The repurposing thread

[ADSR]

I picked up this old Craftsman sander and case for 2 bucks.

The case is now a wall cabinet in the shop.
My wife has been asking for a space to keep her stuff for the dog.
brushes, clippers, medicine etc

No matter where she put it, it always seemed in the way.

Thats awesome!

 

[dodge78]

When my dad decided to tear down the old barn, I grabbed a bunch of pipe out of it and built a bench light out of it.



Built a rock tumbler out stuff laying around.



I found an old futon, cut it down, add a pair of grand prix seats, a computer ups, a center console and came up with this. The seat controls all work and the green switch turns on the pole light.

 

[IONH]

Re-purposed this Ford valve cover and an unused power strip into man cave art!
Adding the aluminum backing plate first thing in the morning and up for sale she goes.

Love it!

 

[rmalkow2]

Re-purposed this Ford valve cover and an unused power strip into man cave art!
Adding the aluminum backing plate first thing in the morning and up for sale she goes.

A great idea I just stored in the old melon memory for future use. Thanks for showing it.

 

[cwh]

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I got some map cabinets at an auction the other day... should be nice for storage.

 

[jhn9840]

Nice cabinets. Looks like a ton of storage in those two.

Jhn9840
John

 

[R.Anderson]

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I got some map cabinets at an auction the other day... should be nice for storage.

Nice blueprint cabinets
How much ya pay?

 

[cwh]

$216. Figured I did pretty well. They each have a plywood/formica top, and those are the flush mount bases on the left. One cabinet needs a little love - looks like it popped loose and someone tried to braze it back together. A couple of the drawers are tweaked, but nothing too serious.

I forgot the exact measurements, but I want to say I calculated it out at just under 200 square feet of storage. Pretty funny, I lived in a 400sf apartment for 6 months!

 

[Amitygravel]

Snagged a single piece of granite backsplash at Menards years ago for less than $2.
Bought some self stick sanding sheets and use it for a low buck surface plate.

 

[Fyrme]

Snagged a single piece of granite backsplash at Menards years ago for less than $2.
Bought some self stick sanding sheets and use it for a low buck surface plate.

I have a 12x12 piece of smooth travertine tile leftover from a tile job that I use for mixing epoxy and body filler. It works great and cleans up with a razor blade after it dries. It also fits nicely in the bottom of a drawer and takes up very little room.

 

[Fretters]

Nowt fancy, but finally got sick of all the odds and sods of steel/iron rod knocking about all over the place. There never seems to be a decent place to store it, and most containers just can't cope with the weight and fall straight over if you try standing it, so spent twenty minutes or so with the hacksaw and file to make this from an old fire extinguisher.

Wide enough base and heavy enough that it won't just fall over at the first sight of a metal rod. Just keeps all those lengths contained and out of the way until they're needed now.

 

[Caddybago]

This may not be new but, I repurposed on of my wifes baking pans sure
makes it nice not having chips to walk on near the drill press.

 

[MarkG]

To show her appreciation, does she chuck her mixer beaters up in your cordless drill? lol

 

[Caddybago]

She did insist I replace it, women just don't have a sense of humor.

 

[signcrafter]

This may not be new but, I repurposed on of my wifes baking pans sure
makes it nice not having chips to walk on near the drill press.

I'm stealing this! I have been using my drill press to drill some holes in granite and using water to cool the bit and the water running all over. This will be perfect for that. We also just got new cookie sheets(made in the USA) and I saved all the old ones to use in the garage. Figured they would be handy for something! Thank you.

 

[Fat50]

$1 garage sale baseball bats make great mallets

 

[toomanytoyzz]

$1 garage sale baseball bats make great mallets

Nice!! Might have to steal that one for my shop.

 

[nine4gmc]

$1 garage sale baseball bats make great mallets

That's great, what did you do with the other piece?

 

[kbs2244]

I have done the baseball bat thing without the handle.
Just cut it down to a shorter "club" length.
I use it mostly for wood working to avoid hammer marks when assembling things.

 

[Ruger_556]

I save the gear shafts out of landing gear when I rebuild them... Good steel has it's uses



Air line couplers are slick for building gauge sets

 

[Fat50]

That's great, what did you do with the other piece?

Haven't thought of a purpose for it yet, so I threw it down in the drawer with my body dollies for now. Maybe add a tack hammer handle?

 

[nonhog]

$1 garage sale baseball bats make great mallets

Me too! Just made mine last week, yet to epoxy it together. I cheated and used a hammer handle.

 

[nine4gmc]

nonhog, dumb question but how did you get the smooth bowl carved out of that piece of wood?

 

[nonhog]

nonhog, dumb question but how did you get the smooth bowl carved out of that piece of wood?

Not dumb at all, in fact it did not go as planned. LOL
I used my skill saw and dropped it into place which is no fun and a bit dangerous. It worked o.k. but I found that it took months after that to fully cure the block so I could just sand it smooth with 36 grit (to start) up to 80 grit IIRC. Its my 1 stump so I'm happy. It twisted drying so I have to deal with that also. One other thing is its sorta small for metal shaping. I need to find a way to secure it to my bench or just make a bigger one.

 

[nine4gmc]

Thanks, that's the only way I could conceive doing it but I didn't think it would come out that well. My landlord just picked up what I think is an oak tree trunk with diameters from 18" - 32" pieces already cut, I have been eyeballing a nice chunk for this purpose!

 

[Craptain]

Thanks, that's the only way I could conceive doing it but I didn't think it would come out that well. My landlord just picked up what I think is an oak tree trunk with diameters from 18" - 32" pieces already cut, I have been eyeballing a nice chunk for this purpose!

There are a few good videos of how to do it on a table saw. It could be a lot safer. If the 10" blade is too big just switch to a 7" blade.

 

[rslaback]

Anyone have a thought on what I can use about 7 of these for?

They were originally light duty door closers like these.

They are currently modified (by removing the last arm section and installing a nylon roller) to serve as door closing preventers.

The first dog that my wife and I had was a very intelligent and very inquisitive black lab mix. Clyde got into the habit of poking around a lot. For some reason, about a year after we moved into our current house he got in the habit of wondering what was between the wall and the door in a room. He would stick his muzzle in and flip the door over, in many cases latching it. About an hour after being locked in a room he would freak and attempt to dig his way under that door. We had to replace the carpet in my son's bedroom once because of this. 2 days after the new carpet had been put in he did it again (but not as bad and the carpet was ok).

So, I designed these. The way they currently work is that when you want to shut a door in our house the door swings freely until the roller hits the trim. At that point you need to overcome the power of the closer (which isn't hard for a human) to get the door to close the rest of the way and latch.

They worked beautifully for the past 7 years or so. However, Clyde is now gone and my wife and I are selling our house to relocate for her job. I don't imagine that most potential buyers are going to be amused with these so they need to come down.

So, what do I do with all of them?

 

[Playwme]

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I got some map cabinets at an auction the other day... should be nice for storage.

Nice. They're awesome for storage. I've got one in the shipping container with all those tools and little items that don't get used that often. Everything is visible and the drawers are good and strong. Aerosol cans even fit nicely lying down. I've got a whole drawer of those odd cans that you only use once in a blue moon.

I'm planning on finding a couple more once the new shed is up.

 

[road]

cool thread lots of great ideas .

 

[DenisG]

Anyone have a thought on what I can use about 7 of these for?

They were originally light duty door closers like these.

They are currently modified (by removing the last arm section and installing a nylon roller) to serve as door closing preventers.

The first dog that my wife and I had was a very intelligent and very inquisitive black lab mix. Clyde got into the habit of poking around a lot. For some reason, about a year after we moved into our current house he got in the habit of wondering what was between the wall and the door in a room. He would stick his muzzle in and flip the door over, in many cases latching it. About an hour after being locked in a room he would freak and attempt to dig his way under that door. We had to replace the carpet in my son's bedroom once because of this. 2 days after the new carpet had been put in he did it again (but not as bad and the carpet was ok).

So, I designed these. The way they currently work is that when you want to shut a door in our house the door swings freely until the roller hits the trim. At that point you need to overcome the power of the closer (which isn't hard for a human) to get the door to close the rest of the way and latch.

They worked beautifully for the past 7 years or so. However, Clyde is now gone and my wife and I are selling our house to relocate for her job. I don't imagine that most potential buyers are going to be amused with these so they need to come down.

So, what do I do with all of them?

Maybe table saw hold-downs (like featherboards):
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2003794/17800/Green-Bi-Directional-Hold-Down-Safety-Rollers.aspx

 

[taumac]

Maybe table saw hold-downs (like featherboards):
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2003794/17800/Green-Bi-Directional-Hold-Down-Safety-Rollers.aspx

I'm pretty good at repurposing and was drawing a blank. That would work. Put a roller on end and use one to push down and one to keep wood tight to fence.



Have a good one, Gerard

Florida GJers ( FGJ)
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=117

The 5 Stitches Garage
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211899

 

[GCncsuHD]

Nothing that hasn't been done before, but here are a few I've done

Used 305/35R24 tires and a 25" diameter piece of glass into a bar table.

Untitled by wrfalcon75, on Flickr

Add a little decal and some leds and...

Untitled by wrfalcon75, on Flickr

Untitled by wrfalcon75, on Flickr

My DD single cab F250 had a rotten seat, picked up a front and rear bench from a crew cab for $150, turned the extra rear seat into a shop couch on 5' caster wheels.

Untitled by wrfalcon75, on Flickr

Somewhat stolen from nine4gmc...I actually had the idea long before I found this site, except I was going to use a 71/72 grille. It didn't really lend itself very well to the use, and was a little bulkier, I saw his 64-66 grille and went and checked one out, much easier so...

Untitled by wrfalcon75, on Flickr
The 2x4 stands are temporary, I'll be mounting it on a 10" wide oak board to match the cabinets soon.

 

[scrumpy]

Just a simple one but it works well and it was free. It is the auger drive from a two stage walk behind snowblower. I boxed it in and added a steering wheel from a riding mower. I use it to lift my canoe to the rafters in the garage. Need to add a speed knob to it as it is a little slow.

 

[kbs2244]

Now that is thinking outside the box!

 

[PeteMoore]

Nice. They're awesome for storage. I've got one in the shipping container with all those tools and little items that don't get used that often. Everything is visible and the drawers are good and strong. Aerosol cans even fit nicely lying down. I've got a whole drawer of those odd cans that you only use once in a blue moon.

I'm planning on finding a couple more once the new shed is up.

I will get pics, but I have just got ahold of a similar setup and filled it with hardware. They handle the weight quite well.

I used the small plastic bins as dividers but they are two tall for a single drawer.

I cut the front panels off a few drawers, spaced them a little off the drawer below and welded them back on, making a double or triple height drawer whilst maintaining its original looks from the outside

 

[bygasper]

This company often has interesting stuff. A lot is sold in bulk, but some isn't. Here are railroad rail steel irons.

http://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com/store/products/used-railroad-rail-steel-iron/

 

[Always_Thinkin]

My welder cart I repurposed a three drawer file cabinet and a bicycle rack.

 

[-Brent-]

Along the same lines as Always, I've used a few bottom boxes in place of tool pedestals. I like the storage gained rather than the waste of the cubic area that pedestals are.

 

[Hephaestus29]

Really nice work. Especially like the bed! Only concern would be how many splinters the wife would get!

My concern was whether or not there might be bugs or mites in the old wood I think I would have power washed it or something.

 

[Jacob's Ladder]

I grabbed a scrap piece of stainless steel catwalk grating from work. It fits perfectly in my craftsman tool box for pliers. It's way heavy duty but it works.