The Fallible Garage

[turbowoodworker]

I agree with rattlesnake. The bare-metal with a clear coat would look fantastic. What I really like about your design is how adaptable it is. Changing the wood species or the color of stain would dramatically change the look of your project. Because of that you could adapted to any environment or decor. The first thing I thought of when I saw your finished picture was shelves of a much darker wood. Very nice project indeed.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Come to think of it you could powder coat in almost any shade and completely change the look of that project.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

I agree with rattlesnake. The bare-metal with a clear coat would look fantastic. What I really like about your design is how adaptable it is. Changing the wood species or the color of stain would dramatically change the look of your project. Because of that you could adapted to any environment or decor. The first thing I thought of when I saw your finished picture was shelves of a much darker wood. Very nice project indeed.

Yup, my original goal was to use some nicer quarter sawn oak for the shelves. However, after comparing prices and really looking at the limitations of my woodworking tools I decided on uses stain grade project boards. They came in the right width and length so overall work to finish them is minimal. Swapping out shelves later is trivial and stained pine will get me started. But I have a lot of work to do before I can start fitting real woodworking machines in my shop area.

 

[turbowoodworker]

The real point of my posts was that this is such an elegant yet simple design that it is almost college dorm-like in its simplicity. The design lends itself to different colors on the metal treatment, and different colors on the board or wood portion. It is a very versatile design and you do not require expensive woodworking tools to make your design work.

Congratulations. You have my vote for the award for simple yet elegant design.

 

[ChevyEFI]

Nice progress on your projects. And hi from the E Valley.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Bookshelf Part 2
At long last, I completed the bookshelf I started 2 months ago. I'm pretty pleased.

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[rattle_snake]

Nice!

How's the Jeep coming?

 

[rmalkow2]

The shelves turned out great. Nice clean design of steel and wood.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Nice!

How's the Jeep coming?

Sitting in the garage, pile of rebuild parts sitting next to the transfer case that needs them.

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[drivesitfar]

FF: i'm betting your garage is a bit too warm to work on anything at this time of year or do you have AC inside it? one thing I would like about your part of the country is that it's always warm enough to put a coat of BLO on some old steel or paint something.

great work on the book shelf.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

... Two years later.

driveitfar: Sold it. Bought a Porsche as a toy car, wife and I have more fun with it than the old jeep.

Over the last couple years I've continued improving my garage, picking up new hobbies, new projects. Sadly, I never posted them here, just never really got around to it. So, here we go. I'm going to try and get it all caught up. Hopefully stay more active.

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[FallibleFlyer]

End Tables
These came along not long after I finished the bookshelf. My wife liked the style and requested I make some end tables for our new living area that could double as dining trays pulling under the couch. The wood tops are red oak just screwed in from the underside. Steel supports are all 1.5" cold rolled, welded and sanded smooth. Everything was clear coated in the end, if I were to to it again I'd apply more.

Overall it was a fun weekend project and they've served us well.

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[FallibleFlyer]

An Actual Workbench
Up until this point I had been hauling out my saw horses and an old stainless wrapped MDF workbench top anytime I needed a work surface. It was a royal pain in the rear.. A miscalculation of the steel required to build the bookshelf meant I had lots of 1x2" tube steel laying around, so i decided to scrap together a workbench with the goal of not having to buy anything but casters. I also knew I wanted at least some storage shelves underneath. Not long after getting the Porsche, I moved all of the shelving to one wall of the garage. This wall wasn't long enough to support three lengths of the shelving, so I cut and welded a custom length section that let me tuck my welding table in while still keeping shelves. That left me with cutoffs of formed pieces for heavy duty wire shelves... perfect solution.

In general, I didn't bother measuring. I built the framme to what looked right under the top and put cutoffs where they fit. Overall, I think it turned out nice, though could use some paint someday.

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Everything tucks away nicely and wheels out when I need it.
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Likely soon future project is to replace the wire shelf on the bottom with 3/4" ply to support my disk sander and small air compressor.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Metal Casting
Its something I had always wanted to try, metal casting. Around the holidays this past year, I was looking for gifts for family members, the sorts that just buy what they want when they need it. My mother had recently gotten into pottery making and offhanded had mentioned she wanted a stamp for her pottery so as to not have to sketch it every time. She doodled it on paper and I went to work.

My first step was to make a furnace. I picked up the burner for pretty cheap on ebay, just runs on propane. The fire bricks are recycled from my grandmothers kiln I salvaged a couple years back. Its just a steel frame welded around a stack of bricks. Took me maybe an hour to make and works fine. When it finally crumbles, I'll replace it.

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I also had little interest in purchasing metal for casting, especially at this step in the game where I wasn't really sure if its a hobby I wanted to keep. This meant I'd be using lots of scrap metal, one of the various tips I read online was to first process it into some kind of ingot (muffin tins are popular). So, I made myself an ingot mold. Ugly by functional.

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[FallibleFlyer]

Casting a Brass Clay Stamp
From the previously mentioned drawing my mother gave me, I created a stamp in CAD and 3D Printed it. The plastic stamp would serve as my pattern, but also let me test it in clay to ensure the depth and draft were all going to work. After some testing I landed on a design that worked well and set to casting. There were many attempts, and these picture might not all be from the same along the journey...

3D printed pattern was used to create the sand mold.
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Melted down some brass (recycled plumbing parts with a little lead added as I believe its supposed to improve machine-ability. I decided casting two at a time was the best idea as the actual molding wasn't being consistent, up to this point I had had a lot of the break out badly... Below is the keepers; needless to say I was ecstatic at the detail I was getting so new to the craft.
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Some light sanding of the surface showed I had lost some details in the flower. This was fixed with a dremel and a lot of patience.
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From there it was spun on a tiny lathe and mounted on a handle with the assistance of my father, the owner of the sherline.
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[FallibleFlyer]

Other Castings
I was pretty hooked after that first project and kept going. I can happily provide more details on any specific project for those that care, but I figure theres only so many times I should show compacted sand and hot metal

Aluminum Bronze Bottle Openers
Made the alloy myself, not sure I'd bother again? Was overall just a bit messy of a project with recycles wire etc.
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Tap Handles
Wasn't commissioned for these, but I like the owners and needed a new project. They're made from the heat-sinks of their old electrical control box for the brewery that caught fire.
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Upside of having a 3d printer, I could 3d print a holder for them after they were cut off to be able to drill out the bottom without a lathe
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All cleaned up
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Sand Rammer
I'll have to take a finished photo eventually, but this was a tool I had made once I decided I no longer wanted to use the handle of my hammer anymore to compact the sand.
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[FallibleFlyer]

New Casting Flask
Design Credit: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4033453
I had found a design for a modular flask that I really liked. My wooden flask was starting to break down (burns from the hot metal and separation of layers from the steam.) The upside to this design was it allowed you to print one set of patterns for multiple sizes of boxes. Eventually, I'll make more smaller ones as this box gets quite heavy when its full.

First step was casting the sides. I was able to do it in four different sessions, I had to make a new larger flask to be able to pour my long sides. Its just scrap thin steel I had laying around (the old supports for the old husky bench). I'm glad to being done with it, full it held 50+ lbs of sand plus the metal when poured, was a bear to handle.
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Hours of filing edges to clean it all up
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The next step had really scared me. I had to drill pin holes through both tabs, four when stacked, perfectly in line. It was a daunting task as it required more precision than I had done before. In the end, it went quite smooth. I clamped it down to my drill press (I cannot put into words how thankful I was that I own this thing) and drilled a pilot with my center and then ran the 12" 3/8 bit through all four. Thank god for a 6" quill...
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To prevent binding its recommended one side of the mating tabs to be slots instead of holes. Was pretty trivial, just careful filing and sanding.
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Done.
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[FallibleFlyer]

Utility Cart Update
And here we are, at what brought my back onto the forums. I created this cart when we first moved into the house and I've used the **** out of it over the last few years. I love having a small metal cart I can bring around to projects with me. Its a convenient place to park your tools mid project or area to work where I don't have to care what happens to the surface. Its been invaluable, but needed some love.

Firstly, the casters I put on were not cut out for the job they had to handle and eventually failed. So, I replaced them
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Secondly, when I created this table it was meant to house my disc sander on the shelf underneath. The huge lip and tight clearance just makes it awful. Rather than fix it to fit the tool I don't really want there anyhow, I decided what I did want is to have my cart house my small part storage as well. This way, I can bring it around to projects with me for easy access. Previously, this was buried in my toolbox.. another thing I hated. Also added a nook to keep power tools in. It will need some modification, but want to give it more trial first before I zip more metal on.

Still using the slide out saw, no regrets mounting it there.
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[Madone_si]

Looks like you been having fun in your garage and nice setup.

 

[kroc0005]

Sweet progress photos and updates, well done on all points sir!

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[Joe-R]

Wow, what an update! I liked all of it, especially the cart. That looks very handy!!

Joe

 

[ZSK]

FF: you might not get a lot of the members doing a RA RA HIP HIP HOORAY when you document small improvements after each day, but for the members that are learning and want to see how it is done step by step I guarantee you they will give you KUDOS LATER.

so if you have time to take plenty of picture and give your thoughts about each step it will be a valuable tool for some that is for certain...

FallibleFlyer Progress is progress. drivesitfar nailed it, I'm only part way through your thread and already have some ideas for my own space.

 

[Kevkx125]

Just read through your thread, very nice set up!! Do you plan on auto x the porsche or going to open track days?

 

[nicholam77]

Impressive work all around! I don't know anything about metal work, but I do like a good efficient space-saving solution and I love how you integrated the saw into the welding cart. Nice furniture projects as well, those end tables turned out really nice.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Cool stuff FF. I like the casting work. We don't get to see a lot of that on GJ. Thanks for posting.

 

[bdbecker]

I just found your thread a few days ago and have been working my way through as I've had time. It's good to see you posting again! Early on in the thread you mentioned something about small updates and whether or not they were worthwhile - I say do whatever feels right to you. Don't worry if your posts are an hour or a month apart, or if you're sharing a small do-dad or a major shop remodel, just share what you want when you want. To borrow a line from Field of Dreams... if you build it, they will come.

The bookshelf is really cool - I will definitely borrow that idea someday. I am also really interested the 3D printed casting molds because that was one of the reasons I picked up a 3DP last fall. While I haven't done any casting with it yet (I have way more ambition than time), I have had fun messing around with it. Looking forward to following along with your future projects!

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Well, after that massive update and haitus, we're moving. Still in AZ, but a new house with a new shop space to setup...

The house has a 1 car and a 2 car garage. With two cars needing housing, my shop either takes the one car or half the two car. I've been flopping back and forth, any opinions? I'm leaning towards the one car, it's a smaller space but would be a reserved space..


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[turbowoodworker]

Well, FF, moving is both a pain and an adventure. Staying in the SW Valley?
I would stake claim to the one car garage for a shop, dedicated space, put stuff on wheels, less intrusion from stuff in the two car.
Can’t wait to see your new space.
Rick

 

[rattle_snake]

If one car, put in A/C and enjoy door not opening with hot car to pull in.

The 2 car side would allow you to work on a car in same place as tools and equipment.

Tough decision. Suggest whiskey.

 

[quadrcr87]

I would likely go with shop in the 1 car focused on dirty work like welding and fab. You could also keep a tool box for basic hand tools for car maintenance in the 2 car garage with the cars.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Turn the one car into your foundry for casting. The HOA will love it!

 

[Brent T]

If one car, put in A/C and enjoy door not opening with hot car to pull in.

The 2 car side would allow you to work on a car in same place as tools and equipment.

Tough decision. Suggest whiskey.

This . . . Garage(s) look great.

 

[Modern Jess]

Looks like a great space. Love the casting projects!

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Same exact pros and cons I already came up with haha. To add to it, 1 car has better power than 2 car. Two car has external dirt that gives me some airflow.

And yeah, in sure the HOA is going to love the casting


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