Mark's Monster Garage....3800 sq ft
- Thread starter IGO2XS
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got2boostit2
Well-known member
Were any of you guys in the custom van scene in the early/late 70's? When I was 16 I saw this picture of a chevy van on the cover of Hotrod Magazine. I believe the first picture I have here was the van that gave me inspiration. Also as a drummer it made sense that I have something to carry the drums around with. The two old photos were of the van I had back in 1973...........yes that is a dog in my lap. If you notice I used the same slotted aluminum wheels and the Thrush side pipes just like the Hotrod van. I had an orange **** carpeting and and pretty wild interior. Last year I picked up a 1979 Chevy van from a buddy of mine. Its the picture of the van with the two tone paint. It has a 350 cu in motor with A/C. Right now it is at the paint shop getting repainting. My mom asked me to paint the color of my 41 Willys I used to have. The color on my old van was called Burnt Orange. i am going with a brighter Orange and its going to be more of a metallic paint. Once I get it back I plan on working on the interior.
I bought a short box 1978 Chevy in 1980, it was triple tone blue with Cragars and side pipes. Some interior work. I loved that van and had a lot of great times with it. It had never seen salt before I bought it and while I owned it. But once sold I would see it around and cry especially after the guy that bought from me sold it. Damn I want another one, LoL.
I have been buried in projects here at the garage and had quite a few photos to share and I see my pictures have the photobucket logo through them. I paid these guys some good money for the hosting service and this is what I get. 
Anyone have any ideas why this is happening.
I dont know about you guys but my wife has me locked down at home. However, that hasnt stopped me as between Amazon and Home Depot I am getting deliveries daily. I have taken advantage of HD free delivery on orders of $50 or more which isnt to hard to meet! LOL. My wife still makes me leave the boxes outside for 24 hours then she wipes them down and the contents.
Anyone have any ideas why this is happening. I dont know about you guys but my wife has me locked down at home. However, that hasnt stopped me as between Amazon and Home Depot I am getting deliveries daily. I have taken advantage of HD free delivery on orders of $50 or more which isnt to hard to meet! LOL. My wife still makes me leave the boxes outside for 24 hours then she wipes them down and the contents.
Boosted1
Well-known member
My guess is you have exceeded some data rate. the more people that look at your posts, the more data use they calculate.
I quit posting pictures long ago because of such hassle and continuous $ charges.
I quit posting pictures long ago because of such hassle and continuous $ charges.
I finally got my photobucket situation firgured out. They only needed more money!! I have really been enjoying the garage and being home. I have found it necessary to do at least one project a day for my wife to keep her happy. I will have to take some pictures of some of the changes we have made on the inside of the house in regards to furniture and decoration. We are getting ready to start our construction project in our house. We are adding on a new pantry to the house so we can take down a few walls and open up the house a little bit. The pantry is going to be a piece of cake but tearing down the walls is going to be a serious undertaking as they support the middle of the house...........second floor up to the roof. We are talking cutting concrete inside the house to add footers. I will keep you guys posted on that project as we get going. I know this is the "garage journal" and not the "house journal". However, we are adding the pantry in the house garage so the project should still qualify.
As far as the garage I have taken on a new project and remodel in part of the garage. I am still not through organizing the garage so everything has a place but if I dont have 2 or 3 projects going on at once I am not happy. I am building a new "shop" inside the garage for projects and woodworking. I am going to be using the area where we used to paint cars as it has ample space. I am looking to isolate all of the work in a "room" so I am not working on the counter tops that are visible in the garage.
I have started constructing the base cabinets for the work room. I am building them out of 5/8" melamine. I considered using plywood for the boxes but I wanted a laminate covering which would make cleaning easy. The MDF works just fine and its covered on both side and ready to cut. These cabinets will have all full extention roll out drawers. I will build the doors or drawer faces and cover them with formica. I saw a few places the carried brushed aluminum laminate and it really looked pretty good. I screwed the cabinets together and used the peal and stick edge banding for the first time. I really liked it.
As far as the garage I have taken on a new project and remodel in part of the garage. I am still not through organizing the garage so everything has a place but if I dont have 2 or 3 projects going on at once I am not happy. I am building a new "shop" inside the garage for projects and woodworking. I am going to be using the area where we used to paint cars as it has ample space. I am looking to isolate all of the work in a "room" so I am not working on the counter tops that are visible in the garage.
I have started constructing the base cabinets for the work room. I am building them out of 5/8" melamine. I considered using plywood for the boxes but I wanted a laminate covering which would make cleaning easy. The MDF works just fine and its covered on both side and ready to cut. These cabinets will have all full extention roll out drawers. I will build the doors or drawer faces and cover them with formica. I saw a few places the carried brushed aluminum laminate and it really looked pretty good. I screwed the cabinets together and used the peal and stick edge banding for the first time. I really liked it.
wasfast
Well-known member
No worries about having house projects along with garage projects. Plenty of others here already do and it's informative. Especially in your case with the quality of work you always do. Super nice to have you back!
Toolfool
Well-known member
A man of many talents ! Looking forward to seeing your shop space come together, maybe in person one day. 
Ok great this should be an interesting project on the house
A man of many talents ! Looking forward to seeing your shop space come together, maybe in person one day.
Your welcome anytime!
" They only needed more money!!" Isn't that always the case with cloud services? Gah!
Thanks for providing us with quality entertainment.Looking forward to seeing the process and the finished results.
Yes it is. I have so many pictures on Photobucket I dont feel like switching.
This is the room I will be using for the wood shop. This was the room we used to paint cars in when I started the hot rod shop here. The mesh you see at the top is a cut out from a heavy duty grate and I am using it for ventilation. I have a very powerful exhaust fan in this room so I can exhaust out any dust. The grate has a galvanized finish on it and it will match the metal I plan on using on the wall.
I like what you have going on here. I work in IT as a network engineer by day but on my time I've built a few large things out of wood like the patio roof on my last two houses. They are about 11.5 feet up at the peak and robust for sure. Now gearing up my garage for finer level work like cabinets and furniture. Mostly just building up the shop with dust collection and cabinets for now as I build my skills.
On a personal note, if you are considering a new saw I would encourage you to consider a SawStop Cabinet Saw. I bought one last month after I realized its cheaper than the hospital bills or losing a finger. Plus its a damn good saw.
On a personal note, if you are considering a new saw I would encourage you to consider a SawStop Cabinet Saw. I bought one last month after I realized its cheaper than the hospital bills or losing a finger. Plus its a damn good saw.
I did a lot of research and looked at many options. I ended up buying more than I needed but I have always had a fascination with sliding table saws. I also wanted to focus on the best dust dust collecting table saws because although I have a dedicated room I didnt want to work in a room full of dust. Like your SawStop mine has dust collection in the cabinet and on the blade guard. My saw arrived today and I was so excited. I plan on installing piping and a dust collection unit for my wood shop. Every piece of equipment will have a vacuum hose.
Toolfool
Well-known member
Mark, if you haven't already decided on a DC system, I'd highly recommend a cyclone system from clearvuecyclones.com . I installed one of their systems in my shop in Washington and I'll be purchasing another one for my next shop. Sounds like your built-in filtering will take care of the airborne fines.
Let me know if I can be of any help (see my shop thread ).
Let me know if I can be of any help (see my shop thread ).
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Thanks for the heads up. I did get a cyclone system from Grissly. Its a 2 HP, 220V unit and I think its around 1100 cfm. I do like the idea of your company because it is clear and you can see it working. What size and type of pipe did you use. I started looking at steel pipe but I am thinking to build the main line out of 6" pvc pipe with 4" pvc drops then transition to the flexible pipe.
I took the crate off of the table saw and took off the plastic. All I can say is wow this is one serious saw and its going to take some time to assemble it. It has a 4" scoring blade before it gets to the 10" blade so you get ultra fine cuts.
Toolfool
Well-known member
6" PVC should be run as close to every machine as possible before downsizing. 6" drops will perform better than 4". All turns should be long sweep 90's or two 45's with a short piece of pipe in between. Reduce friction. I didn't glue most of my system together. The PVC pipe and fittings fit pretty snug and I pre-drilled and drove 2 short truss head screws into each connection and anchored and supported all the pipe well. Clearvue sells 6" blast gates and efficient transition pieces.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Mark, John (Toolfool) embedded his 6-inch Dust Collection PVC in the slab but I remember one member building a raised floor (plywood on 2x8s) with the PVC installed below. Seems like a nice solution to avoid all the PVC hanging from the ceiling. Also lets you run the electrical to each machine when they aren't up against a wall.
Great ideas Bob and John. Having the exposed pipe is definitely not the best case scenario for a guy like me who likes clean installations but I dont have any other options. I dont have the head room to raise the floor so I will need to figure out how to make the exposed piping look as clean as possible. The wood shop is on an outside wall where I have my air compressor and a few a/C units. My plan is to mount the dust collection under this outside roof. This will keep the noise of the motor outside and will make it easier to service. I just so happened to have a 60 amp extra plug out there I installed when I built the garage so I also have power. Its just a matter of cutting a 7" diameter hole in the side of my garage to get the pipe inside.
I spent most of today assembling the saw. Assembly is part of the fun so I didnt try to work to quick so I could enjoy it as much as possible. Tomorrow I should be able to try it out.
I spent most of today assembling the saw. Assembly is part of the fun so I didnt try to work to quick so I could enjoy it as much as possible. Tomorrow I should be able to try it out.
Toolfool is correct about the duct sizing. Go as far as you can with 6” and avoid all those 90s with gentle sweeps. You’re shooting for maximum CFM and velocity both to get all the fine dust and large particles pulled out of the air and keep them from getting stuck in the system on the straightaways. There is a a lot to read about this subject but I think we can save you the hassle here.
Awesome saw by the way. I have seen that style with the dual blades. Just wow. You’re making me want to pony up for the sled for mine now.
Awesome saw by the way. I have seen that style with the dual blades. Just wow. You’re making me want to pony up for the sled for mine now.
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I appreciate all of the suggestions on the vacuum system. It is great to hear from you guys as it has helped me plan out the vacuum system. I was going back and forth between the 1.5hp and the 2hp 230 volt units and I decided on the bigger unit. I am really glad I did because if I put this unit outside its going to have a little more distance to travel than if I put it in the room. I just dont have the space and I dont want the noise in there along with everything else. I only have 9' ceiling in this room to I am going to have to keep the 6" pipe around the perimeter of the room.
Right off the bat my removable wall panel in the wood room wall came in handy because of the size of the saw. The tin has a door frame out of 2 x 4's and I just have to remove 6 three inch drywall screws. Luckily the saw was on a pallet because it is heavy particularly with the 5 hp motor. I spent a few days setting up the saw and I must admit I was happy with the parts install. In most cases nuts, bolts, washers, etc were already on many of the pieces that needed assembled so it saved a lot of time trying to figure out what goes where. I already has a 230 volt 50 amp plug in the room for a welder so I made an adapter cable to plug the saw in. The manufacturer makes a lockable roller dolly for this machine and I am trying to decide if I could make use of it in case I have some oversized material required the saw in a different position.
I have the formica and drawer hardware ordered for my cabinets. I plan on installing the Blum Metabox full extension drawer slides with the metal sides in all of the cabinets so I can pull out the drawers instead of dragging stuff off a a cabinet shelf. I decided to match the red bamboo mica I have on all of my other cabinets in the garage. I havnt decided on a countertop yet. I would love to have a stainless steel top but havnt decided what to do yet.
Right off the bat my removable wall panel in the wood room wall came in handy because of the size of the saw. The tin has a door frame out of 2 x 4's and I just have to remove 6 three inch drywall screws. Luckily the saw was on a pallet because it is heavy particularly with the 5 hp motor. I spent a few days setting up the saw and I must admit I was happy with the parts install. In most cases nuts, bolts, washers, etc were already on many of the pieces that needed assembled so it saved a lot of time trying to figure out what goes where. I already has a 230 volt 50 amp plug in the room for a welder so I made an adapter cable to plug the saw in. The manufacturer makes a lockable roller dolly for this machine and I am trying to decide if I could make use of it in case I have some oversized material required the saw in a different position.
I have the formica and drawer hardware ordered for my cabinets. I plan on installing the Blum Metabox full extension drawer slides with the metal sides in all of the cabinets so I can pull out the drawers instead of dragging stuff off a a cabinet shelf. I decided to match the red bamboo mica I have on all of my other cabinets in the garage. I havnt decided on a countertop yet. I would love to have a stainless steel top but havnt decided what to do yet.
oldironfarmer
Well-known member
Great installation for a wood shop!
I ran 6" galvanized HVAC thin wall pipe with 4" galvanized drops. It works very well but if I had it to do over again I would run 4" all the way to keep the velocity up since I never use two machines at once. I have a 2hp Grizzly cyclone with three four inch inlets. I only use two of them with the third plugged. I do have two trash can centrifugal separators (one is plenty) and they collect 90% of the chips.
I built an OSB box under each machine with a side outlet so big pieces and long slivers don't get into the ductwork and jamb up at bends. In four years I've had no plugging issues.
I ran 6" galvanized HVAC thin wall pipe with 4" galvanized drops. It works very well but if I had it to do over again I would run 4" all the way to keep the velocity up since I never use two machines at once. I have a 2hp Grizzly cyclone with three four inch inlets. I only use two of them with the third plugged. I do have two trash can centrifugal separators (one is plenty) and they collect 90% of the chips.
I built an OSB box under each machine with a side outlet so big pieces and long slivers don't get into the ductwork and jamb up at bends. In four years I've had no plugging issues.
Sounds like I got the identical unit to yours. Interesting point on the size of the pipe. I do not plan on running more than one machine at a time either and I have a pretty long run. I hooked my shop vacuum up to the blade guard dust attachment with only 7 feet of hose and I would have like to have seen more dust collected. I think they are delivering the band saw and dust collection unit on Tuesday so I will be ready to get everything installed.
bowtiguy
Well-known member
Mark, after all the amazing car builds that came out of that space, what do you plan to build out of wood......boats?
Toolfool
Well-known member
Here's where I found the most extensive information about 'dust' collection, not just 'chip' collection. Lots of info, but my health was worth the reading time. http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/ .
gilr
Well-known member
Hi Mark,
I've been following your thread for years and have enjoyed it immensely! For ideas on dust collection, check out the last few pages of the Lone Beech Garage thread:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298920
Scott has built a great garage and is now in the sett-up phase of his dust collection in his woodshop area. Just FYI, I wouldn't recommend PVC by itself as there is danger of sparks created in the dust causing a fire in the collection system. I have seen it used, but it is recommended to wrap a ground wire along the length of the pipe to help reduce that threat.
Hope this helps.
Gil
I've been following your thread for years and have enjoyed it immensely! For ideas on dust collection, check out the last few pages of the Lone Beech Garage thread:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298920
Scott has built a great garage and is now in the sett-up phase of his dust collection in his woodshop area. Just FYI, I wouldn't recommend PVC by itself as there is danger of sparks created in the dust causing a fire in the collection system. I have seen it used, but it is recommended to wrap a ground wire along the length of the pipe to help reduce that threat.
Hope this helps.
Gil
Ha ha..................no I am going to build cabinets for a new pantry we are adding on to the house. A company wanted $11,000 to build and install the cabinets so I figured I could by $7000 worth of wooding equipment and make my own
You know right now its just something to do and I will have fun doing it. My brother builds a lot of really interesting stuff and he doesnt have quite the tools I am getting or an air conditioned shop so I will let him use it too. Cool great I will look over the information. I really appreciate your sharing it. I want to have as clean a workspace as I possibly can.
Thank you very much for your kind words. I really want the final resting place for my dust collector to be outside. I will take a couple pictures soon but I have a few roofs in the back of the garage just outside the wood room and I want to hook it up there. I cant decided whether I want it to sit outside permanently or if I want to store the dust collector inside and then roll it outside and hook it up when I am using it.
BY THE WAY, I AM GETTING THE ITCH TO GET A CAR PROJECT GOING IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. PROBABLY A CORVETTE AND DEFINITELY A C2. GOING TO HAVE TO BREAK THIS TO THE WIFE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. i HAVE THE VAN TO DO BUT MAN I WANT A CORVETTE. The paint shop that is doing my van has been jerking me around and hasnt finished the final details on the final assembly. The last 3 weeks he has promised me to have it to me by friday and then doesnt. How can someone basically lie to someone with a smile on there face and all the sincerity in the world.
I have spent the last few days assembling equipment as I had a delivery on
Tuesday. I got my dust collection system and my band saw. I dont know what I was thinking but I got a 17" 230 volt 2 hp bandsaw..........LOL. Bigger is better right? Oh, the block in the background is a 1970 Challenger Cuda 440 block.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Mark, that looks like the ones we all have lying around.Oh, the block in the background is a 1970 Challenger Cuda 440 block.
rixtrix1
Well-known member
HAHA, Bob!
rixtrix1
Well-known member
Mark, I just caught up on the last few pages and it's good to hear, that despite all the changes in your recent life, you are back on track enjoying doing what you want to do!
One of these days I am going to sell it when I get time to clean it up.
Thank you! I have to keep myself occupied!
I have been acquiring more Dewalt cordless tools so I made this tool rack out of some birch plywood. It was my first job I did on my new table saw. I am going to put edge banding on it so it looks better.
Bighead38
Well-known member
Can’t set up a temporary paint booth and the garage and paint the van? That way you don’t have to deal with lying idiots.
Finally they came through and I did get the van today. I called at 1:00 and he said, "oh ya the van is done come and get it". I am thinking why would I have been called when it was finished but no worries.......its home now. I dont like looking at the van with the 15" cragar wheels on it. I will be immediately looking for suspension parts and new wheels to get the next phase of the project going. I am going to put either a coilover or air ride suspension on the van and lower it. For me I either have to have a lifted vehicle or a lowered one but definitely not stock.
I will get some pictures uploaded this weekend. I have literally been working my tail off in the garage. My big announcement is I just bought a 63 split window coupe this pst week. It is project car so I am really excited about this. I have got a concept in my mind already!! I am happy!!
Here is a picture of the split window I just purchased. As you can see it definitely is a project. It has a dash board, bumpers, inside and outside trim. The outside stainless steel moldings are selling for $12,000 so you want to make sure it comes with the car. I am thinking of doing a rendering for the build but havnt decided for sure yet. I am just happy the wife let this one slip by and allow me to get it. I have so many ideas in my head for this car I cant see straight.
This week the weather in Sarasota was gorgeous. One of the projects on my list was to repair the wall behind the garage. We have a 6 ft to 8ft precast wall panels that are 20' long around our entire property. I dont know if I have ever show this or not. A huge tree from the neighbors property fell and took out a 20' and a 7' section of this fence. I really couldnt decide how I want to do this. I didnt have enough room to bring a panel in around my garage so I would have to bring it in through some woods. I final decided to build it out of block because it was in the back corner of our property and I figured we could make it look like the existing fence. We used foam to make the band on the top because that was the easiest. I think by the time I paint it no one will know the difference.
bowtiguy
Well-known member
Glad to see you back! I was seriously wondering if we would ever hear from you again. Still sorry I didn’t get to meet you at the former shop when I was “in town” but I’m Glad to see you have a new project.
I hope you plan to keep this one. If so, build it however you want!!!! And take us along for the ride.
Toolfool
Well-known member
So, it's starting to look like you'll be competing with Don Long, Andy and Bob Heine for busiest retiree on GJ. 
(apologies if I missed anyone else I'm not familiar with)
(apologies if I missed anyone else I'm not familiar with)
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The plan is to keep it but who knows how i will feel when I am done. One of the guys who used to work for me has a 3d printer and some other goodies. We are talked about custom making the grill and some other parts. Exciting!!
So, it's starting to look like you'll be competing with Don Long, Andy and Bob Heine for busiest retiree on GJ.
(apologies if I missed anyone else I'm not familiar with)
Its Sunday and I am out here today. I work out here 7 days a week. I was wondering why I built such a big garage but I can tell you I am in hog heaven.
I will take some pictures of what I did last week and post them tonight!
The fence looks like its turning out nicely. Put the stucco on there and we'd never know. How's the woodshop coming along? Did you get your dust vac ducting going yet?
Looking forward to some pics of the van and watching the corvette's development.
Looking forward to some pics of the van and watching the corvette's development.
The fence looks like its turning out nicely. Put the stucco on there and we'd never know. How's the woodshop coming along? Did you get your dust vac ducting going yet?
Looking forward to some pics of the van and watching the corvette's development.
Agreed on the fence once its painted no one will know. I have my dust vac running with some temporary flexible hoses. Man does that vacuum make a difference as it catches most all of the dust from the table saw. I have the vacuum hooked up to the chop saw dust shute but alot of sawdust flies out on the top area. I guess I will need to get some kind of a catch shield with a vacuum attachment to collect more of the dust. I have decided to keep the dust vac inside the garage although not in the wood room more because of air conditioning concerns. If i had the dust vac outside it would **** alot of cold air outside and bring warm air in. At least if I keep it in the garage it will be recirculating the inside air. What I love about the dust vac is the remote control. I just clip it on a belt loop and when I use the saw I just push the button and it turns on and when I am finished I can shut it off. Saves the hassle of walking over to it each time.
I forgot to mention we poured 7 yards of concrete last week. It was 150 feet to the wall so I had to get a concrete pump. I could have moved the concrete in the bucket of the Bobcat but for $250 I decided the pump would be more efficient. I decided since I was pumping back there I would pour a slab behind the garage. It was gravel back there and although you cant see it from the front it was an eyesore to me. I had already built a roof in the back in case I needed to work outside in the shade. I dont know why I didnt do this before now. I am really happy with the concrete back there and it will force me not to use that space as a storage place for unneeded items. My new motto is if I dont need it I donate it or throw it in the trash.
