Something just clicked…..

[dlcwent]

I got the inversion table home and setup. Now my mornings will feel much better!

I also bought a nice used blue point adjustable wrench at the pawn shop (I had to buy something!) QUOTE]

Of course you did.
How could anyone go to a pawn shop and not buy something.

 

[Strouty]

How could anyone go to a pawn shop and not buy something.

Well I drove an hour and a half, gotta justify the gas!


I will post pictures of the goodies today, but not until after the pressure washer is in full operation.

 

[Strouty]

Well this is going to be a reminder for people.

Check your first aid kits and make sure they are fresh and stocked. I sliced the corner of my hand this morning and went through three first aid kits before I found useable antiseptic, Those kits need to be kept updated annually at a minimum. I guess I will be paying more attention to them.

I should have known better, but I was leaned over trying to cut something "slowly" towards my other hand. The knife slipped off the rib of the hose I was cutting and not only did it make a nice slice, but as I lost my balance, I jabbed it into my palm as well. So now I have a 1" slice and a ½" gash below that. Luckily my hands are pretty tough, but I still felt it, especially the stab. Now I am sure the damn thing will bleed all day as I tear it open over and over again. I did not take pics, because I did not want blood on my camera.

Well back to life, just figured I would take a breather for a second.

 

[drivesitfar]

Strouty: sorry to hear you hurt yourself. was it a utility knife? even though I've cut myself in the past usually cutting towards myself it still happens.

good reminder to put the first aid kit in the truck and shop or update it often. i think i took mine out of my Honda to get something for my son and need to put it back because i don't think i have one at my shop or storage units.

better have a Klondike bar to ease the pain.

 

[Strouty]

Yeah, it was a utility knife, so nice razor cut. It is essentially healing all ready, it doesn't look like much at all, but I still feel it every time I grab something.

Today things went sideways, but not really in a bad way. I ended up buying the 500 gallon oil tank, the quotes for the new one came back way too high. They wanted almost $2000 for a 660 gallon tank and a 500 gallon tank was only about $1000. I guess 660 is a custom size. I paid $250 for the one I bought, I will have to do a bit on work to it, but I think it was a good deal.

I also picked up some steel for some projects, but had a brain fart and ordered 3/16" wall square tubing, when I should have ordered much thinner. Now I have more projects to do and Monday I will need to pick up more steel that is thinner wall.

I did plumb the water tank and the pump, I also picked up a new hose, but I have to shorten it. I have all of those fittings as well. The best part is I spent an hour cutting a few of the pieces of steel to get a jump on things, so I don't have 24' pieces of tubing clogging things up. The pallet racking doesn't seem to line up with my plans, so I am going to use this new steel for the custom rack to hold my water tank, pump, water heater (have to buy one), sink, and grey water collection tank.

 

[Strouty]

Here are the pictures of the anti-vibration cupmounts and the heavy duty feet (now I need 6 for each table and it looks like I will be making two tables. I am going to see if the place will ship them to me, rather than driving three hours round trip to pick them up. Also the adjustable wrench I "had to buy", it is a nice older blue point that is made in USA, the jaws are tight and smooth.



I was a bit rushed when I went to the surplus store, but I had to take a picture of two of the larger motors they had for sale.








Here is the new setup for the water tank and pump. I added nice quick connects to the hose so I can easily set things up. I will be adding a brace of some sort to hold the mass of fittings, just not sure exactly how I am mounting it.








I love these hoses, but they don't make a 25' one, so I am cutting a 100' so I can have a 75' and a 25'. They sell special ends, I had to order them from amazon.

 

[Strouty]

The tank is in really good shape considering its age. It is made of 10 gauge steel, of course I have not tested it with the ultrasonic thickness gauge, so who knows, but it looks good. I am going to remove the old heater elements and put new plugs in. I also need to update the fill and vent. I think I will grind off the old wiring, then paint it gray. The access panel needs a new gasket as well, but that should be fairly easy to make.

 

[Strouty]

Lastly, here is the proof that I put away the steel, well except for the four legs that I cut for the water tank. I also had to cup up some aluminum angle iron for a pair of custom mounts that I am making for a small tower.






The pallet racking just wasn't as heavy duty as I thought and the way I want the tank to sit, it is really not going to work. I will however use it somewhere, possibly in the trailer or outside. Not sure yet.

 

[Strouty]

I am not going into this day with any expectations, just going to let things happen and see where it takes me. Tomorrow I need to spend a bit of time at the house in the morning so I can hook up our dryer.

 

[nine4gmc]

That's the spirit!

 

[Strouty]

I also forgot to post pictures of the new stools, they are bright blue. The old ones are fabric and black, with stains all over them. I will post a couple pictures when I update things later on.

 

[drivesitfar]

Strouty: looks like you are getting everything in it's place. hope the cut is healing nicely so you won't have it slowing you down with blood or pain.

have a great weekend

 

[Strouty]

The cut is just tender, I am keeping it covered and moist so it won't crack open. With a glove over the band aid it stays on fairly well. I have been trying to get two projects done, but I needed to order parts for both of them, just got done ordering for the first project. The second one is giving me trouble. I can't find the correct size terminal for the battery I bought for the scissor lift. I guess "pencil post" is less common than I thought.

 

[Strouty]

I have been working most of the afternoon on getting my two ceiling fans up and running. I have one more to go, the wiring is not pretty, but it is safer than what was there! I have been running a fan in the shop to circulate air 24/7 for the last few months and it is a loud fan, these are quiet, very quiet. It must be 90 degrees or more up on the ladder, it is 80 on the thermostat at 5', after these are up I will be happy. Then next week I am supposed to get my air conditioner from zoro. Once that is installed, well it will be a game changer. I can't wait.

 

[nine4gmc]

lucky dog getting ac, I'm dying out here!

 

[Strouty]

28k BTUs baby!

It may not cool it down, but it will take the moisture out of the air and that is what I really care about.

 

[Strouty]

Success! Two fans working of one control! Also the fact that it is almost silent in comparison to the other fan I was using. I bet these will be cheaper to run as well. I am going home for the night, not sure if I am coming back tomorrow or not, depends on how I feel.

 

[drivesitfar]

Strouty:

 

[Strouty]

Well, I spoke too soon. I was getting ready to leave, I shut off the tunes, then went and shut off the old fan. The two fans were humming an annoying tune, one was wobbling and making noise, the other was overlapping light fixtures and making a helicopter sound.

I decided to try the original switch and it quieted them down, but it is not rated for two fans. I will need to wire both fans separately, so a bit more time to spend on them. I also want to add some bracing to keep them from being able to wobble. I used fan mount boxes, but the wood is actually moving. Gotta love DIY.

 

[drivesitfar]

Strouty: i know what you mean. i can plumb almost anything in the house, but since i only do a project every few years by the time you get the tools and parts found and the skills remembered you are done and don't have to do it again for another few years.

working out the bugs is all a part of DIY. kids today with a little want to do something can at least click on a YouTube video or google to find some information. i had to call dad or gramps or a friend and if they didn't know i was on my own.

cheers and hope you make more progress tomorrow because you are doing great the past week or two.

 

[Strouty]

I am not going to let these fans beat me, I will go over to the shop today and get them finished. I got some ideas on switch setup from another member that I am going to try, so I have to do a bit of rewiring but it shouldn't be that bad. I am getting prepped to do the wiring for the air conditioner, it is 220 volt and has one of those weird plugs. Once it comes in I will figure out what I need for wire and outlets and then install that. I do have one job on Thursday to do, but it is overseeing a project, so I don't need any tools or anything like that. I may go down and scope the tower out, to make sure they are bringing the correct parts. I got my tracking numbers from Zoro yesterday, so I can at least figure out when the freight will arrive.

 

[Strouty]

I should have planned things better, I wanted to get a few things done at the house before going to the shop. Now that I had a chance to think about it, I should have left at 4 AM to get things done at the shop, then come home and worked in the AC at the house. Silly me, oh well, too late now, I am just going to have to sweat through it.

 

[dlcwent]

I have a feeling that you will get the job done. Hopefully the heat won't kill you today. I'm saving all my energy for the project facing me this week. I'm not looking forward to the high humidity that's going to hinder my progress. Rick will be here to help me, and he's a bear to be around in the heat. Oh well. Good luck on your project.

 

[Strouty]

I finally made it to the shop, and I am looking at my office in a different way, I originally installed two doors, but now I feel that I could live without one of the doors. It would give me a closet space in the office and another shelf area outside in the shop. I may just do that, I rarely open both doors. Most of the time the second one is block anyways. The only issue is air flow, I guess I may have to get some windows made that open. I am getting way too motivated with all this stuff. I am going to grab some lunch and then get started on the ceiling fans.

 

[nine4gmc]

How high are you hanging the fans? I have picked up a few fans from the curb that I was thinking about installing in the shop but have yet to do anything with them so they are just taking up space on the floor right now...

 

[Strouty]

My bottom chord of my truss is 12'6" so they are about at a bit over 11'. I placed them in areas where the forklift does not go, I would have preferred to have three of them, but there is really no other safe place for them. It makes a night and day difference when they are running. I mean seriously, they are awesome. I wish I had done this years ago.

 

[nine4gmc]

Hmm, I was thinking about dropping mine down to the 8' range, I may just hang them and see how they do, then drop them down if needed.

 

[Strouty]

I can't remember how high your ceilings were, but I don't think I would want spinning wheels of death that low. I kid, I would prefer them higher, but anything is better than tripping over them.

 

[Strouty]

I spent a bit of money on some new "organizational tools", I bought a microsoft surface (won't be here until sometime next week) and I am going to buy the new version of the livescribe pen. I have the old version, but it doesn't play nice with my phone. I have also thought about making a huge white board that folds up, so I can write whatever I want and then close it if I have someone over and don't want to air the dirty laundry. I have a ton of stuff to do in the next two months, but all this prep work is going to make things much nicer in the long run. I was hoping to list some things on ebay, but at this point they will probably have to wait. Once my zoro order arrives I can sell some knaack jobsite boxes on craigslist. My Dad is going to buy some of my cabinets and I am ordering some new lista storage wall units to offset them. This is enough of a break, back to the heat!

 

[Strouty]

I got the wobbly one braced up, but it was also partly a fan blade out of balance. After placing around with it I got it so it is pretty decent. The noise is actually louder than I thought, but I will get used to it. One of them has a nice hum still, the other one is dead silent. I hope that will change when I put them on the separate controllers, if not I may have to get another one from Home Depot. At least I will have all the hard stuff done. The one that hums is really loud on any setting but high and then the blades make a ton of noise on high, so I can't really win. It could be a capacitor or worse, but they have everything tucked away, so I don't really want to mess with it.

 

[nine4gmc]

I think the separate controllers should fix the hum.

 

[Strouty]

I sure hope so, just weird that only one hums. I must brave the heat and head back out. The office is nice, I set the AC at 70 so I don't drop dead when I walk out into the shop.

 

[Strouty]

Got the switches all wired, going to bust out the label maker so I can mark what they are. The overall job is not pretty, but it got it done. I wasn't about to fish any wires in my walls and all I had was romex, so no conduit. The wall is only supposed to be there for another year or so at the most, so I will be redoing all of this again.

The fans spin faster on individual switches, at least it appears that way. I have them set on speed 2 right now and before they were on 1 (fastest speed). The hum is still there, but not bad, it seems to have evened out. Balancing still needs to be adjusted, because the other fan is still wobbling a bit. I would say overall a success, but I am going to head home soon, still have a couple errands and then some stuff to do at the house.

 

[nine4gmc]

 

[Strouty]

Here is some pictures of what I did, the first one is of the original single controller. The next ones are of the master fan switch and the two speed controls. I don't need a lecture on code, or safety, they are installed on a wall that I will be removing, hopefully over this winter.








The ladder was a royal PITA to get to the fan in the middle of the shop, I actually had to place it over the steel rack. I wish I had taken a picture of it there, tight fit is all I can say.

 

[Strouty]

As far as the office and removing the door, I can't see any good reason not to do it. I feel like it will gain so much space that it is well worth a few extra steps.

This is the door I am talking about:

 

[Strouty]

Early start today, going to try and beat some of the heat. It is all ready humid, but not too hot. My buddy is coming over to the shop tonight so we can assess the older volvo wagon, we think it is a broken timing belt, but not 100% sure. So not only do I have to do my normal stuff, but I also have to get that car in the shop, good thing I borrowed a ramp truck!

I should be able to find out when my zoro orders will be arriving as well. Happy monday to all.

 

[dlcwent]

Success. I'm betting you're pretty happy that job is done. You'll be enjoying it more today.

 

[Strouty]

I will consider it a success when I find out if my electrical work held up, failure would be a smoldering pile instead of a shop.

Good luck on your project, drink plenty of water and take plenty of breaks!

 

[dlcwent]

Thanks, It will be a little of a challenge with only having shop cranes to use. And heed your own advise.