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

[rodpoa]

Guys,
for those who are enjoying Gregor’s lessons on photography do not miss his post here:

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...uaranteed-MG-Coil-Build?p=2352903#post2352903

His passion behind every picture here in this thread may have slipped through you but his account of what is behind each photo is extraordinary.


Enviado do meu iPhone usando Tapatalk

 

[jonahbones]

Cheap non stick uses spray coatings none of which I would expose food to, quality products uses processes similar to plasma nitriding. German brands like woll, lasts years.
Best is vintage cast iron like lodge, you then polymerise a high smoking point oil like rice bran oil into the surface to seal it. Solidteknics also do pans that can be sealed for a non stick surface.

 

[skrap metal]

awesome

 

[zenocchio]

Happy birthday Gregor, thank you for all the inspiration and the good reading that you have provided us with this thread!
I am looking forward to see your next house project or motorcycle build

 

[sakurama]

Happy birthday Gregor, thank you for all the inspiration and the good reading that you have provided us with this thread!
I am looking forward to see your next house project or motorcycle build

Thanks, although I've reached the age where I'd rather not keep counting.

I had really hoped that I'd have accomplished more than just staining all the wood for the closets but at least that was done. Ben and I took a very deserved and much needed break to drive down to Parumph, NV to attend the Jimmy Lewis Offroad riding school.

We had great weather after finally getting out of the Portland rain.

Jimmy is one of the few (only?) American's to have podiumed the Paris Dakar rally on a bike. He's a bad ***. His class is interesting because you spend an entire day on basics that you think you know but it turns out you don't. Like standing up or even sitting down. Had no idea I had been doing such basic things wrong.

The turning thing I was pretty good at. I've spent a long time turning in many different ways but nonetheless there was much to be learned. When I was starting out I took a Reg Pridmore class and was amazed at how much I didn't know and how much I learned. After that I've never stopped taking classes. There's always so much to learn, and, as the saying goes, the more you know the better it gets. Ben and I were so exhausted after the first day it was all we could do to make dinner.

The van did well but there always seems to be something that needs to be fixed. This trip is was a headlight connector that went out as soon as we left Portland. But the goal of putting some bikes in the back and not having to worry when we spent the night at a motel was certainly met.

The trip home was great and I was glad we took the secondary roads through Eastern Oregon as I never get tired of the scenery there.

I had but a day to pack up and head off to NYC for a week and then was back in time for Thanksgiving. The way work ended up I haven't had time for the house but my sister managed to not only look after the kids while I was gone but also managed to clean up and organize messes that have flummoxed me for the better part of a year. Hopefully the next post will truly be some house progress...

Gregor

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

Ain't family the best! Thanks for sharing Gregor. I feel slightly more human now even you say that you've difficulties in meeting your goals too due to family, mess, work and well deserved time-outs.

 

[locul]

You Sir are doing great.

 

[Madc]

Hello Gregor,

First I wanted to thank you for this thread and all the contributions you've made. I've been eagerly following since your first post when I recognized Spannerland from a coffee table book I have on Motorcycle garages. Your thread has become a support group for my obsessions with Bikes, watches, Festool, Airstream, shop tools, photography, knives, and on and on....

It's become embarrasingly clear that I share a freakish amount of the same interests (and rabbit holes), although I do wish I had a quarter of your talents!

Last night I attended the NYC Motorcycle show at Jacob Javits, and while not overly impressive compared to other years, it was amusing seeing your finger prints throughout the show- at the RevIt booth, the KTM you helped build, or how nods to your BMW can still be seen in factory and custom bikes built today.

As I'm sure many on here can relate, I often find myself thinking WWGD? So my question given your experience is: When weather cooperates, what new or newer motorcycle would you buy for a 30 mile commute from Northern NJ (12 miles up the Palisades from the GWB) to Industry City in Sunset Park Brooklyn? So ride is Palisades, West Side Highway, Brooklyn Battery tunnel, Brooklyn.
I'm 45, 6'0 220 (former meathead rugby player), options range from New Scrambler to a smaller BMW GS, but open to suggestions.

If nothing else I'd like to open the topic of Motorcycle commuting.

Thank you again for all the time you're willing to put in and share with this forum.

Regards,
MADC

 

[gasgas17]

Riding schools are always a good time. Every pro rider knows something you don't that improves your riding. The biggest jump forward I have made in my riding was a Shane Watts Dirt Wise School. Two grueling days and a ton of really high quality instruction and couching. Shane Watts standing in the background, me riding the bike ...

 

[fastev]

Hi Gregor, any chance you were over near the Adidas campus today? Almost positive I saw your van. Pics don’t do it justice...

 

[sakurama]

Hello Gregor,

First I wanted to thank you for this thread and...
It's become embarrasingly clear that I share a freakish amount of the same interests (and rabbit holes), although I do wish I had a quarter of your talents!

Last night I attended the NYC Motorcycle show at Jacob Javits, and while not overly impressive compared to other years, it was amusing seeing your finger prints throughout the show- at the RevIt booth, the KTM you helped build, or how nods to your BMW can still be seen in factory and custom bikes built today.

As I'm sure many on here can relate, I often find myself thinking WWGD? So my question given your experience is: When weather cooperates, what new or newer motorcycle would you buy for a 30 mile commute from Northern NJ (12 miles up the Palisades from the GWB) to Industry City in Sunset Park Brooklyn? So ride is Palisades, West Side Highway, Brooklyn Battery tunnel, Brooklyn.
I'm 45, 6'0 220 (former meathead rugby player), options range from New Scrambler to a smaller BMW GS, but open to suggestions.

If nothing else I'd like to open the topic of Motorcycle commuting.

Thank you again for all the time you're willing to put in and share with this forum.

Regards,
MADC

Oh man, so much here! Thanks. My wife is laughing at the WWGD comment. Ha!

It’s good to hear the Rev’It! bike made it to the show. I was hoping to be back in NYC for this weekend to see the unveiling of my friend Jamie’s new bike built by Walt Seigl at Union Motorcycles. Yeah the NYC show has been sort of lackluster but I never missed it anyway.

But most importantly, to your question. I LOVE helping people pick out motorcycles. Mostly it gives me the thrill without having to spend the money. But I take that sort of thing really seriously too. I actually used to do half of that commute when I briefly lived in Weehawken, NJ and rode a KTM Duke (the early single) through the Lincoln since it had a carpool lane and down to my studio in Soho.

That’s a short commute with lots of traffic and not much open road. To make that entertaining you want power. In a grumpy mood? Twist the throttle and get an instant hit of adrenaline and a smile. I’d get a KTM Duke 1290. Nothing has the hit and you will be grinning from ear to ear. There’s something intoxicating about a bike that can make the front wheel hover any time. My KTM(s) used to always make me smile because I’d leave every light and make the front wheel just skim the pavement - no hooligan wheelies, if you weren’t really looking you’d barely be able to tell, but I’d cross the wheel up and skim it 3” all the way across the intersection. I’m smiling now just thinking about it.

So my advice would be the most badass torque monster of a KTM - the 1290. Commuting by bike is liberating because you can move through traffic easily and you can zap any gap. If you’re the type that lane splits in the city you’ll get that clear shot from every light to wick it up. Also, we know that there are certain unspoken rules in NYC; chief among them is that all speed limits don’t count on bridges or tunnels. You’ve got a tunnel on your commute! How lucky is that?

And no, I have no idea where that came from. I only know that in 20 years of living in NYC any time we or anyone on a bike got to a bridge or tunnel the throttle would hit the stop. It makes no sense and yet its like a tradition that no one knows how it began.

Okay, let us know what you get and I’m curious what others think. Maybe Ben will chime in as he has a 1290 and I think he absolutely loves it.

Riding schools are always a good time. Every pro rider knows something you don't that improves your riding. The biggest jump forward I have made in my riding was a Shane Watts Dirt Wise School. Two grueling days and a ton of really high quality instruction and couching. Shane Watts standing in the background, me riding the bike ...

Watts is amazing! Man, that would be an awesome class to take.

Hi Gregor, any chance you were over near the Adidas campus today? Almost positive I saw your van. Pics don’t do it justice...

Ha! Yes, Ben and I shot a pistol match today and I dropped my van at his place and we took his FJ up to Seattle so it was parked over there. It’s bigger than it looks in photos isn’t it? Ben can’t help but laugh every time he gets in because it’s comically large.

Gregor

 

[fastev]

Ha! Yes, Ben and I shot a pistol match today and I dropped my van at his place and we took his FJ up to Seattle so it was parked over there. It’s bigger than it looks in photos isn’t it? Ben can’t help but laugh every time he gets in because it’s comically large.

Gregor

Wow, small world! I live just down the street from Ben, and have been admiring his place (and the FJ) since we moved in. I’ll have to introduce myself; and get a recommendation on a place to shoot.

And, yes, your van is in fact comically large. I love it! I’m going to look at a Sportsmobile Sprinter tomorrow, and as much as I like the Sprinters, I think the E-Series look and probably are much more rugged.

 

[gasgas17]

"Watts is amazing! Man, that would be an awesome class to take. "

The best part of the Dirt Wise School is that it has a lot of structure to it. We could have had a school here this year with Graham Jarvis , but aside from watching him do impossible stuff on a dirt bike and hanging out with a cool guy for a day he doesn't have a refined program like the Dirtwise school. We have also hosted a school with Jason Thomas and it was also a Dirtwise school and was good.

 

[bdking]

Okay, let us know what you get and I’m curious what others think. Maybe Ben will chime in as he has a 1290 and I think he absolutely loves it.

The 1290 Superduke is both the easiest to ride & most bonkers motorcycle I’ve ever ridden. That & a backpack is what I take to most meetings around Portland. My brother is a firefighter in Austin & rides a 1290 in to work using the saddlebag kit- it works well for him commuting too.

It has so much torque that you don’t have to shift much to stay in a “sweet spot.” That makes it much less tiresome to drive in variable traffic. I have a 990 Adventure as well & previously had a 990 Superduke- this is a whole different level.

Also its fast.

Ha! Yes, Ben and I shot a pistol match today and I dropped my van at his place and we took his FJ up to Seattle so it was parked over there. It’s bigger than it looks in photos isn’t it? Ben can’t help but laugh every time he gets in because it’s comically large.

Gregor

Confirmed: Gregor’s van is hilarious in person. I did laugh every time I had to jump to get out on the Nevada moto trip. Standing next to it the dashboard is over my head. It makes my lifted FJ60 look like a matchbox car.

 

[bdking]

Wow, small world! I live just down the street from Ben, and have been admiring his place (and the FJ) since we moved in. I’ll have to introduce myself; and get a recommendation on a place to shoot.

Small world for sure - stop by for a beer or coffee sometime!

 

[LateNights]

Gregor,

For 36 years I've survived without a bike licence - for the last 4 years I've lurked your thread from afar, content to live vicariously through it.

I fear that trend shall not continue in my 37th year...

To make matters worse, you just now up and recommend the Duke 1290 - I've been looking at the 390 for the last two weeks (fairly certain either it or the 390 RC will be my first bike in just a few short months, the only other contender being a Kawasaki Versys 650), thanks in no small part to venturing into your van build thread, which again lead me to your bike threads - which in turn got me "just having a look" at what bikes were out there...

Now, my 2020 outlook includes the R nine T Racer - a decision in no small way influenced by your Boxer - and an adventure bike...

You are a bad man.

I hope that in the not too distant future I'll be able to tell the story of how your coffee table book came to be on my very own coffee table (btw, I think it should be about this thread, wandering off into the many different facets of what makes you tick, and return back to the house/garage & thread), and just maybe I'll be able to live vicariously through it without going completely nuts and trying to pick up a dozen new hobbies all at once!

I wish you a very Happy Birthday (belated), and all the best for the future.

Cheers

Matt

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Madc I didn't see you mention a budget. If the Duke 1290 is out of your budget, my general recommendation would be a bike with at least 650cc. As Gregor and Ben mentioned about the 1290, it's the torque. In my experience, bikes under 650cc just don't have the torque to get up and get out of the way like the bigger engines do. In my personal opinion/experience, while large thumpers are fun in the dirt and have decent torque, they are just get tiresome on the street.

A good friend of mine has a Ducati Monster 821 Stripe and he loves the bike. He commutes in Indianapolis and he didn't see the need to go to the liter bikes for commuting.

There are so many great bikes in the 650-800cc range that if the Duke 1290 is out of your budget, test ride the other bikes in the smaller displacements from KTM, MV Agusta, Ducati, Triumph, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki. Also, check with your insurance agent to see which brands and bikes get hit with higher premiums. In SW Indiana, Progressive insurance offers the lowest rates around and I have them for my motorcycles, but a different company for everything else.

 

[wingnutthehutt]

... (snip)
I've been looking at the 390 for the last two weeks (fairly certain either it or the 390 RC will be my first bike in just a few short months, the only other contender being a Kawasaki Versys 650), thanks in no small part to venturing into your van build thread, which again lead me to your bike threads - which in turn got me "just having a look" at what bikes were out there...

I know I'm not as super-awesome as Gregor, but I do have a garage with a KTM990 in it and have been riding (doing a tiny bit of racing) for 20 years, and frequently ride with an insane Aussie so if you want some feedback:

The 390 is a great first bike. It's a great second/third/fourth bike. It's a great backup bike. Super fun to ride! Either version. Personally, for street riding I'd get the mini-Duke. It's more upright and you will feel more physically aware of and in control of your surroundings. @Hoologan's wife has the Duke version and she has been riding for years. Another friend (Who is 6'1") has the RC as a trackday bike. If I could justify it, I would have the Duke version just for showing up larger bikes on our local backroads.

 

[locul]

If only minor jaunts and the commute. Nothing beats electric driven stuff. Torque...lots.

Sendt fra min SM-N9005 med Tapatalk

 

[StreetGLi]

Whelp... After one looong week (including a detour to a wild van build and a parusal of an AWD KTM build, oh and a stop over at danwood's Woody's works garage build which I highly recommend if you want your house to think for itself) I have finally caught up.. My eyes, they burn so bad!

This thread (if it can even be called a thread anymore) has been very entertaining and inspiring. It has pushed to actually complete several small projects of my own and for that, my wife thanks you.

My least favorite project was putting my motorcycles to bed and firing up my snowblower. Winter is on my doorstep it seems and though I like winter just fine, I dislike not being able to ride for 4 months or so.

If this epic journal has taught me anything it's 1, effing Gregor! and 2, just ******* go for it, whatever IT is. So I did. IT is in the form of a Honda CFR250L (and about 1000 screws) that I'm going to try ice tracking. My racing career has been entirely on pavement and I have never even owned a dirt bike / dual purpose bike so this is a big leap... and I can't wait. Plus, in the summer I can put on some knoblies and hurt myself with some adventure riding or throw some motard wheels on her and have a good 'ol time.

So... Thanks for the push I guess.

Nick

 

[Madc]

Thank you Gregor and all for the suggestions!

To clarify my current riding consists of street bikes from the 70's-90's, on super early Sunday mornings May- October up the Palisades Parkway to Bear Mt for anyone familiar with the area- 90 mins tops. (4 kids, lots of craziness/sports/obligations). Any additional riding, especially during my 2-3 trips per week to Brooklyn would be a huge win.

Boilermaker: While Budget isn't unlimited, not the driving factor although less is always better- unless you really really want something! I'm a Builder by trade and best line I've ever heard from a client was- "I gave her an unlimited budget, and she managed to exceed it!", although in my household I'm the spender.

The Duke line wasn't on my radar although I was considering the KTM Adventure line. I have an older BMW and Ducati so I was leaning towards keeping it in the family with those brands but I am certainly open.

Styling wise, I love the R Nine T's (all of them actually), I like the Duc Scrambler, and even the Triumph Retro line, but also like the idea of adventure bikes to maybe broaden my horizons.

I have also sort of chuckled at guys getting big HP bikes when the new 300-500cc bikes are better than 80-90% of riders, but the torque/ accelerating/ safety factor in NYC traffic is a very valid point as well as my size steers me away from the the smaller bikes.

I will keep everyone posted on what I end up with, sadly the riding window here is pretty much closed despite the unusually mild daytime temps.

Thank all you again!

MADC

S

 

[Fast914]

Cool pic Scott!

 

[Cseger1]

I have read that it is becoming common for new restaurants to plan their lighting so that their food looks better on instagram.

Yes, this is absolutely true. In fact Judiaann is a consultant to restaurants and helps them better optimize social media. IG is more important than Yelp right now in terms of advertising for a new restaurant. In some ways it’s cool that big media has lost control and in others the inmates are running the asylum.

Heh, there's a hotel in Nashville that won't let you book a reservation until they've seen your Instagram feed and deemed you worthy.

It's pretty damn pretentious but I also think there's​ something really important in reminding people to make the world a more beautiful place. My wife handles the social media for our little goat farm/cheese company and I definitely keep the place more neat in the Instagram age than I did before.

Can't let some cast off bleach bottle ruin the #BGOTD

(Baby goat of the day)

 

[sakurama]

This thread (if it can even be called a thread anymore) has been very entertaining and inspiring. It has pushed to actually complete several small projects of my own and for that, my wife thanks you.

If this epic journal has taught me anything it's 1, effing Gregor! and 2, just ******* go for it, whatever IT is. So I did. IT is in the form of a Honda CFR250L (and about 1000 screws) that I'm going to try ice tracking. My racing career has been entirely on pavement and I have never even owned a dirt bike / dual purpose bike so this is a big leap... and I can't wait.

Wow, Nick, thanks. I feel the thing we all struggle with is staying on top of projects. I tend to have ADD for projects and can stay focused for a bit then...

Squirrel!

Or in my case, motorcycle! So if this thread helps someone take on a new project or learn a new skill that's pretty cool in my book.

You are going to LOVE ice racing. Coming from pavement you have an idea of how hard a bike can turn and ice is going to blow your mind because your traction is BETTER! It's so much fun. I miss being able to go hang with friends and race XR100's on the Hudson.

Gregor

 

[sakurama]

The Duke line wasn't on my radar although I was considering the KTM Adventure line. I have an older BMW and Ducati so I was leaning towards keeping it in the family with those brands but I am certainly open.

Styling wise, I love the R Nine T's (all of them actually), I like the Duc Scrambler, and even the Triumph Retro line, but also like the idea of adventure bikes to maybe broaden my horizons.

I will keep everyone posted on what I end up with, sadly the riding window here is pretty much closed despite the unusually mild daytime temps.

Thank all you again!

MADC

S

Locul's suggestion of electric isn't bad - they're getting better all the time and if a charge can get you there and back - maybe that's a thought.

But considering your inclination to the R9T and your having a Ducati and BMW already I'd certainly say have a look at the Scrambler Desert Sled or a KTM 990 is a great used deal and one heck of a bike. If I were suggesting a bike for a track day I'd say go small but for a commute the quick blasts of throttle with a high hp bike really keep you awake and entertained.

I'm actually considering cleaning house on bikes and starting over. I have too many bikes and not enough room and I think I only have enough psychic energy for 3-4.

Gregor

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thank you Gregor and all for the suggestions!

To clarify my current riding consists of street bikes from the 70's-90's, on super early Sunday mornings May- October up the Palisades Parkway to Bear Mt for anyone familiar with the area- 90 mins tops. (4 kids, lots of craziness/sports/obligations). Any additional riding, especially during my 2-3 trips per week to Brooklyn would be a huge win.

Boilermaker: While Budget isn't unlimited, not the driving factor although less is always better- unless you really really want something! I'm a Builder by trade and best line I've ever heard from a client was- "I gave her an unlimited budget, and she managed to exceed it!", although in my household I'm the spender.

The Duke line wasn't on my radar although I was considering the KTM Adventure line. I have an older BMW and Ducati so I was leaning towards keeping it in the family with those brands but I am certainly open.

Styling wise, I love the R Nine T's (all of them actually), I like the Duc Scrambler, and even the Triumph Retro line, but also like the idea of adventure bikes to maybe broaden my horizons.

I have also sort of chuckled at guys getting big HP bikes when the new 300-500cc bikes are better than 80-90% of riders, but the torque/ accelerating/ safety factor in NYC traffic is a very valid point as well as my size steers me away from the the smaller bikes.

I will keep everyone posted on what I end up with, sadly the riding window here is pretty much closed despite the unusually mild daytime temps.

Thank all you again!

MADC

S

Well, you can see that I don't dislike small displacement bikes... and the KZ440 is one of my all time favorite bikes, but mine is in pieces. I just don't like small displacement bikes for commuting in heavy traffic.

I love the Ducati Scrambler. It's one of the three new bikes I lust for along with the new 2018 Goldwing (replaced the F6B designation, not the touring version) and the MV Brutale. If I was suddenly told I could only have one bike for the rest of my life, I'd be hard pressed to pick between the Brutale triple and the new bagger Goldwing. Fortunately I don't have to limit my bikes that much yet, though my wife does want me to thin the herd as I get my bikes built. As I sell them, the funds will go into a dedicated savings account for a Brutale or the new Goldwing (which will be a few years old by the time there are enough funds in the account). In a perfect world, I would have just four bikes; a Duc Scrambler, a Brutale, the '18 'Wing, and my KZ650.

 

[sakurama]

Okay, I know I was supposed to have started this in November. In fact I honestly believed I'd have the closets done by Thanksgiving and be working on the book shelves for the back room. Well a very busy schedule and clients that take their sweet time to pay (it's always the larger the client the longer they take) and here we are with three weeks to go...

But I have help! My sister is the sort of person who can get things done. Like right now. She has single handedly organized and cleaned things that I've left for a year. If she lived here this thread would be over in few months I think.

I changed my mind about how high I wanted the closets to be. I have a lot of LP's and I'm not sure if I'll want to keep them in the living room - but what's living if not sitting in front of a fire listening to a record on the hifi?

I did some math and found that 75 LP's take up one foot. The width of the closet/cabinet is about 5' and that is 375 records. I have about 1200 so I'd need four shelves spaced at 13". I had to make the cabinet larger just in case the LP's need to live in the living room. I also didn't want the upper portion to be two shelves high or too large. I wanted it to be subtle.

That necessitated moving the light switch I'd put in and that took me over three hours. I electricity is hard but having to make sense of 18 wires makes my brain melt and I probably drove Lara crazy with my muttering, "hot goes from the main line on white, wrap that with tape, wire nut the black and white together because that goes to the light..." It's remedial but I still cross my fingers when I flip the breaker and still get excited when it works first try.

Lara learned how to use the Festool TS 75 track saw today. Like a boss. I managed to cut one board short while explaining how we have to be careful to not cut any of the boards short. Like an idiot.

The bump outs in the wall are pretty wonky. I shimmed them when I dry walled them but they're nonetheless still imperfect. I am planning on running LED lighting inside and also, somehow, in the inside of the upper display area. To facilitate this I'm going to fur out the inside with some 1x2 strips which will leave me space to run the 12v power from the LED transformers. Since the LED's are only 12V I can just use lamp wire and I don't have to worry about covering them.

So the boxes are going to be smaller than the space they'll occupy so that they can be square and level unlike most of what's there. It will give me a fighting chance when I attempt to cover them with the tongue and groove.

So Monday was just cleaning the area and getting lumber and today was prepping the space, injecting foam into the cracks, rewiring the outlet and switches and calculating the size of the boxes over and over so I don't screw it up. Fortunately on one of those calculations I remembered that when you're building the euro style cabinets you should make the sides a multiple of 32 so that you can flip your hole drilling jig and not suffer the calamity of mismatched shelf holes. That was a close one but having symmetrical sides will go a long way toward speeding this up. It will make more sense once they're coming together.

I'm also using prefinished shop birch - which I really like. My local place has nice stuff for $60 a sheet and for the interior of a cabinet it's great. Not to mention that finishing this would add several precious days which I don't have.

Prefin rules. Stay tuned.

Gregor

 

[LateNights]

I know I'm not as super-awesome as Gregor, but I do have a garage with a KTM990 in it and have been riding (doing a tiny bit of racing) for 20 years, and frequently ride with an insane Aussie so if you want some feedback:

I'm almost certain it'll be the mini Duke - I was leaning more toward the 650 as my commute involves some highway riding so it may be even slightly more practical than the Duke?

Looking forward a year or two however, if I were to go with the Versys to begin with, I'd still think seriously about pairing the Duke with the R9T so I can keep the "hero" bike clean - if all goes according to plan I'll be relocating around the same time so my commute won't be as bad as it is now, meaning the Duke would then make the better daily.

Plus,

The mini Duke shares a few features with the KTM 1290 Adventure S...

P.s Glad to see some house progress - if for no other reason than once it's finished we can bother you about making the garage as trendy as the house!

 

[skrap metal]

love this thread.

 

[sakurama]

So I worked all day on this and got absolutely no further than yesterday. It's days like this that make me feel like I'm on a treadmill.

I want the cabinet doors to be covered in the fir tongue and groove that I stained so the wall looks all "of a piece" and the cabinet below the display area is barely visible. To that end I knew I'd need some sort of special hinge so I held off drilling the sides and assembling the boxes just in case the hinges I got were strange.

They were.

The guy at NBH suggested I get the Salice CFA7P99 which would allow doors up to 40mm which would cover the 3/4" plywood interior and the 3/4" fir sheathing. So I buy 16 of them (four per door because they're going to be large doors) and go home to work it out.

The first problem was that the cups on the hinges aren't the industry standard 35mm but actually 40mm. So I had to go out and find a 40mm forstner's bit which wasn't easy. Of course the shaft was too large (3/8") for the Festool 1010 router I have but a call to a machine shop proved helpful because I learned that the shafts aren't hardened so I could fix this problem myself.

I knew my 3-jaw chuck wouldn't be accurate enough to cut the shaft down so I went for a collet. The runout was about .003" which on something spinning as fast as a router bit is way too much. I needed to be more accurate so that meant the 4-jaw chuck. It would also allow me to use a live center on the back of the shaft which, in addition to the better accuracy afforded by the 4-jaw would let me really be accurate. In order to hold the bit end I needed a shim to protect the teeth and soda cans are perfect shim stock. Refreshing too.

Here's a tip for centering your tool on the work.

Put a small ruler between your tool and the work and gently squeeze it to see if it stays vertical. If it tips back lower your cutter and if it tips forward raise it. This tool is on center which is how they cut best. It's a very quick way of getting it right and little tricks speed the work.

I probably should have indicated closer to the chuck but this dial indicator goes to tenths and I got this to within .0001" which is as good as I can get. The live center, the cone on a bearing in the back, will hold the work against any deflection and help make sure the part is accurate.

I took off 1mm a pass until I got close and then took my time to sneak up on 8mm.

This was as good as my day got today.

And just to be sure I took off the collet from the router to double check.

There you have it. A custom 40mm forstner's bit with a Festool compatible 8mm shaft.

The router base measured 39.90mm and I was going to rig this up on the rotary table but decided to just go the quick route and put a sanding drum from the dremmel in the drill press. It's only .1mm so it didn't take much to fix.

Then the hinges had to be drilled out for the 5mm cabinet screws I use...

Then finally I made a test fixture before deciding to drill all the boxes to the standard 37mm depth for the first set of holes that the hinges attach to. I mean, if the hinges are whacky I should test this...

I can't make hide nor hair of the Salice information despite scouring the net for hours. Every PDF from them lists out formula's for the hinges; D = (15+K) - H but there's always one or more undefined variable. It makes me crazy. The NBH guy had me take a photo of his catalog page which only specified 11mm spacing from the edge to the cup edge.

It's so close. If I push the hinge out a bit to a gap of 3-5mm I can just get the door edge to clear but the very corner of the test board on the door touches. I went back to look at different drawings from Salice and it appears that these hinges are for inset moulded doors or trim. Namely doors that aren't shaped like rectangles with almost no gap. I don't think they're going to work.

I think if I make the plywood interior door, the base that I'd affix the fir paneling to, a 1/2" board instead of the 3/4" I'm trying to use I could get the total thickness to just under the 1-1/4" that seems to be the outside limit of hinge capability.

Which really means that I spent my entire day performing a failed test.

Frustrating.

The upside is that other member of my family who actually accomplishes things converted my old lumber into kindling for me. Yeah!

I've been trying to save all these excess boards but many of them were too long to be stored anywhere so I've been moving them around for a few years and they inevitably got wet, dirty and worthless. I threw in the towel and said chop them into kindling. I feel lighter now.

Tomorrow I'll return the hinges and start this process over...

Gregor

 

[Brian R]

Think of Edison - it's not a failed test you just found a way that does not work.
Sisters rock.

 

[sakurama]

Think of Edison - it's not a failed test you just found a way that does not work.
Sisters rock.

Thanks. Today I found a lot more ways that don't work. Then, finally, one that did.

And yes, my sister in particular. She's the only person in my entire family who's ever looked at or read this thread. That alone should have warned her away but noooooo.....

So this morning I returned the hinges and got a new suggestion and came home to test the new set of hinges. This time I made test doors on 1/2" stock and 1/4" stock as well. None of them worked so I broke down and called Salice tech support and was surprising connected to a patient and smart person named Troy. I sent him photos of what I was trying to accomplish and he studied them, asked some questions and got measurements and then suggested that C2PKA99 with a zero base plate was exactly what I was looking for.

I returned the hinges for a third time and picked up the new ones but wasn't confident enough to get the sheets of 1/4" that I'd need. Plenty of time for that if the hinges work.

At this point I had three mock doors for my test fixture and a pile of new hinges and very low expectations. I was not hopeful that they'd work and was beginning to consider piano hinges or perhaps some big wrought iron ones just screwed into the wall...

But they worked!

Okay, so getting the correct hinges shouldn't be something to jump up and down about but I did.

That finally allowed us to get moving on the cabinet carcasses. First order was to drill all the holes for the 32mm shelf pins and hinges. The key to making this easy is to make the sides you're going to drill a multiple of 32mm. In my case this was 1376mm. This allows you to treat the front and back, top and bottom as all the same since they're symmetrical. It reduces confusion, calculations and mistakes.

Lara is a quick study but the Festool 32mm drilling jig isn't exactly intuitive nonetheless she managed to figure it out and drill all the holes while I worked on setting up the Domino so we could do the joining.

We bought two different styles of shelf pins but I feel the "L" bracket ones are stronger and will be better for these larger shelves. The smaller ones will be used when the shelves are on display.

Any mistakes you see are mine.

Gregor

 

[sakurama]

With hinges solved it was time to get cracking. First order of business was to edge band the fronts of the carcass.

Lara picked that up quickly as well and we only did the very front edge as that's all that will be seen. As she edge banded I would drill out the boards for the tenons of the Domino.

The trick with these was to make the first one tight to align the boards on the front edge and then the remaining ones could be the medium size so that the boards lined up on their long side. It meant changing the width and depth settings a lot and I was very nervous that I'd screw it up. I made a few mistakes but none that weren't solvable.

That first narrow one is the exact width of the domino tenon and you use the alignment pin on the Domino to set the location. The domino's in the end are 25mm deep leaving 15mm exposed which is just enough to plunge into the sides but not cut through.

I'm strictly using the Domino guide pins to set the locations but on the center I set a fence up and clamped it down to act as the stop for the fence.

The moment of truth was to assemble the cabinet frames and remarkably they were all correct but a super tight fit.

I'm not using any glue here. The domino's make for a very strong construction so I'm only using three screws a side to hold them together. They can't go anywhere so I think they'll be fine.

The hard part now is to fit the cabinets in and decide where to square them and where to make them fit the house. Since one of the few level things in the house is the floor (it was re-poured remember) we use the laser level to set the base of the two cabinets at the same height. If we leveled them individually they might be off in relation to each other. Then we tip them forward since the bases fall away and shim them to pretty level. At this point their faces shouldn't be level per se but flush with the wall and squared up side to side.

And here is where you realize the skills of a good carpenter. Much like my skills as a photographer and retoucher are to make a stunning photo where you're not aware of the all the work that went into it I am facing all the small joints, gaps, space and misalignments that somehow have to be dealt with and in such a way that in the end you don't see any of it and it looks great.

The doors have to be 1" thick to accommodate the 1/4" plywood backer. That means the cabinet has to be inset an extra 1/4" so I have to come up with a way to cover that gap. More difficult than the sides is the base where it didn't occur to me that I'd be seeing the 2x6's under the cabinet. Not to mention the end grain cut of the boards. Those are scraps by the way - we're testing out ideas.

It occurs to me that if I don't overlap the doors on the bottom that I could miter the small end boards and create a very small return right into the base...

I can see that this is going to get very complicated. In order to start working this out we're going to have to move the Kapex into the living room and start putting the tongue and groove in starting on the left and work our way to the edge of the cabinet. We'll tip the cabinet to where it's flush (less the 1/4" of the door backer) to the wall and then fix it in place with some screws.

In addition to this I haven't figured out how I'm going to do the lights yet. I need to solve that tonight and run wire now before it's too late.

Overall though I feel like we made good progress today. I'm pretty worried that I'll crash and burn into a problem I can't solve because I certainly can't see the solutions through to the end at the moment but I have a picture in my mind of what it should look like and I'm going to just keep going until it looks like that. One problem and one solution at a time...

Gregor

 

[Zippercat]

Love it all, especially the mitered return to cover the area below the doors. I’d be tempted to rip and miter one board to run the width of the opening. But my guess is you will cut each mitered piece from the board to which it will be fastened such that the grains match around the corner?

Isn’t it incredible the technology that goes into hinges today? Last week I installed a 35 mm Blum set of soft close and each hinge has a tiny switch to turn the soft close on/off plus snap on covers to hide the adjusting screws. If you have the time (hope that idea makes you smile!), I’d love to see the hinges you’re using on this project and hear more about the manufacturer and retailer.

 

[neilc]

Fantastic work-through process. Aren't Festools great for doing cabinets!?

And your sister is a great addition to moving the project along.

 

[sakurama]

Love it all, especially the mitered return to cover the area below the doors. I’d be tempted to rip and miter one board to run the width of the opening. But my guess is you will cut each mitered piece from the board to which it will be fastened such that the grains match around the corner?

Isn’t it incredible the technology that goes into hinges today?

The hinges I'm using are like some crazy articulated robot arm. I'll post them up once we get to putting the doors on - which should be in a day or so. I think the mitered return will be easier actually than trying to do a continuous run since it will give me more opportunity to fudge the gap.

Fantastic work-through process. Aren't Festools great for doing cabinets!? And your sister is a great addition to moving the project along.

Yes, I love my Festools. I really should get some kind of sponsorship from them - if you were to count up how much I have and then all folks on this thread who've succumbed, well, we could probably feed a small army. At one point today I realized I had covered the entire Festool table with Festools. Sort of like an open face Festool sandwich.

Being able to just unplug one tool and the vacuum connection and plug in another certainly helps speed the process and you don't realize how much dust is being collected unless you say, forget to reconnect the vacuum hose to the Kapex. Not like I did that. Nope, just saying then you'd notice.

Speaking of the Kapex, it was moved from the garage to facilitate the many cuts that will be happening. I'm very happy that I stored away the mobile stand and extension wings. The whole living room is a workshop - reminds me of old times!

With the Kapex in place I can do a quick measurement and call it out to Lara who then cuts me the next board. I press it into place and...

Use a scrap of the paneling to hammer the board in tight and then nail it through the tongue with the 18ga air nailer. Finally cutting and installing the paneling was so satisfying. I can't even tell you. I'm also getting a lot of use out of those Baltic Birch hammers I made a few years ago. One stays in the kitchen but I use the other two all the time.

In order to lock the boxes into place we needed to bring the paneling across to the edge of the box. From there we stuck a scrap of 1/4" Russian birch between the cabinet and the paneling to establish the depth of the box. It's essential that the box matches the wall so that the doors of the cabinet line up with the wall. If I screw that up the whole "invisible cabinet" routine goes out the window.

Once fore and aft is established with the 1/4" ply the side to side is squared up and then a slice of plywood is cut to match the gap on the front edge. I struggled to figure out how I could hide the screws I'd need to lock the cabinet in place but then remembered the hinges and pilot drilled the holes so the hinges would hide those screws.

Once two screws go through the case sides and into the wall the whole thing is locked solid. One of the reasons I decided to not put a back on it is that I knew I'd need to rack the case to match the wall. Perhaps I could trim out the back to get rid of the gaps but it's a cabinet and as Lara keeps reminding me, "The days are ticking down, pick the fast solution if no one is going to see it."

I was planning on running LED strips somehow but I just couldn't think of a good way to hide them or attach them and finally decided that the better solution would be to just install three round LED lights per opening. Towards that end we ran wire which we'll tape into place so that we can get to it once we have the lights. Which I really need to order...

It doesn't seem like we got very far but this whole thing is so much more complicated than I thought. You know, I can hear you rolling your eyes.

Nonetheless it looks great so far. I'm pretty stunned by how perfectly matched the paneling is. The brush strokes, the color variation, the streaking and the grain are all completely identical. I'm so happy that I did all that work to get them to match. So happy. So freaking happy. I really think this might be the nicest thing I've done in the house so far. Provided I don't screw it up. Still plenty of time to screw it up...

Gregor

 

[LateNights]

I know the story behind this photo...

So what's the story of this photo?

 

[Huxley]

So what's the story of this photo?

He is going all out for the Festool sponsorship - right down to the t-shirt. There is a light up green ring in the near future.

 

[hemicuda1313]

The curtains are for privacy. Both for our equipment and for clients products. Our studio faces south and southern light is too harsh for shooting. The best light with the most shape for photography is the light from north facing windows.

I loved reading through this thread again. This part about the fans is new to me. I love the chrome one in the middle of the lower shelf. What type is that?

 

[sakurama]

I loved reading through this thread again. This part about the fans is new to me. I love the chrome one in the middle of the lower shelf. What type is that?

That's a Emerson Silver Swan. There's lots of info on the web about it. It's a very popular fan for collectors and is quiet and super reliable. They never came in chrome but the blades are usually aluminum which can be polished. I thought it would look more "pure" in a design sense if it was all silver so as an experiment I had it chromed. It turned out well.

Keep an eye on ebay for them - they show up often but generally fetch between $100-200 which is probably about what I payed about 10 years ago so they haven't really gone up too much. Rotobeams (the one to the left) have started to really go up in value - maybe because I've bought so many! They're my favorites.

Gregor