GirlnAgarage
Well-known member
Congrats Jack!
..... BTW that's an old film editing chair, a la Moviola.



Congrats Jack! And the latest ads to the shop look great. Vice envy. BTW that's an old film editing chair, a la Moviola.
Very appropo given Jack's line of work!
When can we expect to see pics of young master Olsen's kart racer? Have you started designing his kart trailer to pull behind the Jeep yet? heh-heh
Your new work station desk is coming along nicely with the innovative touches we've come to expect from your fertile brain.
As to the placement of your Wilton vise, I'm torn about locating it on your new work surface. I have the exact same model sitting below my Craftsman butcher block bench waiting to be installed somewhere. I can't bring myself to drill/bolt it onto this surface because I find myself using the real estate of the C'man bench for layout jobs and other tasks where the vise would only get in the way. I went back in your thread (again) and looked at your shop layout to get a better idea of your work stations. I want to ask you why you want to place your Wilton on the new bench? I keep thinking that for the type of work you do, it might better serve you mounted on the post next to your grinding tool rack. Being as creative as you are, I envision a removable, rotatable, hitch receiver/mounting plate attached to numerous cleats (?) or slots on a stout square metal tube encasing your wooden garage support post. This contraption would allow you to stow the vise in a cabinet when not in use and be installed in a variety of configurations depending on your current project requirements. I'm not anything close to having your welding skills, but it is what I'd like to do for my Wilton; have a sturdy, versatile mount and still be able to get it out of my way when I need the space. What do you think?![]()
Kart trailer behind the Jeep? I thought he was going to design an attachment for the Porsche roof rack (the one he hauls tires and such to the track)!![]()

The temperature when I get to the track is forecast to be 25°.![]()
I'm flying down to Texas in a couple of weeks for a PCA event at TWS, and I'm terrified that they'll get a cold snap, too.
50s by day, 20-30s by night. Overall the winter has been mild. But should be much warmer than up north, eh?
...On the vise placement:
It's odd. The thing I want the most at this bench is a soft-jawed vise. I got a set of rubber jaws with magnetic backing for it already, although I'll admit that a Wilton machinist's vise is stupid overkill for a soft-jawed vise. I've also got a small panavise for up-close work that I'll have somewhere in one of those drawers.
It's not all worked out. I've thought about going to vertical trailer-hitch mounts instead of horizontal. And I've thought about putting the vise on one of the other benches as well. I'm still not 100% sure on where to use it. The problem with two vises in a 10'x20' half of a small garage is that there's always the first one pretty close by.
But this one would be within arm's reach while I'm sitting. ...
...And the garage is still a mess, but here's the new set of power outlets on the front and also the drill press put in place to make sure it still fit:
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but it might be the last receiver I keep in the shop. I like the idea of it, but with a garage that's as small as mine, the actual utility is limited. At least with the kind of work I've been doing in it.
Well, I think it depends on a few different factors, like the types of work you're doing and how you go about doing it. Some guys have one bench that they roll to where they're working. A hitch mount for a vise, grinder, bender, or whatever can be a great idea. I have a fold-down table for welding, and I like having a hitch there for an extra vise. If I left the vise there, I'd be bumping into it every time I walked past the car.Jack, can you explain your reasoning here? I'm considering hitch mounts for my garage. I'd be curious to hear the pros and cons.
Thanks.Jack - just a quick 'two thumbs up' on the creativity. (and for the time taken to document / post).
The donor to end state pics are fun to look at. Personally, that aspect of your garage is my favorite.
Most of your benches/work surfaces, boxes, etc....all started life with a distinctly different purpose and/or size.
I hope you're enjoying the new desk. Now that you have a place to sit facing the rear of the garage...what are you going to do with that table you built at the front?
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OCD-driven change of the day. I had about five minutes in the garage, and I got to thinking about the different color schemes of the two tool boxes. I think I'm going to change the flat black on the faces of the new drawers to satin -- the current finish just holds too much dust. And that made me think -- well, if I do that, it'd be pretty easy to re-paint those bright chrome handles on the Craftsman box to my new warm gray color.
So I thought 'I'll just test that,' and I painted the top two rows. I'm not clear on how I saw that as a test, since there's really no going back. So if you look carefully in the picture above, you'll see the future of the Craftsman stack. So much for re-sale. But then, I don't tend to re-sell.![]()