Above 1200 Sq/FT LilScorpion’s Fab Space

[lilscorpion]

This weekend I started in on the wall that's between the door from the house and the door to the garage. Plan here is to build 4 cabinets which I'll use to organize my hardware (like a small version of Ace Hardware). THe existing cablinets were moved from the old garage and worked for what they were but weren't really organized enough, allowing me to reach stuff, like I'd really wanted.



The plan is to remove the tall cabinet and add in 4 cabinets that allow me to organize hardware in Systainer Organizers and drawers with the intent to be able to swap drawers around with systainer organizers as I wish now and in the future.

 

[lilscorpion]

The great thing about cad is there’s no piles of $hit that’s accumulated over time. To get started I had to actually move stuff…







Every transformation starts with a single change. In this case it’s a single stack….followed by another. All of my cabinets are “floating”. What that means is there’s no visible legs (there will be supports but later..). To get the height rights. I’m using my floor jack. Jack to 10”



Second stack is satisfying. Now I can better visualize the plan. I like it.

 

[lilscorpion]

Are you missing the 9/16s raised panel?

It’s around here somewhere. Shops a damn mess and consolidating tools to one of a few shop carts helps a little but not completely. It’ll make its way back when it’s uncovered again. Suspect it’s over by the powder coating project(s).

I was about to have to set you on ignore for that one if true.

Heh…back in the saddle

 

[nicholam77]

Love the CAD / pre-viz work for your storage, and please, please never stop posting your Systainer walls... they are glorious

 

[Dh3256]

-lots of questionable legal thoughts in this thread
-lots of questionable tax advice in this thread
-lots of questionable moral positions in this thread

None from the OP.

Which profession are you qualified to comment on? As a qualified professional, I'm not seeing any of that.

All threads are community threads here, anyone can comment, OP just started the thread and is not required to comment on every topic and discussion.

 

[lilscorpion]

Made a little more progress on the systainer organizer wall. This had followed me over from the other house. It’s been a good organizer and it’s next chapter will be over on the garage side.



Love sharing stupid human tricks. This Target bench has been a very useful tool in the shop over the years. It’s the seat I sit on when I weld, it’s a step stool, I use it to support containers when I get them down, and now it helps they hydraulic cart reach the shelving unit ao I can remove it from the wall in a controlled way. Maybe not a stupid human trick after all.



Trying to keep the stacks of assembled drawers out of the way hasn’t been easy.



Installing cabinet #3



Slides install extremely quickly when the casing has been pre-drilled. It’s even better that the offsets are perfect. With the slides installed in #3, I got #4 installed next



Here’s the method behind my madness on this system. Any Systainer Organizer drawer is replaceable with a physical drawer. This will allow me to mover them around in any configuration. I don’t really have a plan yet…just throwing them in to get them out of the way.



I’m probably a few organizers short and certainly if I want to move all of the hardware here (bolts and such). Will be nice to have easy access again.



One nuance to this system incorporates a design decision that was gained during usage. One problem I’ve had historically is with the closure knobs in the organizers getting knocked off when I unintentionally close the drawer with them up. I now have the spacing as such that they can stay open…well mostly. Doesn’t work with the drawers…better tho



Though I had planned on working on other things, I kinda got sucked into being a little more intentional as to how things are laid out so it’s easier to find things.

 

[rattle_snake]

Wow coming along now. Should feel good to step back and acknowledge all your work.

 

[lilscorpion]

Wow coming along now. Should feel good to step back and acknowledge all your work.

It’s really cool but what makes me happy is being able to find things again and be able to put them away.

 

[zanyad]

Looking good! Jealous for sure!

 

[lilscorpion]

Spent a few hours last night adding on to the dust collection system ducting. Still figuring out what works for me based on how it goes.

Ran the tubing across the ceiling



Then futzed around with how it can dodge the other utilities. Have a few more pieces to add but it can be reconnected to the table saw for now until I get the final parts.

 

[rattle_snake]

I think I would really enjoy running the piping. Looks like a nice product, clamps and such.

My shop would benefit from a dust collector $ystem, thinking I could use my CNC plasma table for a router now that I have a drain system.

I bet that day job is really getting in the way of shop play time.

 

[lilscorpion]

The product is super easy to install but it isn’t leak free like I thought it would be. The clamps have a silicone like material that’s supposed to squish between the two rolled faces of the pipes. Problem is you have to get them perfectly aligned and the clamps don’t really go all the way around (full 360). Some seem to seal better than the others too. Haven’t spent time troubleshooting. Maybe each leak can be solved with some effort.

I could totally see using a CNC for both plasma and routing…but maybe not if you have a water table unless it’s completely dry. My dust collection works very well but fine dust still manages to get around because the boots inconsistent contact to the material on the table isn’t perfect.

If I could, I’d retire a happy man but until I can, the job is what enables the shop to exist so it’s actually an important aspect of my creative journey…and I like what I do and feel equally, but differently, challenged.

 

[lilscorpion]

I think I would really enjoy running the piping. Looks like a nice product, clamps and such.

My shop would benefit from a dust collector $ystem, thinking I could use my CNC plasma table for a router now that I have a drain system.

I bet that day job is really getting in the way of shop play time.

Oh, and an important data point - I’m really not ready to retire until I have a complete set of capabilities. Larger oven and powder coating booth, a CNC lathe, And a press brake will complete the setup.

Yeah, yeah, “do work son”.

 

[4 FN 27]

Oh, and an important data point - I’m really not ready to retire until I have a complete set of capabilities. Larger oven and powder coating booth, a CNC lathe, And a press brake will complete the setup.

Been there and doing that!!! No regrets.

 

[lilscorpion]

Been there and doing that!!! No regrets.

Pat, if I’m setup even close to how you are, I’ll have a $hit eatin grin ear to ear…

 

[lilscorpion]

Spent the last few days looking at this…Turks and Cacaos. Worth the trip if you e not been.



Wanted to make incremental progress on the shop with the little time I had around the trip. Decided to focus on the one mid-cabinet. For reference, the grey cabinets are in place and the brown ones are planned for the future. Red box is the mid cabinet I’m referring to.



Fairly simple build with four equally spaced and sized drawers. 36” wide, 16” deep, 4” tall.



Through I can kinda see the space taking shape, still have a long ways to go.



I’m waiting on my big order of drawer slides, that’ll be the key really to being up, initially organized, and have a mostly functional shop. Few weeks I’m thinking before they’ll be here. Can’t wait.

 

[fartymarty]

I had to laugh at that last photo.
My abilities and financial resources are nothing in comparison with yours. I thought the same applied to my little two car garage/shop.

However I then spotted the towel holder with the empty cardboard tube in it with a roll of almost used up towels on top of it. I've got that exact same set up! Ha! Made me feel pretty good about the state of my garage for...oh...maybe 10 secs or so.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I had to laugh at that last photo.
My abilities and financial resources are nothing in comparison with yours. I thought the same applied to my little two car garage/shop.

However I then spotted the towel holder with the empty cardboard tube in it with a roll of almost used up towels on top of it. I've got that exact same set up! Ha! Made me feel pretty good about the state of my garage for...oh...maybe 10 secs or so.

It's not the size or capabilities of the shop. Not the brand or quantity of our tools. Not the scale of the projects we do. It's that we make our best effort to do what we can with what we have.

 

[lilscorpion]

I had to laugh at that last photo.
My abilities and financial resources are nothing in comparison with yours. I thought the same applied to my little two car garage/shop.

However I then spotted the towel holder with the empty cardboard tube in it with a roll of almost used up towels on top of it. I've got that exact same set up! Ha! Made me feel pretty good about the state of my garage for...oh...maybe 10 secs or so.

LOL. Ever since I moved into this new shop I’ve been in a constant state of disorganization. In my old garage I had a routine where once per weekend I’d make sure I had all consumables fresh and good to go. Need to get back to that. Not sure why but it seems like it won’t happen soon…

 

[lilscorpion]

It's not the size or capabilities of the shop. Not the brand or quantity of our tools. Not the scale of the projects we do. It's that we make our best effort to do what we can with what we have.

I couldn’t agree more. I’d say I was more proud of my organization a few revisions ago because they were more creative, custom, and had to build them with what I had. When scaling the shop tho I had to accept that if I didn’t figure out how to scale my capabilities and accelerate my organization, it would take years to get get the larger shop in order (the first rev of my last garage took 3 years and it was a 3 car).

What you don’t see in my pics is I’m still favoring the hand build approach for some of the stuff because I prefer and much more enjoy it. All of the cabinet cases/boxes except the 3 new systainer organizer ones have been hand built and most repurposed out of the cabinets from the old shop. in fact, I’d even argue you may not be able to differentiate between a hand built shelf and a machinesmd shelf. Even standing in front you can’t.



These were hand fabricated…



These were machined…



I’m not even sure they were faster to machine. I’m really only doing them so I can practice before I build cabinets for the kitchen. More or less, instead of remodeling the kitchen and having custom cabinets built (paying $$), I bought the machine ($$) and am going to build them myself.

It’s not this -



It’s this -

 

[lilscorpion]

Ok @fartymarty took care of the paper towel holder while cleaning out the toolbox.



Brought up the powder coating supplies from the basement/storage and got it all moved in.



Upper drawers are all of the parts and plugs and whatnot.



Put some stuff away. Not organized to my liking yet but good enough for now. At least I know where to find this stuff.



I have a fairly no -trivial investment in drawer slides and I’m still cleaning them from the old shop. Probably spent a few hours blowing the dust, dirt, and metal from them, wiping them down, and adding a dab of grease before wrapping them up and putting them in the basement so they’re ready for their next adventure.



Assembled the cabinets for the garage.



Then I spent almost a whole day cleaning the garage side. Went thru everything that has still been piled up from moving in. Then gave the floors a good wash.



Moved a pile of Jeep parts onto a pallet and then moved it to the shop side so I’d have full access to install the cabinets.



Got em hung.



Then cut down some of the counter tops from the old garage and moved some stuff in. I’ll use them for temporary storage if random stuff until the drawer slides show up.



That is for following.

 

[larry4406]

Nice storage solutions!

I like how your storage units are off the floor.

 

[lilscorpion]

Workin on gluing up all the counter tops for the cabinets.



Think there will be about 35’ of work surface when it’s all said and done. Each section is about 7.5’. Three down…



Have a couple small ones too. Small ones can be clamped up in one go. Larger ones are done one side at a time. I have a lot of clamps but just not quite enough for the big ones.

 

[loganb]

Thanks for continuing to share the progress! Love seeing the space coming together and how you're mixing repurposing with new builds together

Curious on the drawer slides...those Accuride? Look like some I've got but they're all so similar anymore that for something like this not sure the brand matters much?

 

[lilscorpion]

Thanks for continuing to share the progress! Love seeing the space coming together and how you're mixing repurposing with new builds together

Curious on the drawer slides...those Accuride? Look like some I've got but they're all so similar anymore that for something like this not sure the brand matters much?

Yes, they’re all accuride. Not because I’m a snob but because I’m using Accuride’s 3832 100lb (and 3932 150lb) model screw offsets in the cad. There may be other brands that use the same offsets but I’ve never looked into them. Accuride is about as cheap as can be when buying them for AHTurf.com. Not even sure I could beat the prices with off-brand if I wanted to.

Having the machine drill the holes for the slides is important if I want to run double slides on the heavier drawers. The machine makes the alignment perfect so they do t fight each other.

 

[lilscorpion]

While I waited for glue to dry, I wrapped up the dust collection ducting. The last run is going over to the sand blast cabinet. Kinda took me a minute to figure out how I was going to neck down the duct from 6 to 4, step back up the 6”, and manage to miss the speaker. Needed to mock it up in order to see it…



Fiddled with it and finally realized that I could just add a 1” spacer under the 4” to get it up to the same bracket height as the 6”. Not sure how I didn’t think of that initially.



From there it was fairly straight forward.



I used a piece of flex tube to turn the corner so the dust can move with the door when I open it.



Ran it over the window and then tuned it down towards the cabinet. Eventually I’ll increase the opening to the blast cabinet to 40 but for now I used an adapter to neck down the 4” to 2.5”.



While I had the ladder over there I decided to install the muffler on the exhaust fan. Other than how absolutely stupid it seemed holding the muffler over my head 14’ off the ground, on a ladder, while trying to fumble it into the bracket and tighten the nuts, I nailed it the first time fairly quickly.



back to the counter tops. Each one needed to be cut to final size. 8’ track and saw makes em perfect every time.



Both ends are squared to the face by aligning the small track to the face. This will allow me to connect multiple pieces for the really long runs of cabinets.



After cutting them to final width, each was given a light sand and they’re ready for laminate.



I set up a couple of my assembly tables to make cutting the laminate easier and gang cut all three 4x8’s in a single go. All prepped and ready for tomorrow night.

 

[lilscorpion]

Made slow but good progress this weekend. The drawer slides arrived and I got after getting the about 30 of them installed. It’s a rinse and repeat kind of operation.

Not sure if I’ve showed this before. When I mount the slides I try to keep things consistent and fast by utilizing fixtures (more accurately spacers). All of the drawer side of the slides are mounted with the same spacing from a flat surface by making a spacer like this - in this case they’ll all be 5/8”. The spacer is made out of a piece of scrap on the table saw. I’ve learned to to mark all fixtures so I dont screw up and pitch them while cleaning up at the end of the day.



The slide is then set flush to the face of the drawer using another piece of scrap.



I then use a “Vix Bit” to center drill the hole.



They come in different sizes, unusually use the smallest I can get which tends to be universal for all cabinet screws in most situations.



First hole/screw keeps the slide aligned front to back. The rest only require the spacer for vertical alignment



That simple (repeat on the other side)



Cabinet side is done using a spacer per drawer slide and mark them as well. The more standard I make the drawers in size, the less spacers I need.



Then I start top down. Yes you could do bottom up and let gravity aid in keeping things aligned but I want the top to always have the same spacing and let the slop be hidden below.



Then it’s repetition.

 

[lilscorpion]

After installing about 30 drawers, I got after sorting throu the buckets, containers, and stacked drawers (from the old shop) and moving like things to their respective drawers.



It was kind of a silly way to keep things for the past year but it worked and I survived it.



I more or less knew where things were (sort of). Slowly I started to see the bottoms and broke them down for the trash as I went.



I figured out a few minutes in that I could utilize the smaller drawers as temporary internal drawer organizers. A win.



Now I’m not trying to organize at this point, it’s just about getting things into the same drawer as other similar things. I’ll get to organizing better later. Even notice that in some cases, the placement is temporary because the drawer it will be in hasn’t been made yet (like these extensions).

 

[Jgaz]

I’ve used your spacer methods myself but never even considered starting from the top down.
Thank you!

 

[littlebean]

drawers look great

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

That drill bit is cool. Never seen one of those before. Now I feel like I need a couple of them for centering things.

 

[zmotorsports]

Lookin' good Matt. You're a master at drawer building that's for sure.

Also, you will love having that 35' of workbench space in which to work on. My last shop I only had a 10' and 6' workbench, and they always seemed to have a project occupying at least one of them.

In my current shop I have 28' of dedicated workbench space accompanied by my 5' fabrication table that I can move over near the workbenches if needed and it is so much nicer. Although the only time I will move the fab table over to near the workbench is when doing transmission work, but it's still a nice option and creates a less congested work area.

 

[lilscorpion]

I’ve used your spacer methods myself but never even considered starting from the top down.
Thank you!

There may be easier ways, but if found it works well if you can get your hands inside well enough to hold things in place.

That drill bit is cool. Never seen one of those before. Now I feel like I need a couple of them for centering things.

Get extra/replacement bits (they sell packs of 2
Or 3 I think. When going fast it’s easy to remove the bit at an angle and it’ll break off.

Also recommend getting a second drill or impact driver so you don’t have to switch bits. Instead it’ll feel like you’re spending 99% if the time switching and be done with it after only installing a few slides.

Lookin' good Matt. You're a master at drawer building that's for sure.

Also, you will love having that 35' of workbench space in which to work on. My last shop I only had a 10' and 6' workbench, and they always seemed to have a project occupying at least one of them.

In my current shop I have 28' of dedicated workbench space accompanied by my 5' fabrication table that I can move over near the workbenches if needed and it is so much nicer. Although the only time I will move the fab table over to near the workbench is when doing transmission work, but it's still a nice option and creates a less congested work area.

I’m very excited Mike for this exact reason. My last shop/garage had a total of 12’ of counter top. 4’ of it was over between the mill and lathe and was never clear enough such that I could use it for project work. The 8’ section was exactly like you said, covered with a few projects mid-flight and left little to no room for doing day to day stuff. I probably spent most of my time working on improvised surfaces more often than not. It might be why I had to get a bigger shop. Anyway, without including the fab/welding surfaces I should end up with about maybe 50-some linear feet out counter top between. The shop and the garage. It will be very nice.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Also recommend getting a second drill or impact driver so you don’t have to switch bits. Instead it’ll feel like you’re spending 99% if the time switching and be done with it after only installing a few slides.

Wait, you make it sound like it is not normal to already own 5 cordless drills at this point in my life.

 

[lilscorpion]

Wait, you make it sound like it is not normal to already own 5 cordless drills at this point in my life.

It’s normal. What’s not normal is being like me - having 5 or whatever impact drivers/drills and not being able to find even one of em.

 

[Bessy]

It’s normal. What’s not normal is being like me - having 5 or whatever impact drivers/drills and not being able to find even one of em.

The trick, and it sounds counterintuitive when thinking about not being able to find them, is to always keep them in specific work areas. I've found that if I avoid carrying them around during a project, I avoid them congregate in one place. The bigger the shop, the more that rings true, I feel.

 

[lilscorpion]

Spoils of country life…ran into this fella when opening the barn door to get the tractor back in.

 

[Jayman17]

Can you reach down and put your hand right next to that and take a photo so I can get a sense of scale?

 

[zanyad]

Can you reach down and put your hand right next to that and take a photo so I can get a sense of scale?

Hold on while he peels it off the sole of his boot...

 

[lilscorpion]

Can you reach down and put your hand right next to that and take a photo so I can get a sense of scale?

Haha. No