My Quandary

[Gitanesteel]

Time has certainly flown by, but as of yesterday I have all the (accessible) walls and ceiling done and primed and a few of the lights are up. Now I can begin making work benches and getting things into place. So early in January I'll start moving stuff (heavy stuff) out of the house and into place. Should be fun. I'm trying to be excited and motivated... but I'm exhausted.

Looking great Roger!! That's a lot of work to get done.

[Luva65wagon]

Well, the holidays and some travels related ate up time and, though way more important, doesn't allow much of an update (assuming more than just a couple of you are watching along). I picked up some materials and installed two 30ft lengths of wire shelving, built some shelves I bought at garage sales, and started building a couple work benches. The benches are mostly done with the exception of gluing on the masonite tops. This should happen tomorrow and I can then start organizing stuff and emptying the house of my tools and large items (drill press, compressor, and tool cart - needing Gene and his trailer). Then... I can get the Ranchero out of the wind-blown and slowly failing ghetto garage. The daily wind we seem to be getting lately has made a mess of it out there. Can't wait to get it inside and see how it looks.

[Jeff W]

What are you doing for heat?

[Luva65wagon]

What are you doing for heat?

The gold and white things you see under the benches are oil filled heaters Lila found for me at garage/estate sales. The gold one was $5 and the white one was $10. The garage is well insulated and so far these heaters, set at fairly low settings, have made it very comfortable out there. This week we get a cold front, so we'll see how it goes.

I need to find a vise I like. I keep trying...

[Luva65wagon]

Though I came down with some crud right after my last post I did muster some strength while the weather was [slightly] calm to get the compressor moved out of its temporary storage room up in the house. Still have the rolling tool chest to move and a bunch of boxes of stuff (oils, paints, hardware, spare parts, etc.), but getting this compressor in will now allow me to setup the lathe and figure out where to run airlines and other cabinets and stuff. Didn't want to work around more than I had to getting this in - though I did have to let some of the air out of Gene's trailer to get this in on the trailer. By about 1/2".

[Luva65wagon]

Finally got the tool chest moved down just about an hour before the snow started falling for the next 24 hours or so. So that was good. Allowed me to finally start placing items where they will be. Got the lathe lifted and onto its stand and then piddled away the hours working on the two band saws (vertical and horizontal versions) to get the legs under them stiffened up. Got them both from the same 82 y.o guy I bought the lathe from and it was clear they'd been bashed around for a few years and most of the screws were loose and legs were flopping in the breeze. It's all getting a work-over. The lathe needs a couple belts replaced, which will be interesting work. They both are mixed into the gears of the thing and there is no "easy" replacing of them. And that's why the belts are so far gone... nobody wanted to do the work, clearly.

Next? Garage door opener, air-lines run, glue the tops onto the benches.

[SmithKid]

WOW! All looking great, Roger.

[Luva65wagon]

... the Ranchero is home. Well, it's been home for over a year, but sitting out in the ghetto garage, which is near its end. Today I finally got far enough done with the garage to drive the car out of the ghetto and into a mansion by comparison.

I then closed all the doors and set off a couple bug killing bombs off. I'll be curious to see how many critters are on the floor under the car tomorrow. When I drove it over to Gene's last summer to do the motor swap the number of them I saw (because the car was essentially outside) while crawling around under the car (and I had to deal with) told me to do this today.

As for the garage itself, I still have two sheds full of stuff that will fill in the shelves on the back wall (mostly all empty still) and other places scattered about. But it is nearing full functionality now, and that's an awesome feeling; allowing me to finally close the chapter on this 2+ year drama.

[dhbfaster]

Wow. Looking good!

[Luva65wagon]

Getting closer to having all the bins and accessories emptied and in place. Most of the hardware bins just moved over from my old place, but their location now isn't as "zonal" as I want them to be, so at some point a lot of that is going to get swapped around and condensed.