What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[Motorman55]

Worked on our Franz Hermle (Made in Germany) mantle clock. It was my wifes' parents clock that they bought in Germany over 20 years ago. Its been packed away for over a year.

Gave a couple turns of the center spring and it began to run. However the outer two wind up springs are very hard to turn. I'm afraid to mess with them right now. Hope my MIL didn't overwind them with the key.

The tone strikers work and sound on the hour, half-hour and quarter hour. It has 3 diff musical tones in addition to the 'silent' mode. It took a bit of fudging with it to get the strike count to match the hour. Currently its set an hour ahead and I'm going to leave it there for now and let the winding spring run down then set it again.

Still have to figure out why the Moon scale doesn't turn. I'm not sure how its geared to the main clock or if the two outer winding gears work with it or what? Thinking I'll break out my internal engine scope and see if I can get a look at where the gears meet. But that's for another day.

 

[Metallitubby]

Pics or it didn’t happen!!!!

It didn't happen.

 

[jade97]

I pseudo cleaned up the mess in the garage near the tool boxes and workbench, attached the Hercules cordless band saw to the stand, and took my Daytona 3 ton extended jack out of the box. All in all I feel like I accomplished something, so I'm happy.

Can't wait until we "finish the garage", hopefully this year. Paint, cabinets, new larger tool chests....

 

[jblnut]

Built the first of three shelves in the V in front of my new trailer. This was all kinds of dumb lol.

 

[DGersic]

I didn't know that was a thing. How do you like it? Is it adjustable to fit multiple bases? How do you like it?

It’s a thing.

https://www.harborfreight.com/500-lb-capacity-universal-mobile-base-70222.html

The four corner weldments are nice. The casters and locking/lifting mechanism are worth the $50. I couldn’t build it for $50.

The four side rails are two shallow C shapes, nested, so it’s adjustable to larger dimensions in both directions. Since the weight sits on the corners, the side rails aren’t supporting anything, just keeping the corners in place.

It’s pretty nice, reasonably well made, and seems like it’ll do the job.

 

[Ryan87LX]

Did some maintenance on my wife's 2016 Jeep Rubicon. Oil change, tire rotation, and rear wiper sprayer that was leaking into the passenger compartment.

 

[DGersic]

Sorta fixed my Nixie clock.

It started lighting all digits on all tubes a few weeks ago, so I unplugged it. Took it down to troubleshoot, plugged it in, and it’s working fine as shown.

Back it went to my desk, lighting all digits again. Turned out to be the cheap USB wall wart. Swapped that for a good one, clock is up and running normally again.

Good thing, too, because the original manufacturer has disappeared, and I wasn’t looking forward to reverse engineering the circuit board to figure out the failure.

 

[Pexto]

Well, my Skandic 900 ACE (Gen 4) has started running poorly, like it's starved for fuel, and so it was time to dive in and replace the fuel sock. These machines are notorious for this problem and the best guess is that there was a bad batch of fuel pumps which disintegrate slowly. The resulting black debris plugs the sock and the inline filter.

So here's what a naked Skandic looks like, with the gas tank leaning up against it on the far side. The fuel pump assembly is housed in the white circular sump visible on the gas tank.


And here's the fuel pump assembly removed from the sump. You can see there's a lot of fine black powder coating everything, and the sock is completely black. For comparison, the snow-white replacement sock is in the picture too, just above the black sock.


Here's the assembly with the new Quantum fuel pump and filter sock installed. You can see I have a new inline filter ready to go too.


Just for fun, I cut open the old inline filter. It had quite a bit of the black crud in it.


Finally, I had noticed a bent crossbar in the suspension. Not sure when it happened, but it's another common problem with these machines. So I picked up a beefier replacement from Pelican. You can see the new crossbar is quite stout; I don't think it'll bend like that old one did!

 

[bugnut]

Spent time trying to decide which container would better hold the Tow & Stow two ball hitch. I had picked up a HF Utility Ammo style box and also a 2800 Series Apache box. Either will work and I'm leaning toward the Utility Box. Measuring and cutting patterns for fitment of a 3d printed bottom to hold the hitch in location. Would save a lot of effort if I had a 3d scanner.....

As for the small like 4/5" skillet it is shallow sided and came in as a gift, I think picked up at TSC. It was a 3 wick candle that didn't last long as it was only an inch deep. Maybe useful for a dessert serving of something but not much volume.

Cornbread.

Why was it full of wax?

 

[LanceMc]

I mostly spent the day cutting grass but I did start working on organizing the 1/2" sockets. I'm going to try the toolbox widget line. It's supposed to arrive soon.

 

[FLHCHAZ]

Cleaned the bench and put all the tools away. Organized the hardware for the Project Riviera swept the floor

 

[captmoto]

A little frame paint touch up on my 2017 Husqvarna FC450.

A follow up. I remove my skid plate and shifter to do this touch up. I was admiring my shiny clean frame rails and went riding on Thursday. Still admiring the nice paint job. Checked tire air pressure, lubed chain, cleaned the goggles and get suited and booted. Fire the bike up go to put it in gear and no go because no shifter. Luckily the guy I was riding with always takes both his bikes. He loaned me his shifter from his 350 and saved the day.
And the paint job was so pretty.

 

[Mezz2006]

Got 3 more lights installed in the shop. My boys also helped me make a cover up for my new Camp Chef griddle. It started out life as a trailer fender that we were scrapping at work. Need to add a couple handles and some touch-up paint. Its not perfect, but good enough for what it is for.

 

[Beerhippie]

Day two of the "fifteen-minute-job". Removing the last three casters took nearly a half-hour, as the threads were so filthy--even after attempting to wash them down yesterday--that I had to use a wrench for every inch of the bolts, while laying on my back in filth working with six inches of clearance. It took me back to the bad old days of roadside repairs.

Out of the corner:



That was nerve-wracking. The centrifuge is not only REALLY heavy, but it's pretty top-heavy. Had some ****-clenching moments getting it onto the pallet jack and piano dolly.

There's about zero clearance in this space. Getting the pallet jack turned 90 degrees to push from the side required a crowbar to lever it into place. Getting it rolling up the gentle grade of the floor took damned near everything I had. Same for getting it stopped after passing the crown of the floor.



Pretty much where it's going to be living. Just need to square it to the wall, level it and then there's nothing but the plumbing. Sparky showed up while I was out to lunch, so the electrical is good.

My back hurts. I don't know how much that thing weighs, but all the blue parts are cast iron or steel, and everything inside them is equally dense. A couple of ibuprofen and I'm back at it.

 

[Beerhippie]

In place,



plumbed and level. My dream of having it far enough from the wall to work on it got a big veto from the brewers. No biggy--I can pull it out enough to get behind it fairly easily. Using my trusty rusty Toyota scissors jack to level it takes less than a minute.

It's back where we had it when it was new in July of '18:



Not quite as nice and shiny anymore. I'll have to get the brewers working on that.

I looked up the weight: Right about dead on one US ton.

Now we have plenty of room for a 3 bbl fermenter:



Which should look downright cute tucked in under the skirts of one of our 110 bbl ferms.

Here's what the centrifuge does:



Guess which is "before".

Now to put the tools away--like that tape measure I see in the picture--and pop the top on a nice, clear and well-earned barley pop!

 

[Blue Chips]

I've learned--the hard way--to run individual 20A circuits to each outlet box. You will overload the circuits eventually.

I bought a new house with a 2 car garage that no cars will ever fit in because of all my tools. It only had one outlet and we have a fridge and a deep freezer in it, so basically zero outlets for me which won't work as I've got a table saw, miter saw, bandsaw, router, planer, drill press, bench grinder etc. I installed a sub panel (main was full), then ran each wall on its own circuit so its tougher to trip the breaker. Each wall got three 4-gang boxes giving me 36 outlets now. I've never done wiring like this so I got a permit and got it inspected, they signed off on the first inspection so I was happy about that. Next project is a lighting upgrade!

When I rewired our old two-car garage (now my workshop), I installed a new subpanel with:

• Five 20A 120V breakers for interior receptacles (total of 20 duplex receptacles).
• One 20A 120V breaker for one outdoor receptacle.
• One 30A 240V breaker (for two receptacles).
• One 50A 240V breaker (for one receptacle).

I haven't had any issues as far as tripping any breakers, but I could certainly use some additional receptacles, mainly for more convenient access to them. One thing that I overlooked when planning the wiring was for future changes. I have a lot of equipment, cabinets, and other large items, and the initial layout of my shop has changed over time as my equipment list and needs have changed, which has resulted in some of the receptacles being blocked by something. If I had added at least one additional receptacle per wall (six walls including the center wall), it would have pretty much eliminated (or greatly reduced) the need for extension cords while working in the shop.

And I definitely could use an additional 50A 240V receptacle inside the shop and another one outside.

I now 'try' to do a better job of planning for the fact that my needs/interests/budget/equipment, etc., will change over time.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Checked the torque on the tractor lugs and loader mounting bolts. Then grabbed some bird seed and suet and went out to fill the bird feeders.

 

[Blue Chips]

As mentioned in an earlier post, I made a custom puller to remove a rear hub on my Toro Wheel Horse 522xi garden tractor and replace the oil seal. Here's the first version of the puller, which worked fine:



However, I'm planning to convert the hubs on both of my garden tractors from lug bolts to studs-and-lug-nuts to make it easier/faster to change wheels when swapping tires, installing chains, fixing flats, etc. The first version of the puller would not work with studs, because they would not extend far enough through the puller plate, which is held away from the hub by an extended part of the hub called the 'spigot.'

So, I made a new version of the puller that has a cavity to accommodate the hub spigot, which allows the plate to be tightened flat against the hub flange. That will allow the planned studs to extend through the plate, and it should also help stiffen and strengthen the flange a bit when pulling on it.



Just checking for fit:



I also added a crude, but effective 'thrust bearing' at the end of the center bolt on both pullers. I squared up the ends of the center bolts, bored a 5/16"+ hole, into which an unthreaded portion of a 5/16" grade 8 bolt and a couple of hardened washers are inserted. A little EP grease or anti-seize on and between the washers should help prevent gouging the end of the center bolt and the surface that it's pushing against. I also make it a practice to use EP grease or anti-seize on puller threads, which reduces effort and makes them last longer. I dressed the weld in the cavity a bit with my lathe, just for the heck of it.



Now I'm ready for more hub work!

 

[Beerhippie]

When I rewired our old two-car garage (now my workshop), I installed a new subpanel with:

• Five 20A 120V breakers for interior receptacles (total of 20 duplex receptacles).
• One 20A 120V breaker for one outdoor receptacle.
• One 30A 240V breaker (for two receptacles).
• One 50A breaker (for one receptacle).

I haven't had any issues as far as tripping any breakers, but I could certainly use some additional receptacles, mainly for more convenient access to them. One thing that I overlooked when planning the wiring was for future changes. I have a lot of equipment, cabinets, and other large items, and the initial layout of my shop has changed over time as my equipment list and needs have changed, which has resulted in some of the receptacles being blocked by something. If I had added at least one additional receptacle per wall (six walls including the center wall), it would have pretty much eliminated (or greatly reduced) the need for extension cords while working in the shop.

And I definitely could use an additional 50A 240V receptacle inside the shop and another one outside.

I now 'try' to do a better job of planning for the fact that my needs/interests/budget/equipment, etc., will change over time.

I use nothing but surface-mount conduit and fittings now. Makes remodeling MUCH easier.

You can add box extenders to outlet boxes to get the wiring up into surface-mount conduits.

When I build my dream home, it will have all wiring in surface-mount conduit on uni-strut--along with the plumbing. It'll also have floor drains in every room. Beats sweeping or a vacuum (because, men, like nature and dogs, abhor a vacuum).

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

Drill press progress. I slowly was able to get the motor pieces painted here and there this past week. Re-assembly, some wring, new cord, solder, shrink wrap. Old dry wires are challenging to mess with...

This is my least favorite part. The rest I actually enjoy, this..necessary evil. Electrical will always be my least favorite part of any project.

Bonus- it even works again.

Spoke to soon. I had to go back in it for a wire that was being slightly struck by the "fan". Ran out of skill and my luck expired simultaneously. One of the wires that comes out of the winded strands broke right where it exits.. I can't fix it.

I'm going to finish everything else then come back and revisit the motor. I'll casually search for a used replacement motor, but have located the replacement if I end up purchasing new. I'll be on the look out for a 20% ZORO coupon, new ones are a bit pricey.

 

[Blue Chips]

I use nothing but surface-mount conduit and fittings now. Makes remodeling MUCH easier.

I agree. My shop wiring is all inside the wall cavities, which admittedly makes it harder to upgrade than surface wiring. I originally did that because I was planning to install a bunch of permanent shelving on the walls, most of which never materialized.

However, it wouldn't be too hard to add receptacles, since all of the walls are 1/2" plywood attached with screws (not a nail anywhere), so that I can remove and reinstall an entire panel in minutes, and I made marks on the plywood to show where wires pass through the studs, so that I know the routing and which panels would need to be removed.

The ceiling is also plywood, screwed to the joists, and wiring in the ceiling is accessible from the attic without having to remove the ceiling panels.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Relocated the NAS box to resolve cable issues.
Worked in CAD to generate the interlocking halves for the deck railing post plinth. Started them in PLA to test.
Marked the front of the printer so I know which way the little chip drives go in.
Had thoughts, but the headache called it.
Updated my to-do list.

 

[niget2002]

Taught my son how to do water slide decals.

 

[guang]

I just cleaned up a corner of my garage and rearranged a few shelves. Feels good to start small!

 

[LanceMc]

Started on the toolbox organization project following the arrival of some stuff from Toolbox Widget. I like it well enough I think I'll order more to finish the sockets. Last month I bought an old Craftsman griplatch top chest that matches the roller cabinet. I kept the original top chest so I have lots of space for organizing things the way I'd like.

 

[LanceMc]

In the last picture is that a Craftsman V Series long flex head ratchet?

Well, my Skandic 900 ACE (Gen 4) has started running poorly, like it's starved for fuel, and so it was time to dive in and replace the fuel sock. These machines are notorious for this problem and the best guess is that there was a bad batch of fuel pumps which disintegrate slowly. The resulting black debris plugs the sock and the inline filter.

So here's what a naked Skandic looks like, with the gas tank leaning up against it on the far side. The fuel pump assembly is housed in the white circular sump visible on the gas tank.


And here's the fuel pump assembly removed from the sump. You can see there's a lot of fine black powder coating everything, and the sock is completely black. For comparison, the snow-white replacement sock is in the picture too, just above the black sock.


Here's the assembly with the new Quantum fuel pump and filter sock installed. You can see I have a new inline filter ready to go too.


Just for fun, I cut open the old inline filter. It had quite a bit of the black crud in it.


Finally, I had noticed a bent crossbar in the suspension. Not sure when it happened, but it's another common problem with these machines. So I picked up a beefier replacement from Pelican. You can see the new crossbar is quite stout; I don't think it'll bend like that old one did!

 

[Outlawmws]

Got up early this morning with coffee and headed out to keep working on that panel section.

FFS! It's a trailer!

You're a better (body)man than I, Gunga Din.

Totally the same here. for a "Not a bodyman" you are doing some really great work!

I use nothing but surface-mount conduit and fittings now. Makes remodeling MUCH easier.

Same here all surface mount except for the original light and one , no, two outlets and two switches the builders put in. I took custody of the place, came over the same day and stripped every "hanging nail" in the garage; insulated all the walls in the garage and then started putting up sheet rock... Power came later, but not by much!

I just cleaned up a corner of my garage and rearranged a few shelves. Feels good to start small!

I need to start doing this...

 

[pancholasvegas]

Totally the same here. for a "Not a bodyman" you are doing some really great work!




Same here all surface mount except for the original light and one , no, two outlets and two switches the builders put in. I took custody of the place, came over the same day and stripped every "hanging nail" in the garage; insulated all the walls in the garage and then started putting up sheet rock... Power came later, but not by much!




I need to start doing this...

Thank you for the kind words - Just doing the best I can and trying to get better as I go!

 

[jblnut]

The next two shelves went waaaaaaay quicker. They fit better as well !! I laid in them to screw the plywood down so if they can hold my fatass I think they’ll hold anything we put on them lol

 

[Pexto]

In the last picture is that a Craftsman V Series long flex head ratchet?

Indeed it is! I scored a lot of V-series stuff when it was dirt cheap last winter. You'll note that ratchet is sporting a V-series 8mm hex bit.

And in the 1st pic there is a V-series nutdriver. It's hanging out with it's USAG Torx brethren; I think they were discussing their common Facom heritage.

 

[zachgeo]

I organized... a lot. A few years ago, I inherited my dad's garage (along with the rest of the house, of course!) together with decades of equal parts junk and treasure. It's taken a couple of years to get rid of enough junk to make the garage usable - I couldn't even get to the workbench without towing out his inoperable old Cadi, which I finally sold a couple months ago (after flirting with the idea of restoring it). He had some really good tools but was never very organized. Hand tools were all over the place in random drawers, shelves and cabinets, and many of them are now sitting in a bucket of vinegar to get some rust off of them. Now that I have access to the bench, this weekend I set up a pegboard and bought a tool chest to put next to it (after clearing away a mound of random stuff). Between his old tools and mine, there's a lot of redundancy, but extras will reside in a portable toolbox to throw in the car when I go repair things at my family's apartment building. This is just the beginning, there's still a lot of stuff in there (lots of saws for some reason). After years of condominium living, having a garage and a workbench again is downright exciting! Overhead lighting is definitely my next project.

 

[ObnoxiousFumes]

but thankful, this was printed, & probably in the 80s based on addressing.

Looks like typewriter to me. Pretty cool.

 

[TheRealZeus]

Likely, with them multi-strikes.

 

[Outlawmws]

many of them are now sitting in a bucket of vinegar to get some rust off of them.

Don't leave them in the vinegar too long - one on guy GJ destroyed a big vise after I think months in the stuff.

 

[niget2002]

I tried cleaning the burr grinder on the espresso machine over the weekend and screwed something up. It got compacted with grinds.

I carried the machine out to the shop and blew the grinds out with the air compressor. Now the shop has a combination of mahogany, lacquer thinner and coffee smell.

Late last night I swapped the new disks into the server and watched the array rebuild.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Point taken, but in my defense, I find it difficult to half-*** stuff.

Good point on the crank as well. If I didn't have a spare, I would have done exactly that - smoothed out the edges and run it.

Totally understand, and trust that you won’t be the first or the last to way over do it for that race.lol I bet theres been more than one car that started as a lemons project that became keepers.

 

[zachgeo]

Don't leave them in the vinegar too long - one on guy GJ destroyed a big vise after I think months in the stuff.

Just a 24 hour bath - taking them out and scrubbing them down when I get home from work tonight. Most of the rust is pretty light, thankfully, except for one pair of large tin snips.

 

[JEFFREYWisconsin]

Put a Christmas gift out in my shop. Anyone else have a pencil holder/mug that matches one of your vehicles? I wouldn't think to get one, but my wife would and I must say, I feel different now.

 

[Motorman55]

Worked on our Franz Hermle (Made in Germany) mantle clock. It was my wifes' parents clock that they bought in Germany over 20 years ago. Its been packed away for over a year.

Gave a couple turns of the center spring and it began to run. However the outer two wind up springs are very hard to turn. I'm afraid to mess with them right now. Hope my MIL didn't overwind them with the key.

The tone strikers work and sound on the hour, half-hour and quarter hour. It has 3 diff musical tones in addition to the 'silent' mode. It took a bit of fudging with it to get the strike count to match the hour. Currently its set an hour ahead and I'm going to leave it there for now and let the winding spring run down then set it again.

Still have to figure out why the Moon scale doesn't turn. I'm not sure how its geared to the main clock or if the two outer winding gears work with it or what? Thinking I'll break out my internal engine scope and see if I can get a look at where the gears meet. But that's for another day.

Well I did a little research and found out how to set that Moon dial. You turn it clockwise untill you see the number 29-1/2, then move back the number of days since the last full moon. So if its been say 15 days since the last full moon. you turn the dial counterclockwise untill you see the number 15. Once set it moves around clockwise very slowly over the course of the full moons 30 day timeline until the next full moon at which time the smiling moon should be centered. We'll see.

 

[Beerhippie]

Now I need to figure out what the hell to do with these:



They're all froze up tighter than a bull's *** in fly time, but casters like that don't come cheap. Maybe I'll try to clean them up and replace the ball bearings with bronze thrust washers and the wheel bearings with stainless or double-sealed.

Not sure it's worth the time and expense. Rusted as badly as they are, the stainless will be badly pitted even if I can remove the rust--electrolysis followed by passivation in nitric acid would be the minimum to get them halfway clean.