TAftw's Garage Thread: It's about time!

Well I've been on here over a year, so I figure it's about time to make a garage thread. I haven't done one yet because to put it blatantly, my garage *****, especially compared to the ones on here. But I have been slowly working on it and made some improvements, so here is what I have.

A little background: The garage has been used for the past five or so years to store stuff from our house in RI. We had a tenant in there who caused a small fire, so the rental has been undergoing many renovations since then. In addition to all that stuff, there's a ton of **** collected from over 40 years of having the house. The stuff is not mine and there's no other place to put it, so unfortunately I have to deal with it until we can put it back into the house.

Once all that stuff was moved in, the garage has become a catch-all for my family's ****.

In addition to that, we also have a lot of lawn and yard equipment. I never realized before coming here that the proper place for all that **** is in a SHED, not the garage!

Here is where we will start. Before I started cleaning there was no room on either side to walk. I threw out a ton of stuff and piled everything up on the left side which freed up enough room for a vehicle on the right side:


For reference, here is how it is now.


That picture was taken after the addition of a Millermatic 35, Lincoln Tombstone, and Sanborn 60 gallon compressor.



The Sanborn I bought for $250 on Craigslist.




The compressor I want to put in the corner next to the chimney.


Unfortunately I don't have pictures of my work bench build. I was given a metal frame from my sister who used it at her house. I made a perimeter of 2x4's and added a 3/4" plywood top and storage shelf. Tomorrow I am planning on taking it apart and staining it and rattle canning the frame, so I will post pics if I do.



Underneath and around the bench. There is a DeWalt circular saw, Craftsman torque wrench, welding helmet, Chiwanese grinder, Speedi-Dry, and a bunch of other junk under there.




Here is the shelf in the front-left of the garage. It's actually an old filing cabinet. I started cleaning it out this week. There was 40 years of unused bottles and stuff on there, some of it probably banned today. I hate the shelf, it's going to be replaced as soon as I find one on CL.


My "lube station" and trusty Husqvarna 350:


My 1994 Grand Cherokee, sitting with a broken connecting rod. If anyone wants part PM me!


A pic of the wall of **** with which I have to deal with. In the back standing against the wall is an old table my dad built for train layouts. I want to tactically acquire it for work bench purposes .


the whole garage was covered in that spray on "popcorn" stuff. I HATE THIS ****. It falls all over everything and it's peeling on all 4 walls and the ceiling. The first thing I'm doing when I get the compressor wired up is blowing it all off with a blowgun. This stuff flat *****.


There is SOME cool stuff in here:

The Man Fridge:


My Ace Hardware miter saw. I forget the OEM, but it's pretty damn nice, and not bad for $120.


My friend's minibike that he bought at a tag sale for $80. It's got a 5hp Briggs and is loads of fun on hot summer days. Currently waiting for a new clutch.


My dad is a huge fan of Troy Bilt. This is NOT the cheapo rebranded plastic stuff that you buy today. These are the original Troy Bilt products which were made in Troy, NY. Everything is heavy gauge steel, nice clean welds, and they are purposely-built. You can't buy em like this anymore.

Chipper/Vac:


Snowblower:


We also have a lawnmower and 1981 Pony Rototiller which I'll have to dig up some pics of.

Leaning against the chimney is a slate board that came out of a schoolhouse in Chicopee, MA.


It's a 1/4" piece of real slate, I don't think it's possible to get something like this anymore.


We've had it for probably 12 years now. Our friend selling it had his son lift it into the trunk of our station wagon. I distinctly remember him picking it up and sliding it in, then my dad and his friend unable to budge it when we got home! That kid was strong as hell. I eventually want to build a frame and stand for it and use it kind of like a drafting station.

This scale has been attached to my dad for almost 40 years. I recently saw it on American Pickers, and I think they said it was valued at around $350. I was thinking of selling it, but it still works and I think it's pretty cool.



Well, there's my garage. I have the compressor wiring ready to go, just gotta get my friend over to give it some power. The welder will have to wait, I don't have the $200 or so for the wiring I need.

I'm going to post up a drawing of my eventual plans for the garage. Main ones right now include getting the wiring for the compressor in, hanging the ladder from the ceiling, adding a few storage cabinets above the bench, and putting in some more lighting.

I'm glad you started a thread. You've done a lot with the space in the time you have had to work on it, and with the resources at your disposal.

Thanks Dave, I'm gonna add more to it as I remember everything. it's hard to do when you're writing it all out at once .

In the works for tomorrow are staining the bench top and spray painting the bench frame.

Looking good! Time and elbow grease...

Chris

P.S. Love the scale.

Thanks, the scale and slate board are my favorite things in there .

I agree about the scale. Maybe keep it until you have your own space, and use it in there. Family memorabilia, you know.

Hey, are you utilizing all of your wall and even ceiling space? If I were in your position, I would be using as many hooks as I could, in both wall and ceiling, to hang bulky **** like chairs and whatever else is in the **** pile.

Yeah I'm trying to use as much of the walls and ceiling as I can. I can't really hang the chairs or anything, I've got them stacked together pretty well though. I've piled stuff about as far up as I can, I was afraid something was gonna fall over.

The **** pile isn't getting any smaller though, everything from a dining room set to a toilet is in there and unfortunately we need it all for the house.

Why can't you hang the chairs? They sell heavy-duty, long, plastic coated hooks for hanging all kinds of large bulky ****.

I see a lot of stuff in there that you can substantially reduce the dimensions of with fire! I would start with those chairs, which remind me FAR too much of my grandmother's house.



Just kidding... Looks like you're off to a good start.

Why not rebuild the engine in the Jeep?

A_Pmech said:

Why not rebuild the engine in the Jeep?

Click to expand...

I started pulling the engine in preparation for a rebuild, only to realize I would be going away to school in about a month. I haven't had a car for a while now, and I'm saving a lot of money on insurance and gas. I'm parting it out to try and get as much as I can out of it. It ***** not having a car when I'm home, but with the money I get from parting it I'll have enough money for a 12 Valve Cummins diesel .

Wow, great garage you have. Sadly a new connecting rod for that Jeep would be a few grand. Love the scale and i love American Pickers. Great show

Thanks a lot. It's coming along slowly but surely .

Well Sunday was my birthday, and unfortunately I had a lot going on and couldn't find time to stain and paint my bench.

In addition to doing that, I'm also on the hunt for some free/cheap cabinets to mount on the wall above the workbench. Pics will come if anything changes!

I love these types of threads. It's much more fun to see the process from the beginning rather than just pics of finished product.

Thank you, I got a new camera and am getting the hang of photobucket, so I can post a lot more pics now. it's fun documenting everything!

Since you're not going to re-engine the Jeep, I think Bull and I are in total agreement that you need an F-body.

^^^Oh an F-Body is on the list. I've seen deals come and go, but I'm dead set on holding out for a '79 Trans Am 4-speed .

Some new additions to the garage today. This morning I took a drive to see Bull, and after ogling his new Trans Am drool, I left with a parts washer and a 5 gallon sandblaster .

Here they are:


The parts washer was sitting for a long time so there was a lot of rust on it. There's no pump or anything, but I plan on filling it with some diesel fuel and using it as a wash tub.



I sprayed everything with WD40 and let it sit for a few minutes, then wire wheeled all the areas with heavy rust. After that I washed it out with a hose and resprayed it with WD40. Once I put in the diesel fuel it should all dissipate, right?



The sandblaster Bull said he got from Eastwood, and it appears to be pretty solidly built.



I don't know why it doesn't have a gun-style nozzle though. How am I supposed to regulate the flow? These are the only valves on it. Do I just use the ball valve??



I plan on making a blast cabinet for it. That will be another thread for another day though.

Here are some pics of the current setup. I moved the compressor over to the corner, which is where I want it to be when I get the wiring done. The Millermatic and workbench I just slid further to the left. The added shelf under the parts washer provides some pretty adequate storage.







Some better storage under the workbench. Chopsaws are a PITA to store!



I cleaned the workbench off and tidied up a little. That's a Jensen steam engine sitting on top of the ladder.



Well, that's about all that's happened recently. The current list of improvements I want to conquer goes a little like this:

1. Finish the compressor wiring
2. Hang up that annoying ladder
3. Add some cabinets over the bench area
4. Add lighting under the cabinets
5. Add a few more 120V outlets

If Bull decides to throw anything else out, there will be more additions to my garage . One man's trash is another's treasure has never been more true .

Some new additions to the garage over the past few days. My friend called me and said the house across the street from him was having a tag sale and they had a drill press for sale.

Of course I went over and looked, and it turned out to be an old South Bend.

The guy was a pain in the *** about the price, but eventually I got him down from $225 to $175. I think I paid too much, but I'm not getting rid of it, so I guess it's worth it.

Anyways, on with the pics:

















I **** at taking pics, sorry guys!


Anyways, the thing is built like a tank. 3 of us could barely get it out of my friend's truck, and I read online that it weighs around 235 lbs. The bearings are nice and quiet, and the belt is super easy to change.

I didn't take pics, but there is a clamp that can be raised and lowered, and it is a 9/16" bolt. Yesterday I was at the flea market, and lo and behold, this baby popped up:



It will be my dedicated drill press wrench.


So after the excitement of getting a new toy wore off, I cleaned the whole thing with Simple Green, lubed all the parts I could see, and got to some garage projects.

First, was to hang the ladder from the ceiling with a pulley system. I have no pics of the process, but here is what I ended up with:








I had to conect the studs with some wood, so a strip from a pallet worked just fine:




As you can see, the ladder sits quite nicely, and it clears the garage door just fine. Also, I now have a large wall to work with above the work bench.



Above the bench I need some cabinets, but I haven't scrounged those up yet. I had some plywood and old pallets lying around, so I whipped up this temporary shelf:



It cleared a TON of **** off my bench top.







The screws were too long, the wood was all warped, there isn't a square angle anywhere on it, but it took a half hour to build and hang. And when I finally get some cabinets it'll go to the fire pit .


Here's some more of Bull's old stuff:




And here is the bench top base that came with the drill press. I plan on turning it into a stand for a bench grinder:




So yeah, that pretty much wraps up the additions for now. I go back to school in a week, so work on the garage will probably have to come to a halt for a while.

Everything about the drill press screams quality, and something that will last you a lifetime.

I like the creative ladder storage solution!

I'm embarrassed to see that old Tai-crapanese vise I gave you there. I picked up a few since then, from the flea. USA made stuff. Lemme know if you want to buy one for what I paid.

Looks great so far to me. I am on a tight budget myself and there are a lot of people here that can offer some great examples of how thay did it and valuble advice. Will be back to check out your progress. Best of luck!

^^^Thanks a lot, it's a real problem because I only have a small space in the garage for my stuff, but I'm making the best of it.

Bull, honestly I haven't used that Chiwanese vise at all, it's just sitting there. As soon as I get around to it the nicer vise will be back together. I need to get a grinder with a wire wheel and it won't take long to make it look nice.

I'll throw in my two cents. Use those welders to make a cart that will hold both of 'em. You can put the smaller one on top of the bigger one and even include some storage for wire, rods, yer helmet, etc. That should free up a few square feet.

Otherwise, keep diggin'. You're doing great!

^^^Yes a welding cart is on the list of things to do, but unfortunately I don't even have the garage wired for 240V yet. The price of copper shot up, and I had sticker shock when it came to buying wire. I'll have to wait and save a little longer .