Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover

[xtremek]

The trouble with champagne tastes and a beer budget is that the only option is to homebrew. It's a great option but...

Gregor

Subscribed.
I use a similar quote. "...It leaves you with 3 options. Beer, nasty wine, or grow your own grapes and brew it yourself."

If you choose option three, you'll always be learning and growing and you'll have some great adventures along the way. Still playing catch up on this great thread/cool build and I can't wait to see all you've done.

 

[jdp993]

Thanks again for another great thread. I've followed your KTM build from day one. Your projects are a real inspiration.

The perfect little gun for shooting small cabinets is the Sata Mini Jet 4. Use it with 3M's PPS disposable cup system and clean up is a breeze, easier than a brush. For small projects you can almost run it off a nail gun compressor if you're patient. It is also perfect for painting motorcycle parts in case you ever had an interest there.

 

[wannabridin]

So are you going to have 3-phase power run to the shop? Killer thread man, I love how documented it is. I wish I could re-ignite my old passion for photography, seems the dust/rust is a bit thick lately...

 

[vonpahrkur]

Man, love the house-you're really transformed it! Nice work!

 

[sakurama]

Thanks again for another great thread. I've followed your KTM build from day one. Your projects are a real inspiration.

The perfect little gun for shooting small cabinets is the Sata Mini Jet 4.

Thanks! I hope to turn out some fun ones from this shop when it's done. Two are in waiting below.

The sad thing is that I have several Sata's from my racing days when I would paint all the bikes on our team the same every season. Between multiple bikes and multiple sets of bodywork I must have painted 50 or more bikes but I left all the guns in NYC with my paints and a nice multi canister professional air drying system. I'm planning on getting it back but didn't expect I'd need it for a while...

So armed with my GJ supplied Harbinger Fright coupon I went shopping for a ghetto spray system. I picked up three of their purple HVLP guns (raved about here and $15!), regulators, inline dryers, filters, cleaners, disposable cups and a temporary "garage" that I'm going to set up in the living room as my spray "booth". All for less than the cost of one small Sata.

I was planning on setting it up outside and spraying the cabinets but the weather is just too cold now to make that viable and then I'd have to worry about my spray booth blowing away.

So are you going to have 3-phase power run to the shop? Killer thread man, I love how documented it is.

No, but I run all my 3 phase stuff through VFD's so I can control the speed easily. They're cheap and nice to be able to program. And Thanks.

_________________________ Update ________________________
​

So this week I spent building my garage cabinets. Nothing special in this photo but I just love seeing my two future projects waiting for me.

With Jorgé gone it was time for Dad to step up.

I sold my two older Festool 1080 tables and bought the new MFT/3 which is a very big step up. The 106" rail for cross cuts with the parallel guides and the new table with my homemade bench dogs for the cross cuts made a huge improvement in accuracy.

All of these shelves are within 1 millimeter which I feel good about.

Next up was ripping a bunch of french cleats from the scraps of the cabinet ply. In order to get as much strength as possible I'm going to run a continuous cleat along the wall catching every stud and then notch the cabinet backs so that the cleat also rests on the sides. I would do it differently now as that was a huge pain and of limited use other than allowing me to conceal the cleats at the ends by not notching them.

Despite the nail gun and glue on the floor they're all held together with screws and domino's. My first test cabinet has a 1/4" back and is glued so I'll have a reference as to the veracity of the screw method. Next week I'll try to get these sprayed and then do the floating vanity for the upstairs bath. If that goes well it's on to the kitchen. In looking at the calendar it seems like a stretch to hope that I'll be in by Christmas but I'm going to work as hard as I can to make it happen.

Gregor

 

[GRS DESIGN]

Hey Gregor....what do you have planned for the two bikes if you ever get the time? I am really enjoying your journey....when realistically do you think you will move in.....Regards Glenn

 

[aggierailroad]

Curious as to why you'd edge band and then paint vs. some type of filler/spackle.

I suppose edge banding is faster but I've never done it.

Great, great job though. Almost makes me want to get rid of my table saw..

 

[sakurama]

Hey Gregor....what do you have planned for the two bikes if you ever get the time? I am really enjoying your journey....when realistically do you think you will move in.....Regards Glenn

The Rickman Triumph will stay pretty clean and minimal - all white and nickel. The Guzzi will be all alloy, spoked wheels, Ohlins front and back and a single sided *******. It will be pretty decadent as I've always wanted one and have been planning for ages.

Realistically? 2016. Optimistically by Christmas but that's a long shot - although, Santa, if you're listening...

Curious as to why you'd edge band and then paint vs. some type of filler/spackle.

I suppose edge banding is faster but I've never done it.

Great, great job though. Almost makes me want to get rid of my table saw..

Edge banding and then spraying a satin clear polyurethane - so it's not for naught. I have seen a lot of good looking painted cabinets here but I can't seem to convince myself to do that - I like natural wood and honestly I don't even like stain. Stain is like spray tan for wood - it might be de rigueur in NJ but it's déclassé in Portland... Well, in my garagé at least.

Gregor

 

[aggierailroad]

Makes sense now. I must have misread your finishing intentions.

Keep it up!

 

[boatmark]

Cabinets are looking good. Curious how you plant to float / hang them.

My father built some floating cabinetry for our family room must be, damn, fifty years ago. I guess could call it Mid-Century Modern, back when it was actually the Mid-Century. They have the entire back inset 1", and a single full width cleat running across the cabinet about 30% down from the top, with an interlocking cleat attached to the wall. They have been in six houses, and still going strong.

Sorry to hear about Jorge. Hope you can help him out somehow.
In the big picture we have an immigration problem.
In the less abstract, it is a shame to turn away someone as hard working as Jorge.
He seem like an asset to the country.

 

[TimRaleigh]

Thanks! I hope to turn out some fun ones from
All of these shelves are within 1 millimeter which I feel good about.
Gregor

Good to hear you are having success getting tighter tolerences. There is a clamp for the end of the fence, in the pictures it doesn't look like you are using it. It helps to keep it from flexing too much particularly if you are cutting deep panels. If you are cutting narrower panels putting dogs behind the fence helps keep it from flexing.
Looking good. Good luck with the spraying.
Tim

 

[sakurama]

Thanksgiving update.

So I dragged my Horror Fright garage to the house, opened the box and looked at all the parts and realized that it was going to be more hassle than it was worth. I didn't even unpack it and took it immediately back. Instead I cleared out the mud room and for $4 hung up some plastic and a french cleat and made me a booth.

Umm, yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that I was so impatient I didn't bother to even remove the hinge plates from my test cabinet. So I sprayed them and quickly came to the conclusion that spaying was just not worth the effort. I'm doing wood garage cabinets with an uncatalyzed satin clear not a high gloss two part show coat. Without good cross flow ventilation or a much larger booth I was getting too much blow back that dusted all the other cabinets leaving a "fluffly" coat. If I sprayed wet enough to flow I would get drips. All that combined with the fact that the space was small, the cabinets large and the doors and shelves numerous.

I needed another plan.

That plan was a roller! I know what you're thinking. He gave up.

Well it laid down just the right amount of clear, wet out nicely and gave a good even finish. I was surprised myself. Doing that let me use saw horses and a fan and a lot more space. That meant progress.

So the trick seemed to be to get a couple of quick coats down and then sand the next day and put one more final coat on to get a very nice, very smooth, very pretty finish. One I'd consider good enough for the final cabinets.

So I'm happy with the results. Do I regret the spraying? No, those guns are nice and they cost less than a paint brush. I may still spray but right now this is working very well.

Next up is bathroom vanities. I'll be using a french cleat or two to hold them. I plan on drawing them out today if I can stay awake after the turkey. As always, thanks for tuning in! Happy Thanksgiving!

Gregor

 

[jimmie jam]

WOW, I just read the entire thread. Did I say WOW? Just checking....thanks for taking the time to share your project (labor of love) with all of us. You are making a beautiful home for your family for the years to come! This is all part of the "garage" project and totally related.

 

[Motown 454]

They look great. Nice job.

 

[stumpy-blair]

first up , well done with everything ! ...as stated before by one of the others on here about the ti bmw , it was my first screen saver , and my first love of aircooled bmws .... I know you guys at team incomplete knew of a guy in my country called john britten , and knew of his bikes , I always looked at the bmw of yours in the same way , so much so that I am now selling my ktm640 motard for an older bmw r80 or r100 ...love the old mid century house , mine is 100 years old (in new Zealand ) and nowhere near as big as yours , but I am enjoying your build and your photography .
cheers

 

[sakurama]

So day after Thanksgiving and all I want to do is work on the house. I'd work on it 18 hours a day, seven days a week if I could. I really enjoy the work. Probably wouldn't as much if it wasn't my house but it is so I do. That's one of the reasons why I want to move in so much - I'd have all this extra time to be in the shop working, like now, while the kids are napping.

Anyway.

I went to the house and decided to hang the cabinets. The small errors I had before came up and combined with some others (tolerance stack) and left the cabinets hanging just a bit out of line. I decided to make a jig to drill a hole through the cabinets to join them with panel screws and make them straight.

Then I decided to hang the doors and the first one looked great - yeah! And then the second one... didn't fit. Dang it. I'd made them just slightly smaller and they still hit in the center. Then I realized what I'd done - made them smaller but didn't adjust the hinge pocket location which is really what determines the center gap. Drat.

So I hung a second set just to be sure I was consistent in my error and I was so now I need to rip 1.5-2mm off of each pair of doors in the center as the adjustments are just at the limit preventing me from being able to line up the gaps with the adjustment screws. Drat again.

I was looking at this shot and was thinking my shop is such a mess and then it occurred to me that I now think of it as my shop instead of the garage - and that's real progress. I'll take a messy shop. I don't want a messy shop but it's a shop and that's progress. Now I need to finish and fill those cabinets and get rid of those Kennedy boxes - anybody need some red Kennedy boxes? I'll cut you a killer deal! Make me an offer.

So this week will be more building, shop organizing and hopefully getting the bathrooms done. Looking forward to it.

Gregor

 

[Red Leader]

So day after Thanksgiving and all I want to do is work on the house. I'd work on it 18 hours a day, seven days a week if I could. I really enjoy the work. Probably wouldn't as much if it wasn't my house but it is so I do. That's one of the reasons why I want to move in so much - I'd have all this extra time to be in the shop working, like now, while the kids are napping.

Anyway.

I went to the house and decided to hang the cabinets. The small errors I had before came up and combined with some others (tolerance stack) and left the cabinets hanging just a bit out of line. I decided to make a jig to drill a hole through the cabinets to join them with panel screws and make them straight.

Then I decided to hang the doors and the first one looked great - yeah! And then the second one... didn't fit. Dang it. I'd made them just slightly smaller and they still hit in the center. Then I realized what I'd done - made them smaller but didn't adjust the hinge pocket location which is really what determines the center gap. Drat.

So I hung a second set just to be sure I was consistent in my error and I was so now I need to rip 1.5-2mm off of each pair of doors in the center as the adjustments are just at the limit preventing me from being able to line up the gaps with the adjustment screws. Drat again.

I was looking at this shot and was thinking my shop is such a mess and then it occurred to me that I now think of it as my shop instead of the garage - and that's real progress. I'll take a messy shop. I don't want a messy shop but it's a shop and that's progress. Now I need to finish and fill those cabinets and get rid of those Kennedy boxes - anybody need some red Kennedy boxes? I'll cut you a killer deal! Make me an offer.

So this week will be more building, shop organizing and hopefully getting the bathrooms done. Looking forward to it.

Gregor

Messy shops unite!!!

 

[sakurama]

Messy shops unite!!!

Ha, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

 

[BluCamaro]

Wow, what a fantastic house/shop! I went to school for architecture and really love the work you've put into the house to restore it back to the original finishes and style. LOVE the cable handrail.
Sorry to hear you've lost your helper Jorge.

Subscribed and looking forward to seeing it completed!

 

[GRS DESIGN]

The Rickman Triumph will stay pretty clean and minimal - all white and nickel. The Guzzi will be all alloy, spoked wheels, Ohlins front and back and a single sided *******. It will be pretty decadent as I've always wanted one and have been planning for ages.

Realistically? 2016. Optimistically by Christmas but that's a long shot - although, Santa, if you're listening...


Gregor

Hey Gregor....I would love to see some more pics of the bikes...I have looked at the TI website it is very dated now but that doesn't take away the achievement of that BMW you built, love the work on the house and 'shop' this has been the most enjoyable thread and have read it several times...Regards Glenn

 

[motofool33]

nice read and alot of work i must say. but final product is great

 

[coma13]

bad a$$ burnout man. Looks like fun. Sorry to hear about jorge, wish we could keep around the hard working immigrants and depot a lot of welfare mommas instead.

amen.

 

[sakurama]

So I had to do a lot of running around today but I did sell my bandsaw in the morning which freed up about 8sqft of floor space. That's worth more than the bandsaw at the moment.

The remainder of my day was spent trimming off 1-1.5mm from the inside of all the doors and then re-edge banding them, trimming them and then installing the hinges and hanging the doors.

After that I did the little hinge fiddle to get them all lined up but I'm sure they'll settle differently as they're loaded. Just having them up is peace of mind.

Over the holiday weekend I spent time browsing for sorting, storing and organizing devices that I can use in the cabinets. One of the ones I found were these:

Over the years I've found that I like to be able to see at a glance what the fasteners are in containers (I'm visual) so it made sense to replace all the various different nut and bolt storages trays and bins with these.

So I sat in front of the TV watching Gold Rush (my favorite trashy reality show) and organizing my fasteners. There will never be a perfect system but this will work well until something better comes along.

Gregor

 

[aggierailroad]

Just put some on the wish list - thanks for the tip.

 

[sakurama]

While the garage cabinets turned out well I wasn't happy with the mistakes that I made. I felt like I figured out the problems and addressed them but I wasn't entirely confident to begin making the bathroom vanity yet. That $170 sheet of walnut is very intimidating and I don't want to screw it up.

So this morning I decided to build a simple project - a "Sysport" - or a cart for the Festool Systainers that would allow me to access them individually without having to constantly stack and unstack to get to the one I needed. It's sort of a fluff project but I'd bought some cheap maple ply at Home Despot and it was a kill two birds sort of thing. I could get some practice and organize some more of the shop and I hoped I could do it in a day.

I started off by carefully measuring everything twice and cutting up two sheets of ply... the wrong width. I neglected to measure the slides I bought. So then I used the remaining two sheets and measured everything three times. And then one more time just to be sure.

And it worked.

I wanted to keep my tolerances very tight and I did. Maybe too tight but at the moment it fits fine.

More than anything I was very happy to keep everything within less than 1mm and for the most part the whole thing measured out exactly perfect. I built two of them and am not sure how I'm going to attach them yet - pocket screws, glue, regular screws or a combination. I did use the Domino which worked perfectly. .

So tomorrow I'll finish them and begin work on the vanity. Think I'm ready.

Gregor

 

[staging]

Great project. Keep up the good work. I know you must be proud of what you are doing.

 

[sakurama]

Thanks, I think I'll feel proud when it's more done and I'm living there. Right now I just feel like a person with a very complicated hobby who's living with his mother-in-law.

So the shop was such a mess that I couldn't really motivate to start the vanity. Instead I organized and started putting things away in the cabinets and finished hanging the doors. It looks good.

I came up with an idea that I took from Home Depot. It works for me since, again being a visual person, it makes more sense to see what's in the bin than to just name it. And I like seeing all the same bins instead of random boxes and bags of screws. Cardboard screw boxes make me nuts.

We use hot glue on photo sets constantly so of course I'd have a gun in the garage. It took seconds to just glue the screw to the front and now I'll be able to see what's in the bin even when it's up high.

The next thing is a tip I learned from a fabricator friend. He would punch hole in the bottom of the lip of paint cans to let the drips drain back into the can. The lid will still seal the can but you won't get any more drips over the edge as the excess paint or stain drains back into the can. It's such a savvy little trick that I was always impressed with it. Simple but cool.

That can of poly was for the last coat on my "Sysport" which turned out very well. Again, small mistakes, but overall I'm happy.

I am beginning to think of furniture or cabinetry as a complicated math problem. Each piece is made up of a large combination of numbers and if any one of them is off by even just a little the answer is wrong. I was never good at math so that's a disappointing thought. Despite that I'm looking forward to getting a piece right eventually.

The final things were ordered for the house and should be delivered next week. Stove, refrigerator and sinks. If I could work longer days maybe I'd get it done enough to move in by Christmas but it looks bleak and that bums me out. **** just takes too damn long.

Gregor

 

[JordonMusser]

" **** just takes too damn long" yup

Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

 

[dhubbard422]

Yep, it's a process. And it always seems to have little hiccups along the way. But, I'm inspired by your build/remodel and it appears to me that it is coming along nicely!

 

[smschriefer]

I really like those roller base cabinets you have built. I could see adding one in my garage as it makes a nice place to store power tools and also provide for a mobile work station.

Even if you don't get in by Christmas, you will get in soon. If it were me, I'd still put up a tree in the house and celebrate with family in the house. Just to start the tradition with your family and to instill a sense of finality and purpose of what you undertook.

Keep it up!

 

[aggierailroad]

Cabinetry math really screws me up when you start adding in rabbets and dados.. I've made a lot of firewood as a result of those devils..

Yours look great, where did you get the casters?

 

[fnieto]

Wow, excellent work.

 

[ralphy99]

This is a a wonderful thread. It's great see real craftsmanship being exercised. I also watched your video on your photography web site. I often wondered how those street shots of vehicles were done on city streets for advertising and movies.

It's nice to see that you have your Dad participating on the remodel. Years from now you can look back and smile at the time you had together. When my Dad helped me do remodeling projects I didn't realize at the time how precious it was. I was too often in a foul mood due to the challenges of the remodeling, the expense and having to take time to raise a family to really appreciate his presence (also my father in law helped me a lot).

Reading your thread makes me not only appreciate your craftsmanship but also realize that we all have incredibly busy lives and challenges as well as victories.

Please keep posting your progress. It's great!

 

[kippieland]

cabinets are awesome! Its wood working...nothings going to be perfect. Go check out some factory made stuff....they are far from perfect. Keep it up!

 

[mr_aj_johnson]

I just moved to the other side of your state! I love the stanley organizer boxes. It's especially nice to be able to grab the individual containers out based on what you need. Only downside is once they are stacked I have no clue whats in em... So I've started using them in a strictly disassemble re-assemble per project duty.

If you every feel like doing something truly silly come enter one of the rally moto classes on the xr! 100 stage miles at rally Idaho over a weekend. Its tough to get a helmet off with that much adrenaline making the fingers shake

 

[m42sport]

Thought you might think this storage system was pretty cool. Kinda looks like the stanley box you have already. Doesnt look like its available in the states though. Anyways thought I'd share this.

 

[sakurama]

I just moved to the other side of your state! I love the stanley organizer boxes. It's especially nice to be able to grab the individual containers out based on what you need.

If you every feel like doing something truly silly come enter one of the rally moto classes on the xr! 100 stage miles at rally Idaho over a weekend.

I used to race the RallyMoto series back east on my KTM 525 (bored and stroked to 610cc) and it was a thrill for sure but also very scary to hang it out with very little margin. My AWD 990 would be ideal but with two kids I simply can't ride at the limit anymore.

Thought you might think this storage system was pretty cool. Kinda looks like the stanley box you have already. Doesnt look like its available in the states though. Anyways thought I'd share this.

I was super psyched about these until I looked up the price! Yikes! $90 for one case - they make Festool seem cheap and that's hard to do. The Stanley ones I got are obviously copies of the concept but at $12 each I can swing enough to do the job. I'll probably get more as I hate when products get discontinued after a few years and you can't find the same thing again. It is nice to pull the little containers out and I'll maybe make a rack for them down the road.

Thanks for the tips!

Gregor

 

[Modern Jess]

Thought you might think this storage system was pretty cool. Kinda looks like the stanley box you have already. Doesnt look like its available in the states though. Anyways thought I'd share this.

They're available in the US, but they're kind of difficult to buy. Sortimo US is a very old-school kind of business, though they are very friendly and will happily write you a quote for whatever you want or send you a catalog.

Direct from Sortimo US, the cases are more like $65 apiece. Which is still a lot of money, to be sure. But once you've held one in your hand, you realize exactly why they cost that much, and you will never be able to settle for anything less.

I should know. After much deliberation and consternation, I ordered 20, and am about to order some more. The set will be the subject of a future GJ post.

 

[mr_aj_johnson]

I used to race the RallyMoto series back east on my KTM 525 (bored and stroked to 610cc) and it was a thrill for sure but also very scary to hang it out with very little margin. My AWD 990 would be ideal but with two kids I simply can't ride at the limit anymore.

Ha ha another rally guy! Totally understand cooling it after having kids, time to build something with a cage.

 

[polexican23]

These are fantastic, but I am like many others and we like a strip going on the walls or something in the garage. I think a walnut or some dark wood strip inlaid in these doors would but you on Godly Garage level, like your house.