Mopar / Wood Shop Cave

[PLOWJEEP]

Thanks, I have often wondered if you could use Pex for air lines. Nice job on the installation . I will be subscribing . Sorry if you have already posted this , but where did you source the Milton couplers. I have been using NAPA brand couplers, and I haven't had very good luck.
My parents always drove Crysler products while I was growing up in the sixties and seventies. If you would have only known.
Good luck, thanks for sharing , Brian

 

[moparfreak]

Thanks, I have often wondered if you could use Pex for air lines. Nice job on the installation . I will be subscribing . Sorry if you have already posted this , but where did you source the Milton couplers. I have been using NAPA brand couplers, and I haven't had very good luck.
My parents always drove Crysler products while I was growing up in the sixties and seventies. If you would have only known.
Good luck, thanks for sharing , Brian

Those Miltons are so nice, highly recommended. They really have good fitment and action on how they connect and disconnect. Honestly now I just have no interest in going back to standard run of the mill stuff. After some light searching around, as well as some tips here on the forum, I went to JBTools as my source for the individual Milton fittings I need for my system. For shipping cost reasons, it's obviously best to be able to bunch it up into one order. Honestly not sure I've really ever seen the Miltons on sale at any of the local hardware stores, which makes it inconvenient if you just need 1 or 2...

Can't wait till I can convert it to 100% mopar garage and get rid of the Mazda for a new chally. But gotta finish paying off the student loans first...

 

[moparfreak]

Got the air nailers put up. Just high enough I won't hit w/ my head, and cleared up the shelf below my assembly table....next up is a similar hanging rack for my Ryobi cordless nailers. I like the Ryobis more for being able to travel around with and in the house, but I find those air nailers still more enjoyable to use when the project is in the shop where I have easy access to air since they are less bulky and lighter.

 

[moparfreak]

Wow, not much time spent on the shop again this month. But, last night I finally knocked out the other half of the nailer storage. I really love the Ryobi AirStrikes. I have three of them (16G, 18G, Stapler) and I plan to get the 23G pinner as well, so I wanted to make the same overhead easy to reach hanging storage like I did w/ the air nailers. The Ryobis are pretty bulky and each of them shaped a bit different, so instead of hooks, I decided to use the existing belt hook that is on each of the nailers. Fortunately the same hook piece is used on each one. I got two pieces of flat steel bar and used the same basic attachment method as the other storage rack. I think it came out pretty good.







Next onto the last workbench and hose reel and then I'll be done with this compressed air project and moving onto different things...

 

[drivesitfar]

MF: great job organizing more stuff in your shop. Since I love my Ryobi 18v tools now that their batteries hold a charge how do you like your nailers cause i've never owned or used one?

keep up the great work!!

 

[moparfreak]

The Ryobi nailers are darn awesome. They are one of the first consumer level battery operated ones (not counting the rather expensive paslodes and hitachis and sencos that had been out for a long time for construction trades that cost $300+ per nailer). Ryobis in general are quite affordable and perform well for what you pay, it's no surprise that all the other tool companies have come out with their own versions (Milwaukee, Dewalt, Porter Cable, etc).

I can also tell you that the way these nailers use the batteries, even the smallest battery lasts an awful long time, it's not a continuous use application so they go several projects before needing a recharge. Highly recommended.

I guess my only complaint is they are bulkier and heavier, and probably a bit more so than the newer dewalt. But, then again I'm not invested in the dewalt cordless system so that line doesn't make sense for me.

 

[moparfreak]

ahhh,,,getting closer. put the main drop in that serves my long corner workbench. Only one more to feed a reel that is to be installed at the rear of the shop....

Split off from the main 3/4" line running up ahead:


Was able to anchor the fittings up underneath the workbench itself, with easy access to the air gun w/ coil hose, plus an outlet if I want to connect a larger ID hose for a grinder or sander.


I'm happy w/ this, one more drop left then time to test.

 

[moparfreak]

What a joy, I can finally the compressed air lines are done! I finished up the last hose reel on the south end, where it can reach most places in the shop as well as go outside if needed:



Then I plugged at the north / south transition and air tested the north end. All good, no leaks, held pressure totally fine. Across what is probably a hundred or so connections, the PEX just holds up solid and consistent. All my threaded connections were good as well.



So, all in all, a lot of slow tedious work but pretty easy to install. Most of it was just working it around existing stuff on the walls and ceiling. Easy to get the parts, probably have about $400 invested in the entire thing for a 1300 sqft shop, including air fittings and hose reels and the cooler & hoses for the compressor. Not bad! Now onto the next shop improvement project which will be getting my oxy-ac torch set up, and the MIG welder back up and running....

 

[drivesitfar]

MOPAR: VERY WELL DONE and I for one am JEALOUS!!

 

[shortykorte]

Looks good. You going to be in the Tallahassee area soon? LOL.

 

[moparfreak]

Lol, thank you! My goal is by the end of the summer to be in shape to start actually working on the Charger. A couple steps I have in front of that:

1) Get a bottle of gas for the Lincoln welder, build a proper weld cart (so many ideas on this forum, I've got to study)

2) Get bottles for the Oxy-acet torch, build a wooden rolling cart for it (already have some ideas on that)

3) Cut & re-frame some attic rafter openings (old to new attic transition) to free up space for storage of car parts upstairs when I start tearing the charger apart.

 

[moparfreak]

It has been awhile....

I sidetracked from shop projects and did a nice windowseat bench for our family room. Turned out nice, I think. Great for storage, now we have something that actually fits all the kids different board games and puzzles and stuff.

I modeled it up in SketchUp which really helped the process along. Required more front-end time but well worth it as I really didn't have to do much "design as I go" or "Fix this stupid design mistake" during the build itself...

The real thing:

Next I'm making a shop jig. My wife / daughter want me to build a couple frames for hanging up some pictures / prints that we have, and I thought it was time to improve my process & skills by making a jig designed for frame construction, and for making things more repeatable than doing multiple setups on a miter saw.

I'm following this basic method from "Make Something" channel on YouTube, a great resource:

https://www.makesomething.tv/tutorials/making-ultimate-picture-frame-sled

So far so good, got the base cut & aligning to 45 degrees to the blade:

Secured to the miter saw rails:

And finally getting the aluminum fence / ruler cut and ready to install:

Hope to get this one knocked out by end of the weekend.

 

[shortykorte]

Nice bench. The frame jig looks s interesting.

 

[moparfreak]

Continuing on the frame jig, it's come together nicely.

Here setting up to make the stop block, with the groove to fit in against the ruler:

Here's the finished piece:

Using it on the saw, it's just one setup, and nice tight miters! This way I'm also not flipping the miter saw back and forth between two 45 deg set points and introducing possibility for small errors each time. Also guarantees that the two opposing sides are of perfectly equal length.

To help with assembly of the frames, I took a page out of a Family Handyman article and made a few of these:

Also to help 90 degree panel glue-ups, I found some cheap right angle brackets that were 3/4" wide so they fit 1x material perfectly, and made up some right angle clamping block aids.

These should come in handy. I've found that an effective way to improve the result of WW and general shop projects is to use smart jigs and fixtures to help the work produced be accurate and repeatable. Hopefully these help....

Next up once I finish the couple picture frames is a welding cart and some general things to prepare for the Charger restoration project! To be continued...

 

[drivesitfar]

MF: great looking shop. I hope you find good storage locations for all your cool new jigs and stuff.

keep up the great work and hope to see more pictures and good write ups as often as you can.

how's all the air pressure hoses working and are the locations working out where you put them?

 

[moparfreak]

Drives,
The PEX airlines are working out great. I love having access to compressed air at pretty much all of my most commonly used workstations. The one I use the most happens to be the drop I have hanging over the tablesaw / assembly benches. It's where I do most of my work. It's also made it much more convenient to use my air nailers. I have a few of the Ryobi 18V nailers and they are awesome. But, they are also heavier, and using them a lot can get fatiguing, whereas the air nailers are rather light and nice to use for bigger projects that are being assembled in the shop.

 

[1/2 Cup]

moparfreak luv your work..

 

[Jim 68 cuda]

Great Mopar shop. Love the red stripe. I painted red Mopar stripes in my new garage too. I did a 68 Barracuda stripe, 68 bumble bee stripe and a 70 GTX stripe.

 

[moparfreak]

Great Mopar shop. Love the red stripe. I painted red Mopar stripes in my new garage too. I did a 68 Barracuda stripe, 68 bumble bee stripe and a 70 GTX stripe.

Jim,

That Mopar decor is freakin' awesome. Where / how did you get / do the emblems and the big barracuda graphic on the back wall?

 

[moparfreak]

moparfreak luv your work..

Thanks, I've long admired your shop and projects! I'm not sure I've achieved "shed" status yet, but it's something to aspire to!

 

[moparfreak]

The clamp blocks worked out nicely for gluing up the miter joint as well, which has always been tricky for me. Took about 5 minutes to make from scraps but much recommended, I'll be making another set.

Next, onto mounting an electric lift motor on the header beam above the Charger....

 

[Jim 68 cuda]

Jim,

That Mopar decor is freakin' awesome. Where / how did you get / do the emblems and the big barracuda graphic on the back wall?

Thanks. The emblems are metal signs I found in the Classic Industries Mopar Catalog. The Barracuda fastback on the wall is a self adhesive wall decal that I found on Amazon. Its available in several sizes and colors. With a little searching, you may find something similar that matches your Charger.

 

[moparfreak]

With the frames done, spent a bit more busytime in the shop, and made progress on a few things....

First, I'm starting to look into a socket storage method. There are so many versions to be found on GJ. I always gravitated to the version with foam, where folks would get the Kaizen foam and cut out what they needed, getting a perfect fit. But, for a large collection of sockets that's just way too expensive for my tastes. Kaizen foam to fill up my collection could easily get up to a couple hundred $$. So, I've done a little experiment with simply using insulated foam sheets, the polystyrene used in construction. Then, to be able to make a nice, perfect & clean cut for the various shapes needed, I set up my dremel with a plunge base that I had gotten with a gift card to Lee Valley.



I had a collection of small bits that fit the dremel perfectly and are basically like tiny endmills. I'm sure these would snap off in metal or even wood but in a soft material like polystyrene it's just perfect. I don't even remember where I got this, it was years ago.



So I tried out just tracing a shape I wanted in some scrap foam and cutting it free-hand. Wow, super easy and excellent control. This is almost as easy as it would be buying the Kaizen foam and using an exacto knife to cut out the shapes.



Nice snug fit, easy to dial it in.


More to come on this, as I gear up to apply this technique to all my sockets and ratchets.

 

[moparfreak]

Next I took some time to get my wrenches a bit more orderly. This is what they started with, basically 4 drawers of this:

My shop OCD raged every time I opened the drawer. No more. I am a fan of having things out that can be seen, so I decided to put my wrenches up on a nearby pegboard above the socket cabinet:

Then used the solid 12ga wire + broom handle method and wound up some holders for my other different wrench sets and organized two more drawers. Much better!

 

[moparfreak]

Finally I've started working on tidying up a shop utility cart that I throw my most commonly used hand tool items for various projects. A while ago I came across this little small 3 tier cart from Menards that rolls quite well and is small, and I found it works better than bigger carts. It's plastic so needs reinforcing in certain areas with I have no problem doing with assorted scraps.

I put one of my Milwaukee shop vacs on it, and have started building up the stuff it holds. Here how it's started, pretty much just a mess:




Then Ive started adding various containers, hooks and little blocks of wood to hold things in place here and there, and it's a great deal better. I've got some more ideas for storing things on this that I'll post later on. But, even now it's way more functional and easy to use.

 

[shortykorte]

Jim Cuda, nice shop and cool idea on the emblems. I guess the signs were trimmed to the emblem border.

MF I like how the frame jig came out. See a various uses for that.
On the frame clamping, my Family Handyman square is base on placing square on the inside. Looks kinda like a stealth bomber. Has the same cutouts for placing clamps. Down side is frame has to be bigger that 12”. Could have a small set also.

Cart looks good. Where’d the plastic caddy on top come from?

p.s. you need more wrenches. lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[moparfreak]

Jim Cuda, nice shop and cool idea on the emblems. I guess the signs were trimmed to the emblem border.

MF I like how the frame jig came out. See a various uses for that.
On the frame clamping, my Family Handyman square is base on placing square on the inside. Looks kinda like a stealth bomber. Has the same cutouts for placing clamps. Down side is frame has to be bigger that 12”. Could have a small set also.

Cart looks good. Where’d the plastic caddy on top come from?

p.s. you need more wrenches. lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oddly enough I think that yellow caddy came from Aldi, you know that store where they sell cheapo tools and car mats right next to fruits and vegetables?

Kept it on my workbench for awhile but it's got a rather large footprint and was using too much workspace, but for this cart it's rather well suited.

Yes I think it's safe to say I do not plan to ever buy wrenches again (but really I'm gonna get some more next week...)

As far as the miter clamp, are you referring to something like this?

What I've found is that the outside clamp blocks if you can't get a good tight clamp onto the legs, then when you clamp across the diagonals, it makes them slide towards each other and counteracts what you're trying to do with pulling the joint in tight together. The one above might work a bit better, and also easy enough to make with a piece of scrap wood.

 

[shortykorte]

Here they are in action. They’re made out of MDF. Pretty easy to make.

I saw a version similar that has a hole in it so you can clamp closer to the corner. I need to do this to mine.


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[moparfreak]

Ah very nice. I might have to make myself a set of those and see how they work. Looks like they are around 12" on the long edges?

 

[moparfreak]

Not much shop time this weekend unfortunately, but did get a few minutes to try out an idea that popped into my head last week. I ordered one of those hat hanging straps that they sell for your closet. It's got a piece of webbing with adjustable position clips. I figured that would be perfect for quick and easy grabbing of my various pairs of work gloves.

It was about $12 on amazon, and I think a good repurposing.

Used a hook magnet I had laying around to secure it to a spot in the middle of the shop, easy to access.

 

[moparfreak]

When I redid my wrenches a few weeks back I took these out of a drawer. I believe they were originally from HF, a decent set of allens. Decided to make a quick holder out of scrap. I messed around with a few different ways of doing it but ultimately decided on a simple board w/ appropriate sized holes for a nice tight fit of the handles.





Turned out pretty well I think...

 

[moparfreak]

Been sidetracked for awhile again. Finished up baseboard in our family room, and also getting ready for a family trip to FL. However, in the meantime, I've decided to start putzing around with the socket storage idea with foam. Got a single sheet of 2" foam, which should be more than enough for my entire socket storage strategy, and only cost about $20.....plus lots of time.

Started with layout. To be honest just deciding how to arrange things is what takes the longest. The actual routing of the holes goes pretty fast. Establishing grid-lines and layout marks makes it go much easier.




I like to rout the holes and get the layout the way I want, then use the TS to trim the overall block to just the right size and shape. The other nice thing about this is since I'm using 2" foam, its quite sturdy on its own and so I can make the blocks in sections rather than having to incorporate everything into one big wide sheet, which means if I make mistakes and have to re-do a set it's all good.



Got my 1/4" drive stuff pretty much set.




Next on the right side of this drawer I'm going to put my socket bits (allens, torx, etc). First step for me is to set up the holder for the 6" long allen sockets that I have. To save space I want these standing proud, and in order for them to fit in the drawer, it means basically boring a thru-hole all the way to the drawer. Found a forstner bit that fit the socket perfect and did it on the drill-press.




Worked out well, and they don't wiggle at all when the drawer is opened or closed. Also can put this in the back so that I don't bump into them reaching for other sockets.


Next I'll be laying out another piece or two for the rest of my socket bits, and that will complete this drawer. Then it'll be the 3/8" drive stuff.

 

[shortykorte]

Looks like the 2” foam sheet would be nice to have around. Use to hold tools and bits and as filler blocks behind drawer trays.
Question on your pex connection with the regulator/filter. Did you screw in the pipe to pex fitting in the regulator first then insert/crimp the pex?


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[Jyzze]

There is lots of good ideas in your shop.

 

[moparfreak]

Shorty,
Yes, in all of the cases I would install the PEX-to-pipe threaded fitting first (usually in a vise, where I could get a lot of installation torque onto the fitting to ensure seal), then I'd mount it to the wall, then I'd slide the PEX onto the barb and crimp it.

Finished up the bit sockets, lots of room to grow too. Since a lot of these sockets used the same size base socket, I actually used forstner bits for most of these which made things go a bit quicker.




Next I'll gather up the 3/8 sockets and setup a grid-work for the next drawer below.

 

[drivesitfar]

MF: thanks for sharing some good storage/organizing ideas. looks like your shop is getting more usable every time I stop by to see what you've been up to.

keep up the great work!!

 

[Unruh]

Really great read. I use a very similar approach with my organization as in I find something I like and modify it to work for my needs. You are very creative that way.

 

[moparfreak]

Thanks guys. Just got back from a trip to Orlando & Disney World w/ the family (thanks to GJ for suggestions in the Free Parking section). Great / exhausting time and everyone's seeming to bounce back into routine pretty well also. With that big trip (and expense) behind me I'm already planning my next projects:

- Finish up the sockets (to satisfy my OCD)
- Frame up a pass-thru opening in the attic for storage of larger car parts
- Build a welder cart
- Get things planned and on track for starting up on the Charger!!

This Sunday I'm taking my two boys to my SFIL's house out in the sticks and spending a day there, where we'll all work together to fabricate a cart for my welder. I've kept it on a cheapo HF cart for awhile but I haven't welded in a few years so before I get ready to work on my car I'd like a bit of a practice run. Here's my crude sketch:

The other nice thing is that my SFIL has enough scrap steel & assorted materials to build the whole thing. Probably at least a couple hundred in steel tube, angle & sheet. Hope to capture enough pics to document the process!

 

[turbowoodworker]

I think I bumped into you in the Space Mountain line. Disney wasn't as crowded as I expected, but still bad. Went to Universal two days. Way shorter lines.

 

[moparfreak]

Disney was cool, but yes it is a day largely spent navigating & waiting in lines. Star Wars park has me pretty excited, so we leave open the possibility of coming back in a couple years once its finished and hitting up the parks we didn't get a chance to see, such as Universal, Animal Kingdom & waterparks. Overall tho for my 5 yr old daughter who is herself a princess, it really felt magical so job #1 accomplished in my mind.