Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT The 12-Gauge Garage

[Wingnut65]

Molly is beautiful! Congrats to you and Mrs. O. Like other's have said, little girls are wonderful. But enjoy them and cherish every moment you can. I have no idea where time flies. My twin girls have just started high school.

That band saw looks great! Having one available will bring so many opportunities to mind that you didn't have before. I see a little of Red Leader is rubbing off on all of us.

 

[shopnut]

Congratulations Jack! So, does this mean you need to buy TWO go-karts?

Yes, I think two go-karts should now be in your master plan Jack. I look forward to seeing what you come up with to haul the karts around on top of the old Jeep or 911

Congrats on the new arrival

 

[mdbeck1]

Yes, I think two go-karts should now be in your master plan Jack. I look forward to seeing what you come up with to haul the karts around on top of the old Jeep or 911

Congrats on the new arrival

I've got to agree that it will be interesting how Jack decides to haul the go-carts. I'm sure it won't be anything as BORING as a trailer....

 

[Hemihead2]

Congrats on the new arrival, Jack. I trust Molly and Mrs. O are doing fine. As said by others, little girls and their Dads have a special relationship - so enjoy.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thank you guys. Molly is keeping us busy. And I do have a kind of an idea for storage/transport of a kart for Max. But that step comes after winning the contest, which hasn't happened yet.

What happened today was that my wife brought up the need for an 'art caddy' -- a thing I had never heard of. But she had a picture. And I had the band saw working and the router already out from doing the aluminum stuff, so...

It's just plywood. And those aren't the final colors yet. But you get the idea. I guess it holds pens and paper and scissors and that sort of stuff -- for when Max isn't racing his kart, but is getting creative. (To my eye, it kind of looks like an old style tool box.)

It will be a serviceable little tote. But wood stuff always reminds me that I am NOT a carpenter in the 'make some beautiful furniture' sense of the term. I wish I was, but I really don't have the patience or the skill for it. I'm a slap it together in between other tasks kind of carpenter.

(Which is what made it so weird when the new WOOD magazine showed up in the mail today. But I'll explain that in an upcoming post.)

 

[Bib Overalls]

Carpenters build houses. Wood workers, cabinet makers, and furniture makers are a separate trade. The difference is about 1/16" of an inch.

 

[Wingnut65]

Now that is impressive for someone who claims not to be a carpenter and built this from a picture between doing other tasks (and being on baby watch). Great work, Jack! And it's not even green! ?

 

[BigAl62]

As has been said before - Jack, you are a man of many talents!

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks. Today I finished up the art caddy thing and also swept the place out. Here's the newly-painted saw.

And the saw's first wood project -- the art caddy, complete with a pair of hand-painted M's. (I have learned that I won't be quitting my day job to paint signs any time soon -- up close, those things are shaky.)

 

[Submarine_Sailor]

Lookin good, Jack. That box does indeed remind me of an old time tool box. Well done, and keep the pics of your projects coming!

 

[JSBriggs]

Jack,

Congrats on little Molly, what an angel. My oldest is also Max, and my youngest is Molly. Great names.

-Jeff

 

[Red Leader]

Hey hey! That band saw is looking prett-ee darn good!

The daughter looks even better

 

[Yevgeny]

Here are pictures of the hinges. Be warned, it's not pretty. I think these might have been my first welds, and the hinges were some alloy that did not MIG easily (not that I knew how it even worked, back then).

Jack, thank you very much!

P.S. Congratulations!!!

 

[hobie1dog]

I've scanned over the pics pretty good, but noticed that you have neglected to put any emphasis on one of the key components of a garage.......where's the stereo?

 

[Jim Richards]

I've scanned over the pics pretty good, but noticed that you have neglected to put any emphasis on one of the key components of a garage.......where's the stereo?

It's right in plain sight...his 911's dual exhausts

 

[Jack Olsen]

The 911 sounds nice, but I also have a stereo. It's just a cheapest-they-had receiver, a couple of speakers and an old iPod with a lot of Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash on it.

And here's the art caddy packed up for use. It's the first example of an 'M' functioning both for Max and later for Molly. Pretty happy with my naming skills.

 

[Jack Olsen]

An older Porsche 911 is so low and small it makes a tiny garage look big. I had to fix a little problem with the BMW yesterday, so I snapped a picture of the wrong car getting the spot in the garage. It made me glad I don't own a pickup.

 

[Oggy]

The Porsche definitely looks better sitting in there than the 3series. Congrats on the baby, I have 2 little girls myself, watch the boys now, girls start to like them at about 5 years old...

 

[bhclark]

Jack, I have 2 garages....and I collect BIG Buicks.
Try shoe-horning a '58 and '59 Buick into a standard size garage, then add in storage, air compressor and a tool chest!

The other garage is a 2.5. It's got the '69 and '65 in it....and off to the side with 8 inches to spare is a 1922 Model T. At least at that one I have 5 feet in front for storage and room to work!

I once owned a '65 Triumph. It was a blast and easy to park, but I'll never own another British-Leyland car. Lucas electrical only has 2 positions...Off and FIRE.

 

[dittle fart around]

Jack, I have 2 garages....and I collect BIG Buicks.
Try shoe-horning a '58 and '59 Buick into a standard size garage, then add in storage, air compressor and a tool chest!

My dad had a black 59 Electra. It was the Buick dealer's own car, ordered with every option. I was a kid but to me it seemed to be 30 feet long. The fins, the grill, slanted headlights, this way a parade car. We lived half way between Pontiac and Flint. You either came from a Pontiac family or a Buick family.

 

[machine_punk]

My 15-passenger van won't even fit in the garage. It would barely make it by a couple of inches on length, but it won't on height...it is just a couple of inches taller than the garage door opening.

It even makes a public parking garage seem a little small...
View media item 12311
But, it CAN carry 16 foot aluminum bar stock with the doors closed (what you see is the back end of 16-foot pieces of aluminum, which stretch all the way from the front windshield of the van, all the way to the back windows of the van...with the back vent windows open, almost touching the ladder attached to the back door.
View media item 12310

 

[Jack Olsen]

Machine Punk, I grew up with the Dodge version of that van. There were eight of us in the family. I wish I had that kind of payload room now.

And speaking of 'almost too big for the garage,' today I got a nice surprise in the mail.

I own a 9" grinder from Harbor Freight. For 69 bucks, it was a bargain. But I've been slowly replacing some of my Chinese angle grinders with Metabos -- I do it as I find good deals on Craigslist and Ebay. Last week I bid on a 9" Metabo that was listed as 'for parts.' The pictures were strange -- it looked like a brand new W23-230, which is a grinder that lists for $389 (but can be bought from Amazon for $383). The ad said it was being listed as 'for parts' because the spindle nut was missing.

So I bid and won it for $78. Now, I'll grant you that this is $9 more than the HF model and there was a fair amount of risk involved. So there were four days of waiting while it made it's way to me from Florida.

But it is, in fact, new and unused. I put a spindle nut on it and fired it up. 15 amps of German muscle -- and a more refined experience than the HF grinder.

Which it had better be, since at $78 it's one of the most expensive tools in my shop. But it was cool to get it, new, for 80% off of list.

Now I've got to figure out what to do with that big Harbor Freight grinder.

 

[1Garageman]

That's one heck of a deal you got there!

 

[rickairmedic]

Jack put the HF on CL for $40.00 and you will end up with a Metabo for $107 .


Rick

 

[Oggy]

Jack, you stole that thing! When I sold power tools, I'd ask customers what type of grinder they were using, the second Metabo came out of their mouth, I stopped trying to sell them, they already had one of the best out there... enjoy it, not much beats good German power tools.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Nice score Jack!

 

[thomfr]

Thanks, that's actually helpful (well, in the long term it is). I'm surprised to see the table part painted. On mine (which has rust), it looks like it was always bare metal.

And thanks for the congratulations on little Molly. We're crazy about her.

Saar and Puck (01-28-2011) say Congratulations from The Nethelands!

Btw. they make already engine noises and like my workbench to play around on very much.

I own a Metabo pneumatic drill (KHE 24 SP) which I love to work with. Everything is so nicely engineered (although rather heavy). For example the the fast lock mechanism to change the drill head from normal to SDS and back is great.

Thom

 

[bad_idea]

what do you use a 9" grinder for? i find a 4 1/2" to handle anything I do at home.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks guys. And those kids look cute, thomfr.

bad_idea, I agree that anyone can get by with 4-1/2" grinders. But a 9" takes material off at a startling rate. So long as you don't overdo it, you can really cut your project time down. I used the HF one on the bunk bed I made, and it was much more efficient than just using my 4-1/2" grinders.

And I've got a back yard project in mind that's been percolating for years, but will involve a lot of welding. I'm hoping steel prices will come down on materials before I get started on it.

 

[Bob Heine]

Jack,

If you like German tools, check out the Flex 10.8-volt Lithium battery impact driver. I bought one earlier this year and it is now my go-to tool. Most of these small impact drivers are in the $150 range but Toolbarn is selling this one for half that (including shipping). Tire changing at the track comes to mind (spinning lug nuts off and on before torquing).

http://www.toolbarn.com/flex-ali108s.html

 

[SKT]

.


After seeing your amazing attention to detail and OCD ways, I'm surprised you haven't freshened up that clean CJ-7 yet.

Is the paint OG? If so, have you given any thought of hitting it with some of the 3M products designed to revive old paint? I've seen this done on a few different CJ build threads - with amazing results.

Any more pics of the '7 would be greatly appreciated too!

Cheers!



.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, Bob. I've actually got a Makita cordless impact. It's one of those tools that you don't think you need until you've got one, and then you can't imagine how you lived without it. Today, I was actually thinking about where I could hang it, since I use it enough that it's kind of a pain to keep opening a cabinet every time I want it.

And thanks, SKT. I love the Jeep, but I don't think I can consider myself a Jeep guy. I've owned the thing 18 years now, and I have never taken it out to drive recreationally. I don't remember ever even washing it. It's a work dog, pure and simple -- which I know is something that Jeep enthusiasts might see as a sad waste of a rust-free CJ7.

I've thought about restoring it, though -- maybe when my son is old enough to get involved. It might end up as a car for him when he turns 16, even. He could become the off-road guy his father never was.

But as you can see, he's still on the young side for working on a car. He likes the lift, though.

Today I got about a coffee break's worth of time in the garage. I wanted to do a couple of things to the cluster of machines around my smallest welding table. As you can see, I keep my table saw nested underneath this thing, and there's a grinder and a band saw on top of it.

I can turn around and work with the drill press from the same position. But there wasn't a good place for the cords to run for the saw and grinder. So I drilled a couple of holes and used a grinder to finish off a notch where the two bench tops meet.

It even got a half grommett to protect me from cord damage on a steel table.

Down below, I put in a small extension cord and welded on a piece of flat steel stock so I would have a place to hang the new (big) grinder. I'm slowly retiring the Harbor Freight grinders and replacing them with second-hand Metabos. But I'm currently waiting on some parts for the little German guys, so you mostly see HF in this picture.

 

[PNagel]

I mounted my HF 9" grinder in a frame that I built out of MDF and use it as a chop saw. It works really, really well.

 

[Jack Olsen]

That's an interesting idea. Do you have a picture of the frame?

Although I'm approaching the 'too many saws' point, recently. Today I got my second-hand Milwaukee portaband and the vise-mounted table (and miter guide, and foot switch) from Swag Off-Road. The saw needs a good cleaning and readjustment, but for metal cutting this is another nice option to have.

It will be very easy to store and much easier to control than just freehanding a portaband. It's a simple idea that's pretty well executed (good enough that I didn't feel I should just make it myself).

 

[Red Leader]

Jack,

That is a pretty cool idea. I'm sure it is a good space saver.

Although, it might be worth it to clear the floor space for one of these:

...and set it up with a metal cutting blade. Eh?

When not in use, just store it in one of your 1000lb cabinets

 

[Zengineer]

I think he could store a couple of those per shelf in the strongholds...

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

"And I've got a back yard project in mind that's been percolating for years, but will involve a lot of welding. I'm hoping steel prices will come down on materials before I get started on it."

OK Jack, don't think for a minute that you can just casually mention this percolating project and think we will let it slide by us. What's the plan, Stan?
Come on Jack, give us the details! Inquiring minds want to know! Besides, somebody might actually have some good advice (not me, lol) about material sources and design 'suggestions'.

 

[bhclark]

Bbq?

 

[bad_idea]

bomb shelter? Blast from the Past style?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124298/

 

[Brian R]

Under WWJB (what would Jack build?)

I think he's mentioned building a metal framed pergola?

and congrats on Molly.