Lots of LED's....and going on something much bigger than a disco cabinet...but definitely controlled
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT 3rd time's a charm with a 3 car workshop
- Thread starter loganb
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
Lots of LED's....and going on something much bigger than a disco cabinet...but definitely controlled
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
BTF-Lighting...that gave me a chuckle...Brighter Than F..... 
Marketing genius!
Marketing genius!
nicholam77
Well-known member
You're on a roll! Idk how you're getting so much done with the baby and toddler!
Cool to see the farm, not something I'm familiar with and your dad's shop is really something else!
You probably already read this in my thread, but go for the 115". I wasted money on a second 55" and TSO connectors, and have been unimpressed. The second rail I got was not even machined the same as the first so they don't line up well, even with the TSO connectors. For a bit more I could have just got the 115".
Looks like maple? Not sure over a long period of time, but I've found even Minwax wipe-on poly looks great on maple and super easy application. Just a hint of warmth but not yellow or orange. Or try one of those trendy hard wax oils like Osmo? Obviously with oil you'll have to be mindful of spills and drinks.
At least you have an offcut to do some tests!
I'm intrigued by the lighting project.
Cool to see the farm, not something I'm familiar with and your dad's shop is really something else!
You probably already read this in my thread, but go for the 115". I wasted money on a second 55" and TSO connectors, and have been unimpressed. The second rail I got was not even machined the same as the first so they don't line up well, even with the TSO connectors. For a bit more I could have just got the 115".
Looks like maple? Not sure over a long period of time, but I've found even Minwax wipe-on poly looks great on maple and super easy application. Just a hint of warmth but not yellow or orange. Or try one of those trendy hard wax oils like Osmo? Obviously with oil you'll have to be mindful of spills and drinks.
At least you have an offcut to do some tests!
I'm intrigued by the lighting project.
bradpac
Well-known member
Building your own tanning bed?
iced98lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
that's an awful lot of LED's!!!!
And only a small portion of what it will become...I hope
This new rabbit hole is permanent outdoor holiday lights for the house exterior. The wife and I have both commented on them before at various times and thought they looked really nice, and she likes outdoor decorating for various holidays, and well I'm a sucker for LED's so yeah here I am.
Goal for now is to get the main street facing elevation done in time for Halloween, we have a corner lot though so next year may try and add the side and back elevation though with a 2 story with walkout basement that back elevation will require a lift as I'm not doing that from a ladder!
The lights are 12v strips with individually addressable LED's and will be run by a controller that supposed to be here Saturday and can do all the fancy programmable effects.... or so I see on YouTube.
Where there are gutters, the aluminum extrusion is being mounted to the fascia board and the channel will tuck up under the gutter and hopefully just disappear to the average glance:
Extrusion mounted, the strips are stuck to it with double faced acrylic foam tape
With a strip of lights up:
And with the cover lens over the extrusion:
As these are 12 volts, there is less voltage loss than 5v systems so you don't have to inject juice in as often, in this case every 32' which is 2 strings. With some planning I think I know how I'll handle most of the front elevation from a power standpoint with the controller and power supply being in the garage which is roughly the midpoint of the front elevation but sure I've overlooked a number of items....
Without the controller in hand till Saturday I don't think I'm going to put up anymore of the light strips, but am hoping to continue to mount channel and get that into place while I've got a couple days off and nice weather. Hopefully the rain holds off once that controller shows up so I can test things out then really get started!
Last edited:
iced98lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Very very cool!!! Can't wait to see all the details, just don't tell my wife
Very very cool!!! Can't wait to see all the details, just don't tell my wife
But it would be awesome on the lake house! That long straight run would be easy and and have so many possibilities for lighting up the weekend parties at the lake!
slik560
Well-known member
Built-in, never-take-them-down, holiday lights. Brilliant. No pun intended. No more untangling ridiculous strings of lights that may or may not work when in place. No more tracking down dead bulbs. No more putting the mess away after the season. Just flip them on....then off. They stay put.
What a concept. Well done.
What a concept. Well done.
tj675
Well-known member
Love the idea. Can’t wait to see how the lights turn out.
You're on a roll! Idk how you're getting so much done with the baby and toddler!
Cool to see the farm, not something I'm familiar with and your dad's shop is really something else!
You probably already read this in my thread, but go for the 115". I wasted money on a second 55" and TSO connectors, and have been unimpressed. The second rail I got was not even machined the same as the first so they don't line up well, even with the TSO connectors. For a bit more I could have just got the 115".
Looks like maple? Not sure over a long period of time, but I've found even Minwax wipe-on poly looks great on maple and super easy application. Just a hint of warmth but not yellow or orange. Or try one of those trendy hard wax oils like Osmo? Obviously with oil you'll have to be mindful of spills and drinks.
At least you have an offcut to do some tests!
I'm intrigued by the lighting project.
Doesn't feel like I'm getting much done but thanks for the vote of confidence! We are assisted by that there are (2) extra adults living in the house right now in one set of my inlaws so they're helping with some of the household tasks and baby holding duty. Not sure how long they'll be here, but fortunate we have the space that they or others could spend extended time and not feel like they're "underfoot" as we've got a bedroom/bath combo in the basement which we really don't use so guests can have their space.
And I appreciated learning from your experience on the TSO connectors, I was set to go down that path until I read your experience and that was enough to scrap that and plan on the 115". The greater portability of the shorter set was attractive but not at the expense of it not working well!
Think the countertops are birch butcher block.....not sure what wifey will pick for a stain though she's supposed to have that done by today so I can work on finishing them this weekend....haven't seen much progress there yet so maybe it happens...maybe not
Trying to keep things moving on the office while I impatiently wait for the LED controller...plus it's been sprinkling most of this morning so didn't want to be outside so instead I've gotten frustrated with pulling ethernet cabling:
Planning to pull 4 wires to the new office, there is a "chase" so to speak already existing to pull up thru and I'd already fished my fiberglass glow stick/rods thru it from attic to basement as I forgot to leave a pull string in it the last time I pulled stuff
Not sure why trades leave trash in the attic from construction....mess of insulated duct work and with the way natural gas prices look I could probably benefit from another 8" or so up here of blown in
And while attempting to find the top plate to drill thru I found this gem of wiring going to a ceiling fixture in a closet....so I need to dig out a metal box, some cable clamps and a couple foot of romex to take up cut out then splice in a fresh couple of feet to fix this near fire. There was no soot or burned insulation around it so not exactly sure what happened here yet...but needs fixed before I forget about it
As to the holiday light project, I'm excited about it but can't take credit for the idea though have been playing with LED's in projects since high school. @niget2002 provided some helpful guidance on how he did his and introduced me to this YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/DrZzs which gets deep into home automation, LED's and all sorts of techie stuff. Another thread here https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...christmas-holiday-lights-installation.486737/ is doing the same concept but with different light/mounting setup. Some reviews I've seen said that larger style work better in cold climates than the strips I'm doing, guess we'll see how it goes!
Harvest on the farm is slow due to how things went in the ground as we worked around mother nature, but this project to add to the landscape is coming along pretty well
74' diameter skating rink or "social distancing circle"
Grain bins get built from the top "down"...but grow "up" so start with the roof structure:
Almost water tight....
Now that the roof is done can start the sidewalls in earnest. On the interior is a set of jacks around the perimeter and they'll jack the bin up, attach the next ring/sidewall, lower the jack and reattach then repeat until out of sidewall to attach
Getting taller, not sure if they'll be done be the end of the weekend or not, it'll be close and the install crew is paid by the job, not hourly so they've got motivation to work fast
Not as bad as I initially thought but still needed replaced. Appears as if the neutral leg got hot, but wasn't hot enough for long enough to damage(other than discolor) the insulation on the wire, just the jacket. Had to go back to the big box though as I didn't have any romex after living in the Chicagoland area where it's not allowed I had finally gotten rid of it!
iced98lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I took the easy way out, putting 10 RGBW Zigbee down lights across the front to be controlled by Hubitat.
Bins are fun to watch go up! Glad you found that light box and got it fixed up, always amazing what you can find when you least expect it.
jar944
Well-known member
I always thought that was crazy. Conduit and THHN just seems odd in a residential setting.
Lots of pictures...not many words for this one as I try and get done before supper!
The brains of the operation:
Now it's looking like something is gonna happen....
Trying to do a nice clean job of flux and solder on these. The strips are cuttable at the copper pads, (4) wires but really only (3) are needed as the center pad marked 'B' is a backup data channel. Note these ARE directional so you have to make sure your data is flowing the correct way as shown on the arrows
And the grand bench test in the garage....didn't take much time to get the controller booted up having already watched videos on how to do that and voila:
Now what we really want to see....how's it do installed???
That dead spot on the right side in the 2nd video is a splice between strings. Their 4 pin connectors are too big to fit in the channel so had to solder them and didn't think thru how obvious that would look....it's on tomorrows list to fix. Their are 150 LED's per 5m string so approx 1.3" center to center of the emitters
And an honest shot of the bench prior to going in for supper:
The brains of the operation:
Now it's looking like something is gonna happen....
Trying to do a nice clean job of flux and solder on these. The strips are cuttable at the copper pads, (4) wires but really only (3) are needed as the center pad marked 'B' is a backup data channel. Note these ARE directional so you have to make sure your data is flowing the correct way as shown on the arrows
And the grand bench test in the garage....didn't take much time to get the controller booted up having already watched videos on how to do that and voila:
Now what we really want to see....how's it do installed???
That dead spot on the right side in the 2nd video is a splice between strings. Their 4 pin connectors are too big to fit in the channel so had to solder them and didn't think thru how obvious that would look....it's on tomorrows list to fix. Their are 150 LED's per 5m string so approx 1.3" center to center of the emitters
And an honest shot of the bench prior to going in for supper:
slik560
Well-known member
Minneapolis...Wayzata, anyway, was the same way with requiring conduit for everything when we lived there.
Couple shots from last night's test:
The "candy cane" effect again:
"Colortwinkle"
And just a shot of white on about 80% brightness:
Couple main learnings so far:
Progress yesterday afternoon was also encouraged by progress that morning and getting coax to the garage TV, raceway up to clean up the wiring and then wonderful wifey finding the remote so that I could complete the setup and watch football in the garage while wiring!
Much better:
That's the smart way...just happens to be the easy way too! I've been debating something like those for the back patio....haven't heard of Hubitat before...may have to look at that closer as these lights I'm guessing are going to take me back down a home automation path...
It definitely took some getting used to but did have a few advantages....for example when it's run in conduit vs armor cable it can make changing a switch to a 3 way pretty easy. Had 2 different locations where things should've been 3 ways but weren't and since conduit was already running from that light to where we wanted the new switch...easy peasy
Assuming it was a common practice(and maybe still is?) but our house built in '72 I think was entirely wired in double gang boxes and used mud rings where single receptacles or switches were desired like shown below. Adding another outlet is as easy as cutting back the drywall, swapping that mudring for an extension ring of the right depth and wiring up the outlets!
They also did all wall receptacles sidewise....eventually got used to that but took longer!
Doing everything in double gang boxes also has some negatives.....like doing this below instead of putting in the quad box you should! This got fixed when I replaced the adjacent door as one of the switches in the right box was dead and they were obsolete
Interesting....we do a fair amount of work in that area and never heard that requirement before....but my part of the business is all commercial so seeing conduit on plans is just the norm. I think it's one of those requirements that once it's adopted in an area and the trades and "payers" of the services get used to it will be very difficult to ever get rid of
The "candy cane" effect again:
"Colortwinkle"
And just a shot of white on about 80% brightness:
Couple main learnings so far:
- With the LED's as closely spaced as they are, even 1 being out is apparent, first task today is fixing that gap where the strings meet
- I was using 18ga solid wire to bridge between strips, stranded is a better option and on order so that it puts less stress on the solder connection when moving things around to get into the channel
- Debated half a dozen different ways to connect strips in this channel without solder to make it easier up on the ladder....but in the end I think soldering is the right solution as there just isn't much room to put plug/pin crimp on style. The only other ones I think would work are the solder seal connectors like below, but with adhesive lined shrink tubing a good solder joint is doing the same thing...and I bought the M12 cordless soldering iron so I have to use it right?
Progress yesterday afternoon was also encouraged by progress that morning and getting coax to the garage TV, raceway up to clean up the wiring and then wonderful wifey finding the remote so that I could complete the setup and watch football in the garage while wiring!
Much better:
That's the smart way...just happens to be the easy way too! I've been debating something like those for the back patio....haven't heard of Hubitat before...may have to look at that closer as these lights I'm guessing are going to take me back down a home automation path...
It definitely took some getting used to but did have a few advantages....for example when it's run in conduit vs armor cable it can make changing a switch to a 3 way pretty easy. Had 2 different locations where things should've been 3 ways but weren't and since conduit was already running from that light to where we wanted the new switch...easy peasy
Assuming it was a common practice(and maybe still is?) but our house built in '72 I think was entirely wired in double gang boxes and used mud rings where single receptacles or switches were desired like shown below. Adding another outlet is as easy as cutting back the drywall, swapping that mudring for an extension ring of the right depth and wiring up the outlets!
They also did all wall receptacles sidewise....eventually got used to that but took longer!
Doing everything in double gang boxes also has some negatives.....like doing this below instead of putting in the quad box you should! This got fixed when I replaced the adjacent door as one of the switches in the right box was dead and they were obsolete
Interesting....we do a fair amount of work in that area and never heard that requirement before....but my part of the business is all commercial so seeing conduit on plans is just the norm. I think it's one of those requirements that once it's adopted in an area and the trades and "payers" of the services get used to it will be very difficult to ever get rid of
nicholam77
Well-known member
Not sure about Wayzata, but pretty sure it’s not a requirement for Minneapolis. I know for sure in neighboring ‘burbs like Edina and Saint Louis Park it’s not. Also, to a former Minneapolitan, hello from Saint Louis Park!
@loganb the permanent holiday lights are a great idea. Have to admit when it comes to holiday lights I’m a fan of the OG / classic multicolor C9 incandescents, but I stopped putting them up the last few years because it’s too damn annoying. So I get it. Looks like a fun project and will be so convenient when it’s done!
slik560
Well-known member
I should have clarified. Wayzata is just west of MPLS near Lake Minnetonka.....and for us this was 1978
v6buick
Well-known member
Those lights are neat! Nice job!
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Logan, I have been pleasantly surprised with the M12 soldering iron. For years I used a butane powered tiny soldering iron outside but it would quit working (out of gas) with no warning. It also had to be started in a wind-free environment. The M12 heats up fast, runs for a long time on even the smallest M12 battery and the lights warn when it's running out of power.
Making progress, goal is to finish the 1st level lights this weekend and then maybe start the 2nd floor....see how the rest of my life cooperates with that:
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Logan, I hope you're not close to an airport. Just kidding, it looks great and I'm a big fan of lighting up the house and yard with LED.
zc15
Well-known member
Wow, this latest update has me reevaluating our holiday lighting plans. I could justify something that installs once and can be used year-round!
@Bob Heine- and that was only about 50% brightness! Definitely not something I'll want to use late at night at full bright as I like my neighbors. I think these will "throw" to light up the sidewalk and house a bit better as they're angled at a 45 vs many which are either vertical or horizontal
And will continue to sing the praises of that M12 soldering iron, if it had ability to adjust the heat it would be just about perfect.
@zc15 so far I like it, the only thing I would do different so far is to get a bigger mounting channel. I didn't think thru the cross section area and was thinking I could run the "booster power" wire out to the longer runs in the channel.... nope. Otherwise pretty happy so far with the decisions. I would definitely recommend 12v over 5v lights as the longer runs before you have to boost power back up makes this much simpler to execute.
And will continue to sing the praises of that M12 soldering iron, if it had ability to adjust the heat it would be just about perfect.
@zc15 so far I like it, the only thing I would do different so far is to get a bigger mounting channel. I didn't think thru the cross section area and was thinking I could run the "booster power" wire out to the longer runs in the channel.... nope. Otherwise pretty happy so far with the decisions. I would definitely recommend 12v over 5v lights as the longer runs before you have to boost power back up makes this much simpler to execute.
tj675
Well-known member
Lights look really good!
Thanks Sir! I'll spare the crowd another light update till I get the control cabinet wiring done so I can call "Phase 1" complete
.....Though I was sitting out in the front yard again tonight playing with the app on the phone watching them do fun things Beautiful weather here as the rain stayed south of us and washed us out of the harvest field so wasn't down helping which was ok as I'm told by a party I try not to argue with (Hi Mom) that they needed the break
While the weather was gorgeous the sidewalk needed more bubbles and chalk...I do enjoy weather I can have the doors open in the garage and she can play outside while I putz on a project!
Speaking of projects....thanks to the Home Depot Deals thread I got alerted to a killer steal on this Makita 36v cutoff saw 2 weeks ago or so....now I have absolutely 0 projects in line for this but I had been watching for battery sales and it came with a dual charger and (2) 5ah batteries for about the price of the batteries and charger....so free saw! Thanks for that one as with the grass blower and string trimmer now being converted to "Team Teal" the bigger batteries and more of them are a big help! And I'm sure the saw will be used before too long on something!
The main assy bench is a disaster though so for a hopefully quick "organization project working to hang some of the Home Depot HDX/House brand totes under the unistrut shelving to serve as temporary "project" storage for those things I'm currently working on but need to put up/organize etc. Not intending to do long term storage of anything but more a place that's out of the way and can keep things all together for when I need to clean up to make way for something else etc....
So after cleaning off a bunch of LED project stuff to plywood cutting mode we go:
Hey look a chop saw home....with a tote under it clamped up to test:
And a close up...stupid simple but a 2x4 full depth of the shelf(28") plus a piece of 1/2" ply cut to allow a 1" overhang on each side seems to work pretty well. Probably going to chamfer or round over the leading corner of the plywood into the slot...otherwise seems like it'll work just fine. All I have to do now is cut the rest of them...assemble them....and then decide how I'm going to attach to the unistrut...probably going to drill a thru hole and put a nut/washer in the channel with a carriage head bolt or counter-bore to sink a standard hex head in
Just finished up reading your thread from start to finish over the last few weeks. Impressive what you're able to get accomplished with the two young kids. Our daughter was only 4 weeks early (no NICU) and we experienced similar frustrations with no knowing if she was reaching the 'normal' milestones. It all evens out after a few months.
I may have missed it, but do you have a table saw in there? Great score on all the tools. Did you see the WoodWhisperer no-fence miter station where he put a t-track in the top and uses a stop block instead of taking up space with a full-length fence?
Seems like your credit card has gotten quite a workout in too lately. Must be the time of the year for that to happen.
I may have missed it, but do you have a table saw in there? Great score on all the tools. Did you see the WoodWhisperer no-fence miter station where he put a t-track in the top and uses a stop block instead of taking up space with a full-length fence?
Seems like your credit card has gotten quite a workout in too lately. Must be the time of the year for that to happen.
jbrentd
Well-known member
I'll be honest...I was a little skeptical when I read your first couple of post regarding the LEDs, but that video has me intrigued. How much are we talking per foot?
Much appreciate you taking the time to read and comment, hope you got something out of it! At least in my mind almost nothing happened in the garage that first month or so of our NICU stay, but since then progress has been a bit easier but it's about to go out the window as my inlaws who have been here since Mid-June are heading back to Vegas....reportedly Thursday....maybe.....he's retired and she's part time in a remote job and has been working from the basement office we setup. They've really enjoyed spending time with both kids and we'll see just how much their help on freeing us to do other things was! Saturday morning PBS cartoon after breakfast for the toddler may move to the garage TV so dad can do cleaning and putting away
No table saw here....yet. Had one in the Chicago place but sold it before the move, was runner up bidder on a Sawstop at an estate auction a couple weeks ago, but for now I've been very happy with the tracksaw and haven't needed to do much in the way of dado's or ripping thin stuff down....but it'll get added back to the mix at some point. I have seen that no fence version, thanks for reminding me of it as I need to rewatch that one...something like that or as Nick mentioned earlier where I have locating dowels/pins that a fence can drop on/drop off is probably where I'll end up when stop putting that project off which needs to be sooner rather than later...
And yeah...been a spendy fall.....new smoker, fridge, mini-split, the home office setup, the furniture the wife bought in March or April....ugh. But like so many, we haven't done any vacations in 2 years and when we've been staying home with the baby and very cautious with him especially right after the NICU due to the prevelance of RSV in the community we just haven't done much so have been spending the money where we were spending time. Fortunately the list of upgrades planned in the near future is short....or at least mine is.
I'm thinking I'll be in the range of $4/ft installed. The big costs are the LED's which for mine are basically $2/ft(but could be less and could be more, all driven by how many LED's are on the strip) and then the aluminum extrusion channel which is another $1/ft for the stuff I used. Other "minimums" are a power supply(between 20 and 50 bucks) and the controller which is around $40 to $50 depending on which model you get. Then assorted "stuff" such as heat shrink, wiring, solder etc may be significant, may not be depending on how many feet you want to do, how many corners/splices etc are involved.
The LED's I used are here: LED's on Amazon and the controller is WLED Controller,
When I get done with what I'm calling "phase 1" here hopefully be end of coming weekend I'm planning to figure out a bill of materials and share it. So far I'm guessing I've got about 30 hours in getting the 1st level to where it is, I'd say about 8-10 hours over that was learning curve and playing with the lights/controller to learn it
I get it. We just bought some Ikea furniture, a mattress and $600+ in lumber so I can start on projects and need to go price out new floors. Last year we put a deck on right before lumber skyrocketed. Plus you have me wanting to buy a 3d printer now.Much appreciate you taking the time to read and comment, hope you got something out of it! At least in my mind almost nothing happened in the garage that first month or so of our NICU stay, but since then progress has been a bit easier but it's about to go out the window as my inlaws who have been here since Mid-June are heading back to Vegas....reportedly Thursday....maybe.....he's retired and she's part time in a remote job and has been working from the basement office we setup. They've really enjoyed spending time with both kids and we'll see just how much their help on freeing us to do other things was! Saturday morning PBS cartoon after breakfast for the toddler may move to the garage TV so dad can do cleaning and putting away
No table saw here....yet. Had one in the Chicago place but sold it before the move, was runner up bidder on a Sawstop at an estate auction a couple weeks ago, but for now I've been very happy with the tracksaw and haven't needed to do much in the way of dado's or ripping thin stuff down....but it'll get added back to the mix at some point. I have seen that no fence version, thanks for reminding me of it as I need to rewatch that one...something like that or as Nick mentioned earlier where I have locating dowels/pins that a fence can drop on/drop off is probably where I'll end up when stop putting that project off which needs to be sooner rather than later...
And yeah...been a spendy fall.....new smoker, fridge, mini-split, the home office setup, the furniture the wife bought in March or April....ugh. But like so many, we haven't done any vacations in 2 years and when we've been staying home with the baby and very cautious with him especially right after the NICU due to the prevelance of RSV in the community we just haven't done much so have been spending the money where we were spending time. Fortunately the list of upgrades planned in the near future is short....or at least mine is.
With the 2 kids under 6.5 time is hard to come by. My father in law used to need projects when he came to visit but as the kids have gotten older he enjoys playing with them much more so I'm on my own. Home Depot has free kids project take home kids usually the first Saturday of every month if your daughter is interested in that kind of thing.
Been eyeing a Sawstop for a while but that requires upgrading the electric panel. Having access to a tracksaw is great, especially when you have a basement shop. So nice to cut down a big sheet without having to lug it everywhere.
The lights are great too. I'm going to have to check them out but I suspect we'd still decorate the bushes/trees so it would just be twice the work.
If you haven't already check out the Everything 3D Printer Thread and Bret's thread where he's recently dove into the rabbit hole BJ383SS's 3D Printing Journey Lots of other ones scattered about but Bret's is the most recent one I've seen with a new machine!
And I can understand time being in short supply, we're realizing how much more work it is to keep our almost 3 year old busy and safe then it was even 6 months ago before little brother joined the crew! She's getting more interested in the garage stuff...but I think that's partly because it's where her trike is and she likes to cruise the sidewalk
Sawstop does make a contractor saw which as I recall is 120v and I've thought about designing a mobile workbench that incorporates that into it as for what I've historically built...especially with my tracksaw now there is nothing the contractor model couldn't do if it had the proper infeed/outfeed support. I love a 3hp or bigger cabinet saw but with wanting to actually park at least 1 car in the garage(wife's orders) tough to make it all fit...decisions decisions
I love having the dedicated subpanel in the garage making it easy to add on electrical as necessary, was made much easier based on having it all on exterior walls but either way its something I'm glad I did early to make future stuff simpler. The more I work in the shop the more I appreciate the effeciency gains that boring "utilities" give you....AC or heat for comfort, good lighting so you can see, electric where you need it etc. I still have more ceiling lights to hang up and need to get a better dust collection solution but I haven't regretted the electric upgrade and don't imagine you would either if not having any more open spots is preventing it from being how you want!Quick pic update:
A benefit of working from home as a "knowledge worker" which is the PC term for desk jockey on particularly "un-accomplished" days is that over lunch hour if I need to actually take it to break up the day I can do it in the garage....so I found myself cutting down plywood for more of the project tote hangers....and then fixing a delam in the plywood in the last piece
Didn't get to the next steps yet of mounting to the 2x4's
After seeing yet another box arrive via Amazon for the light project I was reminded I needed to finish getting the office swapped around....I repeated my "happy spouse, happy house" mantra in my head a number of times and got back to it
Drug the 2nd sit/stand desk frame box up into the office and got it assembled, then followed up with the 24 x 96 butcher block top:
Longer term(next several months) goal is some built in units of some sort flanking each side of that window, then the desk will span the gap. As we don't know what that's going to be and the final sizes, leaving the top at 96" for now and to cut it down when the cabinets are in was the chosen path
Speaking of cutting down, my 72" wide desk top was also bought intentionally oversized and between the hassle of taking the world apart to cut in the garage which was magnified by the garage currently resembling a junkyard of started by not yet finished projects and being the staging ground for the inlaws packing adventure as they head back west after an extended stay with us....there was no available space in the garage to cut anyway! So I brought the saw and vac to the office instead
A couple minutes later....18" shorter
It worked well, not nearly as handy to tote that heavy **** vac around than say a Festool....but it was far less total effort then hauling the top to the garage! Once again I'll take a second to sing the praises of a tracksaw. Yes a straightedge and circular saw could've done the same thing but not nearly as clean, fast or as worry free as the tracksaw made it.
Now to clean up the abundance of cables....
A benefit of working from home as a "knowledge worker" which is the PC term for desk jockey on particularly "un-accomplished" days is that over lunch hour if I need to actually take it to break up the day I can do it in the garage....so I found myself cutting down plywood for more of the project tote hangers....and then fixing a delam in the plywood in the last piece
Didn't get to the next steps yet of mounting to the 2x4's
After seeing yet another box arrive via Amazon for the light project I was reminded I needed to finish getting the office swapped around....I repeated my "happy spouse, happy house" mantra in my head a number of times and got back to it
Drug the 2nd sit/stand desk frame box up into the office and got it assembled, then followed up with the 24 x 96 butcher block top:
Longer term(next several months) goal is some built in units of some sort flanking each side of that window, then the desk will span the gap. As we don't know what that's going to be and the final sizes, leaving the top at 96" for now and to cut it down when the cabinets are in was the chosen path
Speaking of cutting down, my 72" wide desk top was also bought intentionally oversized and between the hassle of taking the world apart to cut in the garage which was magnified by the garage currently resembling a junkyard of started by not yet finished projects and being the staging ground for the inlaws packing adventure as they head back west after an extended stay with us....there was no available space in the garage to cut anyway! So I brought the saw and vac to the office instead
A couple minutes later....18" shorter
It worked well, not nearly as handy to tote that heavy **** vac around than say a Festool....but it was far less total effort then hauling the top to the garage! Once again I'll take a second to sing the praises of a tracksaw. Yes a straightedge and circular saw could've done the same thing but not nearly as clean, fast or as worry free as the tracksaw made it.
Now to clean up the abundance of cables....
bradpac
Well-known member
tracksaw, next on the tools list. I try my best not to do much wood working, but my wife tries her best to make it all I do.
nicholam77
Well-known member
Ha I would have thought you'd had an old Delta unisaw or something! Sometimes I see people asking if a track saw can replace a table saw or if you need both and I think it depends on what you build. I agree that if you have a track saw you can get away with a smaller table saw.
Two kids is so. much. harder.
Very nice to have your in-laws around, that makes a big difference. But all the same I am also impressed with how much you've been able to do!
I'm sure Sawstop's jobsite saw is much better than mine, but my biggest disappointments with my jobsite saw are tolerances. The smaller size is ok. The fence is ok, especially with added aluminum extrusion. Even the low-ish power is mostly ok. But the table surface is not flat and not cast-iron, the miter channels are not consistent width, the blade insert is impossible to level, the fence is not perfectly perpendicular, etc. And dust collection is bad.
Also, if you build a jobsite saw into a larger cart or bench with outfeed, it might take up as much room as a smaller cabinet-style saw.
I love the safety features but dang they are expensive!
So I brought the saw and vac to the office instead
Can't do that with a table saw!
"clean" has become increasingly important to me, especially inside the house. Dust collection on the Makita track saw isn't 100% but it's very good, and miles ahead of any circular saw (including those with a vacuum port).
Since you have the corded version, too, did you find it bogged down cutting those butcher blocks?
Everything looking great, the holiday lights are wild!
For me, the tracksaw changed processing large plywood down from a chore I tried to design around and actively procrastinated to something I enjoy and look forward to do as I want to learn more about how to do it effectively and accurately. My old way of a straightedge and skillsaw or the tablesaw just wasn't much fun and caused frequent rework or "design adjustments" that just don't happen anymore.....ok "as often" is probably more accurate
Lol I did have an old Unisaw! Just sold in it Chicago prior to the move as original intent was to build a new mobile assy table with a sawstop contractor saw built in....obviously hasn't happened yet!
Two kids is so. much. harder.
Very nice to have your in-laws around, that makes a big difference. But all the same I am also impressed with how much you've been able to do!
Agreed...and it's way more than 2x harder, at least at the ages we've got....but as they get older it'll get easier....hopefully!
Agreed on all....the Sawstop is the only contractor/jobsite saw I've ever used and not got frustrated with because of all you mentioned. Not sure how dust collection is on it....my expectation is that'll take some work but the rest of the things are better than comparable units of it's size. The brake mechanism helps prevent them from getting too cheap on the design of it as the forces involved when that brake triggers are substantial and as a result the mechanicals components are much stouter than a unit without such a feature to prevent it from junk in a couple years mechanically. It's spot on though that as I incorporate more and more outfeeds the size is mirroring a full size cabinet saw.....lots of layout work to do
Yes, it worked it pretty well but I think that was as much due to the fact the blade I mentioned earlier as being dull still hasn't been replaced....doh! Little bit of burning I sanded out but not bad
Thanks! Hoping to get time on them this weekend to finish up the controller and get them going for good! Have to knock off some items more critical to the spouse first to enable that happy house lifestyle....see how that goes!
tj675
Well-known member
Completely agree on the track saw. It is so much easier to process sheet goods.
Trapps
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I think you should do this.
I think you should do this.
Lol I went down his rabbit hole I mean YouTube channel earlier this week....holy cow!!!! He's apparently the owner of a company that does light shows professionally but even with buying I'm assuming at cost the dollars wrapped up is substantial....but probably not that different than what I've got in some of my hobbies.
On that note....parenthood is getting in the way of progress but making a bit today
Well thats not gonna work...
Used a beater chisel to clean the plastic burr that developed after hand drilling, would have used a step bit but can't find them yet since
the move...
Getting closer to mounting
And mounted...this will be junctions only, no hardware but hopefully makes terminating thing easier as well as keeps the thru wall conduit more protected
Last edited: