Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Nick's Two-Car Detached Vdub Garage

[nicholam77]

This weekend I attached the drawer face, drilled holes for the sink and faucet, and attached to the wall. Getting there!

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Overall I'm really happy with the look and size, and I think the natural maple looks really beautiful against the contemporary fixtures.

I am a bit disappointed in the Blum drawer slides and the front drawer face (it's slightly bowed). It makes the "Tip-On" push to open feature not very useable. The warping in the drawer face combined with the play in the drawer slides means you can't push near the top to open. And pushing towards the bottom by the actual drawer is too low for comfort now that it's mounted at it's actual height.

Here's a short video showing the drawer:

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Looking back, I probably didn't need to complicate it this much. I could have just done a door with euro hinges instead of a drawer and still had the same look. Or a door with a drawer inside, just not with the face of the cabinet attached as a false front. Or no drawer inside and just stored some towels on the bottom shelf. I think I wanted to pack as much functionality as I could into a small design, and was interested in the Tip-On feature from Blum. Seeing as it didn't work as well as I expected it kinda defeats the purpose of overcomplicating it, but that's okay.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

The bathroom is coming along really well! Great job. The floating vanity is really slick. Custom building it allowed you to make best use of the space for sure. Bummer about the drawer slide, though.

I may have missed it, but did you seal the wood with anything?

 

[nicholam77]

The bathroom is coming along really well! Great job. The floating vanity is really slick. Custom building it allowed you to make best use of the space for sure. Bummer about the drawer slide, though.

I may have missed it, but did you seal the wood with anything?

Thanks Mr. Roboto! Thanks for the kind words and I totally agree it was worth it to make the vanity. Although, while I'd like to do it again in the future, I'm not in a hurry to make another piece of "furniture". It's anxiety inducing, trying not to make an error on serious project! I could barely bring myself to cut out the holes in the top for the sink.



I have used "General Finishes High Performance Water-Based Topcoat" in semi-gloss to finish the cabinet. It gives a very natural look so I can see why in the pics you might not think I put anything on, but I have.

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5 coats on the top panel, 3 on the sides / inside / bottom / drawers, and 5 on the main cabinet drawer face.

I was recommended it by Rockler when I described the use scenario. They said it had high urethane content and was durable and "good stuff". Coincidentally I bought an unfinished console table at a furniture store about 5 years ago and when I asked for a recommendation of a non-yellowing finish they recommended the same. So I have used it before on several other projects including the fireplace mantel. Previously I had used the Satin flavor but thought Semi-Gloss would repel water and clean easier in a bathroom environment.

I really like the natural look when it comes to wood, so I wanted something that wouldn't yellow.

I know it won't be a perfect solution because wood in a bathroom never is, but fortunately the top surface isn't that exposed to standing water because the sink takes up most of it. I'm planning on being diligent of wiping up any standing water and hoping that will be enough.

Thanks for reading

 

[sawduststeve]

Good work Nick, looks great
Bet it's full up already.

Steve

 

[Homebody]

Thanks for the photo info Nick! Carry On!

 

[nicholam77]

Good work Nick, looks great
Bet it's full up already.

Steve

Thank you, Steve! Yes, I think it will have the capacity to store 1 toothbrush and 1 spare hand towel

Thanks for the photo info Nick! Carry On!

No problem

 

[nicholam77]

I did a little work for/in the actual garage this weekend.

Awhile ago I had posted a sketchup for a table saw cart with folding wings. The idea was it would be on castors and be able to store under my red Craftsman bench, providing extra outfeed and support when needed. It looked like this:

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After thinking about it more it seemed like a bit of wasted space, though. Why not leave the table saw in the cart all the time? But then what about the pull-out drawer I made for it?

Also, as I've been making more things, I decided I needed an assembly table, too. My current solution with the folding saw horses, doors, and jack stands works pretty well, but there are a couple annoyances:

1. Set up time. I have to unfold the saw horses, dig out the jack stands, carry the doors from the shed every time I want to use the table saw. And same for cleanup.

2. Because there are no miter slot extensions in the doors, whenever I use a crosscut sled it bumps into the top door and I have to take it off to make crosscuts. When it is full of other **** this becomes very annoying. I.e. I just ripped a bunch of boards which are sitting on the outfeed, and now to use the sled I not only have to remove the outfeed door slab but all of the wood and clamps, drills, whatever else may be on it at any given moment.

3. When using as an assembly table or work surface, stability is not great. And... clamping options are limited. Can only really clamp to the edges.

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So... knowing that my current setup is cumbersome and the aforementioned table saw cart won't "do it all", I came up with a different idea.

Essentially it's a mini Ron Paulk bench with 2x4 base on locking castors that's as big as will fit under the Craftsman bench. The top work surface will be 35" x 25". So, not huge, but decent clamping area. I would have liked to make it larger but I was determined that it could store in the garage and still get the cars in so I can just roll it out easily when needed. It will also have a fold up 'shelf' and collapsible legs that the table saw can sit on, turning it into an outfeed table without the need for a secondary table saw cart or stand. Or it can just be used on it's own.

This sketchup isn't finished but just to give you an idea:

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The Paulk-style cutouts will retain an aspect I like about the two door setup -- the ability to set small clamps, drills, etc in the cubby just underneath the work surface so you don't take up clamping space but still have the hand tools you're using close by.

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The top will have miter slot extensions for the table saw so I can use my crosscut sleds. And the top will be perforated with the 20mm dog hole system (like the MFT from Festool).

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I don't have any "Festools" of course and I know bench dogs aren't unique to them but I like the idea of them all being perfectly on center and square to one another for layout purposes. And I am intrigued by the short and tall "Parf dogs" as well was their auto-adjust quick clamp.

Obviously I didn't come up with these designs, but I think it will work well for me for the following reasons:

1. Can be used with or without table saw with no extra storage footprint

2. On castors and storable in garage

3. Easy to set up and break down

4. MDF construction and top can be replaced when worn

5. dog holes offer lots of clamping utility, including clamping other temporary surfaces (like a thin piece of melamine or laminated hardboard as a sacrificial glueing surface)

6. The Paulk top will be separable from base so I can take the Paulk portion inside the house in the winter, either set it on the floor or on some saw horses.

7. 2x4 base and weight of MDF will provide nice, sturdy, worksurface

So far this weekend I was able to cut the top and bottom to dimension, as well as all the sides:

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[Nineeightyone]

Nick, this looks great! I'm jealous of your woodworking ability, and your attention to detail is incredible.

I'm really interested in the mechanical end of things though -- How's the GTI been on maintenance, and how has work on it been ? I've got an '04 Jetta wagon up on jackstands right now waiting on a transmission, and a '10 Mazda 3 that serves as a daily and autocross car. GTIs are on my radar as another daily/fun car, depending on how bad upkeep is on it.

How do you like the Tekton torque wrench? I'm eyeing one up as a replacement for my $10 HF one, it's been good to me for a while but I'm starting to think an upgrade would be a good idea.

Oh and where did the tire rack come from? It seems to do a pretty good job of holding your wheels and tires up, and I've been looking for something to stash summer tires inside.

 

[nicholam77]

Nick, this looks great! I'm jealous of your woodworking ability, and your attention to detail is incredible.

I'm really interested in the mechanical end of things though -- How's the GTI been on maintenance, and how has work on it been ? I've got an '04 Jetta wagon up on jackstands right now waiting on a transmission, and a '10 Mazda 3 that serves as a daily and autocross car. GTIs are on my radar as another daily/fun car, depending on how bad upkeep is on it.

How do you like the Tekton torque wrench? I'm eyeing one up as a replacement for my $10 HF one, it's been good to me for a while but I'm starting to think an upgrade would be a good idea.

Oh and where did the tire rack come from? It seems to do a pretty good job of holding your wheels and tires up, and I've been looking for something to stash summer tires inside.

Nineeightyone, thank you.


The GTI

I haven't really had to do much maintenance on the GTI, but then again it's just a tick under 3 years old.

I had one issue which was a software glitch in the head unit which was replaced twice under warranty (the replacement was goofy too!) early on in ownership.

I also have a clicking noise when I make sharp turns at low speeds, but I have lowering springs on stock shocks and am sure it's related to the suspension somehow either strut mounts or end links or something like that. My own doing

Other than that all routine maintenance like oil changes, tire rotation, coolant top off, etc has been done by myself. It's very easy to do. I truly hate bringing my car into the dealer because I've had too many bad experiences over the years. Nobody gives your stuff the same care you would. At least that's been my experience. So, in that sense, so far the cost of maintenance has been only the price of oil, filters, and other replenishables, as well as my time.

As far as service I do everything by the book. I do oil changes twice as often as recommended (due to the low mileage I put on and harsh winters) with VW approved spec oil in the correct weight. And other services at the recommended intervals. A lot of people say German cars are unreliable but personally I think modern ones just need to be taken care of properly. A Camry might not give you grief if you abuse it as far as maintenance goes but a VW certainly will and I'm a huge believer in scheduled and preventative maintenance. Outside of that, there are lemons, and all cars will have mechanical breakdowns to a degree, but I don't have any worries with this car.

I've spent a lot of time on Mk7 forums, where most people are tuned and probably drive aggressively, go to the drag strip etc, and the turbo or engine failures I've seen have almost always been related to chip tuning. Outside of that, I think these cars are seen as quite reliable.

A couple things to consider -

- because of direct injection you may want to do carbon cleaning at or around every 50k

- if you ARE thinking of adding power and choose the manual transmission, you will likely need to upgrade the clutch as the pressure plate on these cars is weak

- if you choose manual transmission, the spreads between some of the gears is awkward. And overall the first few gears are tall. This drives me nuts and is something I wish I had known or paid attention to more on the test drive

- completely subjective, but again with the manual transmission, I find the clutch engagement to be mediocre. It doesn't have a great feel to me. Not as good as my Mk4 and other German cars I've driven (like BMW). You'll have to judge this for yourself.

- motor, trans, and dogbone mounts are weak and have a lot of play. All of these things can be fixed. But I replaced a fair amount of stock parts to get it feeling more like I would have expected it should.

Aside from those small gripes I LOVE the car and would definitely recommend it. It's comfortable, well-appointed, fast(ish), lots of torque, the turbo is fun, personally I think it has great looks and it is fun to drive.

If you do seriously end up considering the GTI and ever want more info feel free to PM me. I haven't done anything major like drop the trans, but I've done things here and there and have a lot to say about it if you can't tell

Tekton

It suits my needs, which is torquing lug bolts twice a year. The cursor on the scale for mine doesn't 100% align but being off by a few ft-lbs is no big deal for wheels. If you need a smaller one they have an inch-lbs version, too. I have no way to test it's accuracy, but it feels good and I like it for the money.

Tire Rack

The tire rack is from "Car Guys Garage", here is the link:

https://www.carguygarage.com/redwallmountedt.html

I really like it. It only comes in red, and it's big. But the price was great, and the powder coating looks fantastic. Once lag screwed to studs it is very sturdy.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Thanks Nick!

This is good to know about the GTI, I'd definitely buy a manual and I may shy away from a tune if they're known to cause some headaches. I'm definitely going to have to look into the tire rack, I was going to build one but I'm iffy about my carpentry skills compared to my expectations.

Keep up the great work!

 

[nicholam77]

Thanks Nick!

This is good to know about the GTI, I'd definitely buy a manual and I may shy away from a tune if they're known to cause some headaches. I'm definitely going to have to look into the tire rack, I was going to build one but I'm iffy about my carpentry skills compared to my expectations.

Keep up the great work!

No problem. I wouldn't necessarily shy away from a tune if you're comfortable with losing warranty, but the clutch is the main weak link to watch out for. But if you're comfortable swapping it out yourself you can upgrade the clutch fairly easily and fairly cheaply (definitely for less than choosing the DSG option). There are step-by-step instructions out there on the parts needed to swap out the pressure plate, friction disc, and new hardware from the Audi TTRS and retain the dual-mass flywheel for a very OEM setup that can handle much more torque. Another thing to point out is on new cars VW's warranty is very good these days (6 yr/72k miles bumper-to-bumper). So that might be a big perk/incentive not to mess with it as far as reliability is concerned.

Other than that most people don't have issues tuning, especially just stage 1. A simple stage 1 tune (and nothing else) yields a LOT of extra power and torque on this motor, though. Something like +90 hp +90 lb-ft. And it seems to be pretty reliable even with those numbers.

I've been running a Dinan piggyback module at +5 psi, supposedly gives +20 hp and +30 lb-ft at the wheels, for over half a year and no issues and no clutch clip yet.

Not sure if you're storing empty tires or with wheels too but I would probably buy vs. build on the tire rack especially at that price point. Wheels + tires can be a lot of weight and if building out of wood you would have to come up with something pretty beefy I would think.

 

[nicholam77]

Assembled the top last night:

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I went to the trouble of pocket-screwing everything (even made a Home Depot run for more screws), but when I tried to fasten them it busted the MDF a few times so I stopped and just glued and brad nailed instead.

I don't know if it was the 1/2 inch material or the MDF but the pocket screws didn't work well. I was using 1" softwood (coarse thread) screws. Maybe I should have used 3/4" screws or fine thread screws, I don't know.

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Another mistake I made is cutting the top and bottom to size before assembling. It lined up good enough but not perfect. If I had left them 1/2" large on both dimensions I could have used a flush trim bit to flush them up with the sides perfectly.

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Here's an example of one possible clamping scenario and drill storage:

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I like it so far but now that it's assembled it seems pretty small. Will work ok for table saw outfeed I think, but wish it was larger for assembly / clamping. I was just thinking if I had to assemble this bench on a copy of itself, it would be trickier than the larger doors I have been using. Maybe there is a way to add a removable extension or some other fold up work surface elsewhere in the garage for larger projects.

Man, trying to make a woodworking setup in a small 2 car garages that you park in is tough!

Anyways, I'm looking forward to getting the dog holes drilled and a quick clamp in hand:

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That should really make clamping easy since you can clamp anywhere including the middle of the table.

 

[Finallygotit]

..........I went to the trouble of pocket-screwing everything (even made a Home Depot run for more screws), but when I tried to fasten them it busted the MDF a few times so I stopped and just glued and brad nailed instead.

I don't know if it was the 1/2 inch material or the MDF but the pocket screws didn't work well. I was using 1" softwood (coarse thread) screws. Maybe I should have used 3/4" screws or fine thread screws, I don't know........

In my experience with MDF, I found that drilling a clearance hole for the screw body and a pilot hole for the screw threads was required. If I didn't do that, the screw threads would just expand the MDF and destroy it. It sounds like you got part of the way there with the pocket hole jig. Might try to drill a pilot hole next time.


HTH


YMMV

 

[nicholam77]

In my experience with MDF, I found that drilling a clearance hole for the screw body and a pilot hole for the screw threads was required. If I didn't do that, the screw threads would just expand the MDF and destroy it. It sounds like you got part of the way there with the pocket hole jig. Might try to drill a pilot hole next time.


HTH


YMMV

That makes sense, thanks for the tip.

Sounds like pocket screws might not be the best joinery method for MDF, then. I've just gotten accustomed to using them for everything

I bet biscuits and glue would work well, but I don't have a plate joiner... yet. We'll see. I was hoping to make some painted bookshelves out of MDF for the house eventually.

Nice work on your remodels, btw (I just spun through your thread).

 

[Finallygotit]

Be careful with the glue and MDF. Sometimes, if put on too liberally, the glue will absorb into the MDF making it swell more than you would like.

 

[nicholam77]

Was able to get most of the way on the assembly bench this weekend. I had to wait for some goodies / tools to show up:

- DeWalt plunge base (used on eBay)
- Bosch 20mm hinge boring router bit
- 1/2" to 10mm collet reducer for said bit
- MFT pegboard template from Woodrave on Etsy

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Essentially you screw this MDF template to the base of your plunge router, and it has 4 little pins that reference the holes in a sheet of 3/16 or 1/4 pegboard, thereby allowing you to consistently plunge holes 4" on center.

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It seemed to work well, but I'll have to see how square they are once I get some bench dogs.

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Drilling the holes I used the slowest setting on my router motor and took my time.

And here is the finished top:

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Then I built the base of the cart from 2x4's. I broke down the 2x4's to rough length (about 2" longer than final) with the chop saw. Using the fences and the saw's laser made this very quick to do.

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Then I cut the rounded edges off on the table saw to square them up, about an 1/8" on each side to a final width of 3 1/4". Lastly, I cut them to final length with the crosscut sled to get nice, clean cuts.

Then it was glued, brad nailed, and screwed together in a similar construction to the miter bench. Added some 4" locking casters from Home Depot.

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I haven't attached the top yet, but here is what it will look like:

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It just barely fits under my tool bench. Not more than 1/8" clearance on all sides.

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To finish it up I still need to:

- add folding shelf and legs for table saw
- route miter channel reliefs for table saw sled use
- add shelf to cart base
- route 1/8" round overs on the dog holes and table edges
- add protective finish to MDF
- was thinking of painting the cart base a color, maybe black?
- possible built-in clamp rack/storage for smaller clamps?

After seeing it together, it's fairly small, and I don't think it will replace the saw horses and doors setup for larger projects. But I am hoping for smaller quick cuts on the table saw, or smaller assemblies like drawer boxes etc, it will do just fine and be much faster to set up and put away.

 

[Mikkeli]

Just finished reading through your thread, great transformation in the garage

Your GTI is really nice looking. I also like your miter saw station and woodwork setup. In the future i'll add some woodwork functions to my Garage, at least miter saw station and MFT assembly table. So keep-up posting well-detailed posts about building assembly table and other future projects.

 

[RyanC-PNW]

Just went through the whole thread. Great work!
Nice to see someone else with a standard two car garage trying to get some use out of it. Makes it tough when you keep two cars in there.

 

[nicholam77]

Just finished reading through your thread, great transformation in the garage

Your GTI is really nice looking. I also like your miter saw station and woodwork setup. In the future i'll add some woodwork functions to my Garage, at least miter saw station and MFT assembly table. So keep-up posting well-detailed posts about building assembly table and other future projects.

Thanks!

I'll be following you're thread, too. You've got a pretty decent-sized space to work with. Do you park cars in there or will it be just a shop?

If I had to build the miter station again I think I'd do a few things differently. Starting with the saw. I think I'd try to fit a sliding 7 1/4" saw vs a fixed 10" saw. The thickest stock I ever cut are 2x material and the sliding feature would give me the ability to cut wider material and do "scoring" passes for cleaner cuts. Second, I'd reconsider how the fences are constructed. The Kreg Trak stop block system is fantastic, but unless you build the fences the absolute perfect height and perfectly square, as well as align perfectly square to the saw, it's difficult to get exact cuts. Even with a long straight edge I've had difficulty aligning them on the T-tracks. I'm not sure the solve for this but just something to consider. If I'm making anything I want to be super precise I always just break out the table saw and cross cut sleds instead.

I do like having it available, though. The two things it's great for are breaking down lumber to rough length, and cutting really long boards (like trim and baseboards) that would be way too long for the table saw.

While I haven't used the MFT-style table much yet, I just picked up a Festool quick-clamp and played with it a bit. I love it. With the exception of the small size (although you could make yours however big you want) it seems like it will be a very versatile and fast clamping station. I'll "review" more how it's working for me once I've used it a bit.

Just went through the whole thread. Great work!
Nice to see someone else with a standard two car garage trying to get some use out of it. Makes it tough when you keep two cars in there.

Thank you! Yeah it's tough with the cars, but for me that's still the main purpose of the garage, to protect them. The cars are much larger investments than anything else in the garage and I like keeping them as nice as possible, especially since we expect to keep them long term. It's also a must for me in Minnesota since there's nothing worse than scraping ice off in the morning for 45 minutes when it's 0 degrees out. Maybe a bit of an exaggeration but garaging the cars helps with comfort a lot in the winter.

 

[nicholam77]

This weekend I "finished" the MFT cart by adding the table saw platform. I put finished in quotes because it didn't turn out exactly how I had envisioned, and there's still little touches to do like 1/8 roundover on the dog holes and edges of the MDF.

I wanted the table saw platform to fold up from the side, but my calculations were off and the platform needed to be longer than the mounting point was off the floor to support the saw, meaning it would not be able to fold away without hitting the floor. The main concept behind the folding support was ease of setup and teardown, and compactness for storage.

Determined to make it work, I instead made triangular support arms for the platform with a french cleat on the back to hang on the cart.

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This worked, except that the bench side was not that much heavier than the table saw, and with the casters being the pivot point I was too worried that too much downward pressure on the saw and it would tip. Not a good situation when using a table saw!

So I added folding legs that lock open.

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It adds good support, but feels kind of redundant and not the most attractive. Kinda felt like I was frankensteining it at this point to get the job done and I was running out of scraps.

It does work, though.

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As you can see above, I left some dog hole positions blank near the saw because I was going to route reliefs / miter gauge extensions for the cross cut sleds. Well I realized that my larger sled would need the channel to go one dog hole further which I already drilled so they will intersect in a weird way. Would still be functional, but not look very good. Another case of poor planning.

On the upside, the table saw support somehow miraculously fits inside the cart even though I didn't measure it to be like that.

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This is awesome because I don't have an extra place to store it.

Lastly, here's a quick review of the setup:

Cons:

- My stupid floor is so cracked and uneven it makes it challenging to find a level area where the cart won't wobble. This was mitigated more with the longer sawhorse and doors setup.

- The cart could be larger / longer. Again this is a limitation of my space and how I've set it up with all the back wall space spoken for. But I can really see how awesome a larger Paulk / MFT bench would be

- Table saw platform is not as slick as it could have been


And to end on a positive note,

Pros

- I picked up a single Festool quick clamp and it works awesome

- This in combo with the dog holes and ability to clamp in the center of a worksurface is extremely handy. The quick clamp action makes it super easy to clamp almost anything, quickly. They are pricey but I think I will get 1 or 2 more

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- Continuing with the clamping benfits, it's easy to quickly build "clamping setups". Here's an example of using a positioning square and two straight boards to quickly make some 90 degree fences to assist in screwing some pocket screws

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- under work surface storage is great for drills, screw boxes, small clamps, etc. Pretty much essential with the small 25x35 table top

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All-in-all I think it will be great for most situations as long as I'm not building something really big. I am looking forward to adding some more accessories like bench dogs and more clamps.

 

[wasfast]

Just saying the word Festo costs you money

 

[nicholam77]

Just saying the word Festo costs you money

Ha! Yeah, their stuff is way too expensive for me.



I do however find the way their tools work together as "systems" and a lot of the dust collection, cord management, and tool storage solutions pretty cool. Dog holes are nothing new but the thought on how they are supposed to work with the MFT, precisely machined, to allow track saw use etc is pretty clever as well. Wood be great if some of the more economical tool manufacturers took a cue (like universally sized dust ports for example).

Fortunately it's possible to closely replicate a lot of the MFT ideas oneself, and a few quick clamps and bench dogs won't break the bank.

Speaking of Festool I've long liked the idea of systainers, and actually just ordered a few test boxes from Makita on Amazon. There's no way I can justify the cost of actual Tanos systainers, or even the Bosch/Sortimo L-boxx system, but if the Makita boxes seem decent I might get a few more to store specific items.

Being in a detached garage, I do a lot of moving tools back and forth from the house and the garage because I don't have duplicates. Maybe one day I will have a drill for the house and a drill for the garage but currently I'd rather invest in new tools I don't have at all, first. Often times I attempt the manly option of attempting to carry absolutely everything I need in one trip and either dropping something or crashing and stumbling through the door. I think a few interlocking boxes with dedicated purposes could be really nice for transport back and forth. I.e. grab the drill/driver box, the electrical box, the nail gun box, or all 3 at once.

P.S. cool guitars

 

[nicholam77]

Almost at the finish line. I got my mini-drawers mounted in the cabinet.

I attached them with a single drawer slide each, mounted on the underside.

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This... didn't work as well as planned, as there is wobble in a single slide. They are not meant for under mount use but I figured it would be fine operationally with not much of a load. This is true, but the play bothers me a bit.

Just another one of those things where hindsight is 20/20. Originally I was just going to have these drawers friction fit with no slides, but that didn't work out the way I built it, and the way I built the support there wasn't room for drawer slides on the sides of the drawers. I guess I could have, and probably should have, rebuilt the support entirely with a new plan in mind, but to be honest I just didn't feel like re-doing it.

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I was also able to hang the floating shelves I bought:

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Originally I was going to make these... but they were worth the money. I wouldn't have done as nice a job, it would have taken me a long time, and at this point I really just want to be done. They look great and the grain matches the grain I selected for the fascia panels on the cabinet really well, too.

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It's really hard to take good pictures of the space due to the lighting. Once it's fully finished I'll try to take some more accurate "glamour" pics with a DSLR.

Other than that I still need to hang a hand towel bar, build the small floating cube, design and order the glass shelf bridge, and install under cabinet LED lighting.

Other than that it's currently functional. The shower works great although the splash guard could stand to be a little longer. Oh well.

 

[nicholam77]

Hey everyone,

I haven't updated for a while because my wife and I just had our first kid. Needless to say that's been where my focus is and all projects have fallen by the wayside.

It was one of the main reasons behind the main floor and bathroom rat race. It took up my whole summer, but it was worth it to have re-vamped floors and trim to be able to create a nursery space that we enjoy spending time in, for example.

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It's still a work-in-progress but we've been spending a lot of time on the main floor of the house where a lot of the "improvements" have taken place, and it's nice to be able to just enjoy the space not and be working on it.

I have had 4 weeks off of work, so I have been able to accomplish a few things during nap times.

First up my wife had me replace a light fixture in our master bedroom. When I removed the old one I found that the box was not mounted flush with the drywall.

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Why must everything in this house be weird / wonky. So I replaced it with a low profile 0.5 inch ceiling fan box so the fixture canopy would fit.

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Second, I winter prepped the GTI. Wash, clay, and seal, as well as installed some yellow lamin-x fog light covers. I never thought I'd be into that look, but it does provide extra visibility in inclement weather and add some visual interest to the front end I suppose...

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This is what came of the lower 1/3rd of one door panel alone:

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Yuck.

Also swapped over to winter wheels and tires, and sprayed Fluid Film on the underbody for rust prevention.

Next up I've had a Nest Hello video doorbell waiting around to get installed for months that I got a great deal on from eBay. Problem is, it needs to be hardwired, and my house didn't have a doorbell. Well, after I opened the wall up I did find low voltage wiring, but it was dead-ended and couldn't find a chime or transformer anywhere. So I piggybacked a new transformer off the light switch box and ran new wiring for a chime. I put the transformer in the wall because I wasn't able to pull the low voltage wire anywhere else like the attic. To make it serviceable I installed it behind a drywall access panel. Of course, all this meant making holes in the drywall. I must be some sort of masochist.

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I also had to drill out to the exterior for the actual doorbell.

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Time to patch it up. I used plywood and pocket screws to make some bracing:

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Stuffed insulation back in, added a vapor barrier, and then screws. Many of them.

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Living in MN with the temperature extremes, I've found my patch jobs are likely to crack, so experience has tought me the less it's able to move, the better.

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After everything was up and running, I was quite impressed with the Nest's video quality. The HDR works amazing and the exposure and feild of view is better than my Amcrest camera. They are kind of pointed in opposited directions but here's a comparison at how much better the Nest is:

Amcrest

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Nest

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The Nest retains highlights much better and night vision is much better. If anyone is looking for a good smart doorbell cam, I can definitely recommend the image quality. I won't turn this post into a Nest review, but if anyone has questions about it I'd be happy to share my opinions. I enjoy the whole smart home arena.

 

[Ronin22]

I'm a sucker for smart home stuff, good job!

BTW, your winter wheels are BBS?

 

[Mikkeli]

Congratulations to your wife and to you! Is it a boy or a girl?

I have multiple IP cameras waiting for time to install. Cameras should cover both the detached garage and house with attached garage (home theater).

 

[nicholam77]

I'm a sucker for smart home stuff, good job!

BTW, your winter wheels are BBS?

Thanks! Yeah, me too. I'm not crazy deep in it, but probably have 25-30 Z-Wave and Zigbee devices managed by Samsung SmartThings, a Philips Hue Hub, Logitech Harmony Hub, PLEX server, an Echo Dot, a Sonos One, Nest Thermostat / Protect / Hello Doorbell, SmartThings Homebridge integration for easy control of Z-Wave devices through HomeKit, and custom "3rd Party" WebCore automation for SmartThings. Most of it has to do with lighting, climate control, and security. I'm pretty big on the automation aspect, as in having things happen conveniently and automatically, vs. just using your phone to control stuff. In fact the less I have to go into apps or talk to a voice assistant, the better.

The BBS are my summer wheels . I took that pic before the swap. The winters I have are some cheap Audi Rotor replicas. Stinks that I can only run the BBS part of the year but we have awful winters here and I don't want to ruin them.

Congratulations to your wife and to you! Is it a boy or a girl?

I have multiple IP cameras waiting for time to install. Cameras should cover both the detached garage and house with attached garage (home theater).

Thank you! It's a girl! We are thrilled.

Yeah, I think traditional IP cams, preferably POE, are the way to go for security / surveillance. At least the smart camera products I'm familiar with in the US tend to all record to "the cloud" and come with pricey subscriptions and un-needed features. I'd much rather keep my data local when possible. The Nest doorbell works really well for it's specific use case but i don't think I would invest in their other cameras for general security, because of the cloud thing and they are way more expensive than IP cams.

Btw, your home theater looks pretty sweet! Nice job! I've always wanted one as well (who doesn't?!) but I don't think I'll be able to dedicate whole room to it in our current house.

 

[TX4runner]

Congrats on the addition to the family. Had been missing the regular updates.

 

[sawduststeve]

Congratulations Nick, she'll be your best days work, ever.
Our little one just turned nine , in a blink of an eye.
Enjoy every minute, time speeds up from now on.

Great work on the house and car, next time you're in the neighbourhood feel free to winterise my VW.

Best wishes to you all.
Steve.

 

[nicholam77]

Congratulations Nick, she'll be your best days work, ever.
Our little one just turned nine , in a blink of an eye.
Enjoy every minute, time speeds up from now on.

Great work on the house and car, next time you're in the neighbourhood feel free to winterise my VW.

Best wishes to you all.
Steve.

Thanks, Steve! Great advice and I don't doubt it, I already can't believe 4 weeks have gone by!

Congrats on the addition to the family. Had been missing the regular updates.

Thanks! I will undoubtedly be slowing down a bit, and plus winter is always a bit of a hard season to be out working in freezing temps in an unheated space. But... I do have more things planned and intend on continuing to update the thread, so keep checking in from time to time if you feel like it!

My next "small" project is actually a picture frame for a piece of art I picked up a while back. It's a fairly large print, about 28x40 inches. Pre-built frames are so expensive for that large of a size and I've never made a frame before so I thought I would give it a go.

To do so I made a miter attachment for my larger crosscut sled. I re-checked the square on the crosscut sled and using the 5-cut method it was off by about 7/1000ths of an inch over a length of 10 inches. Instead of fiddle with the fence, I'm calling that good enough. It is just wood after all

Since I didn't want to make a whole separate miter sled to store, I made an "attachment" that just sits in the crosscut sled. Got the instructions and idea from this William Ng video on YouTube:

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The downside is you have to hold it in place with your hands, as well as the work piece.

Here's mine:

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I made it out of 3/4" MDF. Another downside I found is it's not tall enough to cut two sides of a frame stacked together. Because parallel sides need to be the exact same length, I think it would be better to cut them at the same time.

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Another thing I'm finding is my MFT cart is not playing nice with the table saw. The table saw support is just not sturdy enough and a pain to level on my cracked floors. The dust collection port on the saw is blocked. And the work surface interferes with the cross cut sleds. I also wish as an assembly table the whole thing was larger. I think I am going to re-think it eventually. I do like the "Paulk" cutouts for storing tools under the work surface, though.

Nevertheless I made a test picture frame out of red oak just to see how well the miters lined up. Just dry-fitting using some blue painter's tape as a "clamp" it turned out pretty good!

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Since my actual frame will be so large, I'm going to do splined miters, so I also started building a jig for that. Don't have pics but it's not done yet anyways. If anyone's curious it's based on this one:

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I also bought the wood for it. Frame will be aspen since it's light colored and light weight and relatively cheap and has a uniform grain. I wanted a natural look and wasn't sure what to do. I like the way maple looks a lot but after working with it on the vanity I was worried about warping and also inserting the backing points into such a hard wood. Splines will be walnut for a contrasting look. Hopefully it works okay. I'm kind of still experimenting and learning with this whole woodworking thing.

Probably won't get to making it for a bit, but I'll post updates when I can.

 

[nicholam77]

Hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving. I had Thursday and Friday off work, so amongst all the Family and Baby time, I found a few hours to continue the picture frame.

I first ripped an aspen 1x6 board into .75" x 1.25" strips, and then made a .25" x 1" rabbet on the table saw. Cut the pieces to rough length on the miter saw.

Used the crosscut sled with 45 degree attachment to cut the miters. The overall frame is roughly 30" x 40", so pretty large, and my jig doesn't use any stops for repeatable cuts, so I eyeballed and freehanded it. Turned out just fine.

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Then I ran it through the splined miter jig on the table saw.

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The blade height is easy to set visually.

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I was using a low kerf blade for some reason, so it was smaller than the 1/8" walnut splines I was going to use.

My method to get the splines to fit was to measure the thickness of the spline with a caliper. It came out to slightly less than 1/8". Then make a kerf with my table saw blade and measure the inside of the kerf with the caliper. Then I subtracted the kerf from the actual thickness of the spline material, and that is how much I need to move the fence over after the first pass.

So I ran all 4 corners through once, first:

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The jig just slides along the locked off rip fence.

Then I positioned the caliper in a zero'd position on the surface and up against the rip fence, unlocked the fence, and gently tapped until I had moved it over the appropriate amount.

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Then I ran all 4 corners through again.

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Side note: in the above pic you can see some of the Mak Pak stackable toolboxes I ordered to test. They say "licensed by Tanos" on them and seem to be a direct copy of the original side lock systainers. I'll do a better review later, but for the money compared to actual Tanos they seem pretty decent and I like the concept a lot.

With the slots cut I inserted the strips of walnut for the splines. The fit was VERY tight. So my measuring method seemed to work but with hardly any room to spare. This is good, but also was difficult to get them in all the way.

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After they dried I flush cut the outside pieces off with a Japanese pull saw.

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An example of why my assembly cart isn't quite big enough!

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Then I sanded everything with an orbital sander to 220 grit. Picked up a new DeWalt 5" orbital sander to do this. Previously had a smaller sheet sander. The orbital sander is so much easier to change pads, and the dust collection is excellent even without a shop vac.

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A better look at one of the splines:

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A note about the aspen wood for the frame -- I would not use it again. It's too soft. I got it for the look and the price and because my local big box store had it in stock, but next time I think I'll try birch or maple.

Got Xmas lights on the house, too

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That's it for now

 

[nicholam77]

Found time to finish the picture frame.

Cutting the plexiglass was much trickier than I expected.

All-in-all for my first frame I'm happy with how it came together. Definitely made some mistakes, but it'll do!

For finish I used General Finishes high performance water-based polyurethane in satin -- same as the bathroom vanity -- for a very flat and natural look.

Hard to accurately capture with the lighting situation, but here are a few pictures of the finished piece:

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I love the way the splines turned out, they are a cool detail.

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[nicholam77]

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Hmmm, what could this large box be?

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I've admired these bubble lamps for quite awhile, but never had a space to put one, not to mention they are expensive. I figured the living room was whipped into good enough shape at this point where it could be justified. There are no wired overhead lights in my living room, so currently I have 3 lamps going, in the corners, with Philips Hue bulbs to tie them together. Two have open top shades and one is the little anglepoise desk lamp that is more of a "down light" / task light.

We get a lot of natural light during the day from the bay window, but in the evenings the lamps get us by just barely. They light the space, but cast some shadows on the white walls which feel a little harsh to me, so I keep them at roughly half brightness.

I've always liked lighting and think it's an important part of making or breaking a space's ambience and comfort. My hope is this saucer will give off more soft, diffuse light in the evenings and help fill in the spots the lamps aren't hitting. As well as be a cool, design-y focal point to the room.

Unfortunately this means I've created more work for myself since I'll need to add a box in the ceiling and a switch on the wall. I scoped out the attic crawl space and I should be able to work up there. Right now it's just hanging from an eye hook to test how it feels and looks. Because it's a fairly large pendant (10" x 25") and I only have 8 foot ceilings, it's definitely in the way and you have to walk around it. I don't feel like that's a huge deal, but part of me wonders if we'll absentmindedly bump our heads on it. I feel like I fought this on the bathroom remodel a lot... design/aesthetics vs. practicality in everyday usage.



So is it a stupid idea? I don't know, but for now I'm thinking I'm going to proceed with it.

 

[nicholam77]

New Years Update:

I had a fair amount of days off work around the holidays, but most of it was spent with family and taking care of the baby. I did manage to accomplish two things, though.

First, a couple weeks ago I clipped the passenger mirror on my wife's CX-5 on the way out the garage.

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Whoopsie!

It busted the housing and cover, but the glass and blinker seemed to be okay.

A quick google search of the parts and I was looking at around $200 for OEM motor housing and paint-matched cap parts from an online wholesaler.

I figured the dealer would replace everything (glass w/blind spot monitoring is $80, and turn signal ~$50). With dealer parts markup plus 2 hours of labor I figured this was quickly adding up to be a $600 repair.

So I bought the parts I thought I needed and decided to do it myself. Thanks to YouTube and the Internet Age, I was able to source some videos and manuals to help guide me. All-in-all it wasn't that hard.

Pop off some screws and trim pieces here and there:

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I find these non-marring trim tools super handy when removing plastic trim pieces:

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Popped the door card off. Only broke 3 out of 12 clips

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Some hex bolts to detach the mirror housing, and unbuckling some wire harnesses. It's funny how wire harnesses can be so tricky when you can't get a good view on how they unbuckle, but afterwards so obvious.

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Using the MFT cart as a tool stand:

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New mirror housing on and wired. Transferred the original turn signal over.

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Door card and glass back on and we're all done!

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Only took me about 3 hours from start to finish, taking my time.

Second project -- I started on the living room light installation. To run the wire I had to access the attic crawl space.

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Because of how it's oriented I wasn't able to locate the exact spot the light should be from above, so I decided to drill from below. Unsure how much drywall/insulation/wood I might go through I brought out the big boy:

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Then I stuck one of those yard marker sticks up through so I could see it from the attic. To attach the box I made a brace out of plywood and pocket-screwed it to the joists.

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Then there are some plywood spacers between the box and brace that allow wire to come up through the top of the box while still attaching it to the brace. Here I am screwing down through the brace into the plywood spacers (which you can't see):

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Quick aside, my wife got me that Bosch PS22 brushless pocket driver in the above photo for Xmas. It's awesome. I wanted something light weight for wood-working and around the house to drill and drive anything but construction tasks. It has a quick-change collet so any hex bit can quickly be swapped.

Back down below I traced the box, cut it out, and screwed it in. Here you can see the spacers it's screwed into:

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Lastly, got to use my new Knipex lineman's pliers (also an Xmas gift) for the first time. These things are awesome! Cutter is so sharp.

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Through all this I managed to not fall through the ceiling, which is always a good thing. So now the light is mounted. Just need to wire nut the connections together and tap into power in the attic. That will be saved for another time.

Also picked up a SYS-1 Toolbox for around-the-house duties. I was originally put off by the price of systainers for what they are, but I am starting to see the appeal. I may have to get a few in the future for specific use-cases. I'll say one thing -- it is awesome to be able to load a MakPac box up with tools from the garage, easily carry to the house, and then clip the toolbox to it when done for the day and stash away out of sight. I know the wife appreciates not having tools strewn all over the floor for days during an ongoing task. And with the baby, this is even more important because tasks take 5x as long and are done in short bursts!

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That's it for now, thanks for reading. Hope everyone had a great holiday and new year.

 

[sawduststeve]

Nick, nice work with the car and ceiling lamp.
We lived in a bungalow before we moved to where we are now, and it certainly helps not
having to pull up carpets and floor boards. Looks like a good job well done.

I'm sure you had a merry christmas with the little one, so, a happy new year to the three of you.

Steve

 

[Trapps]

Your craftsmanship is something to aspire to! The fact you're doing these projects on a small portable table saw makes it even more impressive.

 

[wasfast]

Good job on all the details. One option you may have been able to use is a ceiling fan brace. You can install them from the room side without going in the attic aside from pulling the wire.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerc...n-Brace-with-1-1-2-in-Box-CMB150-OB/205383178
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RACO-RE...-2-1-8-in-Deep-with-1-2-in-KO-s-937/203743172

 

[nicholam77]

Nick, nice work with the car and ceiling lamp.
We lived in a bungalow before we moved to where we are now, and it certainly helps not
having to pull up carpets and floor boards. Looks like a good job well done.

I'm sure you had a merry christmas with the little one, so, a happy new year to the three of you.

Steve

Thanks, Steve! Yes, we had a good christmas. Hope you did as well!

The floor is probably the most effort I've put into anything so far, and not a task I'd want to repeat. But I am glad to have it out of the way as I think it looks much better.

Your craftsmanship is something to aspire to! The fact you're doing these projects on a small portable table saw makes it even more impressive.

Wow, thanks for the kind words! I do have plans to make some furniture for the house eventually, something a little more interesting than baseboard and trim, haha. But that probably won't be for a bit.

The jobsite saw is my favorite tool, and I make any cut I can on it. The miter station cannot produce square cuts or repeatable angles. Part of it is the saw and part of it is the way I have it set up. But for anything that needs accuracy I always go to the table saw. For the price, I've been really impressed. The DeWalt rack and pinion fence system works very well.

But there are some downsides. I've taken a caliper to the miter slots and they are wider at the beginning and end than the middle. I feel like the table is not perfectly flat. The insert plate is mediocre. The included miter gauge is a joke. And the the size of the table is small. This is especially noticeable on the infeed -- I wish there was more support.

The crosscut sleds have made it a lot more useable, but even they have their limits depending on the size of the board or panel.

I'd love a full-size stationary saw but I just don't have room without giving up a parking spot which I'm not willing to do in Minnesota.

But for my needs I think it's completely sufficient and I plan to add a few more items like a zero clearance insert plate, some custom push sticks, featherboards, and a good miter gauge (probably Incra).

And maybe if I complete a few furniture projects successfully... a track saw for larger sheet goods. But I can't justify that at the moment.

Good job on all the details. One option you may have been able to use is a ceiling fan brace. You can install them from the room side without going in the attic aside from pulling the wire.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerc...n-Brace-with-1-1-2-in-Box-CMB150-OB/205383178
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RACO-RE...-2-1-8-in-Deep-with-1-2-in-KO-s-937/203743172

Ah, interesting, I did not know about those. Yes, that would have solved my problem as I was confused at how to attach the box from the top without blocking the knockouts. My plywood rig feels solid, and the lamp doesn't weigh very much, but your solution definitely would have been easier and less trips to the attic and garage.

 

[Jo3l]

And with the baby, this is even more important because tasks take 5x as long and are done in short bursts!

Haha, Amen!

 

[Unruh]

I have a 3 year old and a 7 month old. I find that having a clean garage helps so much. I have to plan out my projects in order to get the most out of my now limited time. I seem to get a lot more done now that my garage more organized.

Nick, I really enjoyed your thread! Your projects show a lot of forethought and great follow through. Keep the updates coming.