The Vault

[kngkong]

This bench has mostly been a run home and work a little over lunch kinda project. So a little bit here and a little there and Ive finally got the carcass done and mounted the vice. The lower two shelves will get doors and the upper skinny shelf will stay open for commonly used items, parts bins or projects.

These will probably get a dark grey paint to finish them off.

and here's an old before shot

 

[kngkong]

A little progress every day...

Found some old paint in the vault today (thanks to the previous owner) which happened to be exactly the color I was looking for. Got about half the first coat on and ran out of paint. Oh well, buy some more tomorrow.

Also, got a line on some free doors from a friends kitchen remodel but they wont be available for three weeks.

 

[kngkong]

Well everything in my garage is in a state of flux. Multiple projects going on whether its garage organization, bikes or something on the house.

Managed to get this little shelf unit made this week which will go right above the lathe for tooling etc. Needs a backing, a coat of paint, and I plan to add some additional storage on the sides for long items.

Had this old milk pump in the pile of junk for a while. Had been planning on either making some kind of grinder stand out of it or a lamp, the lamp won. In addition, there were some good shafts, and crank assembly on the inside to repurpose. The assembly and shade are temporary so I can get an idea of the size I want to go with. Im thinking I will try to make a shade out of some kind of blonde colored wood veneer. I kinda like the industrial furniture look.

 

[kngkong]

shelves mounted

Shelves are done and mounted.

I quickly threw some tools up to get a feel for it and am really happy with how it turned out. I still plan on adding some places for storage for long items on the sides when I get the chance. I do have several cabinets of tooling but I'm looking forward to how much this will help organisation and keep the most often used things close at hand.

It's all 18mm MDF, routed joints, glued and screwed together.

Cant wait to build some more!

 

[v7guy]

Looks like you're really making use of the space. Really dig that knuckle head.

 

[kngkong]

Hi Jason,

Thanks!

Whether I'm successful or not my goal lately has been to try to make what I have as productive a setup as possible. So Im trying to make my choices based on what will give me the best workspace in the shortest time possible. Really, its all about the tool storage and workstations for me right now. The new shelves and bench are great and I would like to do something similar around the milling machine.

When I put in the shelves above the lathe I had to remove the existing track shelves which were there, so doing something with that space might be the next thing to work on.

Thanks for the comment on the bike. Need to get back to working on that

 

[kngkong]

Did a quick panorama shot so you can get a better idea of the space.

Had enough time for a little clean up today and put some temp shelving up on the right.

I plan to replace the brown shelves on the right with more purpose buillt shallow shelving like I did for the lathe. And, replace the long shelf with the gas tanks on it with deeper more long term storage with doors.

In time I envision all the walls having some kind of purpose built shelving.

 

[Red Leader]

When I see pictures of this shop, it reminds me of those shops where some machinist worked for 50+ years - you can tell just by looking around that whoever had the place knew what they were doing and did things right.

Such a heavy duty shop. Love it.

 

[kngkong]

When I see pictures of this shop, it reminds me of those shops where some machinist worked for 50+ years - you can tell just by looking around that whoever had the place knew what they were doing and did things right.

Such a heavy duty shop. Love it.

Thanks Red Leader, thats definitely the feel of what I would like. Reminds me somewhat of my Dad's old warehouse/workshop.

 

[kngkong]

Pretty psyched on my vice acquisition today. Its a Record #23 with quick release which is an awesome feature.

I started a thread of its own for the vice but Im going to repost it here since its part of the garage.

***************************************************************

Picked up my 'new' vise today. Came with this lovely silver paint job.

Compared to my old Chinese Irwin/Record the jaws are slightly less wide but it has more clearance making the vise a little higher. Overall the amount of iron is a lot more generous. I really didnt think this new vice would feel that different but the slide is much tighter feeling and with a bigger footprint more solid in general.

I couldnt stand the silver paint so I took the wire brush to it and discovered a pretty good coat of original paint was still there. I think it will stay like this until I decide how/if I will refinish it.

The vice appears to be in really good shape. The rear slide has been hammered on a little but everything else looks great.

I was unsure if I would find the quick release feature helpful and after using it a couple times and getting used to it I quickly realised I would never have to waste any more time winding the jaws from wide to thin.

Here's a little video on how it operates.
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hr2u7UbgzXE?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One other interesting thing is the lead screw is a buttress thread rather than an acme thread. Never seen one before.

Alright, off to the Vises of Garage Journal Thread

 

[kngkong]

Ive also been working on this tool holder for the mill so I can keep the tooling close at hand. Its not completely done yet but pretty close. Just need to drill some more holes in the white board (which is actually a polyethylene cutting board) but want to give it a little more time for the best tool layout. I still need to shorten the lower shelf so its about the width of the board.

The flexible arm is made from a modified tv stand so it can pulled close or pushed away close to the wall. The arm is mounted to the mill by way of some curved steel square tube which was originally the floor support for a junked weight bench.

The cutting board is a nice material to work with and cheap to get from thrift shops etc. I think Im going to make some more drill stands etc from the same materials.

Appreciate any ideas to improve the design.

 

[kngkong]

Finished getting the doors on the bench today and waiting for the paint to dry. The doors were given to me by a friend who is redoing his kitchen and they had the fake wood finish. Was a little concerned about paint adhesion so I scuffed them up as much as possible with some heavy sandpaper. Hope it works!

Thinking about painting the bench top a light grey as the white stands out a lot now.

I seem to have a mess of wire hanging on the walls so one of the next things on list might be adding a couple outlets and moving the existing ones.

cheers!

 

[kngkong]

Spent the last month back home in New York with family.

Here's a couple pictures of my Dad's vice collection and some other tools I drool over.

Still have two more weeks off and trying to get lots done. Today I wired in a couple more outlets in the workshop and will finish the job tomorrow.

Emmert Tiger 35

Chas Parker

Ward

American Scale Vise

small Columbian

big Junky cheap vice

Canedy drill press with lovely arc of shame (not due to my father)

small metal break

Craftsmen table saw

Rockwell Drill Press

nice old grinder

I also picked up this nice BluePoint bearing and seal remover set at a thrift shop.

 

[kngkong]

key to the vault

Up until now the vault has been a unique but unsecure part of the workshop as I never had a key to lock it. I decided to venture into the workings of the door and figure out if it would be possible to have a key made as a big walk in safe could be useful in the future.

I removed the back panel to reveal a simple yet functional mechanism.

I removed the lock.
The lock is a skeleton key type with 8 pins (proper term?) I figured I could make a key myself but decided I had better things I could do with my time so I brought it to the locksmith who informed me the blanks were about $40 and labor would be about 200. That was all I needed to hear for me to know what my afternoon project would be.

First thing I needed to do was make a blank key. I turned a bit of rod on the lathe so it would fit nicely into the hole and cut out a little square of steel to weld onto the end.

after a little cleanup

I dont have many photos from the next step but I took some measurements and used some bits of wire bent at 90 degrees to figure out how high the key steps should be. I cut the key with a small hand modelmakers saw and some jewelers files. After some time and little finessing I had something that looked like a key.

youtube link (trying to embed)

Now that I know I can do it and it didnt take too long (about 2 1/2 hours) I think Ill make another more accurate key on the milling machine.

 

[morfmedia]

Sweet, never seen anyone make their own key before!

 

[Stuntmonkey]

Thats kiwi ingenuity right there!!!

 

[kngkong]

thanks guys!
It was a lot of fun and saved me a good chunk of change

Been toying with the idea of whether or not to mount parts shelves on the vault door. Maybe I can mount in on the inside of the door so it wont collect too much debris.

 

[kngkong]

This weeks purchases

Feel like I did pretty well this week.

Picked up this great metal bandsaw with coolant pump and a new blade for $120. Have made a couple test cuts and sure beats cutting by hand. It will cut 7" round or 7x12 square.

Also found this old Tanner drill press for $79 Turned out to be a lot larger than I expected. When I want to do heavy drilling Ill do it on my Bridgeport so I was only looking for something stout to replace my small asian brand drill press. This thing is 4 foot tall and HEAVY! Im sure Ill grow to love it. It has a nice keyless chuck on it and the bearings all seem in good shape. Ive already found it to be quiet and so much more pleasant to use. Will probably do a resto on it when I have the time.

Haven't posted much lately but there have been a couple other improvements to the garage.

The vault door has always been a poor use of space since its essentially taking up valuable wall space so I mounted one of my grinders to the front and started a parts bin rack on the other side of the door. Gave it a fresh coat of paint too.

Also completed a project which I been meaning to do for a while. Your standard vice/grinder stand from a truck rim and some pipe and plate. The new saw made cutting this stuff easy. Dont have a pic at the moment.

Here's a couple pics of everything today. Wish I could do something with my floors and clean up a lot of the wall space but all in time. Im really spending my time right now experimenting with the layout so when I do set it all in stone it will be exactly the way I want it.

Ive removed the metal gate between the garage and workshop. Less secure but makes for more room and ability to move things around. I can easily drop the gate back in if Im going away for a trip.

Cheers!

 

[kngkong]

Things are a little crowded in here today. Moved my old Southbend to the left behind the Bridgeport.

and this Colchester lathe rolled in to it's place

Need to either swap in a single phase motor or get a VFD before I can have any fun though Will need to sell off the old Southbend which Ill miss greatly but I wanted to go with a newer, stouter machine. Im a big fan of the old cast iron bodied machines but felt it was a better choice. Was a real pain to get the machine in because as you can see from the photos that there are two bits to roll on pipes at each end and we only had three pipes. Well, at least there are no steps involved.

 

[impala_631]

It puts the lotion in the basket!!!!

Lmao

 

[Tripp P.]

Wow, that's a great place. Reminds me of my dads home shop. I know just how you feel on getting your own place. I finally got my own garage a year ago. Its a never ending project. But its one that's mine no more storing tools at other peoples houses.

Love the bikes, keep up the good work

 

[kngkong]

Wow, that's a great place. Reminds me of my dads home shop. I know just how you feel on getting your own place. I finally got my own garage a year ago. Its a never ending project. But its one that's mine no more storing tools at other peoples houses.

Love the bikes, keep up the good work

Thanks Tripp!
Really wish I could get the shop to the state I want it but I keep getting sidetracked by something else

All in time I guess.

Good luck with you garage, checking it out now.

 

[shambuda2000]

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm pretty happy to be there. Story goes that the guy did have guns in there. Why do the guns like temp control? QUOTE]

First of all let me say love the garage (especially all that rolling iron you have in there)

Guns, especially antique one, can be especially sensitive to humidity and temperature changes. It woulb be quite frustating to spend several thousand dollars on a rare, possibly one of a kind gun and have it turn into a rusty crowbar.

Just throwing in my two cents.

 

[kngkong]

Guns, especially antique one, can be especially sensitive to humidity and temperature changes. It woulb be quite frustating to spend several thousand dollars on a rare, possibly one of a kind gun and have it turn into a rusty crowbar.

Just throwing in my two cents.

Thanks shambuda

Yeah, I guess that should have been obvious to me now that I think about it. I would love to have temp control for all my vintage iron.

 

[Nelson58]

You have a nice amount of work space for the lathe and mill in there, you are lucky. The shelves came out very nice- the MDF was a good choice- inexpensive, yet plenty sturdy for the shelving.


Nelson

 

[kngkong]

Thanks allthumbz, have a little more room now.

Was able to sell the old Southbend. Got it up on a pallet today and ready to be moved out.

 

[kngkong]

The Vault has always suffered from a little bit of dampness here and there. I've taken various steps already installing drainage and patching some cracks which all helped the cause. This weekend I installed an exhaust fan in the old wood burner flue to keep the air moving and replaced the leaky corrugated plastic windows with framed in plexiglass and I can already feel the difference. Only problem I can foresee is how how hard the bars make it to clean the inside of the windows. Probably won't be long before dust and spider webs are taking over. Kinda makes me want to put another layer of plexiglass on the inside so the bars will be encased. Anyway, the outer frame still needs a coat of paint and a few other things but so far Im happy with the result. Maybe I should have painted those bars a light gray.

What I started with

The bars had a little rust on them so I gave them a quick scrape and brushed on some rust converter and rollered on some good rust preventative paint.

Building up the internal frame

Internal frame painted

Plexiglass in (yes it is in there) and exterior frame.

From inside

Now I can work at the bench and look out the window which was always part of 'the dream'. It makes it pretty easy to look in now from the back yard but you would have to come in the main gate walk down the driveway and through another gate to get this view.

Having leaky areas in the garage holds me back from doing more changes in the garage. Hopefully this improvement will allow me to be more productive.

 

[kngkong]

A couple new shots from the garage.

This is what I've put together for my most common tools. Wish I could get some of the old Snap-on or Craftsman boxes everyone has on these site but they just don't seem to be available in New Zealand. I think it might look OK if I paint this whole set up the same as the SK top box.

and some hot rod art from Deadlysleds

 

[rmckee]

What a cool vault door. I've often thought about having a 10x10 concrete bunker type thing built with a door like that. Call me crazy, but I think we're beginning to live in a day and age (and society) that having a place like that with a few months supply of food wouldn't be a bad idea.

Great looking place!

 

[kngkong]

What a cool vault door. I've often thought about having a 10x10 concrete bunker type thing built with a door like that. Call me crazy, but I think we're beginning to live in a day and age (and society) that having a place like that with a few months supply of food wouldn't be a bad idea.

Great looking place!

Hey rmckee,

Yeah, lets hope I never have to use it for that.

Cheers
John

 

[kngkong]

Finally got our mountain bikes hung this morning. Really wish I had a better place for them but I guess its just one of the necessary evils and is much better then having to move them around the floor all the time. This corner was out of the way of the freshly installed windows where they used to hang. I used the standard large bike hooks and was a quick job before heading to work this morning.

It might not look like it but a lot of progress has been going on in the garage over the last couple months. I've solved mostly all of the leakage issues and have tried to increase my storage space while trying to settle on the general layout. Ive still got a ways to go before I have matching cabinets and a flat smooth floor but I can get my work done without too much to complain about.

My current to do list looks something like:
- Do something to improve the floor
- Put up tool boards or line certain work areas to allow for tool hanging/shelving etc.
- clean up various electrical wiring
- paint the walls?
- find some better looking cabinets for the motorcycle part of the garage.

Cheers everyone.

 

[6772man]

I'll say it, you just raised the jealous ante with that knuckle.

 

[kngkong]

Hey 6772man,

Thanks!

I'm dealing with a little bureaucratic paperwork at the moment which is slowing things down for getting it on the road. I really want to ride the thing, and more than just a test ride around the block!

The big news is I'm getting married in three weeks and we have our first baby coming in October! Gotta get more projects done.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

Wow! What a setup.

When I saw that liquid cooled bandsaw all I thought was ... You ****!

When you make the final key, are you going to put a nice machined handle or a screwdriver handle on it?

Has anyone been watching the new TV show about Alcatraz? The prison in San Franciso harbor? The Steel cage and the vault door reminded me of the show.

Someone spent some serious money on that vault door. Those things don't come cheap!

 

[kngkong]

Wow! What a setup.

When I saw that liquid cooled bandsaw all I thought was ... You ****!

When you make the final key, are you going to put a nice machined handle or a screwdriver handle on it?

Yes, the saw has been really handy. It only get used occasionally but when it does I'm sure happy with it.

There was a slight problem with the key when I put the lock back into the door. The lock sits a couple inches back from the outside keyhole and when I put the key in it was binding on the sides of the keyhole and the lock chamber which means the lock chamber wasn't really a straight shot through from the keyhole. I thought that was going to be harder to fix but now that I think about it I can probably just loosen up the lock and move it a touch to align everything. Will have to give that a try really soon. Thanks for making me think about that '**** in Wisconsin'. I was going to just make the end of the key like a regular skeleton key. Kinda like this

But, I'm pretty sure I can come up with something a little more creative.

Cheers

 

[kngkong]

Had a little bit of a scare the other day.

Post wedding/honeymoon.

My parents are over from New York for our wedding and staying in the apartment above the garage. They like it warm and have been running two electric oil heaters pretty much constantly up there. They came in the main house the other morning to let me know the power had gone out overnight so I checked the main fusebox which showed the breaker to the garage/apartment had tripped. I switched it back to ON but it tripped again shortly after. Tried it one more time and it tripped immediately as I switched it to on. I went to go check the panel in the garage.

Since the power to the garage was out the garage door wouldn't work and I don't have a man door, so down the hidden trap door from the apartment above.

Nothing had tripped on the seperate breaker panel in the garage so I checked the main into the garage where I knew there was a connector which had caught my eye in the past. Sure enough the connector had blown out charring the wood a little where it was mounted. I think the combination of running the heaters constantly, a 30A connector on a 32A fused line, a little mig welding thrown in on top of that and maybe a loose connection on the hot wire in the connector caused the fault. Plastic heated and melted until the live brass connector melted into the neutral connector which could have been a disaster!

The cut red wire and red wire with cap in photo below is old legacy wiring which isn't in use anymore, just haven't cut it out until l know exactly where it goes. There is a lot of funky DIY wiring in the garage from a previous owner that had wired lights, alarm and intercom system which I am slowly removing.

I cleaned up all the wiring and put in a 50A junction box mounted in a much more accessible spot than the last one. Also bought four new smoke alarms for the house, workshop and apartment to ease my mind a little.

 

[kngkong]

The Vault works!

I posted a while back about making a key for the vault. The key worked in the lock when the lock was out of the door but with the lock mounted the key would bind a little. So while my Dad was around we spent a little time on trying to get everything to function. First thing the key needed was a handle so I quickly welded on a little tab on the end, nothing fancy. I should have aligned the handle to the front part of the key a little better but Ill fix that in the key 2.0.

I had to remount my grinder away from the door a little as the keyhole is right behind it and the there wasn't enough room to fit the long key in behind the grinder. I adjusted the position of the lock from the back and Im happy to say I now have a working Vault with an easy to use key.

I'll try to post a video of everything in action soon.

When I have a chance I'll make a better designed and cleaner cut key on the milling machine copying the current key dimensions, but for the time being I have a key that works and can feel pretty safe about storing anything valuable in there.

 

[kngkong]

While on our honeymoon I got an anvil.

Jokes aside... I've been looking for an anvil for a while now and they're damn expensive here for a good one. I found this anvil at a second hand shop and although it doesn't have a horn I thought it would be useful addition to the shop. At first I thought maybe this was the base off a horned anvil but after a little searching on the web it seems these hornless anvils predate the horned variety.

There are hardy holes on the bottom and sides of the anvil but I have never been able to find photos of people mounting in these side holes. I suppose the hole on the bottom could be used to locate the anvil on a base?

There are markings on the side which I think are supposed to denote the anvils weight but I haven't been able to make sense of them yet. There are also two 'U's stamped left and right above the numbers which are maybe the makers mark?

Still trying to find more information, any info is appreciated.

 

[kngkong]

A quick job

There has always been about a 1 inch gap between the top of the garage door and the frame above. Today I added some wood to close the gap and try to keep the wind and rain out. I will try to add some rubber to the top of the door to make a seal.

Needs some paint and a couple more screws and she'll be done, then I can start working on improving the bottom seal.

 

[kngkong]

Starrett Indicator Repair

My Dad gave me this nice old Starrett indicator a while back which wouldn't repeat 0 very well. Have been wanting to put it to use so took it apart to give it a clean and find anything else which could be wrong.

Sorry for the lack of disassembly pictures but it's fairly straightforward. Unscrew the plunger button from the back and carefully pry the glass/bezel off with a screwdriver. There will be a circlip type of ring holding the dial mechanics into the case. The circlip has four tabs which fit into slots in the case. Squeeze the tabs out of the slots and remove the circlip.

Under the dial will be two sets of brass shim washers (sorry again for lack of photos). The first will have a slot in it so this washer can be slid out around the gauge's leadscrew (correct term?). The other brass shim is a wavy spring washer which creates pressure against the back of the dial face, leave that one there.

Maneuver the dial face and spring washer and you will see two screws which connect the dial to the bottom of the case. Remove these two screws and remove the face. Carefully remove the brass spring shim washer.

The front and back of the dial will now be in two parts.

This is a close up of the bottom case. Notice the plunger which is the shaft in the middle and the spring which returns the plunger to its start position. Also notice the little post which comes out perpendicularly from the plunger and the locator holes in the bottom of the case. Notice the two notches in the rim of the case, this where the dial locates and screws into. You can see the two brass washers and circlip in the blurry background.

This is a close up of the back of the dial. Notice the leadscrew, at the end of the leadscrew is a point which seats into the locater hole in the dial base. Also notice the small coil spring, this is used to tension the dial and is the thing which allows it to repeat 0 correctly. If this spring is not tight when the dial is assembled it will not repeat. Notice the strip of metal everything is mounted to, there are screw holes at either end of the strip (finger is covering one up). You can see notches in the strip around the screwhole which fit into the corresponding notches in the case.

I gave the mechanism a good clean out as there was noticeable stickiness in the plunger movement. Then I wound up the watch spring while holding the needle so it would not unwind. A folded up piece of paper carefully wedged between the needle and dial face can be helpful here to hold the needle in place as outward pressure on the needle is necessary.

Remember to put your brass spring washer behind the dial now. Situate the dial leadscrew and little post on the plunger so that the two will mesh easily. If they are not close to the right spot you might end up trying to force the dial back into the base and bend something. You're actually trying to align three things when putting the dial back together. The pointy end of the leadscrew into the locator hole in the base, the plunger post into the leadscrew and the dial face notches into the notches in the case. All while trying to keep outward tension on the needle. After a bit of fiddling hopefully it locates and you can return the two small screws which hold the dial into the case. Add your slotted brass washer now on top of the spring washer. Push the assembly down into the case and fit the circlip on top of the face.

Test the indicator and if everything is working properly return the glass bezel. Looks like someone had broken the glass in this dial and replaced it with some gunky plastic. Will try to fix that someday.

Hope this is helpful if anyone has any "shot" indicators around.