Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DIY Shop

[Jeff Ivers]

With my metal detecting hobby, I keep finding buried Hotwheels/Matchbox/Maisto cars. Since they are found "treasure", for some reason I feel compelled to display them - but only after they have been cleaned or restored/customized depending on found condition. Since I restored the previous 12 I had found, I found three more. While I was waiting on paint to dry on the edger rejuvenation, I tore into the latest 3 finds.


Before images above.



Finished pics above.

On other issues, a couple of months ago, I redid my landscape lighting including replacing a couple of transformers. One of the replacement ones was a Malibu that failed 2 days ago. Today, I spent a couple of hours on the computer and phone trying to obtain warranty on the failed transformer that I ordered on 8/11 of this year. It turns out Malibu has gone out of business. Amazon indicated the return period ended 9/13. They referred me to the supplier "Lighting Living" who promptly referred me back to Amazon. Amazon finally allowed a return after charging me an $11 restock fee. It seems to me that if a company is going to supply items from a manufacturer that is no longer in business, they should be required to disclose that information and be held liable for the manufacturers warranty period.

 

[bdbecker]

That's a bummer about the transformer. I did a little sleuthing to see if I could turn up a customer support number for you, but it appears as if the Malibu brand name was purchased by a Chinese company after Brinkman sold it off back in 2014. Looking at Amazon reviews, you are not the only one who has had to deal with the lack of support and runaround. If there is a silver lining, at least you are getting most of your money back, and we all know now to avoid that brand in the future.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

That's a bummer about the transformer. I did a little sleuthing to see if I could turn up a customer support number for you, but it appears as if the Malibu brand name was purchased by a Chinese company after Brinkman sold it off back in 2014. Looking at Amazon reviews, you are not the only one who has had to deal with the lack of support and runaround. If there is a silver lining, at least you are getting most of your money back, and we all know now to avoid that brand in the future.

Thank you. I am grateful that I am getting most of my money back. The reason I posted was to alert others to the problem. I have had Malibu stuff for 40 years and never even thought to check if they were still in business. Seller had a reasonably good rating so I was not alerted to any problem. They have now received a scathing review that hopefully will help others.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Working on turning some metal detecting finds into something useful. Still a bit more polishing before they are done. Coasters anyone?

 

[Prospecter]

Very nice. Will they become Christmas presents?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Very nice. Will they become Christmas presents?

Not this year. I got started too late. Want to make wood holders instead of using the resin mold to make a holder. Also, I have a number of other "treasures" I want to encapsulate and then decide which ones make the neatest sets. Have a ton of very small costume jewelry bits and a collection of "smashed pennies" from those machines at tourist destinations, and lots more toasted coins!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Finished polishing my first set of coasters and made a second set.





Unfortunately, that is when things went to pot. My trusty Modine heater has failed. I have posted under heat and air looking for input.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and enjoys a great New Year!

 

[bdbecker]

Happy New Year to you as well Jeff! The coasters turned out great!

 

[Prospecter]

Great looking coasters. Funny how heaters poop out only in the cold. I'm chasing a bug in my Rinnai, too, so you've company.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Happy New Year to you as well Jeff! The coasters turned out great!

Great looking coasters. Funny how heaters poop out only in the cold. I'm chasing a bug in my Rinnai, too, so you've company.

Thanks for the comments on the coasters. Prospecter, Sorry to hear of your Rinnai woes. Hope you get them resolved soon.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Since my shop Modine failed, I have spent a lot of time here:


It is rare for Broken Arrow to have 130 straight hours below freezing with the lows dropping into the negative digits. Sure made me thankful for a fireplace and an ample supply of seasoned wood.

Today, it finally got warm enough that I could brave the shop for a while.

I got up in the attic and disassembled the flue to verify there was no flue blockage that might have caused the failure of the old unit and to pave the way for installing the new Modine Hot Dawg.

I then began some CAD to figure out where mounting holes need to be and the location of the unit to use the same flue opening in the ceiling I already have. Hopefully, I will be able to tack this template to the ceiling when I get everything figured out on the shop floor.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

After marking the ceiling joist locations on my CAD, I retrieved a couple of lengths of bed frame material form the barn, cut them to length and drilled holes in the appropriate locations. Of course that led to a side project of re-sharpening some masonry bits used for drilling the holes!

Then, I cut the excess off the CAD, cut out the flue opening, and punched holes for the mounting rods. By this time I had also determined that the mounting rods were not going to clear the light fixture - another side project.

After removing the light fixture, I installed the CAD - had hoped to hold it in place with push pins, but had to use some sheetrock screws. Then I drilled the holes for the mounting rods.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Since I needed to replace one 8' light fixture with one 4' fixture, I decided to check a few local suppliers for a possible light before going the online route - particularly since I did not want to wait on shipping.


Decided to give this fixture from Wal-Mart a try. It is advertised as 10000 lumen (I have doubts), which I like. I do not like that it has a 5' cord and no way to disassemble to replace the cord with a 12". I also don't like a pull chain switch which is not needed since it will be plugged into a switched socket, once I reinstall an outlet.

Got the fixture installed and it does appear to be quite bright, perhaps putting out as much light as the replaced 8'.

I then got my hanging rods installed. But, of course, not without some drama. When I tried to poke a guide rod up through two of the holes, I hit unexpected wood. The solution was to use an aircraft bit and drill up through the wood and not use one of the rails I had prepared. I'll show a pic of the top side later.

 

[RickP]

I then got my hanging rods installed. But, of course, not without some drama. When I tried to poke a guide rod up through two of the holes, I hit unexpected wood.

Why does that always happen? What are the odds?

That new heater looks good.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Why does that always happen? What are the odds?

That new heater looks good.

No matter how much I try to plan ahead, I always seem to miss something in the process. In this case it was the placement of the 2x4 that tied the trusses together falling a few inches outside the location of the wall. I can't even think of a way I could have measured and detected the issue. I guess that is why we so frequently have to go to plan B. My next challenge is to figure out how to lift the 55 pound heater nine feet into the air and hold it while I start nuts on each of the rods.

 

[bdbecker]

...My next challenge is to figure out how to lift the 55 pound heater nine feet into the air and hold it while I start nuts on each of the rods.

Here's a wacky idea... what if you picked up four chunks of 3-4' long threaded rod and attached them to your hanging rods using coupling nuts. Then you could feed the rod through your heater brackets at a comfortable working height. Thread nuts onto the bottom so the heater doesn't fall off. Then, using various lengths of scrap lumber and a hydraulic car jack, slowly lift the heater towards the ceiling a few inches at a time, being sure to follow along with the nuts as you raise it up. Once you get to the coupling nuts, you could disconnect the rods one corner at a time and slide the heater the last inch or two onto the mounting rods you have in the ceiling.

 

[Prospecter]

My next challenge is to figure out how to lift the 55 pound heater nine feet into the air and hold it while I start nuts on each of the rods.

I think I would rent a sheetrock lift.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Here's a wacky idea... what if you picked up four chunks of 3-4' long threaded rod and attached them to your hanging rods using coupling nuts. Then you could feed the rod through your heater brackets at a comfortable working height. Thread nuts onto the bottom so the heater doesn't fall off. Then, using various lengths of scrap lumber and a hydraulic car jack, slowly lift the heater towards the ceiling a few inches at a time, being sure to follow along with the nuts as you raise it up. Once you get to the coupling nuts, you could disconnect the rods one corner at a time and slide the heater the last inch or two onto the mounting rods you have in the ceiling.

I think I would rent a sheetrock lift.

Both of those are good ideas! Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I finished getting the unit ready to hang - installation of pipe ******, power cord and thermostat hookup.


Then, I decided I needed to figure out what single point the unit could be lifted from and remain mostly level.

I installed a single pulley there.

This picture shows why I was not able to use the suggestions on lifting into place. When I installed my old Modine, that was suspended by only 2 rods, I am pretty sure I set it on the counter, climbed up on the counter, Lifted it into place rested on my shoulder and started the nuts on the rods. My huge parts drawers cabinet did not exist then and the counter was empty. Because of the dimensions of the new unit and the 4 suspension rods, I did not think I could do it that way safely. At the top of the picture, you will see that I have suspended a double pulley. After this pic, I ran rope through the pulleys so that I could lift the unit with only about 15 pounds of down effort, This allowed me to raise the unit far enough to get nuts started on 3 of the 4 rods. Please excuse the size of this pic - I tried 5 times to load a downsized version of the pic and it would not load.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Before I lifted this into place, I first set it on top of the parts cabinet and then raised it from there using the rope and pulleys. Tomorrow, I will finish leveling the unit, connect the gas and check for leaks, and the proceed with the final setup steps. Again, sorry for the size of the photo, but my compressed version would not load.

 

[bdbecker]

Glad to see you got it hung without issue Jeff!

 

[Prospecter]

Before I lifted this into place, I first set it on top of the parts cabinet and then raised it from there using the rope and pulleys. Tomorrow, I will finish leveling the unit, connect the gas and check for leaks, and the proceed with the final setup steps. Again, sorry for the size of the photo, but my compressed version would not load.

Clever solution well implemented! Nice looking shop. I really like the parts cabinet!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Last night, we experienced a 5.1 quake here in OK. It seemed to come in about three waves of energy as detected by the volume of the house rattling. Strangely, a few minutes after the apparent end, it still felt like I was on one of those vibrating beds. Good test of the mounting of my new Modine and flue pipe. Once I finished a few final steps and verified no gas leak. . . .

We have a heated shop once again!

This shows my attachment points in the shop attic.

The finished installation.

The critical connections.

The reworked duct work. So yesterday, I had to go to the plumbing supply place for an additional length of double wall pipe and a screw clamp. After finding the length of pipe, I was wandering around trying to find a clamp. One of the "helpers" asked if he could help me find something. "Sure, where are your screw clamps?" What ensued was about 10 minutes of the "helper" grilling me on what I was doing and holding up different products and asking "Will this work?". Finally, I looked at him and said "Are you telling me you do not have screw clamps like are used on radiator hoses except in a larger diameter that will go around this pipe?" He finally showed me where they were and I told him I would take 2. Guess the guy never received training about the customer always being right!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Made it to my first estate sale in quite some time over the weekend. Brought home a new tool that I thought might be helpful when releasing the drawer slides on some of my tool boxes.

After I got home, I did some WWW research and discovered it is a chip remover to slide between two pieces of aluminum that have been drilled to remove any chips.

 

[Prospecter]

I was going to guess a spring tool for stretching springs. Looks handy for drawer slides. Nice acquisition.

 

[Jayman17]

That's called a chip chaser, I used one for many years at work...

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Recently discovered the following in a discard pile:
Hate to see wood go to waste. Brought it home.
After disassembling, I ran the stock through my planer to bring it down to 1 7/16 thick to true it up and get rid of some of the imperfections.

Then, I used one of my favorite home-made jigs to put a straight edge on one side of each board and then ran through the table saw to bring everything to 3.25" wide.
Today, I put my dado stack on the tablesaw and used a dado sled to make rabits and dados on the leg uprights and the cross pieces. I am making a pair of workbench kits similar to one I bought 50 years ago and am still using. On the purchased kit, the top cross piece is a 1x6 and the bottom is a 1x4. Since I had salvage 2x4 stock, I am using that and figure it will be even stronger.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I am EMBARRASSED! When I started my latest project, one of my goals was to highlight the construction of a workbench kit I bought at a hardware store 50 years ago that has served me well through all kinds of abuse. The advantage of the kit is that is uses much less material (smaller lumber dimensions) than many home built benches. The downside is the time to make the dados and rabbits used in the construction. It wasn't until I started assembling the ends that I realized I suffered a major brain fart while using my dado sled.


The dados and rabbits were supposed to be made on the short dimension of the uprights, not on the wide flats. Done that way, the long cross pieces that attach the end assemblies are attached to the inside of the uprights. The uprights would have the wide side visible from the front of the bench when assembled. Now, the strength of the end assemblies is not reduced by this mistake. However, the attachment of the long cross pieces comes down to using more sophisticated joinery, driving screws into the end grain of the cross pieces, or using pocket hole assembly.

So, I got out the pocket hole jig and commenced making pocket holes. Probably won't make these available as kits, but rather assemblys as a result of my BF.

 

[RickP]

I can't count the number of times I've cut or drilled pieces of wood on the wrong side! Pocket holes sound like a good fix for the problem. This work bench kit sounds interesting. How do you feel the smaller wood dimensions affect the strength of it?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I can't count the number of times I've cut or drilled pieces of wood on the wrong side! Pocket holes sound like a good fix for the problem. This work bench kit sounds interesting. How do you feel the smaller wood dimensions affect the strength of it?

The kit I purchased has served me well. If I understand your question, I am not sure that substituting the 2x4 lumber for the 1x6 and 1x4 makes the basic leg assembly stronger. However, over the years, I added end panels, back panel, and doors. The 2x4 provides more meat to screw into when attaching the end panels.

 

[RickP]

Gotcha -- that makes sense. The 2x4s and the end panels probably add a little weight to the bench as well. I built my bench with 2x4s, before I'd even heard of pocket screws. I think using those screws will really help with strength and rigidity of your bench.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Since my new clamps came in yesterday (50" - longest I have ever had), I decided to finish assembling the first workbench frame.


I am going to leave the clamps on overnight and then assemble the second frame tomorrow. I believe the pocket hole screw assembly for the cross pieces will be more than strong enough as any weight placed on the bench will be supported by the end assemblies. The down side was not being able to offer these as unassembled kits for someone just starting a home shop with very limited tools.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

After assembling both benches, I turned my attention to trying to turn the remaining scraps into something usable:

 

[Jeff Ivers]

It is a good thing I am retired. Trying to make something usable out of scraps can take a lot of time.


I now have one half of a workbench top.

 

[Prospecter]

Retirement is much fun! Nice to not have work getting in the way!

 

[RickP]

Time well spent? The bench top is looking great!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I individually glued up 49" long strips made with box jointed pieces that measured about 1 7/16 by 1.5". I then glued the strips up to make 2 49" by 12" planks - since my planer capacity is 12.5" width.

After squaring the ends of each plank and shortening the length to 48", I then ran each plank through the planer to bring the thickness down to 1.25". Above is my final glue up where I joined the 2 planks into a 2' by 4' bench top.

Since I had some pourable epoxy, on hand, I filled a couple of knot holes on the bottom of the top and then applied 2 coats of BLO.

Here is the assembled bench after the BLO dried. I guess I will call this project done and see if I can find a buyer.

 

[RickP]

That's a really good looking bench top!

I'm guilty of hanging on to too many scraps, but you've shown a great use for them. You said it took a lot of time -- how many hours would you estimate?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

That's a really good looking bench top!

I'm guilty of hanging on to too many scraps, but you've shown a great use for them. You said it took a lot of time -- how many hours would you estimate?

Thank you for the compliment.

There are two ways to measure time in the shop - man hours of labor and shop space downtime. As a retiree, I never keep track of manhours as I am more interested in the puttering and seeing what I can do with limited resources. Thinking back on the project, I would say the shop down time was 26 days from start to finish for both frames and one top. As for the top only, I would estimate 15 manhours. I had a couple of 1 or 2 hour sessions with the table saw and planer, and then it was 10 or 15 minute increments 2 to 4 times a day as I glued up various assemblies. Not a lot of manhours from a retiree perspective, but enough to understand why some things are either not available to buy or as expensive as they are.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Retirement is much fun! Nice to not have work getting in the way!

Amen!

Time well spent? The bench top is looking great!

Absolutely! I spent years in the software development industry where there is very little sense of accomplishment. It is nice, as a retiree, to go to the shop and produce something unique or usable. Every time I go to the shop and use my planer mounted on the stand I made, or the disk/belt sander or my router table or get hardware out of my custom hardware drawer cabinet I get this little reminder - hey, I did that and it works well for me!