Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DIY Shop

[Kevin54]

I stumbled across that same machine in my research. Can you believe they are asking almost $500? I wonder if they will succeed in selling at that price. Mine is complete, including the coin mechanism, except for the coin catch box (easy to fab). I have already sand blasted the exterior cabinet in preparation for powder coating. It didn't show well in my pics, but paint was peeling and someone had written on it in multiple places with permanent magic marker. Besides, I am looking for some more period correct artwork for display.

Make sure you take some good pics of the artwork. I would think that some of the sign places could possibly make a new decal off of it. But also on fleabay, I did see where someone or some people are selling decals that goe on front. It's too bad that you don't have a name anywhere on it.

I for one, would have ever give a thought to having a rubber machine as for using it as a wall hanging art piece, or even collecting one. I wonder if it would fall under the category of "Petrolinia" as that is where you could always find one of the machines

 

[taumac]

Great shop..... thank you for sharing

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Welcome taumac!

Great shop..... thank you for sharing

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Due to the condition of the case for my condom machine and the period incorrect graphics (see below), I decided to refinish the case. Here it is ready for the powder coaters:

One of the reasons I believe this machine is from the 50's to 60's time frame is that the coin mechanism is a 25cent mechanism. Now, if you looked at the artwork shown earlier, you may have noticed a label stating 50 cents. An examination and testing of the coim mechanism has determined it will accept only a single quarter. Once the knob is rotated 180 degrees, product is vended. So what is with the 50 cent label? The machine is designed to vend from two columns of product alternating between columns. The knob can only be rotated 180 degrees with a single quarter. So - they made this function as a 50 cent machine by only filling one column of product. Thus inserting 1 quarter and rotating 180 degrees vended nothing, then inserting a second quarter and rotating another 180 degrees caused product to vend!

This picture shows all the components of the coin mechanism cleaned and ready for reassembly:

All components were cleaned in my parts washer, sand blasted lightly, cleaned on the power wire brush, and then buffed or painted as appropriate.
Here is the assembled coin mechanism:

The only thing missing on this machine was a coin box. Here is the start of the coin box I am fabbing for the machine:

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Well, I had hoped by now to post pics of the finished condom machine. But alas, it is not to be yet. The exterior case is not back from the powder coaters (going on 3 weeks) - if they don't finish it by Monday, I shall pick it up and try a different powder coater. The internals are done and hanging on the wall, stocked:

I purchased what I considered a period correct decal for this machine off Ebay. It was shipped with the decal folded around a piece of cardboard, padded by a throw-away plastic sack in a plain brown envelope:

Resulting in:

That piece of cardboard shaking around in the big envelope acted like a knife. I am trying to resolve the issue with the seller, as he has additional decals advertised.

Meanwhile, on the gas pump restoration project, I am almost ready to paint all the exterior panels, but decided to try to erect a temporary paint booth first. Pics later.

 

[Jsf721]

I hope you are OK after the Hurricane.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I hope you are OK after the Hurricane.

I'm about 100 miles from where the EF5 hit, so I am fine. Thanks for the concern.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Well, one of my restorations is done! The seller of the decal provided a replacement to the one damaged in shipping and I was able to pick up my powder coated case this afternoon and assemble the finished item:

 

[CudaChick1968]

Nice! But you should've asked them to use a rubberized powder coating ...........

<< duckin and runnin >>

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Nice! But you should've asked them to use a rubberized powder coating ...........

<< duckin and runnin >>

But doesn't that require 'special handling'?

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Click image for larger version Name: Belt-disk.jpg Views: 490 Size: 134.6 KB ID: 110939
This belt/disc sander, as well as many of my other tools (miter saw, grinder, buffer/wire wheel, framing clamp, router table, are mounted to boards with cleets on the bottom so they can be chucked into one of my Work-Mates to use. When not is use they are store in or on the various cabinets.


That is an excellent idea that is worth bringing back into circulation for anyone who didn't see it the first time around.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Nice! But you should've asked them to use a rubberized powder coating ...........

<< duckin and runnin >>

Well, Leanna, where have you been when I needed you! I had no idea there was a rubberized powder coating. Why would it have been better?

 

[Vernmotor]

So your hand don't slip off it ! ........................I did't say that LOL

 

[CudaChick1968]

Well, Leanna, where have you been when I needed you! I had no idea there was a rubberized powder coating. Why would it have been better?

There isn't Jeff LOL ...... there IS, however, a great need for a sarcasm font that would have been very useful to me a couple days ago.

It's a condom machine.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

There isn't Jeff LOL ...... there IS, however, a great need for a sarcasm font that would have been very useful to me a couple days ago.

It's a condom machine.

Well, I kinda thought that's (sarcasm) what you meant with the "duckin and runnin". However, since you are the specialty coatings expert, I didn't want to miss an opportunity to learn a new trick or two from you about coatings one applies to things. You see, I did pay attention to your avatar and your signature! Thanks for the humor!

Jeff

 

[CudaChick1968]

Thank you doll!

Heyyy, there's always Plastic Dip. LOL

 

[marty_p]

Very inspiring work, Jeff; I just love your attention to detail with all your projects!

 

[fireman164]

North side of the work bay.



West side of the work bay.

very nice! my wife would never see me!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Thanks for the compliment. My wife was always very supportive of my shop and projects. Unfortunately, the shop did not make it to this stage until after she passed away.

very nice! my wife would never see me!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

The latest news in the DIY shop, is that I finally acquired a "real" drill press which will hopefully allow me to up my fabrication skills on things like my grandsons downhill racer.

I have been using this Ryobi:


It lacked vertical travel for some of the projects I wanted to do and does not have a tilt table feature.

I had been looking for a full height drill press and really wanted one of the art deco style delta or craftsman ones like in the Red Leaders thread. While browsing CL a few weeks ago, I spotted an ad for some people clearing out grandads garage and showing 2 drill presses, one of which was an art deco style. Made the trip over, only to discover the art deco Rockwell was a tabletop unit. They had this older Craftsman which they said was new but about 10 years old.


After looking it over, I decided if it had ever been used, it had been used very little and with great care - could not find any scratchs or other damage other than dirt. I bought it for $200, which may have been too much. However, it came with this cross action vise.

The cheapest I have found one of the vises is $70, so maybe I came out allright. Sold the Ryobi for $55 on a CL ad - gone less than an hour after I posted.

I am currently waiting on a manual for the drill press. Based on my research, it may have been built in 1990 (a bit more than 10 years old!)

So far, I have just been cleaning and lubing it. I think I need to make some kind of base for the vise that I can clamp to the drill press so that I can turn the cranks with the vise clamped down. Anyone else have any experience or suggestions in this area?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

In January 0f 2008 (2 years before I joined this forum), I had plumbed my shop with PVC for airlines. THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE USE OF PVC FOR AIRLINES! Thanks to the knowledge of the people on this forum, I found out what I had done was unsafe and the replacement of the airlines was added to my to-do list. I started that project a couple of days ago and want to share what I am doing for those who may be interested.

First a bit about what I am replacing and some factors that may have contributed to my getting away with this situation for 6 plus years.

Coming out of the compressor, I have a ball shut-off valve which was always kept shut off except when I was using air tools. That is immediately followed by a pressure regulator. I keep the air pressure in my lines limited to 90 psi. Right after this is a oil/water separator - this close to the tank it removes very little water, but it does seem to trap any oil that might be in the air.

Please note that my shop has always been kept above freezing.
A flexible tool whip feeds the air from the separator to the first line drop on the wall.

From there, the pipe goes to the ceiling and along the ceiling line to a second drop on the right side of the work bench.

Where that drop starts, the line is t'd to run from the north wall to the south wall of the shop.


On the south wall, the line t's again and runs above the garage door and down to a point where it feeds through the wall to supply air to the outside of the shop between the 2 16' roll-up doors.


I had always planned to use copper lines. I know many use iron or galvanized pipe. However, for me these options were not attractive because of concern about rust in the pipe and the difficulty of running this type of line without the threading tools that I did not want to invest in.

After much consideration, I purchased this kit from Northern Tools.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Air Line Replacement part 2:

The kit contains 3 outlets and 100' of 3/4" pipe. I purchased one additional outlet for my installation. They (and others) have a cheaper kit that uses much smaller line. After investigating the airflow drop on that kit, I decided I needed the heavy duty kit to support blast cabinet, painting and other activities that I do.

This is a close up of the outlet they provide. One of my concerns is the only reservoir for moisture that exists is between the hole on the front and the hole on the bottom - maybe a couple of tablespoons?

This is the reverse side.

In order to be air tight, one must first plug the hole on the backside of the drop (plug included in kit).

This shows the outlet with the other fittings trial fitted.

I felt the drain outlet was going to be difficult to get a container under, so I added a drain pigtail to each outlet.

The next issue was hot to proceed with installation. I decided It would work best in my case to start with the drops that go up to a T. I chose the first drop on the south side of the shop. I installed the straight fitting to one end of the pipe that will go into the outlet and tightened it. I then measured the height needed (subtracting for the T) and cut the pipe to length. I loosely placed the T on the end of the pipe, but did not tighten it, so it could rotate as I turned the fitting into the outlet. This shows the completed leg in place.

This leg feeds (via a flexible tool whip) a second water separator that has two air outlets attached to it. Because of its location, this water separator is about 45 feet from the compressor and that distance allows the air to cool considerably. This is where most of the water is removed from the system. Most of my air tools are run off this drop to keep moisture out of the tools.

 

[taumac]

Glad to see your back posting again. That's a nice upgrade. I have a manifold on my compressor and with one hose there and one running to other side of my garage. I thought of doing a similar system.

5 Stitches Garage
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211899
Florida GJ Group
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=117

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Today, I completed re-plumbing airlines in my shop. Because the tubing came in a 100' roll, I decided to install the tubing starting from the shortest segment and working to the longest segment. This made it a bit easier to deal with the coil.

In the previous post, I showed installing the third drop which is on the south of the shop. I followed this with the second drop. Both of these drops were only about 5' tall and ended at a "T".

After this I had to install the run between the third drop and the fourth outlet. This shows how I temporarily positioned the coil of tubing.

I thought about leaving the segment of PVC that went through the wall to feed an outlet on the outside of the shop. But, I ended up replacing it with a brass ******.

On the inside, I used several large washers to be able to take up the slack in the ******.

This is the connection to the outside from the outlet.

The completed segment between the third and fourth drops.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Completion part 2:

This 3/4" tubing comes with some large fittings, requiring 27 mm and 36 mm wrenches to attach. Fortunately, I had a Jegs adjustable AN wrench to use for the larger size.

The hardest part of the project was straightening the tubing by hand. The next segment installed was the one from the air tank (drop one) to the second drop.

Here is the new air tank connection.

And its connection to the drop.

The last segment was the one that runs all the way across the shop between drops 2 and 3.

 

[zcar751]

Nice job with the air lines. I like the smooth radius turn you have on the ceiling and around the lights.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Nice job with the air lines. I like the smooth radius turn you have on the ceiling and around the lights.

Thanks, The curves were actually easier than trying to get a straight run. I decided the curves were the way to go after pricing the 90 degree fittings!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I was probably born 100 years too late for my true calling - a born tinker. Of course, as a tinker, you tend to take apart a lot of stuff to fix or improve it and sometimes decide it was truly intended to throw away - so the next best thing is to repurpose those parts you can and recycle as much as possible. Therefore, I have always had a group of buckets in the shop to throw recycle metal in to. When a bucket is full, I move the contents to the barn till I have accumulated enough to warrant a trip to the recyclers.

That brings me to my latest project - a recycle cart made from scraps of metal from displays thrown away by stores.

I included a rack for my car dollies above my bucket brigade.



On the end, I added a place to organize my grease guns. Many thanks to those on this forum who posted the idea of using PVC pipe for holders. Since I had acquired purpose made clamps a long time ago, I used a mod of the PVC idea.

 

[taylormandan]

Here are my tools chests. I have thought about replacing them with newer ones, but it seems to me most, if not all, of the newer chests are heavy on deeper drawers. I like my tools limited to one layer deep where I can see what I am reaching for and the shallower (thickness wise) drawers work better for me. I also like my stacks short enough to see into the top of the top box without a step stool.

OK, this is the down side to the shop. It is my storage bay currently containing 2 sports cars waiting for restoration, blast cabinet, parts washer, 2 table saws, radial arm saw, scaffolding, cherry picker, gas grill, racks of car parts, etc. Fortunately, almost everything is on wheels so I can move it around to get to what I need. I work hard to keep my 16 x 24 work bay empty so that I can easily work on whatever project I pull into the shop.

This belt/disc sander, as well as many of my other tools (miter saw, grinder, buffer/wire wheel, framing clamp, router table, are mounted to boards with cleets on the bottom so they can be chucked into one of my Work-Mates to use. When not is use they are store in or on the various cabinets.

I picked up a pair of these a couple of years ago and this is the one I have completed the restoration on and have erected in front of my shop. I use a single CFL 150 watt (equiv) bulb and a light sensing switch. It keeps the drive in front of the shop lit all night long.

The drive-in movie speakers are awesome!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

In my house attached garage, I frequently want to use some auto cleaning supplies to maintain my vehicles. I lacked a place to keep these supplies that was handy. Until - my visit to a swap meet in Wichita, KS this spring where I found the following for $5.


I believe this was probably some kind of tool case that the previous owner had stripped of the lock mechanism as it measures 22x12x3.
I added a couple of shelves made from scraps of aluminum diamond plate and a lockset that became surplus when I installed new locksets in my toolchests to reduce the number of different keys I needed.



I apologize the last pic is a bit blurry, but hopefully it is adequate. Now to figure out how to store my polish rags - maybe a wire basket?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

My latest project is the restoration of my Coke menu board sign that had been languishing in the barn for about 10 years. I believe the sign is from the early 70's. Unfortunately, I lost my "before" photos. The sign was filthy.

I decided to experiment with preserving the decals on the back of the sign.

I covered the decals with clear packing tape.

Then I used 2 different colors of masking tape to outline the area to be preserved and cover the packing tape.

After cutting along the guide tape, I was left with this, before painting.

I decided to use one of the headlight restoration kits to polish the slat board and bring it back to life. This worked very well. I did not try to go thru all the yellowing, as the material is quite thin. As I polished, the area covered by the original letters was revealed (slightly whiter) and could be read in the right light.

The sign restored with new letters where all the original ones were.

The sign as I am displaying it, unless I can come up with something more clever.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Many thanks for the update, fantastic work all round.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Lately, I have been busy with projects in the shop - mostly working on my Old-fart Cart, but taking time out to build a stand-up desk. Through all this, I have continued to heavily use my blast cabinet.

I finally upgraded the lighting to an LED which has greatly improved visibility. (separate thread posted).

Like most of you, I have been running a shop vac attached to the blast cabinet to keep the dust cleared. And, like most of you, I have experimented with various devices to try to reduce the dust and usable media going into the shop vac. My first try was a bucket with a separator panel that worked somewhat, but only separated part of the heavier media. The lid to the bucket cracked where I had attached the divider and led me to try something else. I then tried the bucket with water in the bottom, but my vac sucked the water out of the bucket.

I have a 16 gal vac and have been using the drywall bags designed for 12-14 gal vacs to capture the fine dust. The bag did not like the water. I also was getting tired of disconnecting the shop vac every time I wanted to clean up other mess.

Then, thanks to another poster (who I forgot to make note of), I found out about the dust devil and ordered one before Xmas. Great product!

I have installed the dust devil and it is capturing at least 99 percent of any solids coming out of the cabinet. So...





I decided it was now time to change the vac I was using. I had a Hoover Wind Tunnel floor vac that I had replaced in the house that still had good suction. I stripped the base, handle and other un-necessary parts, made a stand and put it to use. After several hours of use, the bin on the vac has but a mere coat of very fine dust.

I think I now have a satisfactory setup. But, that leads to a question. Since the dust devil is capturing virtually all of the solids, should I empty it back into the blast cabinet for reuse or do I need to somehow separate the larger media from the fine dust? If separation is the way to go, how can I separate the dust from the media that has some life left in it?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

My latest addition to the shop is a "nite light" made from a Wayne 70 ad glass and part of an old sofa. The sofa donated some full 1" thick lumber for the frame.


As pictured, the glass is lit by an LED fixture using 3 AAA batteries. After determining the batteries would last about 4 days, I found an old AC adapter of appropriate voltage and converted the light to run off it.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I wish I had kept track of the post on here where someone made a shop stool from crutches and bike rims, but I just filed the idea away until I had an opportunity to make one of my own. Anyway, many thanks to you. This is my version.

Laying up the top:

Double layer of packing foam under a 2" foam circle.

Closed cell foam circle (from old floor tile).

3/4 inch plywood circle.

Donor for the leather seat cover - old bomber jacket that hadn't been worn for years.

Completed seat.

The stool is easily adjusted from 27" to 35" tall in 1" increments.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I am really stoked! I may have stumbled onto the perfect garage stereo! But, more on that later.

If there is a theme to my DIY shop thread it is function over style and improvement with time. In other words I built the shop initially as storage for tools and projects and a place to get out of the weather. As I have had time, I have worked to improve the shop and make it more fun to work in.

Most recently, I was thinking it was time to finish my gas pump restoration and start on one of my major car projects. However, the shop was suffering from an accumulation of grinding/spraying dust and the detritus of other projects. So, a few weeks back, I decided to clean out the barn, move some stuff from the shop to the barn to make more room and that led to why not take time to finish the east end of the shop. That part of the shop had been in Sheetrock since about the late 90's. I decided that I was probably never going to get to mudding, taping, texturing, and painting that portion of the shop. So, I decided I would borrow an idea from Thomas (Thank you Thomas!) over at the restored 30's auto shop and put up some FRP.


This shows the shop after moving some stuff around to have working room.

This shows what the east end of the shop looked like with the shelves out of the way - unfinished sheetrock and raw wood above the doors.

More on the FRP project later. Of course, while working on this type of project, I like to listen to music in the shop and have relied on an old boom-box driving a pair of restored drive-in theater speakers. Acceptable sound, but the FM reception is somewhat iffy and the CD player quit working. One evening after a day working on the FRP with spotty FM reception, I decided to search for some way to play MP3s from either an SD card or USB drive. Both my pickup and car support this technology and I have converted over 100 albums to MP3 format that I listen to while driving.

I stumbled on this Lepai LP-360 amp and decided to give it a try for $40. It includes an FM receiver, plays MP3s or WMA files from SD card or USB drive, drives 25 watts of power to 4 speakers (2 left, 2 right), has auxiliary input and output.

This is the stereo. It is only about 7 inches wide by 2 inches tall by 5 inches deep.

This picture shows it on the old boom-box shelf with the drive-in speakers off to the side.

I decided the only part of the old boom-box worth saving was the speakers which had been sitting unused on a shelf. I mounted them on the wall in the workbay to get better sound distribution in the shop.

This is a fantastic little unit designed to run off 12 volts, provided by the included 110 volt power supply. It also includes a stub cable to connect to an antenna port. I spliced it to an old extendable antenna that I mounted to the wall above the unit.

More on the FRP project as I finish my cleaning.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Continuation of FRP project:

I couldn't have done this project without my good friend, Dale, who came over to help me wrestle these 10 foot pieces into place.

My shop is just under 10 feet tall. The FRP installation instructions say to trowel the glue on the back of the panel and then put in place. This got a bit messy at times.


This shows the first panel up. I carefully measured where to cut the outlet opening - and then promptly took one of my measurements from the wrong reference point, resulting in the exposed drywall. I cut and siliconed in a patch panel. Part of the panel was covered by the window trim, and a bit of white caulk made the joint lines all but disappear. That place is hidden by shelves anyway.

This shows the east wall done. There are two additional booboos, but I don't think you can detect them after the application of some white caulk. This stuff will break easy and does not take to popping against a sharp edge. Trying to get the piece in place under the garage door track support bracket resulted in a nasty tear. If I could have had about 10 foot of working space out from the wall, we could have avoided the problem. Just the perils of retrofitting a shop full of stuff.

Took time out to insulate my 3rd and final rollup door.

Wonder what I could do with some scrap?

Decide to make a paper towel holder.

This shows how I chose to retain the roller in a manner that I can quickly remove for towel replacement.

The top roll is the new bracket.

 

[taumac]

Shop is looking good and I really like the stool. I might have to build one of those. I also loved the sign.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Shop is looking good and I really like the stool. I might have to build one of those. I also loved the sign.

Thank you, taumac. As usual around my place, one project morphs into multiple ones. Hope to finish the shop reorganization/cleaning and post a finished pic of the FRP project in a few days. Meanwhile, I had to work on a shelf for my daughter, a riser shelf for the shop and a barrel dolly.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Before I started my FRP project, this is what my storage bay looked like:

Part of my goal was to clean that end of the shop, reduce some of the clutter, rearrange so that I could access my project cars, and get everything but the shelf units on wheels.

Some scrap bed frame welded together, some heavy duty wire mesh from a store display discard, and some old casters.

Result in a rolling dolly.

To hold my scrap wood barrel. Now, everything is on wheels on that end of the shop!

This is what the east wall now looks like.

This is what the north wall looks like.

This is what the south wall looks like.

To complete finishing the interior of the shop, I still have about 60% of the ceiling and the wall above the work bay door still to do.

My big surprise while doing the FRP project was discovering that the header above that north door is warped outward (to the outside) in the middle about 1/2 inch. This is a solid fir 4" by 12" header that has been in place since the shop was built in 1991. Can't figure out what caused it to warp and not sure what to do about it. I am thinking about bolting a 16' angle iron to the inside of the wall just above the door spring and attempt to pull the warp out that way. Anyone have a similar problem or have any thoughts on it?