My new home away from home

The girlfriend and I recently relocated to San Jose, Ca from southern Cal for my new job. When I started looking around for rental properties and seeing the pricing for a house with any real sort of garage, I decided to go another direction. I found that for the price of small house with a two car garage I could rent a small studio apartment and shop space. I won't pretend it was easy to get everything in order. I talked with a lot of places about what I wanted the space for, and most just didn't really get it. "Why do you need 4 cars?" "We don't want an automotive business in here" or they just had crazy stipulations, asking for a detailed list of EVERY chemical and the amount that would be stored in side. Yes this was after I told them there wasn't no real amount of any chemical that would be stored, etc.

After being kicked out of a storage unit for not getting them insure paper work on two cars fast enough I finally found shop space and could start moving everything in. Since the g/f was still living and working in "SoCal" we didn't have an apartment yet, so we moved EVERYTHING into the shop space.

Fast Forward another month and a half, and we have an apartment about 3 min from the shop (and even closer to my new job), so some of the basic house hold stuff is out, some is still in storage, and some just needs to be sold. The shop is coming together slowly, but figured I would share some pics and hopefully get some more ideas on making it work better for me.

The first few pics are just crappy cell phone pics that were taken randomly over the past couple of weeks...



Washer and dryer are on the list of things that will go on craigslist





Last weekend I picked up the Craftsman stack to be able to move most of the basic hand tools in to.


I'm not doing any really serious automotive work anymore, so I may exchange this for my KRL722 Snap on box from work if I can make good room for it in the shop.

This weekend I started organizing all of those random bolts and bits that had been set put in random boxes, and containers. Picked up some cheap organizers from HF...





and a cabinet off of Craigslist to help out the storage of this stuff...





Made some quick brackets to hold the Akro Mills and HF bins to the doors





These worked well other than I could do 4 on both doors so in the end they got cut down to only 3 per door.




and how the rest of the shop currently sits ...



















There is still a lot clean up and more to share. I have pics of the Craftsman box, but will wait until tomorrow to upload those. There is still a good sized office behind the wall the that the HF box/bench is on. There is also a good size space up front, but We have it as just house hold storage right now.

Open to any and all comments or suggestions about what may be a better way to arrange and organize things.

Stick Figure said:

"Why do you need 4 cars?"

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Why wouldn't you need four cars? You're living my deam, w/o kids I'd have a much smaller house and a MUCH larger garage.

More light and a lift and I'd say you're set. Is the loft useable or is it just for storage?

"Why do you need 4 cars?" "We don't want an automotive business in here."
You do NOT want anything to do with THAT mentality. I avoid these idiots like the plague.

Loft space is about 99% drop ceiling, and I was already waiting for it to fall in just throwing the cardboard up there. The one side has a could ft of actual framed/drywalled ceiling that I've put some of my "seasonal" items up for now. The access to it ***** right now though. Imagine a long hallway that you can only get to from one end. I could pull tiles out of the drop section to gain access for some smaller things, but I think we some better organization and some more craigslist ads I'll be okay space wise.

San Jose is VERY "green" I'm not saying I want our rivers polluted or trash floating around everywhere, I just wish there was some amount of grey area sometimes for people not trying to run a full on automotive retail shop that turns multiple cars a day.

"San Jose is VERY "green" I'm not saying I want our rivers polluted or trash floating around everywhere, I just wish there was some amount of grey area sometimes for people not trying to run a full on automotive retail shop that turns multiple cars a day."

I usually avoid hippies like the plague too. God I thought they got rid of those in the 70's.
I usually find most people that push the green thing to be trendy annoying sheep. Don't get me wrong, I am all for recycling materials, not dumping oil or toxic waste in to rivers and streams. I am guessing if they saw what you had in your garage, not the cars, you would be on the homeland security watch list. WHY DO YOU NEED ALL THOSE TOOLS? What are you making? These are the people that will sign the petition to band dihydrogen monoxide because it kills people and it is used in making many poisions .

These are the same people that make me carry a "purse" while shopping because plastic bags are illegal here. but the job pays pretty well, so I'm not going to complain too much.

"These are the same people that make me carry a "purse" while shopping because plastic bags are illegal here. "

LOL. I understand.My friend moved to L.A. area 17 years ago and I have heard plenty of horror stories. He lives in a beige neighborhood and him and the other car guy are the outcast. "Why do you need those two old cars besides what you drive every day?" Of course who does everybody run to if they have a problem or a question????? Said the car guys stick together but the sheep are getting un-bareable. Yea they are moving back when he retires...........

SO since one of the few things I've gotten organized is the "new" Craftsman stack, I figured I should at least show it off.



I had all of those spread out in the black HF Organizers, before but they just took up way too much space for this little guy.



I ran out of drawer liner with the middle one left







my current lock system. lol I didn't get the keys with this box, so I need to take the locks into a locksmith and have a key made for them both.







http://www.mostdesigns.com/zgallery...nd+Equipment/Hand+Tools&i=DSC09122.JPG&s=1000

the drawer that needs the most help.... I hate using almost anything in this drawer after using the better versions at work. This is kinds of break in case of emergency type of thing.

Of course the rest of my wrenches are still hiding in the HF cabinet





Need a 15/16 Proto to complete my set still



If I can squeeze a couple more wrenches in the Craftsman, then I should be able to more than handle everything work related with that box, and can swap that box with my work one and bring the good stuff "home."

and some of the next tool box areas that need attention







Any suggestions on how to keep the end mills, countersinks, lathe bits, counter bores, etc organized in a drawer?

Very nice shop!


Nice to see the Toyota's filling the garage!

I just drilled couple hundred holes on 1 x 1 centers. I also made one for taping that holds your tap drill, your tap and clearance drill. Also drill, press fit reamer, slip fit reamer. That way you don't have to hunt every time you do a job.

carbons4 said:

I just drilled couple hundred holes on 1 x 1 centers. I also made one for taping that holds your tap drill, your tap and clearance drill. Also drill, press fit reamer, slip fit reamer. That way you don't have to hunt every time you do a job.

Click to expand...

I was actually just thinking about that this morning .... for my work "machinist" box, I set up my taps like this:





I'm thinking that top deep drawer may be perfect to put all of that stuff in like that. May take me a while, and I'll need to do a lot deeper V groove on that, but should be a good way to do I think.

Very well organized

Not a lot of visible progress this weekend .... more clean up and re-arranging get things to my liking.

One quick project I did tackle was getting a spare 3/4hp motor turned into temporary buffer duty.

Spotted an add for a grinder stand on Craigslist for $20. It was new in the box, but they used this HF stock pic



While I would have rather had something vintage, or built something cool, for $20 I figured I couldn't go wrong. When I got it back to the shop and opened it up, I was pleasantly surprised:



A bit better than I expected by the stock pic.

added a couple new holes




and mounted the motor I inherited:



Then I just had to do something about the "instant on" when you plugged it in:







and done:






I originally planned to paint the switch cover red so it would stand out, but my memory failed me and I had no red paint on hand. The motor had the one arbor adapter on it, but I need to order one up for the other side. But at least I'm able to polish some stuff with out converting my grinder over each time.

Hopefully this week will be a bit more productive.

This little guy followed me home yesterday....



.. and it only took a $20 bill to coax him into the truck.

any ideas how to put him to work?

It was one of those purchases that I didn't really have a plan in mind when I bought it, but couldn't say no for the price.

All right man! I realized I could not live in the burbs the moment I found out the neighbor had called the fire department after he found out I was making biodiesel...never said a word to me. Sheeple. Hope I never have to move back...just wanna keep living in the country and build my dream shop one day.

Looks like heaven to me!

Tool box pictures generally make my eyes glaze over but I see something here I like. Tools that have actually been used!

When someone asks why do you need all those XXXX? simply reply "There is a reason for that" and walk away. Makes them nuts.

fergus said:

All right man! I realized I could not live in the burbs the moment I found out the neighbor had called the fire department after he found out I was making biodiesel...never said a word to me. Sheeple. Hope I never have to move back...just wanna keep living in the country and build my dream shop one day.

Click to expand...

Luckily the neighbors at the shop don't take much interest in me at all.

vntperformance said:

Looks like heaven to me!

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Thanks, It is getting there. I'll be more excited to start working on stuff in it more than on it.

Fueler said:

Tool box pictures generally make my eyes glaze over but I see something here I like. Tools that have actually been used!

When someone asks why do you need all those XXXX? simply reply "There is a reason for that" and walk away. Makes them nuts.

Click to expand...

Even when I'm being lazy my stuff still gets used for maintenance at least, but a lot of the "equipment" stuff is left over from when I had a shop, and then the stuff really got used.

Before I show my most recent work I have to say I AM NOT A WOOD WORKER. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way my most recent project has been fixing/upgrading my table saw. This was something I originally picked up used a few years ago, that has been dragged to at least 6 different homes, and most of the time it has been shoved against a wall and had to be dragged out to be used. All of this moving both with and without help has taken its toll on the router extension table.. So it was time to try and fix it, and make it just all around better.


How it has been since I have bought it around 6 years ago.





Not sure if this was originally a purchased add on, or a home made piece, but I wouldn't recommend it for a saw that was going to be moved often. The original insert blew out when the guy i bought it from was nice enough to deliver it for me. So you can blame the quick craftsman piece that was cut to "fit" on me.



The boards were all starting to pull away from each other as well as separate themselves.










Before I started trying to fix it, I wanted to give it a mobile base. I spent some time drawing up some overly complicated removable wheel jack system. That I eventually decided wasn't worth doing because I know the wheels would always just get left on anyway. I decided simple with some locking casters was probably the best idea.

Can you tell I need a welding table?



I ended up with this simple base:



Which would have been great had a just decided to make some new legs and move on. The problem was I started researching what others had done with their saws.

I had zero plans going in to this so I spent longer making it than I should have, but at the end of the weekend I had this.





Yes right now it is only a box made of cheap wood and a lot of gorilla glue. I need to add a couple more braces internally and then I will be able to seal it and paint it. Eventually I do want to add drawers to this to hold some (most? maybe even all?) of my wood working specialty tools, blades etc.

I would have gotten more accomplished but I spent a good chunk of Sat driving to grab the newly added dust collector from a guy on craigslist. And then an even greater chunk of time driving around trying to find a couple of fittings for it because I was originally going to try and do some plumbing for the router and everything right away. How wrong I was. Never did find anyone that was open and stocked these things guess its build them yourself or mail order for me.

and no the little Park box was not injured in its temporary roll as a "welding table". It was in fact rewarded with a new top.

Nice job. I really like how you did that. I just may have to steal that idea.

I wouldn't say you wasted any time at all, that looks like a great project. Id even suggest unbolting the legs from the saw and continuing the cabinet all the way across. Those legs look like a lot of wasted space. Looks like a nice area you're in, I've considered the commercial option in the past too, I always assumed I couldn't afford it.

Nice collection of Toyotas too! Id love to know more about that MK1 MR2.

Kevin54 said:

Nice job. I really like how you did that. I just may have to steal that idea.

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Steal away. I don't know that its the most efficient use of space, but for easy of finding the tap you need, I wouldn't have it any other way.

mysta2 said:

I wouldn't say you wasted any time at all, that looks like a great project. Id even suggest unbolting the legs from the saw and continuing the cabinet all the way across. Those legs look like a lot of wasted space. Looks like a nice area you're in, I've considered the commercial option in the past too, I always assumed I couldn't afford it.

Nice collection of Toyotas too! Id love to know more about that MK1 MR2.

Click to expand...

Removing the legs is something that will probably happen eventually. I never really thought about doing it until It started taking shape. I used a piece of angle to make the cross brace so the cabinet would be divided regardless of when I build the second half. For right now this should give me enough storage to either re-purpose or sell the black harbor cart that holds my wood working stuff. For right now I want to just add a piece of wood under the saw to be able to use it as storage of some small scrap wood pieces. The other thing I would like to do is make a folding out feed table for the saw. For this moment I am just happy its structurally sound again and can be used with out wondering if the router will hit the ground at any given time.

The commercial property is working out very well for me. I do get a few strange looks from people driving through. They can't seem to figure out what my business does. As far as affordable, I think that depends vastly on your area of the country, and living situation. If I didn't post it in this thread, the other half to this equation is that we actually live in a studio apartment. I love the set up, the g/f would like a little be more space at home.

The MR2 is lucky number 8 for me. I have had a few, most of which were pretty much beaters and flips, with a couple of stand outs that I would really call my own, one of which was the factory supercharged model. I picked that up with a bit of the notorious 1/4 panel rust (pre California living). I when I eventually needed to pull the engine to freshen it up, I looked back at the body and decided it would probably be better to just scrap it and start fresh. I picked up the current car off of ebay from the New Orleans area (pre Katrina) It had just under 200k on it, but ran decent, and looked okay. When I finally broke a shift fork in the trans I did a combination of NA and Supercharged running gear to have a higher compression supercharger motor.

That resulted in about this stage of its life:









Which would have been a great place had the meth pump not died and caused my overly aggressive tune to blow a head gasket. and a blown head gasket would not be an issue had it not happened half way to California with the car. By the time I got it here, and got the head off, the block needed machined as well as the head to remove the groove that had formed.

Since then I have sold off most of the 4AGE and 4AGZE parts and have saved a huge pile of 3SGTE and 5SFE parts to do a swap on the car. Now I just need to get motivated to do it. and of course finish getting the shop cleaned/ organized enough to do it without stopping to work on the shop mid project.

Well not really a "garage" update, but since the g/f sold her Honda and took over the Scion, I did need a new driver so I picked up this nice piece of "garage art"










Lets hope it continues to spend more time out of the shop than in it though. Its much more fun that way!

Love the minifig!