Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

[Strouty]

I don’t think it will be too expensive to make a mobile base, but time will tell. As for the late on wood blocks, not sure that is the best way, I did that for storage purposes.

This morning I started looking at what needs to be done to scrap the big drill, I can’t do it. I am going back to my original plan of removing at least two heads and later I can reconfigure the control box so there is no need to access it from the rear. I am most interested in the table, but keeping it without any of the drills is pointless.

I am going to finish wiring it up so I can see what works and what doesn’t.

 

[Strouty]

The big drill press lives! The left head and the right head work very well, and those were the two I wanted to save. I feel the other heads are worth saving for parts, but I will have them out in one of the storage boxes. Need to replace the motor starters or at least the heaters. Going from 460 to 230 doubles the amps and they only run for a bit, then trip out.

 

[Strouty]

My brother dropped off his trailer with the back body that he wasn’t using. I want to remove the rear body from Bev and install this one instead, then I can sell Bev and buy a heavier duty truck. I would like to find an FL70 with an 8.3 cummins, then it would be the same essential powertrain as the 6x6 army trucks. Easy to get those parts! I am looking at building a hooklift truck, I think I found the mechanism, thanks to an enabling GJ member that will remain nameless.









So now I am disassembling the big drill, hopefully it will start giving me ideas, for now, just removing two heads and lowering one down by removing the riser piece.

 

[Strouty]

I am glad I took the drill apart, it looks like I can make it so much better than the way it was. I have to measure the casting and see how thick it is, would be nice if I could move the two heads where I want, but if it is not strong enough to drill and tap then it would not be worth the effort. Worst case, I can make an adapter plate to use the existing holes. That is the easiest way, but it would probably look better if I threaded some new holes.

 

[Strouty]

I have office work to do today, except not in my office. Probably be lucky if I can get any shop time at all. Gotta pay the bills somehow, right?

 

[Orionrising]

That drill is just odd. Hydraulic lift table it looks like but fixed head locations?

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Strouty]

The table is hand crank, and the heads have a weird way of adjusting up and down.

 

[OccupantRJ]

The heads are individually adjusted relative to how deep you want to drill or tap. By loosening the clamp, a block can be placed under the spindle and the handle pulled down to raise the spindle. Alternately, the drill can be placed onto a part, the same done, then the stop can be set for each head depth. Pretty quick once you get the hang of it.

 

[Strouty]

The drill press heads also have power feed, but the shafts are missing, so I can't test them. My guess is that they either don't work or worked poorly and that is why the shafts were removed. I guess it could also be incompetent workers not using them correctly.

Got a lot of the necessary office type work done yesterday, today I would like to get a bit more done at the shop. I really need to clean up an area so I can start taking decent pictures of stuff that needs to be listed on eBay, that way I can clear out a bunch of junk and get a bit of cash in the process. I know I had not posted about this, but I have also been working on cleaning up the moving trailer, I went through 8 or 9 bins and tossed out about half the stuff that was being stored, some was scrap steel, some was just trash. I want to go through every bin in there, as well as the ones in the conex, they all need to be labeled (some are already). I also kind of forgot that the conex has an almost empty lista cabinet in it, as well as two of the three blue card file cabinets that used to be in my stockroom. All of this stuff needs to be utilized and labeled. It is just really time consuming, but the other day when I was wiring up the machines, I had every part that I needed and I could find it. That proved to me that in the end it will be worth the effort of organizing and storing things. The best part is there have been a few things that when I put them away, I really did not know what they were, now I am figuring out what they are and am very glad I kept them.

 

[Strouty]

I used the air compressor on Monday, but I must have a leak, the system was empty this morning, going to chase that leak. Trying to pack up some amazon returns, then getting back to the drill press. I think I need to make some brackets to support the heads, this way I can move them easier without the risk of ripping them over.

 

[Strouty]

I found the leak, could be two leaks, but need to fix the external one first, I hope it is causing the internal leak, if not then I will need to do some work on the valves.

I need a couple pieces of 2x4, no problem, I have tons..........

Wrong! Not one 2x4 anywhere. I guess I need to get a couple.

 

[Strouty]

Lots of running around just to get one simple thing done. I decided to go home and get all my Amazon returns, plus my new 3 Phase plugs arrived. Pleasantly surprised that they were all made in the USA, go Leviton! Packing up a few things, will drop them off at UPS, then headed to get 2x4s, cash a check, transfer money, then I will see the chiropractor and go back to the shop. At least I am moving in the right direction!

 

[Strouty]

3 hours later and I can get these ready for the storage world, now if I can just figure out where to put them.

 

[Strouty]

I think I figured out where to put them, but I need to shuffle some things first. At this point, they are not my top priority, but I would like them out of the shop. Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive day.

 

[Strouty]

I got the first fuel fill up on the maroon burb, almost all around town driving, 17.3 MPG, pretty happy with that. Now I need to do a road trip and see what I can get on the highway. At least now auto 4x4 is not engaged all the time.

Garage Tetris is about to begin.

 

[Strouty]

Trying to layout the shop is much harder than I thought. I think I have the best place for the Bridgeport, now I have to see how the large fits. Then I can expand things from there. Seems like once you get the important piece set, the others will almost fall into place.

 

[Strouty]

After several renditions, this is what I came up with. When I did it on paper, it looked like I would need 10’ by 17’ for the mill and lathe. I got it down to 7’ by 14’. The little drill press is probably going to get sold, but I am going to wait until I finish wiring up the big drill press. Still trying to figure out where the grinders should go, thinking of making another isle facing away from the machines, kind of in the middle of the shop, but I also thought under the pallet racking, against the back wall might be better.

 

[jack stand]

I really need to clean up an area so I can start taking decent pictures of stuff that needs to be listed on eBay, that way I can clear out a bunch of junk and get a bit of cash in the process.

Whoa man!
Give me an idea of what you got. (especially when you mentioned the drill press) I can be in Saco in 30-40 minutes!

 

[Strouty]

I don’t think there is too much tool/garage oriented. I have a couple of shelves full of oddball stuff to sell, there are probably still some hand tools that never made it to the auction. But you never know, the salvage garage almost always has something interesting for sale.

The machines seem to be spaced apart decent, I can access all the control boxes, but I do not have 36” of clearance, that would make for a lot of empty space. Once I am sure that I want to keep the machines where they are, I will start making some racks and shelves for the tooling and supplies. Probably will end up selling the gray Lyon double door cabinet. I really like it, but it may end up being useless once I build my new storage.

 

[jakemac]

The layout looks good.
Is there enough room to build the new storage space and office when you get to it ?

 

[Strouty]

The machines will have to be moved to another wall, but I am figuring that will be a year or more before I even start that. I figure everything I am doing is easy to transfer to another wall, may even be able to tighten things up a bit when I move it again, I set these alone and they were a pain to keep the way I wanted. Believe me, when I laid things out, I was trying to figure out how things will work when I reconfigure it, seems like I probably spent more time imagining the future space than laying out the present space. I only have about another week, then my time will be very limited again, tower construction will start and that should keep me busy for a month or so.

 

[macgyver37]

I have been over analyzing the future versions of my shop and not taking care of what I need now. Have been shooting myself in the foot, I have had a bit of a wakeup to that fact and I am working on just making progress to get things more usable.
Looks like you are doing better at it than me...

 

[Strouty]

I think my wakeup call has been coming in stages or maybe I have been ignoring it more than I should be. Either way, I do feel as there has been progress, not sure if I will ever feel like it is "done" or the "way I want it", but as long as I can find it useful, that will work for now.

 

[250]

That's a huge drill press. Makes the 18-20 inchers look like midgets. I saw a 6-head PM 1200 set up on a production table that looked really cool. None of the heads had been frankensteined and the table looked clean. Really interesting resto prospect. Then about 30 seconds later, two questions came to mind. 1) where would I put it? And 2) what do I need 6 heads for? If I found a clean two head version, that I think could be pretty useful, but probably no different than standing two drill presses next to each other for me. My DP count is 3, and that's were it will probably stay.... maybe.

When I first got the quincy going she'd moan out the top end. Rebuilding the valves helped, and I also added a check valve at the tank. The tank/compressor unit now holds air pretty good, several days if isolated from the system. My system on the other hand has lots of leaks that I've never been able to fully track down. Since this isn't a long term set up, I've decided to just live it it for now.

With light use I've found that the valves are prone to rusting, especially the HP exhaust valve. Rusted to the point its gotten stuck. Its something that I'm just going to have to check on every few months to make sure things don't get bad again. I have plenty of reference pictures should you need anything and a reasonable source for parts I can pass along as well.

 

[Strouty]

Thanks 250, that is a good description "moan", that is what it sounds like. Still takes like 24 hours to bleed all the air out of the tank. In my case I (knock on wood) don't have any leaks in the lines/system, so once I solve this issue it should be better. I have the imploded pump that I am going to pull apart first, then my rebuild kit should cover me for one pump, sound like I should learn about the valves as I do not use air all the time either. I know that I want to set up the continuous run option, just have not had the time to figure out what exactly I need yet. I will definitely PM you if I get stuck.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

A VFD cannot boost the input voltage, you can have 208V output w/ a 240V drive, but not the reverse, have a couple of 200V tools that VFD's made it simple to run them off 240V 1Ø, only way to get 480V is to use 480V VFD's that the phase loss protection can be disabled, plus derate the drive 50% & use a transformer to boost 240V to 480V.

Ah man... You are correct, what I meant to say was make sure your 480V motor can be rewired to 240V, then you can bring in 240V single phase and the drive will output 240V 3-phase. The drive will require a dedicated circuit and most are limited to 7-1/2HP motors due to the current draw at 240V.

You could use a 240V to 480V transformer, but the feed circuit breaker would have to be sized for 2X the FLA of the 480V motor. You can wire most 3-phase Buck/Boost transformers for single phase by looping the output of L1 to the input of L2, then looping the output of L2 to the input of L3... I forget how the KVA rating is affected since it's been over 10 years since the last time I did that on a job.
The data sheet on the transformer will show if it can be done on that unit and show the adjusted KVA rating. The last job I did that used it needed (3) 15KVA 3-phase B/B transformers, one looped for each leg of the incoming 3-phase to knock down 508V actual incoming voltage down to 457V since the German machine wanted an input of 460V and tripped out on a high voltage alarm at 484V.

But most electric motors can be wired 240V or 480V unless it's a really old motor and then you're better off buying a new, higher efficiency 240/480V motor anyways.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Nice progress Strouty.

I spent Thurs. and Fri. night out in my garage taking down the totes of motorcycle parts I had up there. I sorted through them and purged any big pieces I won't be using now. I had been sitting on some parts while I decided what paths I would take with a couple builds. I made it through 6 of 8 totes and completely emptied 2 totes in the process. I'll get to the last totes this week and I'd guess most of those parts will go too. The few parts I need to keep I have room for in another tote for that particular motorcycle. I bet the back of my Forester will be full once I load all the parts I'm bring to the motorcycle salvage yard to trade for the last few parts I still need for my son's CB350 build.

It definitely felt good to get that done even though my back and shoulders are sore from all of the heavy lifting up and down a 6' step ladder.

 

[Strouty]

No pain, no gain. LOL

That is the same type of stuff that I do, I keep parts that I am unsure of for projects, but now I have so many projects that the parts have really put a kink in the works. My biggest issue is suburban parts, they are big and I have lots of them. If I can get the shop cleaned up a bit more, I can put the two burbs inside and go to town on them, now that I have a plan it gives me motivation to work on the project, before I was in limbo to a certain extent.

Looks like good weather this week, so I am going to do my best to get the most out of it.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

No pain, no gain. LOL

That is the same type of stuff that I do, I keep parts that I am unsure of for projects, but now I have so many projects that the parts have really put a kink in the works. My biggest issue is suburban parts, they are big and I have lots of them. If I can get the shop cleaned up a bit more, I can put the two burbs inside and go to town on them, now that I have a plan it gives me motivation to work on the project, before I was in limbo to a certain extent.

Looks like good weather this week, so I am going to do my best to get the most out of it.

I know... your latest thread progress is what motivated me to go through all of my parts to purge what I don't need. Sell what I can and trade off the rest.

My wife encouraged me to go look at another motorcycle on Saturday. Of course there was going to be contingencies attached to the acquisition. The bike was already sold by the time I got there, and it wasn't the right bike for us, but just knowing that she would be supportive of getting a bigger bike that will be more comfortable for 2-up riding has refueled my motivation to get back to work in my garage and get stuff hauled off. She didn't realize that I had already started the process last week, so she'll see this as coming from her contingency for a newer bike.

 

[Strouty]

Awesome!

So far today I have done paperwork and cleaning up **** at my Dad’s office, trying to weed through his mess. He has not been in his office since probably 2009, but all the paperwork is still unfilled and messy. Can’t see the desk or hardly the floor. I think this is my fifth day working on it, but I am starting to see the progress there as well.

I am grabbing lunch, then going to the shop, probably be a late night. Tomorrow is messed up as I have a planning board meeting for some rezoning issues, that means I have to tighten up my presentation and be ready to speak. So other than meeting a guy that has some three phase panel/breaker stuff, I will mostly be at my Dad’s office tomorrow.

I did sell the original Bridgeport, to a GJ member too. I am going to schedule with him to deliver it this week, I want to help him get it into his garage as well, he has helped me out in the past.

 

[Strouty]

I really feel like I have been slacking, so I am going to post some more current pictures of the outside and boxes, this way I have a dated reference for when I look back.

 

[Strouty]

A few more

 

[dchance]

From my memory it would appear that you have made great progress. It is looking good.
May not be what you want in the end but you're getting there.

Dwight

 

[Strouty]

Got the two spare drill heads out to the back storage. They are a lot harder to move on a flexible wooden floor than they were on the concrete. Done for now, old Bridgeport is ready to travel, got a bunch of space back and happy about it. Still need to put tools away, reorganize storage inside the shop, and layout the grinding area. I want one more grinder, but I want it to have a wire wheel on one side, I figure the other side would be good to have a fancy wheel for sharpening my large tooling.











Next thing that has to go is the bad compressor pump, I would like to take it apart though, so it may take me a while before I get to it. Wednesday I have some help, may work on the office a bit as he can come over when I am not here and work on it as long as I show him what needs to be done.

Enough for today, I can feel it in my back and hip, trying to turn those drill heads, a good nights rest should take care of it, maybe some advil too.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Stouty, great progress when I look back on your earlier posts.

 

[Strouty]

From my memory it would appear that you have made great progress. It is looking good.
May not be what you want in the end but you're getting there.

Dwight

Stouty, great progress when I look back on your earlier posts.

Thanks guys, I probably should do a review of the thread for my benefit (read sanity), I do feel that each time I go through a purge it seems to get a bit better.

 

[Strouty]

Just arrived at the shop, had a meeting about investigating a tower site that seems to have no lease with the current land owner. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. They also want me to broker the site jointly with a local real estate agent, I figure what the heck, especially if the contract is good.

Going to load up the Bridgeport today and deliver it tomorrow morning.

Looks like next week will be a bit of tower work in town, then I am headed to Long Island to coil up some used guy wire for another tower project. They are upgrading from 7/8” wires to 1” wires and all the hardware, probably $20k worth of supplies and it will get used.

For some reason I forgot how clean I left the shop and when I opened the door it surprised me, but in a good way. Hopefully I can leave it tonight so that it will be even cleaner.

 

[Strouty]

Bridgeport is loaded and ready for delivery.

I have also decided that I am moving my office to my Dad’s office, at this point I spend more time there and he will allow for a dedicated space that is bigger than my current one. Should make things easier in the long run. Probably do this for a couple years, then once I do the shop layout revamp, I can move the office back to my shop. Or it could be awful and I decide to not stay there for very long at all.

 

[Strouty]

Will start moving the office stuff tomorrow and Saturday. I think I can get most of it moved this weekend, maybe even all of it.

 

[250]

Next thing that has to go is the bad compressor pump, I would like to take it apart though, so it may take me a while before I get to it.

It took me an afternoon, and I don't have the lifting equipment that you do. I disassembled it on the tank for the most part using the chain fall and for everything by hand. You could probably do it in an evening unless you run into something really stuck.