's been giving me fits for two years.
Took a bit of imagination and about 30 trips out into the garage to find a tiny piece of wire, terminal, screw and nut, etc.
Seems to work just dandy now.
Then he fixed the window crank on the Ranger. He installed a new window regulator last week, but unfortunately the hole into which the screw that holds the crank handle to the regulator wasn't threaded, so I went down to Tacoma Screw this morning and bought a tap and a drill. So nice when I can roll the window up and down without a major hassle.
He was pretty happy with the "DuraTech" thin metric open ends, and the electrical connector pliers.
Yes, yes.... the photo is out of focus... but then so are we most of the time.

 

[2001ZR2]

I got a job done on the driveway done before the thunderstorms started. Pulled the HVAC blower out of the 1997 Suburban. Cleaned the air box and heater core out. Got a lot of leaves and dirt out. Should help the air significantly. Parts from Rock Auto to fix A/C system schedule to arrive tomorrow.

Had done this once before but was able to use the Bauer Mirco detailing kit from HF this time to clear out the leaves and vacuum the fins.

Micro-Cleaning Accessory Kit for Wet/Dry Vacuums, 9-Piece https://share.google/ulwXnIGqhRHRPNQjs

 

[bugnut]

Fired up the printer , cleaned, flung, and sorted

 

[red61cj5]

Pulled the bed off my son’s 14 f150 to do some rust mitigation before it gets out of control. My old 2005 still ran great but the rear frame got so bad it wasn’t safe anymore. This one’s gonna get power washed, POR-15’d, then fluid filmed with bed off. Bed supports are the first to go on these trucks, these look bad but are actually salvageable.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Today’s goal was to fix this thirty five year old floorjack.

I loaned it out to a friend twenty years ago who bent it somehow, so it had a pretty hefty parallelogram to the frame. I straightened it out no problem, but it would immediately fold over again under load. To fix THAT, I welded plate steel to the bottom. After the repair, and since I had several other jacks, this one became the outside jack because it wouldn’t sink in the gravel.
Recently (this century, I think), the handle started jamming or popping out due to all the dragging and tugging it has suffered, and I had had enough. I unscrewed the handle capture bolt and found its little dog point had been jaggedly sheared off. I needed to make a new step bolt.

Here is the old and the new:


And the channel in the handle that the dog point engages: Focus!


BUT. To get to this point, I had to find a 3 jaw chuck, since neither of the chucks on my prewar Atlas Babbitt lathe would hold a small hex reliably. WTH, is that a 2.5 inch 3jaw?


I found a local machinist had a surplus new-in-box imported 5” 3jaw, and eBay had a cast iron back plate that would adapt it to my 1.5”-8 headstock with a little machining and a little drilling.

Viola! Chips!


And now I know a little more about what tooling this abused antique lathe needs. Also, I won’t have to crawl under another precariously-supported truck because the handle pulled off again.


Dog. Point!

I have that same jack, and probably just as old. I only have a 4 jaw chuck on my antique lathe, so I won’t haze you for buying a 3 jaw chuck instead of just getting a longer bolt.lol

How would a longer bolt have saved you from buying a 3 jaw chuck you ask? You chuck the threaded end of the longer bolt, You sacrifice the threads at the end of the longer bolt.

But let’s be honest, a 3 jaw is so much quicker for stuff like this. I’d probably use my lathe more often if I had a 3 jaw.

 

[Skyman]

My buddy came over earlier. He was going to start on the window crank on the Ranger, but we got distracted.
So he overhauled the garage door opener remote that's been giving me fits for two years.
Took a bit of imagination and about 30 trips out into the garage to find a tiny piece of wire, terminal, screw and nut, etc.
Seems to work just dandy now.
Then he fixed the window crank on the Ranger. He installed a new window regulator last week, but unfortunately the hole into which the screw that holds the crank handle to the regulator wasn't threaded, so I went down to Tacoma Screw this morning and bought a tap and a drill. So nice when I can roll the window up and down without a major hassle.
He was pretty happy with the "DuraTech" thin metric open ends, and the electrical connector pliers.
Yes, yes.... the photo is out of focus... but then so are we most of the time.

Nicely done. I particularly like the clever soldering iron stand.

 

[four.cycle]

Nicely done. I particularly like the clever soldering iron stand.

In 1981, right after I met this guy, we went over to one of my girlfriend's houses. She had a BIC lighter that wasn't working properly.
He disassembled it, reversed the flint, stretched the spring out a wee bit, re-attached the metal cap, and voila! Back in working order.
There's a reason this is the guy who does all the work on my vehicles. Doesn't matter what it is: he'll figure out how to fix it. He was ecstatic about fixing that remote - he loves a good challenge. The screw and nut at the top is the new "contact point" for the momentary switch - which is the part that was broken. (I had previously glued the unit back together multiple times and re-soldered the wires back onto the circuit board at least twice.)

 

[rd65]

Fenders back on:



Part of that was yesterday, finished today & got the wheels back on.


Last time I used the tank weed sprayer, it‘s leaking. Debugging it:




The leak is at the cover for the spring on the trigger valve. Looks like this little piece of rubber is no longer sealing.




I tried cutting a rubber seal. It helped, but still leaking. So I goobered up the threads with some silicon. We’ll see if that helps. If not, I guess HF can sell me another one.




Cleaned, flung, and put away stuff. Benches cleaned off.

Nice door pulls on that upper cabinet. Dimmer switch pedal?