My NorCal garage

zip95864 · Aug 11, 2011

Circa 1951: my NorCal garage

Well, I might as well join in on the fun:

First, a little intro I'm 33 years old and my wife and I bought our first house in March of 2010. The house was built in 1951 hence the name of this thread. It came with a 1+ car garage (16'x 18') of which was all mine. When we first moved in, the garage was basically a storage unit for everything we didnt want in the house. Over time, I've been working on making this into a usable workshop for all of the home repairs and projects I've tackled. The main objective was to have a place for everything that was out of the way and out of sight.

The first step was getting everything out of there that didnt belong. This included a bunch of garbage, some things sent to the thrift store, some items going into our small outdoor shed and some items going into the house. Bad news: I was still left with a mess.

Since moving in I've been given a used Craftsman table saw and bought a DeWalt radial arm saw.

I've begun to build a garage island as well, which I'm thinking will store my shopvac underneath and out of the way. The island will be enclosed on 3 sides and the bottom will be painted. It is 4' x 6'.

Also just got this belt driven bench grinder off eBay for $30 shipped and my dad gave me this spare GE motor he had in his garage. Bonus is that the color matches!

Current status as of midnight last night.

My Huki racing kayak is too long (21') to fit length-wise so it had to go diagonally. Before I built the simple rack in the garage for it I had it on the backyard grass and it burnt a long brown patch = wife not pleased.

thanks for reading

dittle fart around · Aug 11, 2011

Looks like a good spot to start. We were at Sac State last week talking to the soccer coach. Can my son stay in your garage during school?

couchmechanic · Aug 12, 2011

Progress is still progress. Looking good so far.

flybefree · Aug 12, 2011

Looking good, what kind of work are you going to do in your space?

zip95864 · Aug 12, 2011

Thanks guys.

@ flybyfree: I work on bikes a bunch, but have also begun making furniture for the house. Currently in the midst of painting a large built-in bookshelf for the living room ---- 8ft wide and 8 ft tall.

flybefree · Aug 12, 2011

Cool, that island is a good idea for that...my place ia not set up for bikes...everytime I pull them out I realize that.

wolflrv · Aug 13, 2011

Looking good!! My main 3'x7' workbench is an island setup as well(against the wall currently..but moving back to center soon). I use it not only as a surface to clamp full 4x8 sheets for ripping, but my table saw backs up to it for use as an outfeed table. Looks like you're doing somewhat the same.

zip95864 · Oct 3, 2011

Picked this Craftsman 150 bench drill press for $70 sans motor/belt:

The seller had refurbished it, and looks to be in really nice shape.

zip95864 · Dec 29, 2011

got this drop light cord reel, though I might just put a triple outlet on the front and remove the light.

Originalspanksta · Dec 31, 2011

Sweet cord reel. :pimp:

gasser1961 · Dec 31, 2011

Great looking project.

machine_punk · Dec 31, 2011

Hello! I'm in Northern California too, just down 80 in the Napa/North Bay area. We are in Sacramento often enough to visit family and check on the rental house (and eat at Fuddruckers).

Great start on the garage. I've only got one half of a two-car garage to work out of...and I am slowly pushing back the Stuff to get more work space. I just finished building a place to store the family bicycles out of the way in my garage. I am hoping to get a shed soon, to store all the lawn-care equipment.

Looking forward to seeing where you will go with your garage!

Phixer · Dec 31, 2011

zip95864,
Great ideas and use of a 1-car garage. I have similar challenges in a 60 y/o East Sac garage.
Do you have any close-up pics of the bike with the front rack/box? I'm always interested in the clever mods that people do to customize their bikes.
Looks like you are close to the bike trail & American river for kayaking!

zip95864 · Jan 9, 2012

@ Phixer ---- i'll try and take some pics of the old cruiser I built up. It's slow, but pretty awesome to ride. This was the inspiration:

This weekend, made some car ramps from three layers of 2 x 10's. cut the 45 degrees on that old dewalt radial arm saw without issue. Used one 12 foot board to make both. Need to add a stop at the top level still.

Just got this used Passat wagon and this was the first oil change I've done to it. The damn filter would not come off ----- bent my trusty oil filter wrench. So I went to Pepboys and got a heavy duty one ---- no problems.

fergus · Jan 9, 2012

Subscribed. Good start.

zip95864 · Jan 17, 2012

Finished a workbench over the long weekend, made using mostly leftover wood --- has four drawers on tracks inside. Still need to paint the lower half ---- that's the sample color from Home Depot...

fergus · Jan 17, 2012

Hey,

Looks good so far...like the bikes, old school tools, DIY bench and storage. Keep it comin!

zip95864 · Jan 20, 2012

No real work accomplished lately ---- that's what the weekend's are for.

But did make some acquisitions:

Thought this green fan would match my bench color pretty well:

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Got this Scout vise for $18 shipped ---- looks like it might be a fun project:

Lastly, a family member gave me a bunch of pencils for Christmas, and I typically never use old school pencils, but thought this is the perfect excuse for a retro pencil sharpener, snagged this pair off of eBay and will be selling one:

zip95864 · Jul 6, 2012

So have been making some more progress ----- and I actually can see the light at the end of the tunnel ---- where I dont have tons of **** all over the place.

Bought this SteelCase cabinet off of Craigslist and restored it. I think it had some kind of battery acid that had dripped on it and really corroded the metal, not just the paint.

You can also see my new workbench and spraycan/chemical storage in the cabinet with the sliding shelf ------ it holds a lot!

Bought this oak VHS storage box at the Goodwill for $3 ----- mounted it under the bench for a little quick access storage:

The back workbench went from this:

To this:

btw --- my last post was January 20th ----- on Jan 31 this happened:

zip95864 · Jul 6, 2012

Sorry for the long delay ----- was a Schwinn terrible looking "mountain bike" from the early 90s

before:

after:

Made the box from some scrap wood I had laying around.

Phixer · Jul 7, 2012

Ah yes, what was never much of a good "mountain" bike has now become an extremely useful "urban pickup truck" !
Good job on the bike, and definitely check the mileage on that Passat's timing belt! They self-destruct on schedule (ask me how I know).

zip95864 · Jul 7, 2012

I take my VWs to Franks Automotive in SAC and they actually said it looked like the wagon had the belt changed not too long ago so recommended I just get it done at the next interval --- 150,000 miles.

Part of me was like, can I get that in writing?

zip95864 · Jul 7, 2012

So, I was browsing on Craigslist yesterday and came across an ad for this:

The perfect thing to hold all of my screws/bolts/etc. So I called her and she said she still had it and had some other cabinets like it too. She was cleaning out her dad's garage.

So I drove over there. She had two other cabinet units that had these small drawers. I asked her how much she wanted for all three, and she said, well, you know I think they're worth $40.

Done.

Got them home and into the garage ----- am going to build a workbench over them I think ---- the small unit might just sit on top and under the cabinets:

Small bin has built in dividers ---- the grey one has removal dividers:

zip95864 · Jul 7, 2012

Also got the corner where the bikes are re-done ----- adding double decker wood storage:

before

after

marty_p · Jul 7, 2012

One great space, Zip! Might shout your way when I fly in to SAC this Sep.; will be at UC-Davis for one week.

Subscribed! :thumbup:

kesslerbmw · Jul 8, 2012

Great thread, I like your style!

Toolfool · Jul 8, 2012

Congratulations on the new addition to your family !!

fergus · Jul 8, 2012

OH man...you **** with those cabinets. Been looking for some like those for a long time. What were they labeled as in the CL ad?

zip95864 · Jul 8, 2012

fergus said:
OH man...you **** with those cabinets. Been looking for some like those for a long time. What were they labeled as in the CL ad?

my search was "cabinets" under $100

The ad title was file cabinets ------ the post was 8 photos of normal filing cabinets ---- with one photo of that gray one.

Lucked out. I use the Craigslist Pro iPhone app ----- you can save searches which is pretty cool.

zip95864 · Jul 9, 2012

Got this Wilton 9400 made in Chicago off of eBay this week ----- figured, how can I make a 12 Gauge-esque garage without a vintage Wilton?!

Have a more modern China made Wilton that I plan I repainting the same color that I paint this one ----- the hammered gray.

Anyone got recommendations for the missing handle to secure the spinning base? Will have to do some searching on Garage forum I suppose.

zip95864 · Jul 10, 2012

Cleaned her up today:

Then took her apart, did some de-greasing and dropped it in an Oxalic bath. I've tried the Electrolysis route before too, but the nice thing about oxalic is no hydrogen fumes.

machine_punk · Jul 10, 2012

zip95864 said:
Anyone got recommendations for the missing handle to secure the spinning base? Will have to do some searching on Garage forum I suppose.

Find a steel rod which fits, thread both ends, put a bolt on each end, then grind the nuts down to a cylinder or ball shape. I suppose you could even go find a long bolt which fits (a bolt with a long, smooth shoulder), then put nut on the end, cut off the rest of the thread, then grind down the head of the bolt and nut to a cylinder or ball shape.

M_P

zip95864 · Jul 10, 2012

machine_punk said:
Find a steel rod which fits, thread both ends, put a bolt on each end, then grind the nuts down to a cylinder or ball shape. I suppose you could even go find a long bolt which fits (a bolt with a long, smooth shoulder), then put nut on the end, cut off the rest of the thread, then grind down the head of the bolt and nut to a cylinder or ball shape.

M_P

Like the bolt idea ---- thanks!

zip95864 · Jul 11, 2012

Made some good progress on the Wilton restoration today:

Got the old jaw off ----- had to drill out the bolt heads ---- one then came out with Vice Grips, the other sheared off. So drilled it out further.

On the other side, one of the bolts came to me sheared off inside of the vise, so drilled that out too. Actually went pretty smooth and the EZ Out didnt work a damn.

Got the lock down nut polished [gold!] and the bolt I'm going to fabricate into a handle:

Also, since my Craftsman drill did such a good job of wire wheeling the vise, I took her to the buffer ---- thing looks like a pistol:

zip95864 · Jul 12, 2012

Got the lockdown handles made and most of the vise painted, looking a lot better!

machine_punk · Jul 12, 2012

Looks great...now to get that thing mounted for use.

zip95864 · Jul 12, 2012

machine_punk said:
Looks great...now to get that thing mounted for use.

Thanks, except, I still need to fabricate the jaws ----- ordered some 6061 alu yesterday. Think I'll practice my drilling and countersinking skills on a piece of wood first.

And the bench it'll go on only exists in my mind....

zip95864 · Jul 18, 2012

Before:

After:

zip95864 · Jul 24, 2012

Made a garage door loft for those bulky items that are only needed ocassionally : tennis rackets, lawn chairs, etc.

Will probably paint white to match ceiling and make another for the other side.

zip95864 · Jul 25, 2012

Re: Circa 1951: my NorCal garage

Got a really nice lateral filing cabinet from the thrift store for $15. Ball bearing drawers that glide really well. Decided to turn it into my drill press stand. The Craftsman model I had, didn't have enough storage.

Before

After

My NorCal garage

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