Hey guys! My name is Alex and I am a 22 year old college student from Northwestern, Ohio. I am just about to start my senior year and then I will be receiving my mechanical engineering degree. I love woodworking and diesel trucks. I took 4 years of Industrial Arts in high school and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I don’t have a lot of patience for most things but when it comes to woodworking I have all of the patience in the world. However, I am a little OCD when it comes to the details and that bites me in the **** every now and then. During my senior year, I made this Queen size bed frame.
I have slowly been getting some machinery around to hopefully have a pretty decent woodshop when I finish college. I currently have all of my tools other than my main toolbox in the basement. My dad has so much stuff that there isn’t much room for me in the garage. I have to share the basement with the wood burner and a bunch of firewood but it’s a pretty decent start for a guy like me. It will definitely get the job done for now because I plan to move out not long after graduation and have my own house within the next 2-3 years.
I have been a lurker of GJ for quite some time now and have gotten lots of inspiration from NedNorton, Techie1961, bj383ss, and NakeDiesel. I actually took a huge liking to Techie1961’s color combo. I went with Continental Blue and Safety Orange.
My brother is in high school and works at Ace Hardware so I get a pretty hefty discount. I’m still working on getting most things painted but I have a couple things done. I was given this rotating “Lazy Susan” type shelf and decided it would help with my random nut, bolts, etc. storage. But first I had to make all new shelves because the 1/8” plywood was not going to cut it. Then came some paint and primer.
Next was a rack that my brother had brought home from work. It originally had another shelf but they hacked it to fit their needs, which made it rather wobbly. So I chopped it up some more and then welded everything solid. Now, I’m not the greatest welder but I can get by for now. I mostly get gorilla welds, strong but ugly. Next came the paint. Then I cut some plywood to lay on each shelf so I could slide things easier.
Recently, I have been looking for a Kennedy machinist toolbox. Mostly because I think they’re cool and I like the small drawers. I picked this guy up at a local flea market for $25!
Then my fiancé moved to the South Bend, Indiana to complete her last year of grad school, and their Craigslist game is much stronger than the one in my area. I picked up both of these Kennedy boxes for $125 and they threw in another box full of a ton of drill bits. I also have a regular mechanic top and bottom box that was my grandpa’s.
I also picked up this Delta Miter saw for $20 and all of these chains for another $20. The miter saw needs some work but I’m hoping it to be more accurate than the Craftsman I have. It is nearly impossible to get a nice 45 degree cut with it. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of the chains yet but they always are nice to have when we cut firewood. A lot of the ones with big hooks are really short but high tensile and I believe they were used for lifting with a crane or something like that. Anybody have an idea of what they might be worth?
The more equipment I bought, the more manuals and paperwork I accumulated. I remembered that I had an old magazine rack in the barn that I brought home from my old high school job. Cleaned it up and kept with the same color scheme.
I hope this is a good place to stop and that you guys enjoy this. I hope to update as frequently as possible based on my summer internship/school schedule. Any and all comments or suggestions are highly welcomed. Thanks for reading!
I have slowly been getting some machinery around to hopefully have a pretty decent woodshop when I finish college. I currently have all of my tools other than my main toolbox in the basement. My dad has so much stuff that there isn’t much room for me in the garage. I have to share the basement with the wood burner and a bunch of firewood but it’s a pretty decent start for a guy like me. It will definitely get the job done for now because I plan to move out not long after graduation and have my own house within the next 2-3 years.
I have been a lurker of GJ for quite some time now and have gotten lots of inspiration from NedNorton, Techie1961, bj383ss, and NakeDiesel. I actually took a huge liking to Techie1961’s color combo. I went with Continental Blue and Safety Orange.
My brother is in high school and works at Ace Hardware so I get a pretty hefty discount. I’m still working on getting most things painted but I have a couple things done. I was given this rotating “Lazy Susan” type shelf and decided it would help with my random nut, bolts, etc. storage. But first I had to make all new shelves because the 1/8” plywood was not going to cut it. Then came some paint and primer.
Next was a rack that my brother had brought home from work. It originally had another shelf but they hacked it to fit their needs, which made it rather wobbly. So I chopped it up some more and then welded everything solid. Now, I’m not the greatest welder but I can get by for now. I mostly get gorilla welds, strong but ugly. Next came the paint. Then I cut some plywood to lay on each shelf so I could slide things easier.
Recently, I have been looking for a Kennedy machinist toolbox. Mostly because I think they’re cool and I like the small drawers. I picked this guy up at a local flea market for $25!
Then my fiancé moved to the South Bend, Indiana to complete her last year of grad school, and their Craigslist game is much stronger than the one in my area. I picked up both of these Kennedy boxes for $125 and they threw in another box full of a ton of drill bits. I also have a regular mechanic top and bottom box that was my grandpa’s.
I also picked up this Delta Miter saw for $20 and all of these chains for another $20. The miter saw needs some work but I’m hoping it to be more accurate than the Craftsman I have. It is nearly impossible to get a nice 45 degree cut with it. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of the chains yet but they always are nice to have when we cut firewood. A lot of the ones with big hooks are really short but high tensile and I believe they were used for lifting with a crane or something like that. Anybody have an idea of what they might be worth?
The more equipment I bought, the more manuals and paperwork I accumulated. I remembered that I had an old magazine rack in the barn that I brought home from my old high school job. Cleaned it up and kept with the same color scheme.
I hope this is a good place to stop and that you guys enjoy this. I hope to update as frequently as possible based on my summer internship/school schedule. Any and all comments or suggestions are highly welcomed. Thanks for reading!
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. As for the pressure plate, I couldn't keep it attached to the flywheel AND attach the stand without cutting one or the other. See photo below.
