My 'Compliance Station'

[63ChevyII]

Thanks for the reply and taking the time to post some new pictures. If I figure out what the name of the 'skin' is, I'll be sure to post it.

From what I can tell, it looks like you used staples to secure it - is this correct?

 

[Sweet Old Bill]

I would suggest fixing that shelf to the base, you do live in earthquake country. If it did move, it would be far more of a problem than the time it would take to secure it.

Your garage is an impressive achievement. It reflects your thought and your efforts, as opposed to just a large purchase order.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jack Olsen]

From what I can tell, it looks like you used staples to secure it - is this correct?

No, I used self tapping screws. Lots of them, since it fought the curve more than I expected. Then I used adhesive on the inside do distribute the kick-back load as broadly as possible. Otherwise it might slowly tear itself loose over time.

Are you planning to do something similar?

I would suggest fixing that shelf to the base, you do live in earthquake country. If it did move, it would be far more of a problem than the time it would take to secure it.

You mean the piece of steel? I agree. My plan is to drill and tap it from underneath, and bolt it to the Strong Hold cabinet it's sitting on. I also want to tie some part of it to the wall studs, so the whole assembly doesn't jump anywhere if the ground starts shaking.

I keep meaning to get to that, which means the big one is probably going to hit this afternoon.

I have an old Hougen magnetic drill that I want to use to drill three or four holes to hold the vise in place. I also want to make an intermediate steel piece with different hole patterns on it so I can use the same holes I cut for the vise to secure benders and other stuff without having to perforate it more than necessary.

 

[SteveP]

That is like way cool!!!

 

[63ChevyII]

Are you planning to do something similar?

I'm hoping to do this as well as figure out how to enclose a few open shelves that I have. I found a link to an article on cabinet making in another thread that should also be helpful when I tackle this project:
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/17772/article17772.html

I was looking around the garage last night and decided there are a couple of things I should do first:

I have an engine swap to do on my car and lots of extra parts kicking around - extra engines (4), trannys (3), etc. I need to do the engine swap, get rid of the extra stuff I really don't need then figure out what I need for storage.

There is no ceiling in my garage. I'd like to close it of for both looks and to keep some of the heat upstairs (no insulation either). Then I'll paint the ceiling white and that should help brighten it up in there.


The problem is I don't feel like working on my car, and I'm very interesting in fixing up the garage!

 

[rustbucket49]

Jack, can I rent you out for a few weeks to come a "fix" my garage ??

I have built a cabinet w/ the sliding doors like yours, but mine are full cabinet boxes w/ shelves (which is a big pain in the rear). Looks like you just hung a couple of cleats on the sheetrock and used the sheetrock for the back of the cabinet ?? How long did it take you to build those ?

Did you install any shelves in those sliding door cabinets ? If so, I presume you just nailed in shelf supports??

 

[RobSmith]

G'day Jack
I've been watching your Garage set-up for a while now and I congradulate you for the commonsense approach to your garage arrangement, Damn good !
I love the benches, the Hammer cabinet, the welding bench..all is good. What is the unit above the porsche in the ceiling ? It's got pulleys so it lowers or tilts to some degree.

 

[iamironman]

Nice work space mang!

 

[Kjbakke2]

starsky say : i like your moves
hutch say: i like your style

 

[Jack Olsen]

I have built a cabinet w/ the sliding doors like yours, but mine are full cabinet boxes w/ shelves (which is a big pain in the rear). Looks like you just hung a couple of cleats on the sheetrock and used the sheetrock for the back of the cabinet ?? How long did it take you to build those?

I knew this storage would be for light and bulky items, so I didn't put in any shelves. I used some simple L-brackets to hang the uprights from the roof joists, and bridged some of the joists with a length of 2x2 where I couldn't tie in directly. My walls and ceiling are covered in 3/8" plywood, which gives me a little more flexibility than sheetrock. But this was quick-and-dirty work.

Did you install any shelves in those sliding door cabinets ? If so, I presume you just nailed in shelf supports??

No shelves in these, but this past week I built some similar cabinets on the back wall of the garage. With these, I was able to hang steel supports down from the center beam of the garage, use a heavy duty L-bracket to connect to the wall studs, and then also (literally) rest the base piece on top of some heavy-duty steel cabinets that I put in underneath. I only have a quick snapshot of the new work (since it's not done), but you can see some 3/4-depth shelves about half way up in the space. I did the same type of sliding doors. (You can't beat easy and cheap, and sliding doors are both.)

G'day Jack
I've been watching your Garage set-up for a while now and I congradulate you for the commonsense approach to your garage arrangement, Damn good !
I love the benches, the Hammer cabinet, the welding bench..all is good. What is the unit above the porsche in the ceiling ? It's got pulleys so it lowers or tilts to some degree.

I got three used steel tables cheap about a year ago. One of them became my fold-down welding table, and the other two were useful for supporting the jig for the wrought-iron fence I built for the front yard. I'm going to cut one of them up for scrap, but I just couldn't resist holding onto the other one as an additional work surface. I'm not at all thrilled with my storage solution for it, but until I improve it, that's a 200-pound table up there above the car. ( )

In this picture you can also see the old rear wall cabinets, which I just tore out.

The table support system uses six heavy eye bolts that go into the roof joists. It's raised and lowered by a permanently-installed electric hoist. I've got a redundant set of eye bolts that support the table when it's not being raised or lowered. There would have to be multiple simultaneous failures for it to come down. But my future plans are to (at least) connect three joists together with a piece of steel for supporting the eye bolts, and to maybe add a third layer of failure protection. Another part of me wants to either cut up the table for scrap or come up with a different place to store it. Something makes me a little queasy about storing something heavy along a ceiling. After all, it can't fall when it's already on the ground.

As an aside, moving the 510-pound top piece for the steel bench was a picnic compared to moving those 760-pound steel cabinets you can see underneath the new wood cabinets. I'll probably do a separate post on what was involved, but those suckers were very reluctant dance partners.

 

[rustbucket49]

Thanks Jack. I just have exposed studs in my cave. I am contemplating putting up sheetrock or plywood as I build cabinets and stuff. I have my work benches in, but may start over at some point.

Right now I just stand in the cave and stare - not really sure where to start. i finally got a table saw so the fabricating will be quicker going forward. I will probably start w/ the tall cabinet first to get some more storage space....

Great job on your cave - it definitely helps when someone else has pioneered first.

 

[studly_rsm]

Wow .Very nice work.I hate wood myself(if ya cut it to short ya can't weld it back together!! LOL)But it does have its place.You tied it all in very nicely.The heavy steel top will serve you for years to come and you will use it for things you never dreamed of.

 

[e-tek]

Jack - can you recall how much you paid for the metal slab? I can get stuff here for 30cents a pound, just wondering if that's too much. (WOuld have made your slab $150).
Thanks.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I paid $310 (although they gave me a future credit because of a cosmetic issue on it).

So to me, your price sounds great.

 

[Stargeezer]

Nice work there. Very well done.

 

[jocool1585]

That was a lot of trust in those CJ tailgate cables & hinges!

 

[Jack Olsen]

That was a lot of trust in those CJ tailgate cables & hinges!

Agreed. Probably too much. Although I think I had the 2"x4"x1/8" rectangular tubing resting on the bed of the Jeep, and not on the tailgate.

It was surprising how easy it was to move the steel (slowly, and with a rope controlling it) once it was rolling on the metal dowel rods.

Here's a more recent picture of the bench. You can see I have a deeper cabinet next to it now, and there's a little more space around it since I moved my wooden bench over for to make room for the tool chest:

 

[Loadre]

Loving the look of the stained wood jack.

 

[mechamunch]

Jack,

Always impressed with what you accomplish in what would otherwise be a tight space.