The Garage on Polish River

Jtcrep · Oct 17, 2013

Hey Everyone! This is my first go at posting here, I have been lurking a long time thought I better get off the fence and jump in after being inspired by Nuttsgt, Tinbender, Motormitch, Omphaloskeptic, Mr. 360, Jack Olsen and many others.

So for the last 5 years this has been my home garage.

It wasn't very big, I could barely get my 14' Sea Sprite inside and forget about working in it. Thankfully my dad has a "MAN'S SHOP" only 20 minutes away.

Luckily for me things fell into place this past January and the wife and I were able to purchase a new house with a HUGE garage!!!!! Here's a picure of the new place.

I have dub the place The Chalet on Polish River hence the name of the thread. We are on 3 acres with a .8 acre pond in the front yard. My better half doesn't like the name, but heck I think its great and I'm the Polish one.

The previous owner owned a towing company and built the garage to house his fleet of tow trucks. The garage is 28'x48' with 10' ceiling with a unfinished second floor built into the truss.

I am working on outfitting the garage with tools and storage and already wish I had more space. I plan on documenting my progress here hopefully pretty often when life and work don't get in the way.

Jtcrep · Oct 17, 2013

So a few days ago I picked up my first welder. A Hobart 210 handler. I learned to weld on a Hobart and since Hobart is the only brand availible locally thats what I went with. Of course a welder needs a cart so that should have been my first project...but my $50 CL find band saw need a leg transplant and a minor overhaul before it was up for the task of cutting the new cart.

After a couple of days this is what she became.

Sorry I didn't document the procress more, but at the time I hadn't made my mind up to start a thread yet.

Bib Overalls · Oct 17, 2013

No point in dieing, you have already found heaven.

Jtcrep · Oct 17, 2013

With the saw finished up I could get started on my welding cart. I couldn't decide what I wanted so I trolled the boards for a few days looking for ideas. Here is what I came up with.

It was my first attempt at using Sketchup - what a cool program!
Work has been a little slow this week, and I didn't have to help at the in-laws much so I had sometime yesterday and today to get started.

So my welds are finally looking a little better. As you can see I am using PowerStrut (uni-strut) because once again thats what I can buy here in town. I wished they carried it unfinished because grinding the paint off gets old quick. I made some good progress today but am at a stopping point until I can source some expanded metal for the lower shelf. What do you guys think?

HOTFR8 · Oct 17, 2013

Welcome to the GJ. That is one impressive place.

upndown · Oct 17, 2013

Once again I have water Envy! Beautiful setting, Can I ask what state your in? Other than Orgasmic.. :lol:

Jtcrep · Oct 17, 2013

Upndown, I'm in Hayward Wisconsin, Musky Capital of the World.

1/2 Cup · Oct 18, 2013

Welcome to the GJ, enjoy

IONH · Oct 18, 2013

Welcome to GJ! :beer:

I'm always interested in reading another garage make-over thread.

Jtcrep said:
After a couple of days this is what she became.

I like that stand for sure. :thumbup:

Any concern of it flipping if someone tilts it up too quickly?

Your sample iron looks like some that I took down in my garage from the prior owner. I have also re-purposed it for a couple of different projects. Can I ask what it was used for previously?

upndown · Oct 18, 2013

Jtcrep said:
Upndown, I'm in Hayward Wisconsin, Musky Capital of the World.

Nice!! Used to go up around Eagle River and chase Musky around with my buddy and his dad. :drink:

Jtcrep · Oct 18, 2013

Thank for all the comments guys!

Ionh - The saw is really stable after I added the angled rebar on the motor side. I extended the legs past the pivot point of the motor so there is no chance of flipping. That is one of the things I HATED about the factory legs. The metal is all new uni-strut, there is an electric/plumbing supply house about two blocks from the house and they sell it to me for $17 per 10' stick. Less than I would have to pay for 1" tubing delivered from the nearest steel supply (60 miles).

Jtcrep · Oct 18, 2013

So I did a little more grinding on the welding cart than I orginally thought :sad:

Even though I didn't get the expanded metal yet (hopefully tonight from a buddy) I had some time so I started painting. I like to keep things the original colors so I borrowed my color pallet from Hobart. Then I had the bright idea that inside of the channel should be orange and the outside off white/grey. I started by spraying the orange.

Let me be the first to say this was a bad idea. The paint has runs and drips and doesn't meet my goal of keeping everything looking sharp. Once I had all the orange shot I let it dry for 5 hours under the radiant heater. I had a few thoughts about masking it off and the winning idea was to fill the channel with some soft foam I had laying about.

Then I started with the grey paint.

So I forgot to snap a picture of the grey paint with the foam still in, and as you can see I was only able to paint half at a time since I didn't have enough foam. The paint on the foam has to dry before I can reinsert it in the channel so the rest of the paint is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

With any luck tonight I will be picking up a OA set up that's been in storage for awhile along with a sandblaster. Let me say I have NO experience with either of these tools but should be very helpful with some future projects. The sandblaster I need to photograph and post here since its a unit I got an auction from an industrial arts school up by a mining community - I am not sure what I really have but what the heck its mine now :thumbup:

If anyone has any questions or feedback I am open to it all. Thanks for reading all my ramblings.

J-man67 · Oct 19, 2013

Beautiful home and badass garage! Quite a step up from a single! Enjoy it man!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Jtcrep · Oct 19, 2013

A couple of years ago I bought this sand blasting unit at an auction. I don't really know anything about it, I can't find a model number. I haven't tried using it yet. Not sure what parts might be missing other than the nozzle. Not sure what nozzle to order either. Does anyone have any experience with this type of unit. I have never done any sandblasting so any tips would also be welcome.

Jtcrep · Oct 19, 2013

I made a little progress on my welding cart today, just a little more paint. Man rustolemum paint can take forever to dry when it wants too.

2lPGaeSbjIwpmablzVbhOcjCM8zKST3zbvwBpP6JJiA=w120-h213-p-no

Bob Heine · Oct 20, 2013

Jtcrep said:
A couple of years ago I bought this sand blasting unit at an auction. I don't really know anything about it, I can't find a model number. I haven't tried using it yet. Not sure what parts might be missing other than the nozzle. Not sure what nozzle to order either. Does anyone have any experience with this type of unit. I have never done any sandblasting so any tips would also be welcome.

Jtcrep,
Not sure if this is helpful but I believe that's a media reclamation unit. In a production environment it would be the middle unit of these three:

(Picture is from Woodward Equipment site http://www.woodwardequipment.com/BNPcabs.html)

The unit on the left is the blast cabinet where you do the work. The unit on the right is a dust collector. Your unit ***** the cloud out of the blast cabinet and separates the large blast media particles from the lightweight dust (dirt, paint, rust, etc) and the pipe at the bottom of the unit returns the media to your cabinet.

I think this is a nice piece of equipment to go with a pretty large blast cabinet. With the space you have available, you could have a pretty big cabinet. If you want lots of options, I would go directly to http://www.tptools.com/. They have everything from kits (to build your own) to ready-made setups in a pretty broad range of prices.

Then again, Harbor Freight sells blast cabinets (like the little one I keep on a wagon).

Jtcrep · Oct 20, 2013

Bob, thanks for giving me a little insight. However this unit appears to have a regulator and siphon tube. Its a two hose unit plus the vacuum line. I am e-mailing the manufacturer - lets see if they reply or just laugh amongst themselves.

John

Jtcrep · Oct 20, 2013

So wholley-****! It's only October 20th and its SNOWING!!!!

So Mrs. JTCREP leaves for work at 3am tonight and with snow on the roads I have told her she "must" take her winter car......which was sitting outside. She then told me it "must" be in the heated garage tonight or no dice. So all the tools and projects (read snowmobiles) needed to be moved out the "storage bay" into my "active bay" so both of the misses car can be warm tonight.

Manly things stored inside.

The bosses car's getting warm. And for the record my car is under two inches of snow :sad:

Jtcrep · Oct 20, 2013

I got a few things done in the garage today. First I finished the welding cart - but forgot to snap a good picture. I will post one tomorrow. Then a buddy came over and we built a shelf over the air compressor to hold the dryer.

I have been toying with the idea of enclosing the compressor with expanded metal and somesort of filter material to keep dust and grindings out. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Once I get the enclosure built or not I will finish wiring it up with a switch. Until then its just temp wired.

A buddy of mine had the dryer sitting in his storage unit and a cool $200 later it has found a new home. Not sure I really need it but better to have it than not.

A little background on that compressor. It came from the same auction as the sandblaster?./? I knew when bidding it was inop. What I didn't know was it was in a basement with no elevator. I was hoping it would be an easy fix - really I was hoping it was an electrical issue as it was 3 phase and I would have to repower it anyways. No such luck. After using a skidsteer and an old countertop we were able to drag it up an exterior stairwell. Oh and it weights in at about 900lbs. Here are a couple of pictures of what I started with. (The work was done at my dads shop)

In the end it ended up having a busted cyclinder and a broke rod. It got a complete rebuild from the bearings up, a new baldor 5hp single phase motor, and a new paint job to match todays IR compressors. The compressor is a model T30 253. I ran a cfm calc on it once it was finished and it puts out 17.6 ascf @125 psi - not to shabby. The biggest and best surprise is how quiet it is- only 80 dbs at 6 feet.

Jtcrep · Oct 20, 2013

Another idea I had today when making room for the Misses 2nd car was to mount my dust collector above the tablesaw side table.

The pros would be its still close to the dust and I get floor space back. The cons are it will be harder to empty and my cause shadows or just be a general eyesore. I only have 10' ceilings. Mounting would be fairly simple but I am not sure if this is a good idea or not. My garage has a lack of wall space and the entire front wall is doors and because of the heater I can't add a wall between bays. I am just not sure what the best plan is for the dust collection. I would appreciate any and all comments. And I want to thank everyone who is taking the time to read/follow my progress.

NUTTSGT · Oct 23, 2013

Jtcrep said:

Whoa, I'm not even through the first post and I'm loving this place already. :thumbup:

NUTTSGT · Oct 23, 2013

You've done so much in such a short thread already. One thing I might suggest is to add a location in your profile. It doesn't need to be exact but a general location will help others answer your questions at times.

I'm not sure if you'll be happy with the expanded metal on the bottom of your welding cart. The stuff is going to sag eventually.

Pluribus · Oct 23, 2013

Nice place...definitely some shop-envy here! You're doing some really nice, creative work on your bandsaw stand and welder cart.

klogan121 · Oct 23, 2013

Any pictures of the garage upstairs? Make that into shop space??

Place looks great!! :thumbup:

jesse72 · Oct 23, 2013

That's an awesome place and piece of property! Congratulations on it!

Pyetime · Oct 23, 2013

"Na zdrowie!" Awesome place!!

NUTTSGT · Oct 23, 2013

klogan121 said:
Any pictures of the garage upstairs? Make that into shop space??

Place looks great!!

That would be estrogen escape if it were mine ! :beer:

Jtcrep · Oct 23, 2013

Hey guys thanks for the kind words.

I have been super busy the last couple of days with worK and am way behind in some mntx at the rentals so that's where I have disappeared too.

Klogan and Nutts - the upstairs is unfinished 16x48 with a 12x24 deck. The worst part is its full of **** and has no heat source. The plans are for "clean" shop room for my vinyl cutting plotter, sewing machine, drafting table and maybe a workout room for the wife. But that's all on hold until we can figure out a way to connect the house and garage ($$$).

But some good news Clemco was able to find the manual for my Zero Blast and Peen and confirmed it is a complete unit sans the gun. Originally built for the USAF pre1970 - I never would have thought it that old as its in too good of condition. Now let's just hope the factory gun can be found or at least find one to work. The original gun had the siphon tube, air hose, and recovery vacuum all in one place, sorta a unique set-up.

With any luck I will be back in the garage on Sunday with pics of my finished welding cart and progress on the ac dryer.

mdkingsley · Oct 23, 2013

Man that place is awesome, garage, house the whole thing. Have a good time at your new place especially that great shop!

Aussie Mike · Oct 24, 2013

Great shed and a nice spot!

I had a similar idea with my metal cutting band saw. It's handy being able to easily move it out of the way when not in use.

Still need to paint it

Cheers

Michael

Mr. 360 · Oct 24, 2013

Wow, this place is something else! Pretty sure the inspiration has flipped now. You seem to get some good deals on equipment, and, I'm kinda jealous that you actually have somewhere to put them

. Lovely setting here, and such a huge leap from a single car.

I can appreciate the way you buy tools without experience using them. I bought my welder that way, and then taught myself. Way to go!

Lastly, I've gotta say, you're certainly slaying the tasks here, makes me want to get back out and just... weld something. I'll definitely be following this one, Welcome to GJ!

polexican23 · Oct 24, 2013

Did you think about moving the compressor and drier upstairs?

Jtcrep · Oct 24, 2013

Polexican, no I never thought of that. Huh. Not a bad idea. I will have to think about that some more. 900lbs won't be fun to move. There is a "5th" bay on the right side of the garage that's enclosed with deck lattice and the deck above. It's not water tight yet but I do have some metal roofing I was planning on installing on the bottom of the deck. If extra cash or free materials materialize I was thinking of a small room for the ac and dust collection.

Aussie Mike, that's a cool saw. Everything in my garage is either on wheels or easily moved with a pallet jacket except the table saw and bench. Wheels are a back saver!

Mr. 360, I guess there was a time when we do everything for the first time. With awesome forums like this and YouTube very little is a mystery or intimidating. I loved your thread - keep up the good work.

I'm off to an evening out with the SWMBO to meet some friends. Hopefully the rest of you will have excellent results with your projects tonight so I can read the posts tomorrow.

polexican23 · Oct 30, 2013

temp install a winch on a joist or something. A few guys mounted them in the attic or cieling. Saved room down below if you have attic space.

sunsation288 · Oct 30, 2013

Like someone one have said before !, your at heaven sir !
Nice place , keep the picture coming please

Jtcrep · Nov 4, 2013

Ok, so things around home have kept me out of the garage for a while but I stole a few minutes away and got a little wiring done. Back in March I added a new sub-panel and ran conduit all over. No pictures of that project but here is what I started with yesterday.

This is between the two overhead doors on the shop side of the garage. I wanted 30 amp 220 for the welder and added an RV outlet just in case I needed to work on a camper. I also added a 20 amp 220 for the shaper or other tools. Then at the last minute I also added a 110.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-...QjgvrehqeHs/w568-h1009-no/20131103_154208.jpg
Here is on the junction boxes I had to wire.

Jtcrep · Nov 4, 2013

On Saturday a buddy called me to go check out some "tools" from a guy here knew who is moving unexpectedly and selling a bunch of stuff. He has 10 primo pieces of almost new wood working tools. Most is stuff I already have but here is the saw I am thinking of getting from him.

He is letting it go for the unbelievable price of $350 and the thing is only 18 months old with hardly any use. My only issue is that it is a single speed of 3000 sfpm. I was looking for an older delta with the gear box so I could cut both wood and metal.

I figure I can either A) use the saw as is until I can sell it for a small profit and buy what I want or B) I can order a couple of different pulleys to reduce the speed for cutting metal.

Any thoughts on the pulley swap?

IONH · Nov 4, 2013

Jtcrep said:
Ok, so things around home have kept me out of the garage for a while but I stole a few minutes away and got a little wiring done. Back in March I added a new sub-panel and ran conduit all over. No pictures of that project but here is what I started with yesterday.

This is between the two overhead doors on the shop side of the garage. I wanted 30 amp 220 for the welder and added an RV outlet just in case I needed to work on a camper. I also added a 20 amp 220 for the shaper or other tools. Then at the last minute I also added a 110.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-...QjgvrehqeHs/w568-h1009-no/20131103_154208.jpg
Here is on the junction boxes I had to wire.

I could be wrong but it looks to me like you're using one of the hot legs for the 220 outlet to power your 110 circuit. This is a definite no-no by the NEC if you're in the US.

Of course, no bare ground would be bad but I'm not sure if you're handling that all through the conduit/boxes as they are metal (also not sure if that would be allowed if you are).

Jtcrep · Nov 4, 2013

EMT is acting as the ground and is allowed by coded. As for the other observation...... nice catch

RSOllie · Nov 4, 2013

First off that is a hell of a garage space you have there and look foward to the outcome

But atm i am more intrested in that house :rocker:

It looks very nice and the land plus the pond would cost an absolute fortune over here
May i ask the guide price for a place like that?
I would love to move to the states and is a dream of mine, i have been over there a few times and alothough i do struggle to like US tv

, its a place i never what to leave!
Trouble is im a soild fuel engineer so whould need to live somewere cold lol :sad:

The Garage on Polish River

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member Emeritus

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member