My Single Dutch Delight

[thomfr]

Very nice cabinet!
I store these boxes in a far lazier way.. Yes, they are standing sideways..
Thom

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

Very nice cabinet!
I store these boxes in a far lazier way.. Yes, they are standing sideways..
Thom

I more or less did the same and tried different storage trays before these. Since I'm really focussing on organizing the shop I just did a searcn on this forum and went all in. I'm happy I did as it really adds to the enjoyment of working on basically anything. I just walk in the shop and get the tools I need to get stuff done.

Next up was lights. We've gone for 3-4 years with a single bulb in the garage. I recently started organizing the wiring and got the garage done now. The single bulb is replaced by six LED spots, as walking lights. That was a major improvement but not enough to really start working there. I bought some LED strips about three years ago but never got to it. This was the next box to get rid of.

Sunken LED strips in the wooden beams of the roof:

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Light from all directions and very space efficient. It's about 16500 lumens in a relatively small space. Very happy about it.

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[thetastelingers]

Let there be light!

 

[littlebean]

subbed - all looks great, you're one talented guy

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

Let there be light!

There sure is. It's awsome although I haven't used it much yet. I did start a mini-project on the E30. Getting a new fuel tank ready.

subbed - all looks great, you're one talented guy

Thanks! I really appreciate that! Don't expect many updates though as I'm very inconsistent with posting.

As for updates, I did a lot but don't have much to show . However for the regulars on this forum: The chickens can soon be in the coop.

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I'm now an expert on chicken dens. We will have fresh eggs tasting like heaven purely based on their happyness living in the den I've built for them.

As for smaller but worthy additions to the garage content: I've modified one of our living room lamps that broke and was about to be tossed as a light for the benchtop drill.

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[tig]

Wait. How have I not seen this thread before?

I assume you know Ivo. I'm in NL 2-3 times a year (without COVID) and am always looking for car/garage nuts to have a beer with. Where in the country are you located?

I really appreciate your diagraming!

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

To be honest I've never met Ivo. He lives up north I'm down south all the way on the other side of the country near Eindhoven. I guess it's only about 100 miles but in some way our paths have never crossed yet.

Both the E12 and the E30 are in storage so I don't work on them much, but either way I've never been part of the BMW scene here. I just tincker a bit on my own and never seem to get up to the speed most of the garagejournal guys move at. Trees grow faster than I tick off projects and I have way too many hobbies and projects. This thread makes that obvious: it's a bit boring.... but you're welcome to tag along and I'm honored that somehow I've sparked some interest at your side. I'm a dedicated follower of your adventures .

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

It's a daily routine to check in on the projects and adventures of the members I follow around here and I thought I'd better give some back by updating here.

On a sudden wave of Covid19 lock-away fever I got in tough with a friend of mine to plan a weekend out doors. So we decided to climb the Gross Glockner, Austria's highest mountain. I took Friday off, drove 1000km got up at 4.00 am on Saterday. Got to the summit at lunch and back to a mountain hut. So 2000m elevation, >1000m back down. That was a long day. Walked the remaining 1000m back down on sunday and drove 1000km back home.

It was awsome!

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At dawn halfway up the mountain. I could shoot a picture with a potato (which I did) and still like it. With the clouds in the valley and the first ray of light on one of the surrounding peaks.

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Near the summit the line converges to a single person. It got messy with a lot of low experience climbers and guides pushing them over their limits. Saw some dangerous things there and luckily nothing happened but I'm not going back there on days like these. I even had one using the rope between me and my partner to hold their balance. That's crazy as you can easily pull any of us from the mountain with stunts like that. It wouldn't save them either...

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Back down from the valley. Perfect weather!

Back home I've started again on the moped, with mad respect for Gregor and his flat tracker project. I'm moving much slower but loving the trip down memory lane as this bike has been a major turning point in my life. It got me into mechanics and tought me many life skills. I've held these parts in my hands dozens of times getting it running perfectly. I'm thoroughly enjoying this. Being able to build it like I've always imagined it, finaly having the budget, skills and much of the tools to do so. Most people will find it odd working on a moped at 38 but to me it's coming full cirkel 23 years after I started on it.

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It's rediculous how much attention it needs. I thought it was in decent shape but going over it I see I gave it a pretty hard beating and time was not gentle on it too.

 

[Huxley]

Very cool. Thanks for the update.

 

[xtremek]

That's some crazy stuff you encountered while climbing. Mountains aren't for someone to jump into the deep end to see if they can handle it. But the scooter looks like fun.

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

I've always hated the look of the original rear. I know it's period correct having a bulky rear light etc. Twenty years ago I just took as much off as I could and added a small battery powered bicycle rear light to one of the shocks. It always bothered me that I ended up with a fender full of holes so it was time to get that sorted. I bought a blank front fender and tried to get that to fit:

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You can see both on the bench here. I like the picture as it shows the cleaned bench and also the natural light since I finaly ditched the fire hazard curtains from the precious owners and added aluminium shutters which can be fully opened giving me perfect light and a great view of the rear garden.

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My first go on metal shaping. I needed three mounting plates.

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I know the welding can be much improved but it's been eight years since I've done some aluminium which I never did much. I need to add a lot of hours so I'm slowly working on the other half of the shop to get a welding table setup there. That should really help to get more use of the limited time I have available. Efficiency is key here!

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I'm pretty happy with the result. I know it can be better but for tackling quite few newish skills I'm okay with the outcome. Atleast it looks a lot better than it did with the original fender.

 

[xtremek]

Yes, we've seen better welds, but we've all seen a lot worse. And the welds look like they'll hold up very nicely.

 

[meathooker]

Not sure how I’ve missed the thread after all of these years. Great stuff! It’s always fun to read things from other parts of the world.

Not sure about others but I always get somber when I see old 1/2 cup posts.

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

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Polishing with a machine is so much nicer than by hand. I instantly got flashbacks when I thought about the polishing I'd done 20 years ago. I had sore fingers for days (maybe weeks). And now it looks beter than it ever did.

 

[shopnut]

 

[xtremek]

............Not sure about others but I always get somber when I see old 1/2 cup posts.

Every time I see his 'emblem, I think of how much he added to our world.

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Polishing with a machine is so much nicer than by hand. I instantly got flashbacks when I thought about the polishing I'd done 20 years ago. I had sore fingers for days (maybe weeks). And now it looks better than it ever did.

That's a really nice polishing job. My fingers ache thinking about all the polishing I did. What did you use to do that polishing?

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

Merry Christmas

Thanks Shopnut! I really appreciate that. I hope you had wonderfull days as well.

That's a really nice polishing job. My fingers ache thinking about all the polishing I did. What did you use to do that polishing?

I purchased a polishing kit: 100mm buff-set with three compounds. It was quite nice. Ment to be mounted on a regular drill with high rpm. I spend maybe a couple of hours going through the different cuts. It felt effortless and painless in maybe 5% of the time opposed to polishing by hand. I felt so grown-up.

A dedicated buffing machine would make it even better but I just clamped a drill in a vise and put a ******** the trigger. You can't push too hard as the drill is not ment for radial forces. For the amount of polishing I do I can't justify buying a dedicated polisher let alone clear the space for it in my tiny garage. However I did search for one ofcourse.

 

[shopnut]

I have a feeling that moped is going to be fabulous when finished. It will be fun to see it advance through the stages of restoration. Keep the pictures coming!

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

I have a feeling that moped is going to be fabulous when finished. It will be fun to see it advance through the stages of restoration. Keep the pictures coming!

Me too if it ever gets finished I got so distracted again….

We're currently in the second hard lock down which means I now have three jobs: teaching 3rd grade and teaching 5th grade while simultaniously doing my regular 9 to 5 job. And the biggest issue is that the gym is closed so no way to blow-off steam. Not that I would be able to go there anyway as my wife is working long hours. So this was the last push I needed to clear the attic and button up the boulder cave:

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It's a 60 degree overhang so very steep, which has a lot of advantages. You need to work hard to move up so the kids don't make much height before they get exhausted en fall off. I was a bit worried it was too steep but actually it's very usefull as a short session will get the fore arm pump going very fast.

The kids love it!

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Home school led to an easy wood working project together with the kids. Finishing the chicken den with a nesting box.

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Then it got cold and I tore down the lowered sealing in the workshop to check the insulation. I discovered one beam was partially eaten by bugs and insulation has different meanings to different people.

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It's now properly insulated with 9cm PIR and air tight. I also painted the beams black because Gregor says beams should be black.

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Some plywood sheats on the wall and the frame for the knock-off bench top mill I bought years ago. Which I mostlikely will sell again and replace by a bridgeport because….. just because…. I don't need it, is expensive and I don't have room for it.

Then there were a lot of other jobs in between because everything is expensive to have done and I have the tools to do it myself. I do want that moped done! I want to enjoy it when this corona thing is less of an issue.

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

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Small steps but the benchtop mill is operational again. It's not powerfull or rigid in any way however fine for aluminium and small stuff.

I've replaced the single glass window with tripple glazing. Took me about a week with a couple of hours here and there between home schooling and working from home. Only the outside of the window frame is left but I can't do that untill the new wall cladding arrives somewhere in April.

 

[old-air-performance]

Good stuff!
i love the ss50 build, i bet it will look awesome when finished.

I also started with a small benchtop mill, it sure is better than no mill.
It works pretty good when you take small cuts, but it takes a lot of time milling in steel.

Toon