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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Kay, you know we are all just playing, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a woman.

Nines I think Tampa has a thread for that! :evil:

My Brother is feeling like ****, so we are going to regroup on Thursday. That means I get to work at the shop tomorrow. I am kind of glad as I have a few things I can do outside before it snows.
 

kaymccampbell

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If I took offense to every silly thing said about women, I'd have packed up and got off this forum long ago.
I've worked in male dominated trades all my life. Trading needles is part of the game. And it takes a LOT to piss me off or run home to cry.
The pair of you just tickled me with your comments, so I figured I needle you a bit. All in good fun!
Friends again?
 

nine4gmc

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Yes, please don't take offense to my comment, my mom taught me to respect women but my dad taught me to be a smart ***. No harm meant! [emoji481]

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Thumper68

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Yes, please don't take offense to my comment, my mom taught me to respect women but my dad taught me to be a smart ***. No harm meant! [emoji481]

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Funny my Mom taught me to be a smart *** and my father taught me to respect women.

Of course my father also taught me how to throw a right cross for those times when being a smart *** was not the best idea.
 
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Strouty

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My mom taught me that there are some people that are so crazy that you need to remove them completely from your life, so I did and I am sure she thinks I am the crazy one.
 

dlcwent

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My mom taught me to be optimistic and see the good in all people. She's lived a very happy life. Maybe there's something to it?????:dunno:
 
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Strouty

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Nope, just bitching, it really isn't even cold, but I didn't have much else to ***** at.

I did just find out that I have no salad dressing so now I am eating my salad dry and that is a bit depressing.
 
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Strouty

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Don, I have A-1 but I draw the line at salads.

Read, that is a bit colder than here, I am sure I will have some truly cold temps, right now I am just being a baby.
 

readhead

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As of the first of the year we stopped doing tower work. As cold as it has been and with all the snow we have already had I don't think I will miss it.
 
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Strouty

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I have a couple jobs that need to be done, but nothing major. I remember when I used to be busy all the time, I think that is why I don't like snowmobiles, we used them to go to work. One year I almost bought a Pisten Bully, but we never ended up with the job. I used to service one site that you had to snowmobile to a certain point, then hike in the last part. That place was miserable in the winter. Mt Washington is another planet in the winter, glad I have not been there for a while. Seems like they always want something done in the worst weather imaginable. Sub zero and I don't climb unless it is one of our towers and a real emergency.
 
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Strouty

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I braved the cold, of course by the time I got outside it was spitting snow. Just enough to make things wet, but I did most of what I set out to do. I now need to get the forklift so it can stay outside, it takes up way too much of the shop.
 
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Strouty

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Once I got the forklift out I used a pallet to move stuff out. I started with the hydraulic motors that have been in the way since Thanksgiving. Then I branched out from there. I ended up shifting the compressor to the other side. There is still a lot of room with the big forklift inside, but I want it outside, just need to cover the cab so it doesn't get full of snow.





















 

Thumper68

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Ok guys put on your big boy pants and quit whining it's a blissfull 4f here right now. so much better than the other night when I stepped out of the shop to pee and it was -18f.
 
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Strouty

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Tomorrow I hope to get some more of the clutter picked up. I think I need to really get a better feel for how much stuff I actually have. I want to set up distinct areas in the stick room, but the last time I tried I ended up not having enough room in each area. I think I am a little more prepared this time and ready to win the battle.
 

nine4gmc

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You got a lot done this week, use that momentum to keep you moving! Bravo Stouty, keep it up!

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mdbeck1

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Tomorrow I hope to get some more of the clutter picked up. I think I need to really get a better feel for how much stuff I actually have. I want to set up distinct areas in the stick room, but the last time I tried I ended up not having enough room in each area. I think I am a little more prepared this time and ready to win the battle.

Just an idea that worked for me: When you run out of room in one area start putting the "new" items in boxes (label them clearly) in another area close by. Later you can sort it into the main area or get rid of it.

I mean REALLY???? How many 1/4" bolts do I really need??? There's a hardware store less than a mile from my house.
 
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Strouty

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MB, I kind of did that last time, this time I am want to sort the stuff and really get an idea of how much room I need. I want to have extra space for future expansion, last time I filled it and then overfilled it. That really made a mess.
 

bczygan

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Strouty,

I looked at the photos. And photos make things seem more cluttered.

I would call it good for now.

On the other hand, your shop space reminds me of my garage. There's a place for every big machine and cabinet, but they aren't all sitting there ready for immediate use.

In my case, some need hooking up to power, and a bunch of little organizing needs doing, to get all the tools, materials and accessories put near each workstation.

Once all that is done, you can just walk in and start working on any task, at any work station or machine.

Bill
 
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Strouty

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The main goal would be to get so I can use the welder without a major hassle. In order to do this I need to get things off the floor and put away. In order to do that I need to organize them. The last time I tried to put stuff away, all I did was put things randomly in containers and made them "out of sight, out of mind", that was a big mistake. This time I am willing to get rid of things and I have a better track record of labeling containers as I go. Hopefully these things will make a major difference for me.
 

Thumper68

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I don't know if this will work for you or not but when I was overwhelmed I took several totes and labeled each one, elec, plumbing, nails, wood screws etc.. and did a general sort, that gave me 2 things 1st it broke things down so I could attack each type of thing in smaller sections and 2 an idea of how much room I would need to store the different things.

During the process I added several bins for different catagories as I came across those items.

It also allowed me to clean up the storage area, by presorting things from the shelves and bins while cleaning off the shelves and not making more of a mess in the process.

As you know mine is and always will be a work in progress but it is much easier to find stuff when I need it.
 

nine4gmc

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I have receipts in 3 different drawers and needed to find one today. I dug through all of them, and all the other drawers I could think of, it was in the glove compartment in my truck...

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Strouty

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Thumper, that is kind of like my thought process. I have some empty totes and I will be labeling them for the sort. I have a few areas that are fairly loaded with supplies that I think will stay there, my electrical supplies is one section that just needs to have the misc stuff weeded out. I hope to pair things down overall, and I know that will be the hardest part for me.
 

bulletpruf

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Looking good, Strouty. Like the forklift, too. It's a beast.

One thing that I find with organization is that it is very difficult to take one area and completely organize it. It often has to be done in stages, because you end up moving things that need to be fixed and returned to the area, you have something that can't be moved yet, etc. If my garage had to be 100% organized before I started working on something, I would never start anything because I'd never get to 100%. But if I can get to 70%, I can still do some work, and slowly work on organization at the same time.

Anyway, glad to see you making significant progress. Keep up the momentum.
 

bczygan

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Another suggestion for those temporary totes, is to make them transparent, so you can see at a glance what is in them. This is especially good for the ones you will need to sort further, since those items are a mix of things that will go to different final locations.

Bill
 
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Strouty

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Bullet, I think I am going to have to work on the entire stock room pretty much all at once. The plan is to gather all the like things from every shelf and nook and cranny then start to reorganize and label. I am a bit worried that making too much of a mess is going to overwhelm me, I figure I will be posting for support as I go.

Bill, the clear totes are a good idea, but I can't afford to buy them at this point. I will see what I have floating around, I may have one or two. I am all ready half worn out we got about 4" of snow and I had to shovel the driveway at the house. I am taking a break and then going to head over to the shop to shovel and plow. Today may not be as productive as I would like, but whatever I can do I will do.
 

bulletpruf

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Bullet, I think I am going to have to work on the entire stock room pretty much all at once. The plan is to gather all the like things from every shelf and nook and cranny then start to reorganize and label. I am a bit worried that making too much of a mess is going to overwhelm me, I figure I will be posting for support as I go.

It still sounds like a phased process to me: 1. Move all like things to the same shelf. 2. Reorganize and label.

I'm doing that right now with nuts/bolts/fasteners/hardware. I started with a huge pile of mostly unsorted stuff. Then I separated all into respective categories - nuts, bolts, screws, nails, washers, etc, and put each type in it's own container (ziplocks, old plastic containers, etc). Then downloaded into my storage container ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006WQPLOG/?tag=atomicindus08-20 ). Now I'm separating by size -- large bolts in one drawer, medium large in another, medium, medium small, etc. Once that is done, I will separate again -- metric and standard each get their own row and I'll arrange drawers and label by thread pitch and size.

I probably won't go any further, but if I need to I can try to separate by length, grade 8 from lower grades, separate my nylocks from regular nuts, etc. I also need to figure out if/when/how it makes sense to clean the grimy stuff. Probably a ultrasonic washer and clean in bulk.

What I like about this process -- it seems inefficient, because you end up touching/sorting/organizing each fastener a few times, but you can stop after any phase of the process and you're still in better shape than you were before you started. At least that's how I look at it.

Bill, the clear totes are a good idea, but I can't afford to buy them at this point. I will see what I have floating around, I may have one or two. I am all ready half worn out we got about 4" of snow and I had to shovel the driveway at the house. I am taking a break and then going to head over to the shop to shovel and plow. Today may not be as productive as I would like, but whatever I can do I will do.

X2 on the clear totes. That's what I've used and being able to see what's inside is a big help.
 
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rmalkow2

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I think you'll make some worthwhile improvement by doing the tote with label exercise. I had to do that in my basement work shop area because I had tools and supplies scattered on top of benches, piled up on the floor in boxes, tool boxes and many misc receptacles. It all ended up cluttering my bench top work space and lots of floor space. I did have to buy some new totes and a shelf unit from Costco but, by simply sorting like items into the same tote I now have most of it stored on two shelf units and accessible while they await a finer level of sorting. My bench tops are visible again and floor space has been re-claimed. I still have the same amount of stuff and tools but, being organized it actually takes up less total space space.
Even if you spend 4 hours at a time doing this process you will see immediate benefit by having less clutter in your shop.
 
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