My modest dream come true

[Ak Jim]

Nice shop! Do you have any projects planned in there?

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Nice shop! Do you have any projects planned in there?

Nothing major. Just maintenance and whatever comes my way. Just finished upgrading an exhaust yesterday. Having the lift was an game changer.

My wife eventually wants to restore a pickup truck from the 50s. So we will see how that develops. I may try my hand at flipping 'mechanic specials' for a little play money.

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Ok. Just finished putting the 'cherry on the sundae' on. A mini split with heat and A/C.

I ended up going with a MrCool 36k BTU gen3. They recently released a gen4, so the gen3s were slightly discounted. Some rough calculations showed the payback on the improved efficiency was like 5 yrs down the road or longer. So it distance make sense.

I was torn between the 24k and 36k. The 24k has a higher efficiency but more importantly provides heat down to -10F ambient , if i remember right. And the 36k only provides heat down to 5F ambient. Also the 24k was slightly undersized. So we will see if made the right decision.

Also the mrcool kit was the only system that warrantied DIY installations. All the others did not (even though their marketing would indicate otherwise). If you read the fine print DIY installation is fine but you must have a licensed technician pull vacuum. So just a watchout.

The kit seems relatively well sorted here is my review of it:
- I couldn't immediately find anywhere that showed how long the included line set was. I thought it was 16ft since the manual did call out a 16ft condensate drain line included. Turns out it was 25ft, and I had planned for a 16ft installation/location. So for a cleaner installation, ordering a new 16ft line set was the way to go ($260). I really wish the kit had a line set option selection when you order it. 25ft or 16ft.
You can certainly coil up the excess line as seen in many installations, I also noticed many people coil the excess line vertically, which you aren't supposed to do as the oil/lubricant pools in the low spot.
- Ordering the new line set also became a necessity as we rolled up the 25ft line set to store it we kinked it. It was our first look at just how easy it would be to kink the line, and how much of a nightmare that 90 deg sharp bend will be. More on this later.
- The MrCool Llne set cover is a bit of a rip-off IMO. $160 for a 12ft kit....the included line set is 25ft. So I'd have to spend $300+ on flimsy plastic for a clean install? I realize some folks have the line in a hidden spot. (wall), but dang man. Felt like another nickel-and-dime situation.
- The various controllers don't interact. You have a thermostat, a remote, and can also access controls via the app. If I set my temp on the remote to 78, the mini-split reacts and all that, but the app and the thermostat still show whatever their last setting was. So they don't really update/talk to eachother. A little annoying.
- Another thing that was a slight annoyance (not an issue with MrCool's design). The wall bracket rails were just slightly narrower than the stamped feet. So the condenser would not sit flat on the bars. So I ended up getting some 1/2" aluminum rectangles to bolt between them, also give enough place for the isolators to press on. I wasn't so sure the isolators were needed on a wall mount, but the bracket came with isolators so I figured I'd use them.

Line bending. I was freaking out about the 90 Deg bend. Some things that do make things easier, in general. The lines coming out of the indoor unit are covered with a spring of sorts, helps the tube keep its shape. So when you bend the line coming out of the building that wasn't too bad. Also the ends of the line set have like a spiral finish, which are designed to help you bend those sections easily. But if you have to bend the middle section of the copper tubing there is no assistance there.

Luckily we had the 25ft section of line set that was unusable to practice on. Looked up a bunch of youtube videos, tried just about everything. Bend slowly and progressively with your thumbs....kink. Bend over a quart sized can of paint.....kink. Bend it over your knee.....kink. The only thin we found that actually worked (and we didn't need), was 1/2" conduit bender actually works for the 5/8" copper. It actually did a pretty good job on our test bend.

However, in the end we saw that the natural bend of the rolled up conduit almost made the 90 Deg bend. So we lightly threaded the ends into the fittings and started to unwind. when we got to the 90Deg bend we just had to help it a bit and we were good to go.

This is my first mini split installation, I'm not an expert, so maybe what I'm sharing is 'duh' but still wanted to share what I learned, in case it may help others.

The unit cools great. I was worried about the noise the outdoor unit might make since its about 60ft from our bedroom window. And even on turbo mode the out door unit is barely audible at 10ft. The amount of condensate that flows out is incredible. its a steady stream, and could easily fill a water bottle in a few minutes.

At some point before winter I plan to make a small removable roof (that meets all the requirements to not impede air flow, to keep ice from forming on the condenser. Last year we got a few ice storms so I think it will be nice to have. Not sure if I'll leave it on year round or just put it up when we're expecting ice.

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Well I've run into a small-ish issue that I wanted to document in here in case anyone is thinking about these buildings. The man door that comes with these, are not great quality. I went to the hardware store looking for a door I could just slide in. The rough opening would be 35.5" x 82", nothing like that out there.

If I could change anything:
a) I would have sized the door opening for whatever size door i could get from the hardware store.
b) if I couldn't do a), I could pretty easily move the support post to widen it for a door. After i've finished it, its more of a pain in the ****.
c) Likely just go with a smaller door and shim it?

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Landed a brand new electric heater from FB marketplace. Its a 10,000 watt. It will only be used on the COLDEST days when the mini split can't keep up.

I wasnt sure of a good place to mount it. I knew I wanted it further from the wall/ceiling than the included mount extra safety/buffer against fire. I also wanted to be able to spin it depending on where I was in the shop. But it was about perfect where I wanted it. The brace is held in with 8 screws total. I reinforced the back a bit as well. For good measure I put a 3/8" threaded rivet nut into the main 12 gauge tubing for the safety chain.

The ceiling mount used is rated for 66lbs, the heater is 39lbs. So there is a bit of a safety margin there.

Its not wired yet, ill get to that later but i did want to get it mounted up.

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Been looking for the right deal on a trans jack and finally found one. I almost got a jegs 2 stage jack or equivalent, but wanted something sturdy and aomething i could get a rebuild kit for. Also, the foot lift/drop is nice to free up my hands.

These seem to be hard to come by since they are what I'd consider a 'lifetime tool'. Many of them are absolutely trashed. This should be good for a bunch of stuff: transmissions/fuel tanks/etc.

 

[BertoBuckeye]

So ive been doing some low profile tire swaps with the tire machine since every tire shop in toen is downright shameful. Wanted to get the Atlas branded pneumatic assist arm, but price increased from $900 to $1300 .

So i found a universal one on amazon for $350. Worth the gamble. The seller explained that they didn't have a pin that fit my machine, but it was the right length. So I had it turned down from 35mm to 20mm which was the size of the bolt for my machine.

Tried it out today on some 55 series tires for my daily and it worked great. Should make jobs way easier.

I want to add some detail for others that might benefit from this.
Tire changer: Atlas TC-221 (I think others share a very similar design, like 228)
Pneumatic Assist Arm: Gdrasuya10 Left Arm Assist

Pin was originally 36mm and was turned down to 20mm

Amazon.com: Gdrasuya10 Tire Changer Machine Auxiliary Arm Tyre Wheel Changer Auxiliary Mounting Arm Φ75cm Air Cylinder 8p-10p Left Auxiliary Arm Car Wheel Balancer Tool : Automotive

Buy Gdrasuya10 Tire Changer Machine Auxiliary Arm Tyre Wheel Changer Auxiliary Mounting Arm Φ75cm Air Cylinder 8p-10p Left Auxiliary Arm Car Wheel Balancer Tool: Tire Repair Tools - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[dccd]

Hello! Came across your shop build. Looks awesome! Just curious - you mentioned that you might have brought the leg spacing in? Are they now 4’ on center or 5’ on center? Also, how did you plan your lift location? How has it worked for you? If it’s worked well in that location, would you mind sharing specs on placement from wall and door? One other thing - how thick did you pour your slab?
Thanks so much!

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Hello! Came across your shop build. Looks awesome! Just curious - you mentioned that you might have brought the leg spacing in? Are they now 4’ on center or 5’ on center? Also, how did you plan your lift location? How has it worked for you? If it’s worked well in that location, would you mind sharing specs on placement from wall and door? One other thing - how thick did you pour your slab?
Thanks so much!

- Default spacing on metal tube shops is 5' on center. When i ordered my building I designed it with 4' on center.
- I planned the center of the post 16ft from the door. Some crude calculations put it there. My original desire was to be able to put a quad cab long bed pick up on there and open the tailgate. Generally that works really well for several reasons. If I ever got a bigger truck, it'd fit. But also the posts are far enough forward that when I use the bay for parking, I don't have to worry about trying to squeeze out the door with the lift post there. My biggest gripe with the location is that if I want to park a car in front of the lift, when i put a second car on the lift I really have no space between them. If I could go back I'd space the lift 14' from the door. I could still have clearance for door opening for parking and get the truck on there (just not open the tailgate, which is a minimal concern now). Lateral location its just centered to the door.
- It's a 4" thick slab, but i poured 2 4'x4' squares with rebar where the posts were planned for the lift, it was 8" thick there.

 

[BertoBuckeye]

Fun little project today. A friend came over to get some help mounting tires. It was a bigger truck wheel/tire. I had to cone it from the front. But the hub was pretty thin so the cone bottomed out before it was snug.

I was able to quick design a custom spacer to put on the balancer and it worked really well. Nice when 2 hobbies combine to make something work.

Note: CAD is not a strong point for me so anytime I can learn a new skill with a simple design is a good opportunity.

 

[BertoBuckeye]

OK small upgrade is in progress. As some of you know the hyperlight LED high bay lights are fairly common but the glare can be pretty bad. Unfortunately, hyperlite wants almost as much as the light itself costs for their diffusers. I decided it was time to make my own. They are a very simple design. They are long enough that if I'm under the next closest light (10 ft away), I still can't see the lighting element directly. Using some #4 sheet metal screws they went into existing holes pretty easily. PETG material should handle the temps pretty well. I checked the cooling fins with a temp gun after several hours of being on and they were 43*C, so we should be good to go.

Thingiverse Link