Escape FROM my dream shop

[rmack898]

Mack, how about shedding some light on what you’ve been up to?l

I've been pretty much in the dark Shorty.........until today. I got a text from my employer Sunday night informing me that the tech in the service may next to mine is very sick and tested positive for Covid. I went and got tested this morning and am quarantining until further notice.
Since I'm not going the day job, I'm getting full work days in the shop.

Over the weekend I got 3 lights hung. I spent yesterday and today bending, hanging pipe, and pulling wire. I ran temporary power to the 3 lights I installed just to see how much light I'll have and I'm going to be quite happy with the LED hi-bays. I should be able to get a lot of work done while in lock down.

I'll go back to work for a week and then I go and get my first new knee on 10/6 so I need to get as much done as I can before I get the knee done.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Well, at least you get shop time.

 

[cbacres]

Mac, looks like you’ll have light power to spare! The white insulation gives great reflection. Looking good.
I cat believe it’s been almost a year since we were there.

 

[racer-john]

Best of luck for the knee surgery, Mack

 

[shortykorte]

Hope no virus. Keep us posted on the new knee. If you like we can stop in and play around in your shop while you recuperate.


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[rmack898]

Well, at least you get shop time.

Willie, I took full advantage of that today and got 3 more lights installed. I also knocked out a few of Laura's list items.

Mac, looks like you’ll have light power to spare! The white insulation gives great reflection. Looking good.
I cat believe it’s been almost a year since we were there.

Craig, I can't believe how bright it is with just 3 lights. When I get 6 more installed it will be daylight at midnight.

Best of luck for the knee surgery, Mack

Thanks RJ, both have been bone on bone for longer than I like to remember. Right side first, then the left.

Hope no virus. Keep us posted on the new knee. If you like we can stop in and play around in your shop while you recuperate.

Shorty, if you guys decide to stop by while I'm recuperating, I'll have a very long list of tasks for you to complete. As always, you will have to keep your hands clapping while you complete said work list. Rules are rules.


I got 3 more light fixtures hung and wired today, but I did not get the feed from the panel wired. I didn't want to push it and decided to have an adult beverage instead of working past my limit. You know I'm a stickler when it comes to safety when working on ladders.

Here's a pic of the first 3 lights at night.

 

[zmotorsports]

Good luck on the knee Mac but I don't envy the organizing of the shop. Been there done that and don't ever want to go through that again.

 

[cbacres]

Mac, you hanging lights, or hanging out drinking adult beverages?

 

[Sifan]

"Shorty, if you guys decide to stop by while I'm recuperating, I'll have a very long list of tasks for you to complete. As always, you will have to keep your hands clapping while you complete said work list. Rules are rules."

Have you considered weigh in before work and weigh out after?

Good luck with the knees, I am in the same boat with you. Helping nephew with fall harvest and getting knees fixed so ready for spring planting if he needs me.

 

[cbacres]

"Shorty, if you guys decide to stop by while I'm recuperating, I'll have a very long list of tasks for you to complete. As always, you will have to keep your hands clapping while you complete said work list. Rules are rules."



Have you considered weigh in before work and weigh out after? [emoji4]



Good luck with the knees, I am in the same boat with you. Helping nephew with fall harvest and getting knees fixed so ready for spring planting if he needs me.

A tool sniffing dog and a metal detector.

Here’s a photo from 4 years ago when Shorty first visited my shop. Said he was wanting a bandsaw like mine and just wanted to see if it’d fit............
In his wife’s SUV!!!!


I even let him spend the night in a guest room, but I had every copy of my shop key with me.

 

[shortykorte]

I know nothing, I see nothing and I still have my hat.



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[rmack898]

Good luck on the knee Mac but I don't envy the organizing of the shop. Been there done that and don't ever want to go through that again.

Thanks Mike. The only benefit of taking so long to get the shop set up and organized is that I have been able to change the layout without having to move things around.

Mac, you hanging lights, or hanging out drinking adult beverages?

Craig the lights are all hung and the place is bright.

Have you considered weigh in before work and weigh out after?

Good luck with the knees, I am in the same boat with you. Helping nephew with fall harvest and getting knees fixed so ready for spring planting if he needs me.

That's a great idea. Good luck with your knees too.

A tool sniffing dog and a metal detector.����

You've discovered what I've been training Etta to do.

I know nothing, I see nothing and I still have my hat.

Shorty, the hat only works in your world, not in my shop.


With all the lights up I'm happy with the results. Nine hi-bays in a 3 X 3 pattern make the shop quite bright with no shadows.

I did my first job in the shop that was not on the shop yesterday. Installed a trailer hitch on Laura's '18 Outback. I had to remove the back half of the car but all went well and I was done in less than an hour. Then the car got an oil change and tire rotation.

 

[cbacres]

Mac, lights look great. Show room viewing.

I’m envious, your not set up yet but have all the concrete showing!!!!

Nice conduit work.

 

[Toolfool]

Looking good, Mac. Hope the knee swap goes smoothly.

I just got back from Ohio with my new shop visiting vehicle.

 

[shortykorte]

Shop looks great. I think it’s brighter then when we were there.

When you’re ready to install the lift, I don’t mind helping.


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[rubberrodder]

It's been a while since I checked in last. HUGE amount of progress. Good luck with the knee surgery.
it might hurt like hell, but my friends who have gone through it all say the same thing. "Do as much as possible to build up your leg BEFORE the surgery. It will speed up the recovery therapy."

 

[mybigwarwagon]

The lighting looks great. Should make working in there quite nice.

 

[rmack898]

I just got back from Ohio with my new shop visiting vehicle.

Nice van John, that must make it so much easier for you to bring a vast array of gifts when you go to visit other guy's shops.

"Do as much as possible to build up your leg BEFORE the surgery. It will speed up the recovery therapy."

Like climbing up and down stairs and ladders to get in and out of boats for 9 hours a day. I use it pretty hard every day.

The lighting looks great. Should make working in there quite nice.

It is indeed quite nice Willie.

Made a trip to NJ last week and came home with some goodies. I got a new Slugger mag drill for an upcoming project. I got a new to me 14" 4-jaw Rhom chuck for the Pacemaker lathe, and bought 50 lbs of grade 8 hardware from 1/4 to 1/2".

 

[rmack898]

So I got my new knee installed today, here's how it went.

Up at 4:30 for a germ decontamination shower. 6:am arrived at hospital, filled out papers, got my leg shaved, got an IV and some drugs. 8:45 got wheeled into the OR. 12:15 I woke up feeling pretty good and ate a pretty good hospital food lunch. 12:45 i'm up and walking. They wouldn't let me go until I could go up and down a set of stairs (which I did on the first try)

5:45 Discharged from the hospital, on the way home we stopped to pick up some killer take out Mexican food and a bunch of Rx's from the pharmacy.

Here I am sitting in my chair, icing my knee. I've got pretty of time to catch up on everyone's threads and peruse some online vendors for some needed shop goodies. I should keep the brown truck busy for a week or so.


I have a sneaky feeling that Shorty had a conference call with one of my nurses, because I woke up with a bracelet I didn't have when they put me to sleep.

 

[rmack898]

Just checked my email and got a price quote for all the metal and trim to finish out the inside of my shop......$1685.

With the cost of lumber today, I'm just going to pull the trigger on the metal liner panels and be done with it. No cutting, no painting, and I could have it done in one weekend.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I have a sneaky feeling that Shorty had a conference call with one of my nurses, because I woke up with a bracelet I didn't have when they put me to sleep.

When I had my concussion I wasn't even allowed to go to the bathroom without a nurse in attendance. Although some of the nurses were cute, it was still awkward.

 

[shortykorte]

Hey always thinking of y’all safety.

Guess I need to be at your shop Saturday to receive the goodies coming in. Don’t kneed you tripping on a root or something. [emoji12]


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[Finallygotit]

Mac,

Glad you're on the mend. I am so impressed with the state of medical science. To think you're up and walking around the SAME day! Phenomenal.

 

[racer-john]

I'm presuming the operation was orthoscopic.

 

[Finallygotit]

Doubtful since it was a full knee replacement.

 

[rmack898]

I'm presuming the operation was orthoscopic.

No scope, total replacement.


You beat me to it Dan.

 

[Toolfool]

Glad to hear your surgery went well. I'm sure you have a good bottle of pain killer somewhere in the house.

 

[rmack898]

Glad to hear your surgery went well. I'm sure you have a good bottle of pain killer somewhere in the house.

John I'll have to wait until I'm done with the pain killers before I can use the good pain killer

I went to PT today and the ride in the car kicked my ****. I don't go back there until Monday when they really start to torture me.

Mean while, I'm on the couch shopping. I ordered all the metal liner panels to finish the inside of the shop and they will ready for pick up late next week.

I spent the afternoon at Fireball tool. I already have one of Jason's Mega-Squares and I ordered substantial additions to my Fireball tools today. I got to get off this couch soon because it's expensive for me to have nothing to do .

 

[shortykorte]

Mack sounds like you’re having fun and using your time wisely.


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[mybigwarwagon]

OH I don't miss PT. Even though the gal was hotter than 7 suns it barely made it tolerable.

 

[Swanny1953]

Good luck with PT. I had total replacement 9 years ago and it's the best thing I have ever done for myself!!

 

[cbacres]

John I'll have to wait until I'm done with the pain killers before I can use the good pain killer

I went to PT today and the ride in the car kicked my ****. I don't go back there until Monday when they really start to torture me.

Mean while, I'm on the couch shopping. I ordered all the metal liner panels to finish the inside of the shop and they will ready for pick up late next week.

I spent the afternoon at Fireball tool. I already have one of Jason's Mega-Squares and I ordered substantial additions to my Fireball tools today. I got to get off this couch soon because it's expensive for me to have nothing to do .

Glad to hear you’re on the way to recovery!

Mac, which one of the squares do you have? The cast iron or aluminum?

I’ve been eye balling the fabricators set, leaning toward the aluminum mainly for the lightweight being useful on outstretched uses.

 

[rmack898]

I got the aluminum square and I'm quite happy with it.
I was talking to Trevor last night and he is getting ready to pull the trigger on the aluminum fabricators set. Maybe he'll do a review once he's had some time with it.

 

[Jayman17]

Mack it's been awhile since I've checked in on your shop build. Wow, those lights are very bright. Looks good in there.
Glad your surgery went well, here's to a speedy recovery.
Looking forward to seeing the panels installed inside your shop...

Jay

 

[shortykorte]

Sorry we didn’t get you a Get Well card but we did get you a gift. Hope it helps you get started back to some QST.


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[rmack898]

Thanks for checking in Jay.

Shorty, my electric start in a can is great stuff.

Way back when we poured the foundation for the shop, I put a 2" PVC chase in for future water service to the shop. After the shop was built Laura and I ran an 1-1/2" conduit from the house and connected it to the 2" chase.

Yesterday I used a vacuum to **** a string through the conduit and used the string to pull a rope through the conduit. I drilled a hole in a 3/4" PEX plug and installed an eye bolt. Spliced the rope to the eye bolt, installed the plug in the PEX, and used the rope to pull the PEX from the shop to the house.

It's almost 200' from the house to the shop and the PEX pulled really easy. The pic shows the shop from standing at the house. Now all I need is a sink in the shop and make the connections to have running water in the shop.

I'm pretty much at a stand still until I get my wall liner panels.

 

[cbacres]

That Pex is easy and it’s still sturdy pipe to use.
Neat idea how you rigged for pulling.
Although not likely a concern for you anymore, it’s forgiving to freeze too.

 

[Craptain]

That's a pretty tidy eye splice. CG training showing there.

The project shows a system I tried to teach.

Proper
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

Planning ahead showed it's value here. Now if only I could follow my own advice. [emoji849][emoji849]

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[harley jim]

Pretty slick pull on the pex there mack

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[rmack898]

TAlthough not likely a concern for you anymore, it’s forgiving to freeze too.

Craig, if I have freezing issues I guess I didn't move south far enough.

That's a pretty tidy eye splice. CG training showing there.

The project shows a system I tried to teach.

Proper
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

Planning ahead showed it's value here. Now if only I could follow my own advice. [emoji849][emoji849]
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

Andrew, my dad was a merchant mariner and he taught me to splice long before the CG got me.

It seems the older I get, the more forward planning I do. This house we just built was planned for really old people, I'll leave here when they put me in a box.

Pretty slick pull on the pex there mack

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Jim, I have been putting everything under ground here. Laying conduit in the ground for future use is cheap. Once you get a string in the pipe, the rest is a breeze.

Had a late day addition to our irrigation system yesterday but it got too dark to back fill. Pictures to follow later.