Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT 1950s Craftsman Garage retro remodel

[peelman]

Except that it's not really a 'problem' as it was designed that way. The plane heats up so much the fit was intentionally loose so it is tight when at working height and speed.

It's one of those things that amazes me as a feat of engineering.
zuk

How about how the nose cones on the engine intakes moved as the speed/altitude increased, in order to maintain the proper intake compression. Or that the airframe used so much titanium we had to buy it from the Soviets (whom the plane was designed to spy on).

Wikipedia has a great article that is fun to read for nerds.

 

[tinbender 66]

Nice pics!! Man, I would love to get there someday.

 

[flybefree]

Love those airplanes...and that one sad little UH-1 they have hidden in the corner of the Vietnam era display. All those shiny carrier planes painted up in their period correct glory and the Huey looked like a gang of gypsies had drug it out of the back lot of Ft. Rucker! Maybe they just hadn't gotten around to painting it yet.

 

[Sykon]

Red Leader, I recently joined GJ and it wasn't too long thereafter that I found your amazing thread. I've been reading a few pages everyday for the past few weeks and have finally gotten up to date. Whew! What a ride it's been for you.

Congrats on the new addition to your family and I'm really glad you got your car back with the least amount of damage.

Also, mark me down as another individual you have sucked into the vintage machinery vortex. Knowing I needed a drill press and a good bench grinder for my garage set-up, you got me prowling my local (San Diego) CL and I picked up a Craftsman 150 the other day. Kind of rough, but has potential and now that your thread has shown me the wonders of electrolysis and a link to electroless plating, I'm confident it will turn out nicely restored.

Your design for your garage is superb, creative and you are doing a wonderful job of execution. Keep up the great work. You're a very talented guy!

 

[JasonW]

Also, mark me down as another individual you have sucked into the vintage machinery vortex. Knowing I needed a drill press and a good bench grinder for my garage set-up, you got me prowling my local (San Diego) CL and I picked up a Craftsman 150 the other day. Kind of rough, but has potential and now that your thread has shown me the wonders of electrolysis and a link to electroless plating, I'm confident it will turn out nicely restored.

Welcome to the family, he has had that effect on a bunch of us.

 

[carbons4]

"Except that it's not really a 'problem' as it was designed that way. The plane heats up so much the fit was intentionally loose so it is tight when at working height and speed.

It's one of those things that amazes me as a feat of engineering. Like having both sides of a bridge meet in the middle, but only because someone took the temperature into consideration when the last piece was sized. (I forget which bridge that was.) Sun hits the piece, it warms up, fits perfectly. (And done with a slide rule!)"

zuk

Exactly. Go watch the video of them putting the Gateway Arch in. It was a warm day so they were dumping water on it to cool it down. My dad worked on it as a Ironworker. Have some used to have some Polorids somewhere. The
Pictures from Air and Space Extention are great!!! They did not have it open yet when I was there.
The Enola Gay pictures really hit home too. My dad was on Tinian with the 107th Seabees when they took off with the bombs. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Climb On!]

Also, mark me down as another individual you have sucked into the vintage machinery vortex.

I believe there are enough of us we could form a group with a 12 step recovery program...though we don't see it as an addiction, right?

Chuck

 

[JasonW]

Finally had a chance to spend some time with the Craftsman Cabinet Saw I purchased last month. I lucked out and was able to remove the spilled white paint from the Craftsman badge without damaging the original finish. I was also able to clean up the trims for the front feet. The aluminum underneath appears fine with very minimal pitting. Not sure how easy it is going to be to get them off however. Still have to figure out what is going on with the rear fence support. The previous owner attached two of the rectangular rods used to stretch chain link fence. Is the stock support not stiff enough? My biggest worry right now is the hand wheels. What do you think?

After some quick work with aluminum foil and water

Is this a candidate for JB Weld or ?

Not sure what happened to it. The front of the wheel is 'true' with only minimal fracturing of the paint. No other apparent damage. I would just like to prevent the damage getting any worse.

Thanks for the help and the inspiration.

 

[JasonW]

Thanks for sharing your story. I am glad the project has inspired you to some degree. It is never tool late to start! Even if you don't have the space, you can start a small collection and work your way up until you get a larger space. Sounds like you've got the makings of a great project.

Regarding the belt sander, would it be the 207.2230 sander pictured just a little ways down on this page:

http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Kneisley Electric Company.ashx

??


If so, I hear it is a good sander, but owners have reported issues finding the obscure length belts for it. That was the biggest issues steering me away from it. However, since I don't own one and haven't really don't a lot of research on one, I'm not completely sure that there isn't the option to source them or get them made, so it might be worth checking out.

As noted in an earlier post, that is the sander I picked up. I did some digging before I purchased it (Sept 2011) and somewhat amazingly I was able to find my notes.

The spec'd belt is 3 x 26.75 which I was not able to find, I was however able to find a belt 3 x 27 which I suspect will be close enough to work. I haven't tested that theory yet. The 27 inc belt is available in multiple grits from

http://abrasives4sale.com/belts_3.htm

They also specifically note that they can make belts to fit your spec.

Perhaps someone has tried the 27" belt?

 

[Red Leader]

Well guys I'm back! I am planning to pull a near all nighter tonight so if anyone else has nothing to do I'll be posting updates. I don't have the camera with me but it still should be fun nonetheless!

Let the work commence!!!!

 

[JasonW]

Welcome home!

Your audience is waiting . . .

 

[Red Leader]

Well, I think I'm done for now. Wow, exhausted haha.

I got a LOT cleaned up in there, and a LOT more will happen tomorrow. That gooey nasty tool board? All cleaned up Naptha was my best friend!!!! (and the chisel)

Going to be doing a lot of touch up painting around the aluminum trim. I will also try to knock out painting the tool boards and getting the trim up for them. Then both will pretty much be finished.

I did some troubleshooting on the fridge. The good news is that I still have not seen anywhere where the cooling system has been compromised. The reason it wasn't doing anything when plugged in was because the ancient wiring (78 years old) had its sheathing crumbled and the three wires that were ran to the Meter Miser were all touching because the coating had disintegrated. Question for all you electro-geeks - if the fridge were plugged in (it was) when all the wires were touching, can that toast the electric motor, or are there usually protections against such things? Or is that not really possible? The 'meter miser' is pretty much irreplaceable on these things (with a comparable unit) so if it is toast, I'd have to completely overhaul the cooling system and stick in a new compressor.

I'd really like to say I did more out there. I didn't

Okay, I did. I dusted

 

[tinbender 66]

'Bout time you got busy

 

[smschriefer]

By no means am I an electrical master, but I'd say it shouldn't have damaged meter-miser. If it were me, I would remove the old wire and then to a continuity test of the leads and make sure I didn't have any unusual grounding.

Glad you are home and busy again.

 

[Red Leader]

12:54am...the work never ceases...

 

[Red Leader]

By no means am I an electrical master, but I'd say it shouldn't have damaged meter-miser. If it were me, I would remove the old wire and then to a continuity test of the leads and make sure I didn't have any unusual grounding.

Glad you are home and busy again.

Thanks for your thoughts! I had to look up 'continuity test', as I am a little bit of an electrical doofus

I tested at the compressor and got down to about .02 on the meter. I had to fight my way though some corrosion on the contact posts and it initially did not read continuity. The compressor has 3 contacts on it, which stumps me because the outlet has no ground (just 2 prong).

The two wires that run to the thermostat did show continuity, which at first confused me because they were separate wires but by default they make contact at the top of the fridge.

I did plug it in after re-wiring it and still got nothing. Then again, I don't know if I gave it a fair chance because it was only plugged in for about 3 min, but I didn't hear anything going on. Should old fridges like this instantly gurgle and sputter on as soon as you plug them in?

My next step will be undo the connections with the compressor and test those leads for any power - if I am not getting any juice when plugged in, then there is an issue in that box.

I apologize for no pictures - the wifey has the camera. As soon as I get it back, I'll overload you all

 

[carbons4]

I am sure you know this but make sure if you have moved it a lot or especially layed it over, make sure it sits in the upright position for a while to let oil run back down. We had a couple old latch handle Philcos from 40's that would gurgle a bit but they had done that for the 20 some years before that I had been around them.

 

[Vividlyvintage]

Seen a 50's era cm table saw free on Craigslist. reminded me of your beautiful garage

thanks,
Douglas Johnson
"Skrach"
www.VividlyVintage.com

 

[crowesnest]

Picked up this week from craigslist.

 

[tinbender 66]

Hey Dave, long time no see! Hope everything is ok.

I wanted to run something by for your opinion.

This:

 

[smschriefer]

Paul, that Red Star sure looks nice!

 

[tinbender 66]

Paul, that Red Star sure looks nice!

Thanks Steve,

I haven't bought it yet, just wondering if I should. It's a Model 30A, ¾ HP, supposed to be in excellent condition. $100.

 

[7th Kahuna]

Nice looking saw. I have heard good things about Red Star. Seems to share features with both the Rockwell/Delta and the old DeWalts. Price seems reasonable (bet you could get it for a bit less ). Curious how that cutting surface works. Appears to be partially recessed into the steel frame.

 

[JasonW]

I think this is relevant to the 50's Craftsman Garage.

This appears to be a Cast Iron Belt Cover for a 1950's Craftsman Drill Press. I've never seen one before.

It is currently for sale on Craigslist in Los Angeles if anyone is interested.

I posted details in another thread:

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2523418#post2523418

 

[TireTracks]

Well, I think I'm done for now. Wow, exhausted haha.

I got a LOT cleaned up in there, and a LOT more will happen tomorrow. That gooey nasty tool board? All cleaned up Naptha was my best friend!!!! (and the chisel)

Going to be doing a lot of touch up painting around the aluminum trim. I will also try to knock out painting the tool boards and getting the trim up for them. Then both will pretty much be finished.

I did some troubleshooting on the fridge. The good news is that I still have not seen anywhere where the cooling system has been compromised. The reason it wasn't doing anything when plugged in was because the ancient wiring (78 years old) had its sheathing crumbled and the three wires that were ran to the Meter Miser were all touching because the coating had disintegrated. Question for all you electro-geeks - if the fridge were plugged in (it was) when all the wires were touching, can that toast the electric motor, or are there usually protections against such things? Or is that not really possible? The 'meter miser' is pretty much irreplaceable on these things (with a comparable unit) so if it is toast, I'd have to completely overhaul the cooling system and stick in a new compressor.

I'd really like to say I did more out there. I didn't

Okay, I did. I dusted

The 3 wires going into the compressor are- Run, Start and COmmon. To check for continuity, check from each wire/contact to another all the way around, untill all are checked. The ohm measure for the Start-common will be lowest, next would be the Run-common then finaly the highest resitance will be the Run-Start.

You can figure out the health of the compressor with those numbers.

Now, do the wires just solder/clip onto the compressor, or are they permanently attached to the compressor? Is there a little Current start relay( plastic thing with a little coil of thick wire on it) that plugs on to the compressor, or_?

I guess that Refrigeration school did learn me something.

 

[Red Leader]

Guys,


I really appreciate everyone's thoughts, encouragement, feedback, and in general, extremely kind and positive comments about the garage build. I have been floored and humbled not only by everyone's incredible contributions to this thread, but the extremely generous offerings that many members have made to me and this ambitious undertaking. You might have recently noticed that I haven't really been around much and it looks like that's the way things are going to stay. Life keeps happening and there isn't too much you can do. So, it is with a somewhat heavy heart that I am announcing the conclusion to this project. It has been one heck of a wild ride and I have enjoyed every moment (okay probably not the extremely frustrating ones haha). There were a lot of things that I still really wanted to do (like finishing the floor, the workbench, etc) but sometimes you just need to know when to 'fold em', so to speak, and prioritize the other things in life that are more important. So I wanted to thank everyone for their knowledgeable and helpful contribution to this thread and to let you know I won't forget all of your time and effort in this thread. I have learned so much and I am incredibly grateful for it. Thanks again guys and I hope you have all enjoyed this journey as much as I have!











































Just kidding.






Haha, got ya


I knew that if I started off with "...so I decided to sell all the Craftsman tools" ...or "...and we just kind of ran out of garage-related projects" ...or "...I feel it is best to raise my son in a kinder, cleaner, and more peace-loving and refined world where he just needs to learn to hire contractors...", you guys woulda called BS right away and I would have expected no less!

Now, here is the truth: I have wanted nothing to do with any garage-oriented work for the past month+. A little more than a month ago, I cleaned the garage from head to toe (including wiping down the footers about 3 times, touch up paint, scraping off the tool board, etc) and I just got burned out. Have I done the epoxy yet? Nope. Have I finished the workbench? Nope. Have I started the ceiling tiles? Nope. For the past month and such I've done, well, absolutely nothing. It has felt pretty good

So, I kind of owe you guys an apology, since I haven't even really been on the forum in more than a month either. I know I'll be getting back into the swing of things again here in a bit, but my tank just kinda ran dry there for a while.

My next 'thing' out there is to cut some slots in the v-groove to turn them into U-channels to use some filler strips and break the pad up into 4 areas to do the epoxy in. Oh, and I'll probably sell a few things so that I can get some of that polymer epoxy crack filler stuff.

Not sure when it is all going to happen. I'm hoping sometime this month. I'll need to find me a cheap circular saw to make some concrete cuts with.



In any case, thanks for sticking with me. Its a bit of a lull right now, but I know things will start picking up again.

 

[Red Leader]

Hey Dave, long time no see! Hope everything is ok.

I wanted to run something by for your opinion.

This:

Wow, what a great little saw. I saw 'little' even though it really isn't, because you don't quite get the same depth of cut as you do with a bigger saw, but if you are not planning on hacking through 4x4s, it should be okay!

The design of the Red Star? As far as I'm concerned, none better. The asking price is decent, too...and it comes with the base. Which is actually not rusted out like mine. If it were me and I was in the market...that would be mine! You get gold-start special award kudos if it has any kind of papers with it.

 

[Red Leader]

I think this is relevant to the 50's Craftsman Garage.

This appears to be a Cast Iron Belt Cover for a 1950's Craftsman Drill Press. I've never seen one before.

It is currently for sale on Craigslist in Los Angeles if anyone is interested.

I posted details in another thread:

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2523418#post2523418

Very, very extremely uncommon/rare. In fact, I've never seen one in the wild. That is quite the catch. VERY nice find. Is it yours yet? I'd love to pick it up but I'm somewhat in a tool-purchase freeze right now.

 

[Red Leader]

The 3 wires going into the compressor are- Run, Start and COmmon. To check for continuity, check from each wire/contact to another all the way around, untill all are checked. The ohm measure for the Start-common will be lowest, next would be the Run-common then finaly the highest resitance will be the Run-Start.

You can figure out the health of the compressor with those numbers.

Now, do the wires just solder/clip onto the compressor, or are they permanently attached to the compressor? Is there a little Current start relay( plastic thing with a little coil of thick wire on it) that plugs on to the compressor, or_?

I guess that Refrigeration school did learn me something.

Wow, okay so you are the man for the job! When I was working on this thing I didn't have access to my camera but now that I do I'm going to have to get down there and take some pictures of how the wiring is run. I think it is pretty simple, but I am a little bit 'unschooled' when it comes to electrical, and that is being reserved haha.

I'll try working on it soon!

 

[Shoottx]

Yup

A project like you have undertaken, is quite a commitment. With family obligations, new baby and a real job it can burn you out. Take a little time, recharge your battery and when you are ready re-engage. Start back with a couple of small projects that you can start work on and finish. Being able to finish a project can kinda get ya back into the swing of things.


We are a patient bunch!

 

[smschriefer]

RL, repeat after me, "It is okay if I don't work on my garage for a few months, or really as long as I feel like doing anything else." You have a life, a wife and a young son. Enjoy the young one, as they grow up fast. Enjoy the experiences with your wife while both of you enjoy your little one's development into a great person. The garage will be there when you are ready.

I am actually selling most of my old woodworking tools. Like you, I ran out of steam. No worries, I am keeping one of most of them for the future. However, I am channeling my energies in a different direction now. Such is life.

I do look forward to you getting back into your garage and doing that voodoo that you do so well, but I'll survive your downtime. Enjoy!

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Been there, done that --> burnt out. Get out of there, breath some fresh air, do other things, enjoy time your family. The garage will still be there.

 

[Wingnut65]

... So, it is with a somewhat heavy heart that I am announcing the conclusion to this project. It has been one heck of a wild ride...

Thanks again guys and I hope you have all enjoyed this journey as much as I have!

Fine! Unsubscribed...

Like Mike, Steve and Girl said, you have to take time to enjoy the family. RL Jr will not be this age ever again. In fact, he will never be as young as he is today, ever again. Spend time with him!

Maybe you got a whiff of that cleaning fluid was too strong, or got a shock from the electrolysis rust treatments, or the To-Do list just never got any smaller, we've enjoyed the ride as well.

GJ will be here when you need your fix.

 

[onewaydave]

Oh, yes. Ones interest will wax and wane as a normal course of life. Accept it. Make peace with it. It is your inner free wanting self fighting with your evil outer controlling self.

Hey, that woulda cost you a couple hundred bucks on the open market and I just gave it to you for free.

Dave.

 

[fergus]

You d*ck! I bought it. Glad to see you'll still be around.

 

[tinbender 66]

Hahaha..............had me goin' there.

I think I know the feeling. I haven't done anything for quite a while either. Not since I got the walls done. Still lots to do.

I passed on the Red Star. I really wanted it but I'm kinda in a spending freeze right now.

I did sell my Jet DP and used the money to get this Craftsman.

 

[fergus]

Super nice score Paul!

 

[Red Leader]

Whoohoo! Haha at least it got someone!!!


You guys are good sports.

I really want to get the floor done before the cold sets in. That is the new goal. From there, just seeing it done will be enough to recharge me. We still have lots of nice weekends left out here.

I can work on the drop ceiling or the workbench anytime this winter.

 

[Shoottx]

Dave

I have been saving this picture for a while to share with you. I had let all of my tools get to the stage of needing sharpening so a took a week and sharpened all the chisels, planes and assorted other cutting instruments. Yeah I had kinda fallen off of the ambition wagon for a while, happens to all of us. So, after getting everything sharpened here is the results of having a bunch of sharp hand planes on the bench

 

[Climb On!]

Sympathy all around! Dedicate some time consciously away from the garage, then the opportunity for work in the garage will present itself.

Looking forward to seeing you back!

Chuck