Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT 3rd time's a charm with a 3 car workshop

[loganb]

WELL DONE on the brakes. I would not have had the patience...much less the know-how...to do it. That's how shops stay in business and dealerships get rich.

As to the 20+ felon who took your SIL's life, I'd ask an attorney [if the family has one] if a civil suit to obtain a judgement against his prison earnings [yes, sometimes they actually get paid for working behind the walls] - or future earnings if for some obscene reason he is not imprisoned - is even possible. It would not be much but it might be an annuity for the girls.

Best of luck....with everything. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Thanks for chiming in! Simple brake stuff like this I enjoy doing...learned on the farm doing drum brakes on much crustier stuff so these aren't bad...well other than learning the nuances like the electric brake.

We did discuss going after on the civil side for judgement against future earnings, both prison and after but in the end we didn't have the energy or money to pursue that. Due to the low probability of collecting much of any penalty in the near term, it would have been up front payment for the lawyers and likely eaten a substantial chunk of the insurance company settlement that the nieces need now in exchange for a potential monthly payment starting after he gets out as wage is garnished. That's assuming he gets an above the board job that wages could be garnished on and for someone with a felony conviction, jail time and a family history that seems to spend a fair amount of time interacting with the legal system....not a guarantee. So in the end we took the guaranteed money now

Little progress inside....we don't watch much TV but Elmo in the garage is a hit and let's me work on organizing and sorting



Condensed contents of the "Misc Drawer"



More empty bins



And starting to sort standard bolts to add to the existing drawer with metric.



Gonna need to get the Prusa printer running on some medium sized bins again as running out of them

 

[slik560]

That level of organization is simply....beyond me. Although labeling the collection of bins, jars, and bags that I have would be a terrific idea. My next gadget acquisition just might be a label maker.

 

[loganb]

That level of organization is simply....beyond me. Although labeling the collection of bins, jars, and bags that I have would be a terrific idea. My next gadget acquisition just might be a label maker.

I love the label printer....thanks to Amazon looks like this was the Brother PT2730 ordered back in 2015 and still going strong. Prints 1/2 or 1" tape, can run off wall power or AA's(think it's 8 of them) and can print on the shrink wrap to print wire numbers etc right onto the shrink wrap. I dislike how it defaults to a bunch of waste at the start and end of each label and have to change that setting...but then again it's kinda like the Gillette razor model of sell the printer at break even or a loss and make money on the consumables. I'm using generic label cartridges off amazon now and I personally can't tell a difference.

Personally, if I was going to order a new one I'd look harder at an option for computer connected so I could make them in bulk on the PC and hit print. I think I'd still want a portable one with a keyboard for on the fly stuff, but the PC support would be nice at times and they're really not that expensive anymore so it'll probably happen eventually.

And I'm liking the hardware organization....was super easy yesterday when I needed a couple new metric fasteners to replace the rusty crusty's on the brake module...pull open the drawer and boom...M6 x 12mm and away I go

 

[bj383ss]

I love the label printer....thanks to Amazon looks like this was the Brother PT2730 ordered back in 2015 and still going strong. Prints 1/2 or 1" tape, can run off wall power or AA's(think it's 8 of them) and can print on the shrink wrap to print wire numbers etc right onto the shrink wrap. I dislike how it defaults to a bunch of waste at the start and end of each label and have to change that setting...but then again it's kinda like the Gillette razor model of sell the printer at break even or a loss and make money on the consumables. I'm using generic label cartridges off amazon now and I personally can't tell a difference.

Personally, if I was going to order a new one I'd look harder at an option for computer connected so I could make them in bulk on the PC and hit print. I think I'd still want a portable one with a keyboard for on the fly stuff, but the PC support would be nice at times and they're really not that expensive anymore so it'll probably happen eventually.

And I'm liking the hardware organization....was super easy yesterday when I needed a couple new metric fasteners to replace the rusty crusty's on the brake module...pull open the drawer and boom...M6 x 12mm and away I go

I second the computer one. I have it. I use to make labels for my Lego organization. You can also print out pictures and basically anything you can load into the software. I totally forgot they have heat shrink tape I need to get some of that for Auto wiring harnesses.

Bret

 

[Bob Heine]

Personally, if I was going to order a new one I'd look harder at an option for computer connected so I could make them in bulk on the PC and hit print.

Logan, I'm with you. I have four Brother P-touch label printers and am tempted to give three of them away. The one I would keep is the PT-D600 that has a keyboard to make labels anywhere but also connects to a PC or Mac. I paid $100 for it two years ago.

Brother provides a free app that lets you create and make changes on the PC or Mac. You can then save labels you make on your computer. The PT-600 has been replaced with the PT-D610BT (~$100), which I believe can be used with your phone. It's nice to be able to gang up a bunch of labels and print them all at once, making only one stupid starter piece. I often print a label multiple times using the app and it wastes only the one little starter piece of tape -- no extra blank on the end either.

 

[fouckhest]

Interesting...going to have to review that with the Nebraska attorney we are updating our stuff with and make see his thoughts...thanks!

Not much happened here. limited garage time got the sapele edgebanded melamine shelves up:

random question , where did you get those yellow storage cases? Thanks!

 

[loganb]

random question , where did you get those yellow storage cases? Thanks!

No worries! Those are this:

Shop Sol 1010498 Workshop Solutions Portable Storage Organizers | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Workshop Solutions Portable Storage Organizers with qualifying orders of $125. Shop Storage Cabinets at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

When I got them several years ago they were more like 30/each I believe....don't recall if I bought them from Summit or someone else but looks like a couple different places sell them.

I personally liked them for commonly used fasteners as each container had it's own lid so I could keep like fasteners togethers and carry the entire case or just grab the smaller container if I knew what I needed and not worry about spilling. The containers have their own clip that I've used to clip onto a tool bag or pants pocket if you're careful...it's functional but not a "heavy duty" clip. I've had them for 4 or 5 years and have held up pretty well but also have had a pretty easy life as they rarely leave the house...carried from garage into house or off the shelf and onto the workbench then back away they go.

 

[fouckhest]

No worries! Those are this:

Shop Sol 1010498 Workshop Solutions Portable Storage Organizers | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Workshop Solutions Portable Storage Organizers with qualifying orders of $125. Shop Storage Cabinets at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

When I got them several years ago they were more like 30/each I believe....don't recall if I bought them from Summit or someone else but looks like a couple different places sell them.

I personally liked them for commonly used fasteners as each container had it's own lid so I could keep like fasteners togethers and carry the entire case or just grab the smaller container if I knew what I needed and not worry about spilling. The containers have their own clip that I've used to clip onto a tool bag or pants pocket if you're careful...it's functional but not a "heavy duty" clip. I've had them for 4 or 5 years and have held up pretty well but also have had a pretty easy life as they rarely leave the house...carried from garage into house or off the shelf and onto the workbench then back away they go.

Awesome, thank you very much! I did some internetting after i saw your photo, looked similar but wasnt sure!

What you mentioned is exactly what I need them for, to much of my amazement, my fastener collection has grown quite a lot after all my home reno projects...thanks again, these will be great to free up some drawer space and help keep me organized.

 

[loganb]

Awesome, thank you very much! I did some internetting after i saw your photo, looked similar but wasnt sure!

What you mentioned is exactly what I need them for, to much of my amazement, my fastener collection has grown quite a lot after all my home reno projects...thanks again, these will be great to free up some drawer space and help keep me organized.

Yup, for certain things work great!



Making a little progress on reorganization and declutter...

Started with this



Now at this after a successful marketplace sale


Buyer didn't want the wood cabinet, so will break it down to reuse the plywood and put the casters back on a shelf

 

[XJSuperman]

Damn! I have the perfect home for that here in Iowa........glad you had a good sale, but dang that would have been sweet!
Thats one nice big chunk of real estate to be getting back in your garage Logan. Good deal.

 

[loganb]

Damn! I have the perfect home for that here in Iowa........glad you had a good sale, but dang that would have been sweet!
Thats one nice big chunk of real estate to be getting back in your garage Logan. Good deal.

I have another one I may be getting rid of.....

 

[nicholam77]

Nice job on the brakes. Never done them myself but might need to give it a go next time. Nothing wrong with using Wera on a car job in my book, if anything you get tool bonus points!

The small parts organization looks fantastic. I'm super jealous of that sort of OCD organization, especially the 3D printed bins you, @bj383ss , @T-handle etc have done. But I think I've decided I'm going to let the hardware stores store fasteners for me. Luckily I have plenty of hardware stores close, including one that's walkable from my house (or a 1min drive).

So with the rolling cart gone what's to become of the MFT in your garage layout? I like how you're always optimizing and placing emphasis on function.

The buyer didn't want the plywood? That's like refusing solid gold!

I feel you on the decluttering, though. My original MFT cart might be getting the axe soon.

 

[loganb]

The small parts organization looks fantastic. I'm super jealous of that sort of OCD organization, especially the 3D printed bins you, @bj383ss , @T-handle etc have done. But I think I've decided I'm going to let the hardware stores store fasteners for me. Luckily I have plenty of hardware stores close, including one that's walkable from my house (or a 1min drive).

You're smarter letting other's store your hardware collections....I've got the typical orange and blue boxes in a 10 minute drive...but have to go farther to find a decent selection of metric...so I'm hoping to limit adding additional fasteners "to have" at this point with a decent selection established

So with the rolling cart gone what's to become of the MFT in your garage layout? I like how you're always optimizing and placing emphasis on function.

I'm honestly not sure yet.....it's been used more heavily for **** storage then a work surface or cutting aide recently....so I'm going to find a good place to store it for a bit that's out of the way and try and figure out what it's long term role is....

With the tablesaw up against the wall I'm really struggling with layout and where my larger rolling assy table goes....think I need to make a bit more progress on decluttering before it's going to get settled....Air compressor downsize is likely next from the 27 or 30 gal vertical to a 10 or so gal horizontal that I can put up on one of the shelf decks above the garage door. Likely the HF "quiet" knockoff of California Air Tools

The buyer didn't want the plywood? That's like refusing solid gold!

I was pretty surprised....but he had a spot under a workbench for it and is trying to build a Mazda 323 with a rotary engine, steering/suspension components from a Subaru WRX I think a host of other non-matching bolt on's...in a 2 car garage while having space for his wife's car to fit in the winter....so he had less floor space then I do!

I feel you on the decluttering, though. My original MFT cart might be getting the axe soon.

You've done far more with your MFT cart then I did with mine....it got turned into this last night....some yahoo idiot(me) used glue on part of it....wasn't falling apart for sure!

 

[loganb]

Getting to ride around the neighborhood after supper and often stop and play with other kids is a reminder as to why I agreed with the wife that another acreage wasn't the right place for us right now....someday....but until then we are enjoying spring!



Then there are those moments that make it feel more like this....shout out to all the other parents of youngin's here who may enjoy Bluey more than their kids....cause my kids actually don't like it lol



And a quick marketplace find this AM got me a 4' x 10' magnetic markerboard....she's heavier than expected so going to take some work to get it upstairs to the office where it will take up basically an entire wall. Plan to hang with a french clean setup but haven't looked at the backside closely yet to confirm that'll work.

 

[nicholam77]

Getting to ride around the neighborhood after supper and often stop and play with other kids is a reminder as to why I agreed with the wife that another acreage wasn't the right place for us right now....someday....but until then we are enjoying spring!

Fun. We do the same. Lots of families with young kids in my neighborhood and after living here for 7 yrs we are finally connecting with them more that the kids are at a good age to casually play together.

Bluey fan here. It’s both too real, and unrealistic, at the same time (Bandit is always willing to drop anything and play with the kids nonstop). My kids like it, too, it’s the only show my daughter will laugh out loud to.

That is an absolute unit of a whiteboard

 

[Boostingaz]

Getting to ride around the neighborhood after supper and often stop and play with other kids is a reminder as to why I agreed with the wife that another acreage wasn't the right place for us right now....someday....but until then we are enjoying spring!



Then there are those moments that make it feel more like this....shout out to all the other parents of youngin's here who may enjoy Bluey more than their kids....cause my kids actually don't like it lol



And a quick marketplace find this AM got me a 4' x 10' magnetic markerboard....she's heavier than expected so going to take some work to get it upstairs to the office where it will take up basically an entire wall. Plan to hang with a french clean setup but haven't looked at the backside closely yet to confirm that'll work.

We have two neighbors that are both teachers. One happens to be a school teacher at my oldest daughters school and her son is also in my daughter's class so that is nice. We don't really have many "neighbors" outside of that so it's super nice that the two we have are good ones! Ones husband is ex military, ex mechanic, super cool dude so we do shop beers often.

Nice score on that huge white board! I wouldn't mind that in the shop for lists and notes to keep me on track rather than do mush project bouncing.

Ohhhhhh Bluey......good show actually lol. We are stuck on Bluey, Dino-Ranch and Eureka right now. That's each kids (besides the baby) favorite.

 

[loganb]

Time to rid some wood scraps from the shelves

 

[Boostingaz]

Time to rid some wood scraps from the shelves

I'll have that same view here shortly. Bonfire and UFC in the neighbors front yard!

 

[loganb]

I'll have that same view here shortly. Bonfire and UFC in the neighbors front yard!

It's the inaugural burn on the new Solo stove fire pit....no neighbors available to enjoin and encourage to stay out too late so won't run out of scraps tonight. But does remind me I need to get a better collection of firewood for future nights

 

[loganb]

Hey look....more scrap wood



A no man's land behind my fence, bushes are neighbors but because of underground utilities couldn't put the fence tight to the bushes at the property line. Never got it mulched last year....3 yards down...looks like another 1.5 yards which is a pickup load will finish it off. Annoying to spend 160 bucks to mulch an area I literally never see.....but cheaper than rocks and far easier to mow.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Yard looks nice and green at the other end!

 

[82355]

Acreages have advantages as well!



My daughter and my brother’s son.

We are lucky here, we are only a little over a mile from town, so it’s very easy to load up, and go to the park, or see friends. I loved growing up on a farm, but there were six of us kids, and lots of cousins.

Martin

 

[loganb]

Yard looks nice and green at the other end!

Thanks...it's far greener than I deserve! Need to get the drone up in the air and see how it looks from up high vs last fall when I did a bunch of dethatching/overseeding/compost/fertilizer spreading. The real test will be how it looks in July and August

Acreages have advantages as well!



My daughter and my brother’s son.

We are lucky here, we are only a little over a mile from town, so it’s very easy to load up, and go to the park, or see friends. I loved growing up on a farm, but there were six of us kids, and lots of cousins.

Martin

I'll be honest...there being 0 supply of acreages when we were looking in 2020 helped me a lot...because it meant we didn't have to have that debate on what's right for us right now...as had a place I liked come up, that would've been a lot tougher. I'm still shocked at how few there are now....quick zillow search within 50 miles of me has 6 total units with more than 1 acre, 4+ bedrooms and under 800k which is far more than I could spend but what it took to need 2 hands to count the listings. I would've been ok living farther from Omaha in a town or near a town of 5k-10k...but wife's job was in Omaha and she had a 1 hour commute each way in Chicago(on public transit, not driving) for 5 years, so I wasn't going to ask her to do that here

And a mile or two outside of town is perfect...I'd say anything under 10 minutes is ideal. Growing up we were on the hill overlooking town(500 people) so it was easy to see and I could ride my bike in if I wanted...but far enough that bus picked us up and I was the last on and the first off the route. When I was in Iowa it was a 15 minute drive back to town....so that kinda sucked if I forgot something in town after work and had to drive back....

Some livestock is a great way to teach kids about a whole host of important items....we had hogs growing up and definitely a lot of lessons learned via those both aggravating and curious guys. I'll admit as a production hog guy, I was in the camp of cows are dumb and sheep are worse....kinda the animal equivalent of ford vs chevy vs dodge guys. About the only hands on experience I've got with cows is occasionally helping a neighbor get some loose ones back or or helping a friend clean up cowpies at the county fair from their stall

Thanks to a storm last night that threatened us but never did anything here I got to shove everything over to the side to get both vehicles in the garage....gonna need to read up on @nicholam77 efforts to further organize and declutter his space to get motivation back out to unscrew up my space.



The bundles/boxes laying on the floor is some leftover picture frame molding I recently acquired from a former frame shop that was cleaning out their basement storage that hadn't been touched in years. Was 5 minutes away...price was free....so I grabbed some random pieces that were either cool looking or had a handful of pieces. Honestly no clue what I'm going to do with it other than make a rack to put it away so it can collect dust out of the way...but maybe I make some frames out of it

 

[Boostingaz]

@loganb

What's that green stuff, did you paint your dirt?

 

[loganb]

@loganb

What's that green stuff, did you paint your dirt?

That would be a significant improvement in my time commitment! Plus sometimes you park it in the garage and it craps funny green turds



Tomorrow I hope to get paint on some angle iron, at leat got it cleaned up tonight with acetone




Plan is for these to be screwed to the bottom of the beam(perpendicularto beam direction) that runs across the ceiling, giving a roughly 14" projection on each side of the beam to store lighter and long stuff....like the picture frame moldings



Need to confirm with a bit more exploration....but the bottom of the beam has 1.5" of "stuff" before hitting steel...I was expecting 2" with a 2x piece of framing lumber then 1/2" or 5/8" drywall. Attachment planned via self tapping screws to the beam, attaching to the wood blocking would be easier but as its attachment to the beam isn't known I'm not comfortable fastening to it.

 

[loganb]

Minor victory during this garage time drought thanks to this annoying thing called responsibility. however conference calls where required attendance in listening only did align to help here

Air conditioner had been washed out a couple times but never "good"....so popped the sides off....and had this



It looks worse then it was as it was washed 2x last year and it's mostly on the surface....but either way needs cleaned

After some hose time



Then 2 cans of this from big orange




Gets this:




I was surprised at the amount of dirt it washed off based on the runoff. I used clean runoff as the sign that area was as clean as it was going to get. Inside was pretty clean, the unit isn't that old which helped.

The sheet metal sides are definitely more fun to take off than slide back together...but eventually it was reassembled and is back to cooling...hopefully more efficiently!

And if not more efficiently it's at least one thing off the list

 

[slik560]

I didn't know they made "coil cleaner". I used a biodegradeable engine cleaner on my outdoor unit. Even when they don't look dirty, it's amazing how much **** washes off.

 

[loganb]

I didn't know they made "coil cleaner". I used a biodegradeable engine cleaner on my outdoor unit. Even when they don't look dirty, it's amazing how much **** washes off.

I learned about it here! Think it was @Denwood that introduced it to me in his thead. I looked at some that were concentrate as well as this ready to go...I didn't want to store the concentrate so for first time I did this. Getting the sides back on is enough of a pain I may be tempted to get the concentrate and in the future spray it with side panels on and just pull the top off and reach down and spray off from the inside with a wand sprayer.

 

[nicholam77]

Very timely, I suspect I need to do mine real bad… I’ve never cleaned it.

Of course I was at Home Depot yesterday, I shoulda got some of that foam!

 

[loganb]

Very timely, I suspect I need to do mine real bad… I’ve never cleaned it.

Of course I was at Home Depot yesterday, I shoulda got some of that foam!

Lol

Here it's in the aisle with the furnace filters and related stuff. Supposed to have 2 different brands but the spot for the other one was out...so I got this one!

 

[iced98lx]

Dang that's some good work done Logan! Yard looks good and that organization is making me jealous!!

 

[loganb]

So self tappers to mount these blasted pieces of angle iron for the "low weight limit" shelving had been aggravating me....so I broke down and cut a roughly 6 x 6 access to try and get a better idea of what's happening



Super exciting and high-quality image I know! But with access and a tape measure it allowed me to narrow in and looks like approximately a W18 x 50 beam which has a flange thickness of .570" which would explain why the self tappers weren't working!

So new plan is to drill and tap for a pair of 1/4"-20 holes per support as that is cheaper. A 4" long tap will be long enough, so maybe with this plan I can get these up and make another step towards organizing

 

[jar944]

I was going to jokingly say just weld them on, but Hilti popped into my head so.. Just shoot the brackets on..

 

[loganb]

I was going to jokingly say just weld them on, but Hilti popped into my head so.. Just shoot the brackets on..

Hum.....

I hadn't considered this....used powder actuated before but never overhead with the fastener in tension. Quick review of the Ramset specs says even their lowest rated pin going into 1/2" steel has an allowable load of 243 lbs(Safety factor of at least 5x). Due to steel thickness would need the .27 cal loads....but that's not a big deal and for a quick project I may just rent the gun.

 

[loganb]

Cause I needed more stuff in the garage for projects I don't have time for....







30 x 24 x 12 stainless enclosure....complete with back panel and no existing holes. Seller was an electrician at a health care place, it was apparently surplus and going to the trash....so it's now mine and he has $50 for beer. will be for the cnc router....when I can get back to it

 

[loganb]

Few things getting done but damn is it slow going




Got Father in laws new sprinkler controller installed....pretty sure the old was original to the house in the 80's but was still working, just lacked the modern features like automatic rain skip and phone access




Made some progress on the overhead storage, 4 of 6 brackets up. Ended up just pilot drilling for the self tappers due to the flange thickness. Still need to install the 1/4" bolts on the end to act as a stop and keep things from sliding off

And making a bit of progress cleaning and putting away hardware...doesn't look like it but this is an improvement

 

[bj383ss]

Progress is good. Even if its slow. Same thing around my place.

Bret

 

[loganb]

Progress is good. Even if its slow. Same thing around my place.

Bret

Thanks for the reminder it's not just me! I sometimes will look back at the garage pics from when I moved in to remember it all comes together... just takes more time and money then planned lol

And thinking of time and money.... looks like I get to visit the dentist a couple times in the near future. Thanks to a high school incident that involved a swivel socket on an impact that the pin detent wasn't engaged on... one of the front teeth has a crown cap on it... well it did have that. Last night the post the crown was anchored to broke...looks like 20 years is a common lifespan for this...so I've got a wicked snaggletooth smile for a couple days. At least it doesn't hurt...just feels weird...and looks worse lol

Some smoked piggie for later!

 

[82355]

Do you hang upside down from things with those toes?

Martin

 

[slik560]

No hanging by toes, but I hear he can play the piano with his feet.