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My rules for organizing my 32'x24' pole barn: Nothing on the floor that doesn't have to be on the floor (i.e., use shelves, racks & wall cabinets). If something must remain on the floor and does not required to be anchored, put it on wheels. Move all the dust and grit making operations to one...

I keep my 3 welders, Lincoln Weld-Pak 155 (setup for steel), Lincoln Weld-Pro 175 (with a spool gun set up for aluminum) and a Miller Diversion 165 TIG, in a drafty, unheated pole barn. The MIGs have been stored this way for about 20 years and the TIG for about 12 years. The welders seem to...

My 1st welder (Lincoln Weld-Pak 155) was purchased so I could refurb a 1987 F150. Even though it was wired for 220v, it had more than enough for welding autobody sheet metal with flux core. For replacement metal, I just went to a scrap yard and purchased an old car door shell. The gauges of...

Nope, 4" (or 100mm) column. My father bought it for me, from Grainger, in 1995 as a house warming gift. I've replaced the spindle bearings and drive belt, but it's still working fine. I think it's considered a metal working drill press because it came with a square, t-slotted, solid...

I keep a few pieces of thin aluminum sheet metal handy as guards for controlling the spray of sparks and grit. The pieces I use are about 2' square with a 3-4" L-bend at the bottom to clamp to the bench, keeping the guards upright. Also, since my workshop is small as well, I purchased a few...

Other bits of advice for a noob welder... Don't grip the torch too tightly that you limit your wrist action. A lot of success in welding comes from reading the result during the weld and making torch position changes to accommodate. If you're gripping the torch handle like its an angry...

Others may correct me, but the explanation I received when learning to weld was that wire speed vs amps is arbitrary. There are no rules. Don’t forget, there’s also more factors in play, weld speed and weld duration. Depending on what is being welded, you want to set the amps to achieve good...

This is probably an odd question, but what would be a benefit of having a 2nd drill press? I already have a Dayton 10” drill press in my workshop. It’s 27 years old, but still works fine. Among the tools obtained from my father’s small machine shop is an approximate 50 year-old Chicago brand...

Nothing super-fancy, but it solves a storage problem for no $$. I repurposed an old closet wire shelf to be a pliers organizer rack in my tool chest.

Ironically, we use both those products here. Boron Nitride (or BN as the shop guys call it) is the lubricant that's spread on the dummy block of the extrusion press ram that keeps the aluminum from sticking. We have Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN) impregnated tips on our friction stir weld tools...

I purchased 2 of them in 1995 and still use them nearly every time I'm in the workshop. Impressed with their durability, I purchased two identical ones, model WM-225, for my (recent home-owner) son for his birthday.

Funny story about Molybdenum Disulfide. Most of a lifetime ago, I was in Cub Scouts and the annual Pinewood Derby was coming up. I’d already done the ‘raise one wheel’ and 'center the weight' tricks, but felt I needed something more. My father was an engineer and was at that time, designing a...

Now that lawn care season is over, it's time to get serious about reorganizing my 32' x 24' pole barn workshop to take advantage of all available space. Whereas I felt I had adequate shop space before, two recent tool acquisitions, an Ellis 1600 band saw and a JET JMD-18, and a 50 year-old...

I put a plow on a '97 TJ and it was a bracket the bolted to the front frame rails, using the steering box bolts on the left side. The bracket was 1/4" steel with a 2" x 1/4" wall square tube spanning between. There were "U" brackets welded to the front side of the tube for receiving the...

To facilitate the 'grand remodel' of my workshop, it became evident I needed more space. The easiest solution was to build a small shed for all the yard tools and equipment. My plan was to go to a local shed sales lot to glean information on how best to frame, seal, roof, etc a small...

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/debunking-the-franzinator.204287/ I'm sure there are even numbers of folks that will say it does or doesn't work, but I'm on the side that agrees a Franzinator (or a dual one like I made, does in fact remove a lot of the moisture from the compressed...

About a month ago, I gave away one of these to a shop floor employees who is developing a woodworking hobby. The unit had the same base, motor and jointer side, but until now I didn't realize the order side was for a table saw.

I bought a Porter-Cable 20v oscillating tool (only because I already had a collection of other P-C 20v tools) for the specific purpose of cutting fiberglass while modifying a truck cap to fit my Tacoma. I needed a cutting method that didn't make a lot of dust. It worked great. Since that...

This will probably upset some folks, but the better cutting disks (4.5" x 1/16" thick) I've found are from Harbor Freight. If you can still find them, the ones with the green labels, Warrior brand, have worked well for me, and are a terrific value. I've used ones from the local hardware...

This is exactly how my former set up, (and the soon to be completed new and improved setup) was (will be) configured. I just routed the discharge straight out the rear wall of the barn via a weather proof hood. Not that it matters, but I also used it a few times to pull car exhaust out...