Blueboarhound
Member
Very nice, I like the black and it doesn't look like the Jokers garage anymore. 
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover
- Thread starter sakurama
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
GRS DESIGN
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- Aug 9, 2013
- Messages
- 46
I'm looking forward to that...with your excellent photography as well
ajohno
Well-known member
You have done a great job on your house.
Modern Jess
Well-known member
I am reminded of this early MythBusters clip:
"Let's egg him on until he hurts himself".
It's probably been said a hundred times (because it[s true) - you're one hell of a craftsman. I love coming back to this thread from time to time. There's always something neat to see.
One request, can you give us a photo tour of the house in a post or two? I'd love to see the outcome without so many detailed shots. While the details are great, I'm eager to see what the overall project turned out to look like.
One request, can you give us a photo tour of the house in a post or two? I'd love to see the outcome without so many detailed shots. While the details are great, I'm eager to see what the overall project turned out to look like.
YoungMedic
Well-known member
Looking great G! It really has come so far in a relatively short time, with a house reno on top 
Wanna Ride
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- Jul 28, 2010
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- 2,790
Love the hoist for the worktable. I keep my truck topper ratchet-strapped to the ceiling of my garage. I've been wanting to install a hoist for it, for quite a while, so you've inspired me to get off my **** on this project.
It's always a pain in the **** to take it off the truck or put it on. I have to wait until a friend is available to get that done.
As always - great job!
It's always a pain in the **** to take it off the truck or put it on. I have to wait until a friend is available to get that done.
As always - great job!
Yes, it's working great except for that one spot where a leaking petcock drained a puddle of gas. That, of course, ruined the glue. I'm going to replace it and a few surrounding when I get time and now I make sure the gas is shut.
I've been hard on it but it makes clean up easy and still looks good despite the neglect.
Gregor
OJ Bartley
Well-known member
Awesome. Looking forward to some kind of slick multipoint deadbolt system incorporated there. Imagine the satisfying "ka-CHUNK" every time you lock it. I was fascinated by the 4-bolt door on the place we rented in Barcelona, it was great.
Tyberius
Well-known member
Oooh, I imagine some massive linkage like a dual carb setup on an old muscle car. Lots of brass and stainless that rotates each bolt.
Modern Jess
Well-known member
Speaking of VCT, I see that most of your bikes are side stand (and not center stand) but I'm curious how well the VCT holds up to a center stand. I tested a piece when I was deciding what to do with my garage, and found that even the Vespa center stand would chew up the VCT. I didn't even try it with the R12R, but I can't imagine it would be any better.
It seems to me the particular motion of a center stand -- roughly that of a pole vaulter -- is the main problem here. Side stands don't seem to be as hard on flooring.
I'm enjoying your progress so far Jess - it looks great.
I like center stands in theory but less in practice. Or maybe I like them in practice but not aesthetically. My Guzzi I took it off. My BMW never had one and my KTM has one that's an enormous pain to lift the bike up on when I have the smaller wheels on. So, in the end, I can't really say. I know we've kept a few bikes at my NYC studio on the center stands and they're on VCT and there was never an issue (until the landlord discovered we had three bikes in the studio) so for our motorcycles at least it hasn't been a problem. I'd rather use race stands than center stands given the chance.
The main problem I've had so far is leaking gas and oil and mostly it's just stained the tile. I've been remiss about cleaning it right away too (or at all) so that's not helping. But given the neglect I'm pretty happy. I imagine a day when all my bike don't leak and the floor is spotless but I doubt I'll live that long.
Gregor
Modern Jess
Well-known member
Cool. Thanks for the field report.
You have a Guzzi. The universe will collapse in on itself before you have a bike that doesn't leak.
<--- Former Guzzi owner, still love 'em. From a safe distance.
Hostyle
Well-known member
Guzzi's don't leak, they're just marking their territory
sideroad
Well-known member
That's what land rover owners claim. I also claimed my old land rover had a self lubricating chassis. And at times a lubricated trailer.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Back in the early 70's we bought a brand new Chevy cab over road tractor. It was powered by a 238 Detroit Diesel. When we picked it up , the service manager said if it doesn't leak oil bring it back in and we'll fix it. ;-)
Modern Jess
Well-known member
Are you absolutely sure? Check it again. Guzzi's may have a tendency to leak, but I'm pretty sure that even an empty British bike could figure out a way to squeeze some oil onto the floor.
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Reminds me of the old story about how BSA dealers always wore crepe soled shoes, so they could sponge up the oil leaks on the showroom floor.
madoc1
Well-known member
still loving your work! neat idea on the table lift. can you explain or just take a photo of how you rigged it?
jim
jim
Like a lot of earlier posts, I just discovered this thread. I spent the better part of the last three nights reading it start to finish. You've got sick skills. What I admire the most is your sense of design. I'm looking forward to future posts.
vegar
Well-known member
What a great house and project. I used almost 9 years to fully restore my former house, and when it was finished, we sold it. So if you only use 2 years that's pretty quick in my book
Madhatter10-6
Well-known member
beautiful bike
Wanna Ride
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- Jul 28, 2010
- Messages
- 2,790
Have you actually owned a Harley? Or at least one built in the last two decades?
beautiful bike
Do you get full functionality from the rear suspension with the angle of the shock?
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correct me if i'm wrong but i believe that's how they came from the factory?
Azz_vt is correct. We modified a BMW GS frame and that's the stock mounting for the shock. It works as well as the shock works. Which is okay. The bike could really use an Ohlins but it's not a long haul ride so it's fine. I hope that as I continue to build my bikes evolve with my experience. The Guzzi should be next.
Gregor
Sure. It's two cables on two pullies for either side of the table. The brackets are centered in the balance point for the table.
Those two cables are cut to length so that they end at the same point (one is longer) and they go off to the side. Mostly to get enough room so that there's sufficient cable after the two join into one cable. The two join the single cable which runs in a single pulley.
This pulley redirects the run to the hoist which I mounted over the bike bay so that it could be used to lift a bike.
I used another pulley below the hoist so as to redirect the cable from the horizontal to the vertical so the hoist can be just screwed into the ceiling. I angled the hoist so that the four long cabinet screws could each be in a different 2x3 to spread the load.
You can see the cables holding the table in this shot. I fastened it to the side so I could lift it as high as possible since my ceiling is only 8' tall and space is at a premium. The other thing you can see is that I ran an extension vacuum tube along the ceiling that is paired with an extension cord from the vacuum's powered switch. This way when I lower the table and use a tool the vacuum and power cord are hanging from above and not tangled on the floor. I had done this a while ago and it worked well so I redid it in a more organized way. The other benefit is that the vacuum is now central to the garage and I can vacuum up the floors pretty easily.
Gregor
It's been a while but with a break in travel and the holidays coming up I wanted to buckle down and try to finish the kitchen. Mostly as we've invited a few friends over for my birthday dinner and this will be our first "dinner party", albeit a very small one, so it seemed like the perfect goal was to finish the kitchen/dining area for the soiree.
Sadly tonight I realized that I was off by a week and there's no chance I'll finish but I'm not going to let reality get in the way of my full head of steam.
I smartly bought up enough walnut ply when I found a deal on it and so I began by measuring out drawer faces. My original intention was to just bevel the top edges instead of using pulls but I realized that when I built the drawers I maximized the size by using stretchers on edge and that wouldn't give me enough room for that option. There's ways around it but they would have separated the drawer edges even farther and I'm trying to book match and show off the continuous vertical grain so I wanted to make the drawers edges very close. It was another reason to chose the thin edge banding instead of the 3mm solid walnut I bought so much of. Watch this space for an exciting craft project using 300' of 3mm walnut edging!
The other thing I'm trying this time, since it's cold which negates working outside, is to work in batches. Each sheet of ply gets me two sets of drawers with matched grain so I'm going to try to attack this all in batches for a change.
The stain goes on, sits for a few minutes, and then is wiped off.
In order to do this I needed a drying rack but searches of the internet didn't find me one that could fold up and vanish but I realized that the ceiling could once again help me out. I drilled some hooks into place right next to the beam...
And then drilled and inserted dowels into a 6' 2x4 and hung them up. It works perfect. I can swing them apart or together and once a board is placed on one pair of dowels they stay put. The beam keeps them from tipping forward and once I'm done they can just go right up on my lumber rack and be out of the way.
So, there's little chance of finishing before Thanksgiving and no chance of finishing before Ben, Jacob and Sean and their families come over for dinner this weekend but I'll be another step closer.
Gregor
Sadly tonight I realized that I was off by a week and there's no chance I'll finish but I'm not going to let reality get in the way of my full head of steam.
I smartly bought up enough walnut ply when I found a deal on it and so I began by measuring out drawer faces. My original intention was to just bevel the top edges instead of using pulls but I realized that when I built the drawers I maximized the size by using stretchers on edge and that wouldn't give me enough room for that option. There's ways around it but they would have separated the drawer edges even farther and I'm trying to book match and show off the continuous vertical grain so I wanted to make the drawers edges very close. It was another reason to chose the thin edge banding instead of the 3mm solid walnut I bought so much of. Watch this space for an exciting craft project using 300' of 3mm walnut edging!
The other thing I'm trying this time, since it's cold which negates working outside, is to work in batches. Each sheet of ply gets me two sets of drawers with matched grain so I'm going to try to attack this all in batches for a change.
The stain goes on, sits for a few minutes, and then is wiped off.
In order to do this I needed a drying rack but searches of the internet didn't find me one that could fold up and vanish but I realized that the ceiling could once again help me out. I drilled some hooks into place right next to the beam...
And then drilled and inserted dowels into a 6' 2x4 and hung them up. It works perfect. I can swing them apart or together and once a board is placed on one pair of dowels they stay put. The beam keeps them from tipping forward and once I'm done they can just go right up on my lumber rack and be out of the way.
So, there's little chance of finishing before Thanksgiving and no chance of finishing before Ben, Jacob and Sean and their families come over for dinner this weekend but I'll be another step closer.
Gregor
Hostyle
Well-known member
Looking good Gregor! And an inventive idea for a drying rack.
Showboy
Well-known member
Agreed. Still subscribing. Still an MCM fan.
slik560
Well-known member
Have your dinner party in the garage/work area and hand them a sander [or whatever you need done] when they arrive!
tjpavlov
Well-known member
Gregor, so what did you end up using for edge banding? You mentioned that the 3mm stuff didn't work, but what did you use as a solution? Did you use the iron-on variety?
Also, are you going to poly those after the stain dries?
Just curious. Keep up the amazing work!
Also, are you going to poly those after the stain dries?
Just curious. Keep up the amazing work!
That's a good idea. I wanted to do a small garage party - you know, the one before I invite the entire GJ and the internet, but Jwoo nixed that idea. Just as well as I would have put my time into cleaning the garage instead of the kitchen. Smart girl.
I think in the spring, when I finally get around to the new garage door I'll do the big party. I want to make sure that everyone I know with a bike rides to the party. I would love to see about 30-50 bikes in the driveway.
I went with the same stuff I've had good luck with before: Sauers & Co. They make a 3M backed peel and stick that has worked well. I've tried the FastCap product and while they use a very sticky adhesive it also seemed to be so thick (the adhesive part) that it would pull up or interact with the poly and start to release. It's probably my fault for not giving it enough time to cure but the Sauers stuff has just enough 3M on it that it sticks well and cures fast. I've never had it pull up but you do need to roll it down very well to get it to stick.
And yes to the poly. This Varathane one has been very reliable and gives a great finish. The satin works perfectly and rubbing it down with 0000 steel wool can knock off any dust nibs without effecting the finish.
Yesterday I headed down town and visited Alaskan Brass which is the coolest material place I've ever been too. Despite the name they sell all metals in all shapes and sizes and they're prices are better than anything I've found on the internet - and they're local! I snapped a shot for my Instagram while there of their crazy forklift getting me my stainless.
I'm going to make my own drawer pulls. Of course. I'm an idiot and this house will take the rest of my life at this point but whatever. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted and the cost of the stainless is low enough that, if I value my time at approximately zero, this will work out to be a great deal...
Another amusing Instagram (the only social media I enjoy - not counting forums) was of my son.
I told him, "Lucas, if you listen carefully to a 1-gang electrical box, you can hear the power plant making electricity..."
Ah, the fun you can have with kids.
Gregor
That's funny - the first thing I thought of was "Canon Professional Service? - just cause I'm using Instagram?" Then I got it. I'm slow.
So there are times when I'm pretty convinced that this thread is solely for me to document my own progress - this is one of those times. Since I can't finish the kitchen I'm trying to finish the sides of the kitchen you'd see from the dining room. Weak I know. The big part of that is the giant (relatively) 10' walnut backer to the counter. Sort of the anchor of this counter design.
I have a 1/2" shop grade back on the hinge but I need to sheath that in vertical grain walnut. Here's an old shot of the counter before I put anything on the back.
And then with the shop grade backer.
And now to the building of the "real" back.
I get the compound angle cut and then trim and square the boards and then use the Domino to help keep the panel aligned.
Then I use the pocket screw jig on it's side and drill out every other domino alternating the sides so that the screws will "zipper" up the two boards.
I tape the backside (well the front actually) so as to keep the glue squeeze out off the face surface.
Then, after dry fitting the panels together to check alignment, I brush on glue and squeeze them together which takes some heavy persuasion. Once it's tight I screw the panels together.
It looks pretty good but I think I used too thick of a domino so my next joint I'll size down and see how it works.
Gregor