# Complete Revamp Underway



## Ray C (Apr 14, 2018)

I've been putting this off for too long...  The 2.5 car garage shop needs a revamp of the highest order.  Space is at a premium and all winter long, I was struggling to work efficiently.  I wish I could start this clean-up with 10lbs of dynamite and a bull-dozer but since that's not a realistic option, carefully applied elbow grease for the next week or so will have to suffice.

Wish me luck and I really would not mind a few words of encouragement if you're up for it.

Ray


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## markba633csi (Apr 14, 2018)

I'm in the same boat as you- I just brought home another large lathe and that effectively eats all the remaining space- gotta re-arrange everything now.
Put up more shelves, etc, etc.  never ending
Mark


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## Asm109 (Apr 14, 2018)

I feel your pain.  I tackled my stock storage area a couple weekends ago.  4 hours and I now have a 6 square foot area of the shop in perfect order.
That leaves 742 more square feet to go!  Tape measure, make cutouts of the major tools and benches and slide them around on graph paper is easier on the back than moving the real thing.


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## ddickey (Apr 14, 2018)

Me too man. My truck will never be in the garage again I've decided. I've 380 ft.sq for my shop space. Been a crappy spring as we're getting pounded with a snowstorm today. Very little motivation.
Once you get started it will flow. I know you can do it.


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## Ray C (Apr 14, 2018)

ddickey said:


> Me too man. My truck will never be in the garage again I've decided. I've 380 ft.sq for my shop space. Been a crappy spring as we're getting pounded with a snowstorm today. Very little motivation.
> Once you get started it will flow. I know you can do it.



SNOW?  Yikes.  It's almost 80 outside today and I'm sweat'n like crazy because my body is still thinking it's winter.

...  Taking a little break.  The foot that had surgery 2 years ago can't keep-up with the other one.  Time for coffee too.

Right now, I'm tackling the side that has the mill and lathe.  Already cleared-off all the shelves and made room for one of the new toolboxes.  https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/3-new-tool-boxes.68668/   There's a mountain of stuff pilling-up in the driveway headed for the dump... Boxes, buckets...   Sorting stuff into categories...   Also cleaned the area outside by one of the storage sheds.

If I maintain this pace, I'll either finish in just a couple days or, drop dead.  If I stop posting for a few days... well, it's been nice knowing y'all.


Ray


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## ddickey (Apr 14, 2018)

I see you bought new tool boxes. Think I might be doing that also. I was thinking CL for metal cabinets.


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## Ray C (Apr 14, 2018)

ddickey said:


> I see you bought new tool boxes. Think I might be doing that also. I was thinking CL for metal cabinets.



Yes, wishing they would show-up already.   They would get filled-up in a heartbeat and I'm counting on them to save the day and reclaim table-top workspace.   I thought of not starting this re-org until the boxes showed-up but, decided this could not wait another day.

You familiar with those nice drawers they have in the specialty fastener section at Home Depot and Lowes?   I have dreams of winning the lottery and buying a set of those.

The Achilles tendinitis is screaming at me...  Taking another break...


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## core-oil (Apr 14, 2018)

Sometimes  "We have greatness thrust upon us" In other words we have no option but to get off our butts and get on with it!  This happened to me over the last two weeks, I had some repairs to be done to one of my workshops, and before the builder came on board I went through the place, and gave it a spring clean, Three journeys to the local dump, And I am not finished yet , Rubbish I will never use ever again, What a difference it has made, Has given me encouragement to enjoy my workshop.


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## Ray C (Apr 14, 2018)

core-oil said:


> Sometimes  "We have greatness thrust upon us" In other words we have no option but to get off our butts and get on with it!  This happened to me over the last two weeks, I had some repairs to be done to one of my workshops, and before the builder came on board I went through the place, and gave it a spring clean, Three journeys to the local dump, And I am not finished yet , Rubbish I will never use ever again, What a difference it has made, Has given me encouragement to enjoy my workshop.



Good work Core-Oil.  Hope you're able to enjoy your workshop in all its fine glory, sometime soon.

Ray


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## Ray C (Apr 15, 2018)

Drastic measures and actions underway...  

It's coffee break time now.


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## Ray C (Apr 15, 2018)

The place is pretty-much torn apart but, the heavy machines are still in place.  They will remain in place too.  I'm cleaning/organizing from back to front, going thru all the boxes, shelves etc.   Much stuff is being pitched and a lot of stuff is getting shifted around and moved closer to their final destination.   I'm in a jam because the toolboxes have not arrived so, I can't put any tools away yet.

If the toolboxes were here, I could finish the re-org work with two more 8-hour days plus one more day to rewire the ceiling lights.   I'm going to break the lights up to 4 zones.  One above the lathe then, above the mill, above the welding table and finally above the sawing, grinding and drill press area.

Evening coffee break time.  (Did I happen to mention, I really like coffee?).

Ray


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## thomas s (Apr 15, 2018)

Good luck Ray one good thing about cleaning the shop your going to find things you never knew you had. LOL


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## Ray C (Apr 15, 2018)

thomas s said:


> Good luck Ray one good thing about cleaning the shop your going to find things you never knew you had. LOL



So far, that hasn't happened.  What I am experiencing a lot of is:  "What was I thinking when I decided to keep this?".

I'll tell y'a...  I had a hard time convincing myself to start this project but I'm on a roll now.  

Ray


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## Sandia (Apr 16, 2018)

Good to see you back on the forum Ray.  Still think about you helping me out with the VFD for my surface grinder.
Sounds like you drink as much coffee as I do.  Good luck with the house cleaning, it never works out well for me. I always talk myself out of throwing something away, just wipe off the dust and put it in another place in the shop. Oh well .....


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## roadie33 (Apr 16, 2018)

I hate to do spring cleaning.
I always throw stuff away I thnik I'll never use and 2 weeks later I could have used it to fix something.
So then I have to go to town and buy it new to complete the job.
Wife used say I was a pack rat. But when something broke and I had the parts to fix it, she quit saying it.


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## Ray C (Apr 16, 2018)

Sandia said:


> Good to see you back on the forum Ray.  Still think about you helping me out with the VFD for my surface grinder.
> Sounds like you drink as much coffee as I do.  Good luck with the house cleaning, it never works out well for me. I always talk myself out of throwing something away, just wipe off the dust and put it in another place in the shop. Oh well .....



Hi Bob...   LOL:  I still remember that VFD too.  Pretty sure it was a Delta.

Anyhow, I'm determined to make my shop time fun and enjoyable.   I'm not a cleanliness or organization freak but, there was too much clutter everywhere.    I'm going to tackle 1-2 hours worth every day after work this week.   Hopefully, once this is under control, I won't let it slide back into disarray.

Ray


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## cjtoombs (Apr 16, 2018)

Going through the same process right now.  I will finnish reassembling a milling machine and sell it within the next month or so, then I have some storage drawers to build and some more organizing stuff to build/install, then I will be at a pausing point where I can do some other work in the shop.  Good luck.


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## Ray C (Apr 18, 2018)

Progress report:   Still going at it and keeping to my goals of 1-2 hours effort every day.   Progress is incremental because I'm taking the time to go through everything and make an immediate "keep/toss" decision.  The pile in the driveway is getting bigger.  

The toolboxes should be here this coming Monday.   

Ray


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## Ray C (Apr 21, 2018)

There's light at the end of the tunnel...  All the major areas have been addressed and one more pass is needed to sort through a pile of stuff.  After that, the big worktable will be moved a couple feet.  My sons will need to help with that.  The double-deck toolboxes should arrive Monday.  For now, all the stuff that goes into them is piled-up in their intended location.    I'm going to build a shelf into the existing table island riser.   All of this should be finished today.

Tomorrow, or next week, I'll re-wire the ceiling lights into several zones .  Once the tools are put into the boxes, I'll mop the floor as the grand finale.  Pictures will be posted then, I'll get back to posting projects.

My goal is to turn a new page and be more careful about letting things get so messy.  Also, grinding and welding will be done with greater attention to the mess it makes.   I've probably wiped 50lbs of grit off everything in the last week.

Ray


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## chip maker (Apr 22, 2018)

It really isn't that hard to keep a shop or work space clean if when the job your doing is complete just clean up after yourself right away. This is how I keep up to my messes when doing something in the shop and has always worked out just don't leave the miss for the next day or so because than it will not get done. Before you know it you've done a bunch of projects and the miss keeps getting bigger and bigger. 
Good luck with the clean up and remember how hard and the time it took to clean it up after your next project is done. !!!


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## Ray C (Apr 22, 2018)

chip maker said:


> It really isn't that hard to keep a shop or work space clean if when the job your doing is complete just clean up after yourself right away. This is how I keep up to my messes when doing something in the shop and has always worked out just don't leave the miss for the next day or so because than it will not get done. Before you know it you've done a bunch of projects and the miss keeps getting bigger and bigger.
> Good luck with the clean up and remember how hard and the time it took to clean it up after your next project is done. !!!



I'm usually pretty good about not letting things slide out of control but, a couple years ago, I went back to work (office job) full time.  I was also keeping-up with the odd-jobs and over-flow work from the local marina.   I'm not planning to let this happen again.   Also, my son moved back for a while and his apartment furnishings were stored in my garage last winter -and that put the nail in the coffin.   Every last bit of walking space I had was occupied with his boxes.  The real issue is that I was doing a lot in too small of a space without enough shelves and proper storage cabinets/drawers.

Here are some pics as of early yesterday morning.  I spent 8 hours later on organizing even more, throwing-out even more and building some divider/shelves that will go in the table island shelf unit.  You can see between the lathe and mill where one of the new toolboxes will go.  I'm planning to do more cleanup on all the shelves and also get proper small compartment cabinets for all the fasteners and small parts.


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## Ray C (Apr 24, 2018)

I only get half of it.  It finally arrived special order to the local Home Depot.  Got this and the top box.  Everything in good shape.  The wife like the top box so, it's up in her woman-cave.  She was eyeing this but, a guy's got to draw the line somewhere!




Helping the economy of my neighbors north of me.    Thanks Guys... Nice toolbox.




Ray


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## Ray C (Apr 27, 2018)

Woo-hoo...  It was on back-order for a while but it showed-up today.   It's nice and wide too.  




Will start moving things into the top-box tomorrow.  The bottom cabinet is filling-up but still nice and neat.  Those plastic trays are great.




Ray


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## Charles Spencer (Apr 28, 2018)

ddickey said:


> I see you bought new tool boxes. Think I might be doing that also. I was thinking CL for metal cabinets.



I got an old Craftsman top and bottom box off craigslist for $40.00.  I had to clean them out though.  They were full of Craftsman wrenches and sockets.  I got the small Craftsman box on top of them from a yard sale for $5.00.


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## Ray C (Apr 28, 2018)

Charles Spencer said:


> I got an old Craftsman top and bottom box off craigslist for $40.00.  I had to clean them out though.  They were full of Craftsman wrenches and sockets.  I got the small Craftsman box on top of them from a yard sale for $5.00.
> View attachment 266279



I'm trying to figure-out the vintage of those Craftsman boxes.   The pull-handles look more recent but the lift handles look older.   My Dad had a Craftsman box in the basement from the late 50's or early 60's.   Man, that thing was built like a tank.

Ray


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## ddickey (May 3, 2018)

What kind of boxes are those Ray?
I see there are some Clarke tool chests coming up at an auction here, no anything about those?


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## Ray C (May 3, 2018)

ddickey said:


> What kind of boxes are those Ray?
> I see there are some Clarke tool chests coming up at an auction here, no anything about those?



The blue box set (available in red, blue and black) are "International" brand, made in Canada.  I would classify them about the same as the similar sized red top & bottom box that Harbor Freight used to carry but, has now canceled and replaced with a different configuration.   These have ball-bearing drawers and are about 1/2 filled and seem to be holding-up just fine.

Not familiar with Clarke tool chests...  I did a net search and got some hits but there's a lot of different models in varying quality ranges.

Ray


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## ddickey (May 3, 2018)

Made in Canada? Quality must be quite good.


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## Ray C (May 3, 2018)

ddickey said:


> Made in Canada? Quality must be quite good.



They're good boxes but not ultra-heavy duty.  They're about the same duty rating as the medium grade that HF sells. The fit and finish was fine.  All things considered, I'd rather send my money to our buds north of us.  

Ray


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