Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Nick's Two-Car Detached Vdub Garage

[nicholam77]

Craigslist Deal + Guide Rail Addiction:

This is actually an update from a bit ago. To give us all a break from the 3d printer

On my last cabinet project (parents' pantry), I expressed disappointment with connecting my two 55" Makita rails for 8' rip cuts. Ever since, I've been on the hunt for a 118" rail. Best new price is about $225, which is much better than the Festool, but still an investment. So I saved a smart search on a few services like Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, etc.

Low and behold last November a 118" rail, new in box, never even used popped up in Minneapolis. I offered $150 and they accepted. I figured I couldn't pass it up at that price, and my intention is to sell 1x of my 55" rails and the TSO connectors I bought, which should offset it even more.



So the Big Boi has finally landed.

I had to find a LOT of wall space and this seemed like a good spot. I initially attempted to 3D print some of these rail holders, and that's actually what precipitated my layer shifting.





So I ordered another set of the Fastcap. ***** they are ~$30 but they work nice. Could have made a simple plywood one of course, but I plan to move all my rails over to that wall, and my OCD won't let me have different style holders.

I placed the Fastcap holders towards the ends, and the rail seems fairly rigid longitudinally, but one thing I noticed is it was bowing inward in the middle over such a span. I didn't like the idea of storing it in a bent shape, so I hit up Fusion360.



BOOM!

I know it's simple. But I'm still proud of it.



This is with no cooling fan, btw. Still looks pretty nice, although at the higher temperature I've notice these little blobs on vertical surfaces. They feel smooth but catch the light:



Shoot, sorry, this post wasn't supposed to be about the printer.

In the end I realized I couldn't use the retaining "lip" because the rail wouldn't slide in, so I removed it. I tried to do this by modifying my parameters I had set up:



But this did not behave as expected. I can't predict which way a dimension will expand or contract if modified, and I think that, combined with constraints, it's giving me unpredictable results in how the model changes. Any tips on how to determine which way a dimension will move?

Anyways I just modified the sketch instead. That came out nice.



You can see it provides a little mid-support in the bottom, and behind the rail matches the thickness of the FastCap parts so the rail is a consistent width from the wall (flat).



A wide shot to show how long it really is:



Now I need to move my other 55" rails.

My wife got me the 55" LR-32 rail for XMAS, to which she asked... "don't you already have one of these?". And I said "Yes, but this one has... little holes!"

So currently I have two Makita 55", one Makita 39", one 55" LR32, and the new 118". But hopefully I can find a new home for one of the Makita 55" soon.



I still need to figure out if I'm going to purchase and adapt the official LR-32 sled for my DeWalt router, or try and make my own. But I like the plunge router system, and I figured having the LR-32 rail with accurate hole spacing is a good starting place.

Clearly I see more cabinets in my future.

 

[Klokwerk]

That turned out great!

 

[Trapps]

Nice score, Nick! Consider keeping the TSO connectors in case you decide you want/need to have a long LR32 option.

Sell your 3D printer and buy a festool router. Kidding. You're good on software, design your own adapter modified from the Festool item.

 

[Bakafish]

Having the precision spaced holes on the rail is 95% of the battle. Modifying a Makita or other compatible sled and making the little bottom mounted offset blocks and front offset spacers should be easy. I even have some models you might want to try. My biggest rail is only 190cm, I'd love a 300cm one, but storage in my house would be difficult, so for now I just join them using the pretty effective Makita rail splints. I have plenty of straight edges to help align things, it's a pain but it works. Joining rails is one of the many things on my target list to create a better solution for, but there are bigger priorities.

 

[nicholam77]

That turned out great!

Thanks!!

Nice score, Nick! Consider keeping the TSO connectors in case you decide you want/need to have a long LR32 option.

Sell your 3D printer and buy a festool router. Kidding. You're good on software, design your own adapter modified from the Festool item.

Yeah was pretty happy to find it local! I doubt I'll be extending the LR32 rail beyond 55". Should be adequate for any base or upper cabinets, and if I ever do another floor-to-ceiling build like the pantry, the 55" rail can be referenced off the top or the bottom of the gable, it likely wouldn't need a continuous unbroken hole pattern the full 8' height. It's possible, but I don't think I'd run into that often enough to warrant purchasing another holey rail.

I don't think I'd buy a Festool router. They look nice but the value proposition isn't there IMO. And I actually really like my DW618. It's comfortable, good dust collection, powerful enough. Only problem in this application is it's a tad large. If a new router is part of the solution I'll likely pick up a trim router with plunge base. But I'm going to see if I can do it without, first.

Having the precision spaced holes on the rail is 95% of the battle. Modifying a Makita or other compatible sled and making the little bottom mounted offset blocks and front offset spacers should be easy. I even have some models you might want to try. My biggest rail is only 190cm, I'd love a 300cm one, but storage in my house would be difficult, so for now I just join them using the pretty effective Makita rail splints. I have plenty of straight edges to help align things, it's a pain but it works. Joining rails is one of the many things on my target list to create a better solution for, but there are bigger priorities.

That's what I was thinking. The Festool end stops are pretty reasonable (~$30 for the pair) and aluminum, although I suppose those could be 3D printed, too. The front spacers, there are plenty of cheap solutions for, including a simple MDF one from Peter Millard. But I actually got the WP Paolini Pocket Rule for that purpose (amongst others). At least to handle a 37mm offset.

I've heard the Makita rail joiners actually work fine. I'm sure the TSO ones do too, but my biggest problem was the difference in the two Makita rails I got not quite lining up due to differences in the machining. And only a 4' straight edge on hand. But the long rail is really long so you do need a place to store it!

The Makita sled isn't compatible with my DeWalt router, so either I get a Makita trim router, or come up with a custom solution. I also owned the DeWalt sled at one point, but it was a sloppy fit on the Makita rail.

There's also a company called Tool Curve on Etsy that has a forthcoming 3D printed option in the pipeline for my router.

And sure, I'd be interested in taking a look at your models, even if it's just to see what you did and get ideas!

 

[nicholam77]

Got an email back from Creality Customer Service

"Dear customer,
Sorry for the delay in replying becasue of System switching problem.
would you pls shot the video to show us the issue

then we will check it for you


If you need further assistance with this issue, please feel free to contact us.
Yours sincerely
CS/Customer Service
Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology Co., Ltd"


Not the easiest problem to show on video. I already sent adequate pictures of the melted pin and the fan not spinning. If I hadn't melted the pin, to fully document I'd have to film the bottom of the machine, as well as maybe show that a model had the fan turned on in the slicer, show that the printer was printing that model, and that the fan wasn't spinning (which would mean the fan shroud would need to be off and the fan would be hanging from the wires and dragging around on the bed). Or... show in real time how entering M106 into the Octoprint terminal activates the board cooling fan but not the part cooling fan.

This is all a moot point though because I can't plug the fan into that terminal anymore, so "video evidence" would really be the same as my photo evidence, a shot of the melted pin.

I think I will try to submit a video of the motherboard. But I'd be surprised if it leads to anything fruitful.

 

[Bakafish]

I think I will try to submit a video of the motherboard. But I'd be surprised if it leads to anything fruitful.

A quick single take shot of the display showing the fan at 100%, then the fan not moving (a feather or small string in front of the vent), then the fan plugged into the motherboard, then unplug it and attempt to show the fan pin. You'll be the next Kubrick. You will have to prop it up awkwardly I'd imagine, maybe clamp the rear end to your workbench and hang the front over the edge so you can shoot the exposed motherboard.

 

[nicholam77]

You'll be the next Kubrick.

That made me LOL. While a single take shot is very Kubrickian, it would require a lot of choreography and probably 100 takes to ensure I get the perfect performance out of the printer. Maybe scoring it to The Blue Danube Waltz would be a nice touch?

Overnight I received a more promising email from Creality. I actually emailed three different addresses as it was very confusing where to submit the claim. One replied they were not customer service, one replied with the message requesting the video, and the third replied the below:

"关于Ender 3 V2 Warranty Claim【ID:21363790】的回复

Dear Customer

Thank you for your letter.

Here is our suggestion for your problem

Please provide the recipient information, reissue the motherboard replacement, the blower fan pin is burned out"

It also requested I send my address and shipping details. So...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But if that dead ends, I'll submit my video masterpiece!

 

[T-handle]

Great score on that big *** guide rail Nick! Almost goes to "you ****" department, What are you trying to compensate

Good news from the Creality customer service, maybe they will send you a new main board, I'll keep my fingers crossed

You have to report your progress with this cad stuff so I/we can follow your steps to make our own stuff with the printer

 

[Matias]

Those smart searches are excellent, that's a very nice score there!

I'm waiting for the spring, regarding the garage, as I do feel bad every time the car comes in with snow on it, and have it melt on the garage floor

Hopefully you get a positive result with Creality!

 

[jonshonda]

Word of advice having worked directly with Asian manufacturing. We always joked around the office when working with our vendors "three letter words, and three word sentences". Basically what that boils down to is keep the words as simple as possible, and sentences direct. So when translated, they make sense (try not to use words that have multiple meanings, or complex words or sentences). You will get much better results if you keep is basic, direct, and not wordy. That is true regardless of who you are working with! haha

Pictures with arrows or graphics also work very well.

On that note, this thread in part helped me decide to pick up a track saw. I don't process a lot of sheet goods, but when I do process anything I want it as accurate as possible, and I have never had luck with guide rails and other handicapped do-dads that were supposed to help provide straight and accurate cuts with a typical circular saw. But I just couldn't push myself to spend the big bucks on Makita, Festool, or Bosch (I really wanted Bosch because my other corded woodworking tools are Bosch, and I try to match unless a good deal comes around). So I picked up a Masterforce. It is my first cheap new tool purchase in a while. But I figure if I take my time setting up the rails, and the frequency I use it, it will be just fine.

 

[nicholam77]

Great score on that big *** guide rail Nick! Almost goes to "you ****" department, What are you trying to compensate

Good news from the Creality customer service, maybe they will send you a new main board, I'll keep my fingers crossed

You have to report your progress with this cad stuff so I/we can follow your steps to make our own stuff with the printer

Thanks Tapio!

With the CAD stuff, I'm a total beginner and outsider to it, so I've just watched YouTube tutorials. The main series (I only finished half of it so far) that got me started is this one:

It's slow-paced, and really covers fundamentals for someone who truly has no idea what they are doing.

I'm still a total novice, but at least I can extrude a rectangle haha!

Those smart searches are excellent, that's a very nice score there!

I'm waiting for the spring, regarding the garage, as I do feel bad every time the car comes in with snow on it, and have it melt on the garage floor

Hopefully you get a positive result with Creality!

Thanks Matias, totally agree on the smart searches. I've used them a few times now and it's so much better than occasionally checking the marketplace, much less likely to miss out.

So you noticed my snowy garage floor . Yeah, I hate the melty dirty icy snowy mess, too. It's awful. I do park in the garage though because it's nice to not get in a freezing car, and nicer on the car battery and starter. I'm sure you get some similar cold temps in Finland!

I call the snow that falls of the fenders "snow boogers". I usually shovel them out the door before doing any woodworking activities. But it's for sure not ideal!

Pictures with arrows or graphics also work very well.

Ha, I totally did this! Annotated with arrows and text. That is good advice, hopefully I got the message across.

On that note, this thread in part helped me decide to pick up a track saw. I don't process a lot of sheet goods, but when I do process anything I want it as accurate as possible, and I have never had luck with guide rails and other handicapped do-dads that were supposed to help provide straight and accurate cuts with a typical circular saw. But I just couldn't push myself to spend the big bucks on Makita, Festool, or Bosch (I really wanted Bosch because my other corded woodworking tools are Bosch, and I try to match unless a good deal comes around). So I picked up a Masterforce. It is my first cheap new tool purchase in a while. But I figure if I take my time setting up the rails, and the frequency I use it, it will be just fine.

Sweet! I have a couple 18v Masterforce drills and they have been great.

I'm sure there will be some compromises compared to the higher-priced track saws, but that's to be expected. But I agree, they are expensive and if you won't use it a ton that makes sense. Hopefully it works well for you!

For anyone willing to stretch the budget a bit, I've seen Makita corded refurbs pop up on eBay for around ~ $279 saw only, and as the show runner of this site Ryan pointed out once, that plus the 2-pack of Powertec tracks gets you out the door for under $400 with a quality setup.

I too would prefer all my tools were from the same brand, but I've tried to push myself to pick what I think the best tool for my needs are instead of being brand loyal.

 

[jonshonda]

Thanks Tapio!

With the CAD stuff, I'm a total beginner and outsider to it, so I've just watched YouTube tutorials. The main series (I only finished half of it so far) that got me started is this one:

It's slow-paced, and really covers fundamentals for someone who truly has no idea what they are doing.

I'm still a total novice, but at least I can extrude a rectangle haha!



Thanks Matias, totally agree on the smart searches. I've used them a few times now and it's so much better than occasionally checking the marketplace, much less likely to miss out.

So you noticed my snowy garage floor . Yeah, I hate the melty dirty icy snowy mess, too. It's awful. I do park in the garage though because it's nice to not get in a freezing car, and nicer on the car battery and starter. I'm sure you get some similar cold temps in Finland!

I call the snow that falls of the fenders "snow boogers". I usually shovel them out the door before doing any woodworking activities. But it's for sure not ideal!



Ha, I totally did this! Annotated with arrows and text. That is good advice, hopefully I got the message across.



Sweet! I have a couple 18v Masterforce drills and they have been great.

I'm sure there will be some compromises compared to the higher-priced track saws, but that's to be expected. But I agree, they are expensive and if you won't use it a ton that makes sense. Hopefully it works well for you!

For anyone willing to stretch the budget a bit, I've seen Makita corded refurbs pop up on eBay for around ~ $279 saw only, and as the show runner of this site Ryan pointed out once, that plus the 2-pack of Powertec tracks gets you out the door for under $400 with a quality setup.

I too would prefer all my tools were from the same brand, but I've tried to push myself to pick what I think the best tool for my needs are instead of being brand loyal.

Yeah it didn't go so well. I will be posting a thread about is soon.

 

[nicholam77]

Yeah it didn't go so well. I will be posting a thread about is soon.

Sorry to hear that! Feel free to share a link to your post if you want, I'm curious what the issue was.

 

[jonshonda]

Sorry to hear that! Feel free to share a link to your post if you want, I'm curious what the issue was.

Masterforce Track Saw Review. I'll Let You Decide If The Price Is Right.

I have wanted a track saw for a while, but the price of the three mainstream saws really isn't justifiable for my the amount I would use it. I am not a wood worker, but I do enjoy straight clean cuts. My philosophy as of late is to buy good quality tools if I know it will be something I plan on...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[nicholam77]

Pantry Doors

Remember this project? That I started over 7 months ago? And that my dad starting planning and bought materials for a year ago?

I've been so busy with work and kids I haven't really had time to keep it going. Which I feel guilty about since he enlisted my help.

But, it's also been freezing cold for weeks on end.





Yeah, like that cold.

Woke up this morning to -11° F with a wind chill advisory (feels like -36° F).

To translate for anyone on the Celsius system, that's ****ing cold.

My cutoff for working in the garage is about 20° F. I have warm winter gear, but woodworking I really need my gloves off for most things, and under 20° F my hands just aren't as nimble as they should be (not to mention it hurts!).

Not applicable to this project but while I'm complaining about the climate I live in, I snapped this pic of "sun dogs" the other day.



It's caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere on really cold days. Neat.

I had MLK day off of work, and it finally happened to be right around 20° F. So I asked my dad if he wanted to come over and work on the pantry doors.

We're making these on the table saw.

First we ripped cherry boards to width (2.5"), cut to length, and centered a groove in all the pieces. This was done with a FTG blade.





To cut the tongues / "tenons" on the rails, I used the crosscut sled. The new sled is working pretty well.



This results in pieces that look like this:



And the whole bunch:



My dad checking a test fit:





Most fit ok. Some are a little tight. I had trouble with the consistency of the groove depth, and it was a huge pain to dial in the blade height for the tongues. I'm guessing I might have to do some sanding once brought inside to glue.

This is my first try at shaker style doors. In my head I'm wondering if it would have been easier or more accurate to try and get a rail and stile bit for the router table. No experience with that either.

Maybe it would have been easiest to take them to @jar944 's place.

I was a bit hesitant posting this, because I don't know when I'll be able to get back to it and it may sit for a long time again. But there you go!

 

[bj383ss]

Nick I think you had outsanding results with your tablesaw cuts. If you did it on the router table you would have issues with the Cherry burning if you weren't running it through at the right pace and sanding out burn marks *****. Ask me how I know. I think you need to be a little easier on yourself especially if it is your first set. 90% of people wouldn't even now how to make those cuts or use the tablesaw. You can do some sanding on the tongues our use your chisel to get a better fit. If it is too tight it will be hard clamp together once their is glue in there.

Bret

 

[Krfjkm]

Nice job! What are you using for the panels?

 

[jar944]

It looks great.

Groove depth (assuming the saw setup didn’t move) has more to do with the flatness of the stock. You would likely have the same issue with a router. The only thing I noticed that may have caused you the issue is cutting the tenon with the sled. This is one place the miter gauge is better. Any bow in the sled panel, or lift will cause a thicker/inconsistent thickness. Best option is to run it against the saw table directly.

Google "speed tenon" it would be easy to thin out any that are too fat.

 

[Denwood]

Nick, so nice score on the long track. I use mine for nearly every project where a 4x8 panel is required. It's also a virtual necessity cutting frames etc. for an old house where nearly 100% of the rips for frames/filler strips etc. are done on an angle. That's a pain on the table saw without a massive sled.

Any chance of getting gas to your shop for heat? I feel for you man...it's been -30 C overnight here and the shop heat is a godsend when I need to work out there.

I hear you on the floor slop. I have the parking/containment mat, but the best solution is to just leave the shop below freezing. It is nice to get out for a car wash in - 25 C (normally a disaster as you know) but having a warm shop to dry it out in makes for a few days of clean car when the roads "dry up" in the extreme cold. Otherwise it's a salty mess out there. Even unheated, the EV likes the shop a lot more than being parked outside as the battery pack stays 10-20 F warmer in the unheated shop.

Nice job on the frames! It takes a lot of time, but the joints look great. I keep a radial arm saw and dado blade more or less just for this type of work (tenons) but it's still a challenge to get the joints just right for snugness.

 

[jar944]

Regarding your frigid temperatures. One of these might take the edge off. It's what I use if I'm going to glue up something, though to be fair my garage doesn't get below freezing (was 10 out here this morning and it's 45 in the garage currently)

 

[nicholam77]

Nick I think you had outsanding results with your tablesaw cuts. If you did it on the router table you would have issues with the Cherry burning if you weren't running it through at the right pace and sanding out burn marks *****. Ask me how I know.

Thanks Bret. I believe you . I actually did get burning on my table saw rip cuts, which I didn't document but I planed them out with the No. 4

I think you need to be a little easier on yourself especially if it is your first set.

Yeah, you're probably right. I guess since the project is for someone else I'm putting extra pressure on myself for it to turn out as perfect as possible.

Nice job! What are you using for the panels?

Thanks! Cherry veneer 1/4" plywood.

It looks great.

Groove depth (assuming the saw setup didn’t move) has more to do with the flatness of the stock. You would likely have the same issue with a router.

Thanks Jar. This project has definitely given me an even greater appreciation for the type of work you do!

There for sure could be some issues with stock flatness, the boards sat a long time in my non-climate-controlled environment and the weren't perfectly square anymore.

To compound it, my table saw surface is so short and it's also not perfectly flat, and my zero clearance insert is not perfectly leveled (I've tried, it's just a mediocre setup).

The only thing I noticed that may have caused you the issue is cutting the tenon with the sled. This is one place the miter gauge is better. Any bow in the sled panel, or lift will cause a thicker/inconsistent thickness. Best option is to run it against the saw table directly.

I wondered about that. This is good tip. Unfortunately I don't have a miter gauge, except the plastic one that came with my saw, and the miter channels are wider at the front and back than in the middle. I don't trust them for square cuts at all. The best I can do is use the sled with both runners which cancels out most of the wobble but not all.

Google "speed tenon" it would be easy to thin out any that are too fat.

Interesting! These tenons are quite short at 3/8" so it's not too hard to take a couple straight passes, but the biggest difficulty for me was adjusting the blade height. Again a shortcoming of my saw.

Nick, so nice score on the long track. I use mine for nearly every project where a 4x8 panel is required.

Thanks Dennis. You and Jar helped convince me it was worth it. I have no doubt I'll be using it a bunch on cabinet projects going forward!

Any chance of getting gas to your shop for heat? I feel for you man...it's been -30 C overnight here and the shop heat is a godsend when I need to work out there.

Probably not... the garage is pretty far from the house, and there's a sloping backyard as well as concrete sidewalks and patios in the way. I can't imagine digging for a gas line. I don't think it's worth the expense and trouble at this time. Maybe if I were to tear down and build a new one. Or move.

Regarding your frigid temperatures. One of these might take the edge off.

I used to have a propane torpedo heater, and it did work ok, but I always got an uneasy feeling about the CO and need to ventilate. The garage itself almost never makes it below zero, even when it's negatives outside.

But yeah, I recognize there are some things I could do, like the propane heater or a kerosene heater like @bdbecker uses. I just haven't gotten my together to set it up.

____________________________________________​

Thanks for the comments everyone. Maybe one day I'll make a transition and move to a house with an attached and/or heated shop, with room for a full size table saw.

 

[Matias]

I'm sure the pantry door will turn out beautiful, view how the work has started.

For heating, I just use an electric heater with a blower. I pop it on when I go into the garage if I need to work for some time, and turn it off when I leave. It also helps with the humidity as it warms up a little and circulates the air.

You do mean that one day you'll buy a proper heated shop, with a small house attached to it

 

[T-handle]

Nice work Nick! That cherry has a beautiful grain on it. Super consistent work on those grooves, You have to get one of these for the "sneaking up on dimension" work.



Man you guys have some cold weathers there. I thought it was all sunshine and warm round the year in Minnesota.
I can feel you with the cold doing 20 years of construction work

I have a geothermal heating in my house and workshop. I keep it around 18C in the shop so it's nice to work. My two previous workshops had electric heaters and it was super expensive. This year our largest electric bill has been around 220€ including all electric.

Have you considered a mini-split heat pump? I've heard it's a good/cheap solution if you don't use the cooling at summer.

 

[Finallygotit]

Have you considered a mini-split heat pump? I've heard it's a good/cheap solution if you don't use the cooling at summer.

This is actually a pretty good suggestion. The units being produced now are 33 SEER and provide heat when it's -5°F (-20°C) outside.

Pretty impressive.

 

[jonshonda]

This is actually a pretty good suggestion. The units being produced now are 33 SEER and provide heat when it's -5°F (-20°C) outside.

Pretty impressive.

A heat pump would be running non-stop at those temps, it just is extremely inefficient for them when it starts to get cold. Regarding heat in the garage, the biggest problem you will have is if you don't heat it regularly it will take a long time to heat everything up when needed, and the condensation will be a bit of a pain when you do heat it.

I have been down the same path regarding heating with a sunflower on tank, torpedo heater, and finally just bit the bullet and when with a forced air unit I found on fb. My garage is connected to the house, and a ng line was close so the hvac guys were able to T into the existing line, but it was still very expensive to run the gas line at $120/hr service charge. All even though I don't do a lot of nice woodworking like you do, I do loaf around in the garage a fair amount year round. A heated garage really makes life in the north tolerable in the winter.

My thought on your garage would be be to go with a vented propane heater (most can be converted from ng) and just have couple 100# (or whatever size is manageable for you) tanks outside. Yeah propane is a bit more then ng, but it would take a long time to make up the costs of running the gas line, and you wouldn't need to have 220v service if you went with an electric heater. ymmv

 

[topcok88]

A heat pump would be running non-stop at those temps, it just is extremely inefficient for them when it starts to get cold. Regarding heat in the garage, the biggest problem you will have is if you don't heat it regularly it will take a long time to heat everything up when needed, and the condensation will be a bit of a pain when you do heat it.

I have been down the same path regarding heating with a sunflower on tank, torpedo heater, and finally just bit the bullet and when with a forced air unit I found on fb. My garage is connected to the house, and a ng line was close so the hvac guys were able to T into the existing line, but it was still very expensive to run the gas line at $120/hr service charge. All even though I don't do a lot of nice woodworking like you do, I do loaf around in the garage a fair amount year round. A heated garage really makes life in the north tolerable in the winter.

My thought on your garage would be be to go with a vented propane heater (most can be converted from ng) and just have couple 100# (or whatever size is manageable for you) tanks outside. Yeah propane is a bit more then ng, but it would take a long time to make up the costs of running the gas line, and you wouldn't need to have 220v service if you went with an electric heater. ymmv

My experience has been vastly different. I use a 12K MRCOOL DIY (120V 20A) to heat and cool my 24’X24’X9’ garage 24/7/365 at 68 F with two daily drivers that get used every day and my monthly increase to my utility bill may be $10-$15 per month. I’m so impressed by the efficiency I’m changing out my 3T Nordyn heat pump and going to the MRCOOL Dc for my whole home. With the size of Nicks shop with insulation it wouldn’t be unreasonable to use a Mini-Split. (Yes I live in VA. But I grew up in Northern Wisconsin and recently put a mini split in my dads shop and it’s works perfectly fine in his shop.)

 

[Denwood]

Nick, with regard to the your wood stock flatness issue, you know that this means a planer and jointer is now in your future right? I just fired mine up to tune some trim…ha. The track saw, planer and jointer will pay for themselves quickly if you decide to go the rough stock routine for your projects. I can buy maple and oak (rough sawn) for less than half of finished stock, so now use that for anything needed the real wood treatment.

 

[jonshonda]

topcok88 I stand corrected then! Everything I have read and heard suggests that more then likely you would need a backup for a heat pump in northern WI/MN.

 

[nicholam77]

You do mean that one day you'll buy a proper heated shop, with a small house attached to it

Exactly!

Nice work Nick! That cherry has a beautiful grain on it. Super consistent work on those grooves, You have to get one of these for the "sneaking up on dimension" work.

Thanks T — I can totally see the appeal of hand tool work for this kind of thing.

Man you guys have some cold weathers there. I thought it was all sunshine and warm round the year in Minnesota.

I had to laugh at this, because having some of the coldest winters in the U.S. is probably the main thing Minnesota is known for. Not as cold as say, Barrow, Alaska, but it can get pretty damn cold. Totally forgivable being outside the U.S., I wouldn't expect anyone to know the first thing about Minnesota. But I'm pretty sure that's why so many Scandinavians settled here, reminded them of the weather at home!! Haha.

We do get a proper four seasons. Hot and humid in the summer, beautiful dry warm weather in the fall, frigid cold with lots of snow in winter, and wet and melty in the spring. Always keeps it interesting I guess.

Have you considered a mini-split heat pump? I've heard it's a good/cheap solution if you don't use the cooling at summer.

Yes, but kind of for the same reason I don't use a heater, there are too many other expenses and things to be done for it to work. To heat it with any heat source, I really need to re-do the insulation, especially on the ceiling, and seal up a lot of gaps. My slab is really cracked and sinking and the garage door doesn't even seal. Neither does the "man door", and when it gets really cold it warps and seals even worse. Also, I'm happy with where I've taken it since inheriting the space, but honestly I don't want to pour any big money into it because there are other things I'm not happy with (like the floor).

My thought on your garage would be be to go with a vented propane heater (most can be converted from ng) and just have couple 100# (or whatever size is manageable for you) tanks outside.

That is interesting, I didn't know they could be converted. I'd still need to do all the weatherproofing but good to know.

Nick, with regard to the your wood stock flatness issue, you know that this means a planer and jointer is now in your future right?

Yes, I do believe they are in my future eventually. Currently on the cabinet kick and am enjoying the simplicity of plywood. (If I was building the pantry for my own house I'd be doing flat panel euro doors). But I definitely do want to make more hardwood projects someday, whether it's small stuff like boxes, benches, shelves, or bigger furniture like a bed or chairs.

I think to invest in those milling tools I need
1) more time to commit to woodworking
2) Ideally a better shop space where I can leave some stationary tools set up

(Yes I live in VA. But I grew up in Northern Wisconsin and recently put a mini split in my dads shop and it’s works perfectly fine in his shop.)

I spent the weekend at a cabin rental in Hayward this weekend if that means anything to ya.

 

[topcok88]

I spent the weekend at a cabin rental in Hayward this weekend if that means anything to ya.

I lived one hour south of Hayward for about 20 years and go back yearly for deer season. If you are familiar with the area watch Meat Eater Das Boat Season 2 Episode 4. The are in Ladysmith (8 miles from where I grew up) and fish in Hayward for musky. Beautiful country and if it weren’t so cold I’d consider moving back.

 

[nicholam77]

I lived one hour south of Hayward for about 20 years and go back yearly for deer season. If you are familiar with the area watch Meat Eater Das Boat Season 2 Episode 4. The are in Ladysmith (8 miles from where I grew up) and fish in Hayward for musky. Beautiful country and if it weren’t so cold I’d consider moving back.

Ha, cool! I am not that familiar with the area. My in-laws bought a cabin in Trego a little over a year ago, and it burned down from lightning strike on the roof. So part of their insurance claim included stays in some comparable places until a new one could be built. So I've only been in the Hayward area twice, both this winter. Very scenic, though, with all the trees and snow.

 

[nicholam77]

New Part Cooling Fan

Sorry to switch gears back to the 3d printer, but after a couple busy weeks of work and getting sick as a dog over the weekend, I finally had some down time to install the replacement part cooling fan.

In what will probably be a let down to some of you, I put forth minimal effort and ordered a pre-made Y-splitter from a 3d printing mods site for an exorbitant price.

However, I didn't really have spare wire, connectors, heat shrink, etc, etc, on hand anyways, so it would have cost me the same in the end to get the parts to make one. Learning new skills is great but at this point I'm tired of burning time on it that I really don't have.



Probably not evident from the pic, but I've plugged the Y-splitter into the board cooling fan port on the motherboard (the one I didn't melt ), and plugged both the board cooling and the part cooling fan into the tails of the Y-splitter.

It powered both successfully. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy I also plugged the old part cooling fan in this way, and confirmed it is still dead. Phew.

Next the fun task of routing the new fan. It's bundled in a cable sleeve with a bunch of other wires for the hot end, which is inside another cable sleeve which contains the stepper motor wires. To make things easier and get some slack I decided to undo the connectors on the motherboard to loosen up the first sleeve bundle.

Took pics to record what goes where.





And BOOM!



Then I pulled the old fan out, and used a fish tape to pull the new fan through.

Buttoned things up with zip ties. Not quite as neat as factory, but the cover fit closed so good enough.



Put all the covers back on, fired it up, connected to Octoprint, entered the M106 command in the Terminal, and...

Nothing. Part cooling fan not spinning. WTF.

I quickly realized I had re-installed the old broken fan. I know this because I peeled the sticker off it to check the continuity.



Time to do it all again. Glad I already zip tied everything! So frustrating.

In the end though I did get the right fan in there, and it's printing an XYZ cube, since that's my achilles heel and most-printed test.



It's really hard to take good pics of this things, but here it is:



Perceptions in real life are — I would say it's as good as I would expect out of this machine. The melty points on the X and Y are gone, and all 4 corners of the cube are sharp.

Time will tell with other prints, but so far it seems like a success!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Excellent! Things are looking up. I can commiserate with you putting the bad fan back in… I make mistakes like that more often than I’d like to admit haha.

 

[Denwood]

Ya, looking good. I haven't mentioned this before but I purchased (and use a lot) an Alaris Objet 3D printer that used photo cured liquid monomer. It was like $50K when we bought it and drove me crazy when it wasn't working with two crazy expensive print heads and fluid onboard for support/modelling at about $600/quart. It was magic though for a company that specialized in product design/manufacturing as we did. Keep in mind that was about 10-12 years back, so we were pretty bleeding edge for a small company. I also had a 3D laser scanner on my desk Miss the toys.

The results now with something far less expensive are pretty awesome in my book.

Good job on the fan! I'm wondering if you can sneak in a larger/better quality replacement..or is that a ducted housing?

 

[nicholam77]

@Mr. Roboto yeah, after I realized I put the old one in I had to take a little breather out of frustration. The whole job wasn't that hard, but there is no good way to hold the printer (I eventually just laid it on the floor), and the first go-through took about an hour. The second time I didn't disconnect everything, just fished the fan wires through, so much faster. Hopefully from here I can just get back to some prints!

@Denwood Very cool Dennis. It makes sense why you're into the smart home stuff at home with all the techy stuff you've gotten to play with for your company. $50k twelve years ago is quite the price for a 3D printer.

The stock fan shroud on the Ender 3v2 incorporates a very short duct for the radial part cooling fan, so I can't fit a larger one as-is. But lot's of people print their own shroud / duct setup, usually with two part cooling fans, and upgrade the fans to be larger or quieter. I might end up doing that, too, but going to see how this works for awhile. Not eager to break it again right away, haha.

 

[nicholam77]

GTI Maintenance

I noticed the battery in my GTI was struggling to provide good starts when it's really cold. It's the OEM battery and 5+ years old. I tested it and confirmed it was time to get a new one.

This opened up a huge can of worms. The original battery is an H5/Group 47 size EFB (Enhanced Flooded Battery). When shopping, most places like Advance Auto, Naapa, etc suggested either H5 or H6 could work, and offered up AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) as well. I had to read up on that. Kind of cryptically, when looking up the OEM battery in a VW parts database, it said something to the effect that the tech might need to do some coding changes. And on the Advance Auto Parts website when plugging in my car, it said this:

PR-J0T; Free In-Store Installation not available for this vehicle, requires professional install; Battery is vented to outside of vehicle. OE manufacturer used various size batteries in production. Verify Battery Size in Vehicle. OE battery is EFB (Enhanced Flooded Battery). Vehicle computer system must be reset, contact your service specialist.

This prompted me to do some Google-Fu, and there is a lot of ambiguity online on whether any coding changes need to be done to the car, and what type of battery will work. It seems that VW has definitely used different sizes of batteries in the Mk7 GTI. I found a guide about changing the battery specs in the CAN Gateway, but it's still unclear to me if it's 100% necessary for stateside vehicles. (Some ROW vehicles have a BEM battery monitoring system that does require coding on battery change). Also it seems vehicles with start-stop use a larger AGM battery instead of the smaller EFB battery.

To be safe I probably should have stuck with OEM, but looking at the specs, they sucked.

60 Ah
480 Cranking Amps
280 Cold Cranking Amps


So I got a larger H6/Group 48 AGM battery.

70 Ah
950 Cranking Amps
760 Cold Cranking Amps.

Part of the decision was cost was comparable to an H5 EFB that would have been similar to OEM. But also, living in Minnesota, I wanted an upgrade.



The new battery fits, but it was a tight install.



Also my stock battery came with this insulation sleeve, which does not fit the new battery:



Turns out VW makes a larger one for H6 sized batteries (part 5Q0 915 411 H), but to my shock and horror the dealership wants $86 for it!! I thought about just going without, but I read AGM batteries are more susceptible to heat, so I sourced one from my favorite Latvian parts site e-acca.com for about $40.

Everything started up fine. Wow you can tell the difference. Much faster and more powerful start.

Because I do have a VAG coding tool, I decided to do the coding even if it doesn't do anything.

I changed the Ah rating, the battery type to "Fleece" instead of "Wet", which I read "Fleece" is what the Germans call AGM. No idea if this is 100% accurate and there were a lot of battery types to choose from. And then changed one digit of the "serial number", which is supposed to let the car know there's a fresh battery.





Hopefully it works fine and I didn't make a dumb choice.

Next up, I've had some Bosch AeroTwin windshield wipers to replace sitting on my drill press table for far too long.



I like these because they are made for this car (and other VAG variants).

Ok, that's it for now. I'm sure that was a super exciting read.

If there's any VW gurus reading that have info on the battery nonsense I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[Matias]

Great that you got the printer working again! I'm sure we'll see something else that xyz cubes in the near future

What a hassle, just a couple of years ago you might have needed some coding when you changed an engine, now just for changing a battery...

 

[nicholam77]

Great that you got the printer working again! I'm sure we'll see something else that xyz cubes in the near future

Thanks @Matias ! I still have some issues to work through. I'm getting some little voids and stringy blobs at times. But the part cooling fan fix was for sure needed. Here is a "temperature tower" from 200°C — 220°C. Same file. Broken fan on left, replaced fan on right.



All of the temperatures with the part cooling fan fixed still have some strings, especially the hotter temps. I've been printing at 215°C (second from the top) which has some weird stringy loops and issues I've seen show up on prints, too. So I must need to tweak something, retraction... idk. My retraction is 6mm @ 45mm/s currently.

But I have moved on from XYZ cubes to do a few functional prints.

Bracket for Wyze Cam V2:





I haven't ordered a web camera for the Pi yet, so I've just been using this cheap Wyze cam to check in.

A bunch of cable clips for my 35mm dust collection hose:



These turned out awesome and the purpose is to hold a power cord with the vacuum hose.

Then I printed some bench dogs for the MFT. These would have been easy to grab from Thingiverse, but I decided to do a quick model in Fusion360 just for practice. Pretty simple, but used variables to make them parametric. Made a high- and low-profile set.





What's not pictured is four tests I printed trying to dial in the diameter for a snug fit. I've found a sad truth in 3D printing functional parts is a LOT of wasted plastic trying to get the dimensions right.

What a hassle, just a couple of years ago you might have needed some coding when you changed an engine, now just for changing a battery...

Yes, not too bad but just a function of the times I guess. I'm just thankful it's not a BMW haha, my brother had a 1 series for a couple years and they said the battery could only be changed at the dealership and charged him almost $500. On a used car that had 100k miles on it. Unbelievable.

Thanks for checking in!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Hah! Leave it to the Germans to over-complicate something as easy as changing a battery. Glad you got it all sorted, and were able to upgrade the battery in the process! Good thing you had the tool as well.