Floor now Visible

Yesterday I got a lot of stuff done in the workshop.

Ergonomics is a weak point with me. I tend to put things I use in the worst possible locations. I stack things on the floor in front of shelves. I cover new horizontal surfaces with junk so I feel like I need to buy more tables. I put tools where I have to walk past junk to use them.

I hate clutter and disorganization, yet I tend to generate them.

Yesterday I moved a bunch of stuff in the shop and made it possible to do more work.

First off, I put a set of Amazon casters on my Harbor Freight 20-ton press.

If you don’t have one of these presses (or a better press), you must be a fool. For around $150, you get a press that functions perfectly well, and you can easily upgrade it to air/manual power. If there are things about the press you don’t like, you can modify it. It’s a very simple piece of machinery. The fundamental structure is fine, so any problems the press might have are unimportant and repairable. They used to make orange presses that tended to fail, but the grey ones they make now are great.

These presses sit on steel angle irons, and the angle irons are pre-drilled for casters. I spent around $20 on Amazon and got a set of 4 swivel casters, two of which have brakes. It took 5 minutes to install them. Now I can move the press wherever I want. It will no longer be blocking my access to other things, and I can move it to the metalworking area of the shop.

I plan to put a sheet of plywood between the press and casters. It will give me a storage surface that moves with the press. I may also put some kind of box or shelves on it. I can fix it so they can be moved off when they obstruct the press.

I ordered a Swag Offroad finger brake kit for the press. This will let me put decent-quality bends in very heavy steel. I plan to use it to make improved mobile bases for my heavy tools. Storebought bases have to be adjustable, and this introduces lots of problems. I look forward to having bases that work better, and I also look forward to being able to make boxes and brackets.

I’ll have to do some welding to put the kit together, but I have–let’s see–THREE welders ready to go. I should be able to get it done.

I advertised my John Deere utility cart for sale, and I moved it to the goat shed. When I bought my tractors and golf cart, the seller threw this thing in. I can see why. It’s useless. If I want to move things, I have a pickup and a golf cart with a dump bed. The JD cart sat in the way collecting leaves and dead bugs.

John Deere is a sad cult, like Snap-On and Apple, so people will pay stupid prices for anything green. I think this cart is worthless except for parts for projects, but I have already had two contacts from the ads. I priced it at $500, figuring John Deere lovers had no common sense whatsoever. I’ll bet anything I get $250.

If I can’t get a high price, I may cut the sheet metal off and turn it into a base for a mobile barbecue.

I moved my drill press and grinding cart to the metalworking area of the workshop. Now they’re near my toolboxes, as they should be. I also added my Chinese welders, since I am more likely to use them than the Lincoln, and I put my Harbor Freight welding table nearby.

My wood stuff is all on the other side of the shop now.

With the cart gone, I was able to move a lot of junk to shelves, so now I can walk quickly across the garage instead of stopping and turning to avoid things.

I ordered a 25-foot cord for the 50-amp socket. That will let me move the welders and plasma cutter around instead of jamming them against the wall by the socket. Manufacturers save money by selling these machines with tiny cords.

One of my air hose reels was on a shelf, and the hose was on the floor in sprawling coils. I mounted the reel on the wall and put the hose on it. Now I have air up to 70 feet from the shop. It’s not much air, because the compressor is small, but it’s air. And I can walk where the hose used to be.

There is no outlet on the side of the shop where the compressor sits. That’s unforgivable. There is an outlet maybe 18 feet away, embedded in the wall, and the wires that feed it drop down through the cinderblocks from above. I believe I can pull the box out, drop new wires down from above, attach them to the existing outlet to draw power from it, run them down the wall to the compressor area, drop them into the cinderblocks, and install a second outlet. This is my plan. I don’t really want to splice into the existing romex, but that could actually be a better plan. Anyway, I WILL have another outlet.

I am considering hanging 4 power cords with multiple sockets from the roof trusses so they’ll end about 6 feet in the air. That would let me connect tools to them without running cords on the floor. I already have one outlet up there for the useless ceiling fan. I plan to replace it with a four-socket outlet, and then I can run the cords over the trusses.

I may also run a couple of 250V cords up there for 20-amp tools.

I had a brainstorm regarding the big tractor. I was thinking I should build a shed for it and get it out of the workshop, but then I realized I could park it with the front end loader in the air. The loader and forks take up an area which is maybe 6′ by 8′, so this would make the workshop much easier to use.

I learned that hydraulics can’t be trusted to hold pressure. That means the loader will slowly sink if I leave it up, crushing whatever is under it. Also, if someone (like a kid) touches the hydraulic lever, the loader can plummet very quickly. To prevent this, I need a brace to fit over one hydraulic ram. Kubota doesn’t make a brace for this loader, but I can make out from steel C channel. That’s one of my projects for today. I want to buy the channel, make an end plate for it, cut recesses to fit the loader hinge, weld the plate on, and paint it Kubota orange. Whenever I park the Kubota, I’ll stick the brace on one rod, and the loader will stay in the air.

I looked into sheds for the John Deere, but you have to spend a lot of money to get a shed with a doorway a 6′-wide tractor can negotiate. I might make a wooden shed myself, with one open side. It would be very cheap, and it’s not complicated. Four four-by-four posts with concrete slugs. A bunch of pressure-treated boards nailed to the posts. Galvanized metal for the roof. Done.

I’m going to put casters on my shop fan. It’s very heavy and hard to move.

I now have a big clear area by my workbench, and my metal tools are right there. Very nice.

I’m going to throw out my Rockstar beverage fridge and put my retired mini-fridge in the shop for drinks. I have to make a stand for the fridge first. It’s very short, and I don’t want to waste floor space. A rolling stand will allow me to have some shelf space under it.

I vacuumed the shop. I have given up my delusions about blowing debris out. Women are right about this. Men like to blow debris away. Women like to suck it in. When you suck it in, you can get rid of it. When you blow it away, it just lands somewhere else, where it has to be blown again. From now on, the leaf blowers and compressor blow guns are only for things the vacuums can’t handle.

It makes a big difference to have a somewhat clean floor.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my basic strategy. I was considering building a new shop, because there was so much clutter in the existing building. If I can put up a shed and keep the Kubota’s forks up, I can do a lot with what I have.

I want more 50-amp lines out there. That project is looking less intimidating. The electrician I called to give me an estimate turned out to be completely incompetent, and I had been relying on his expertise. He was wrong about a lot of things. I’ve been investigating, and I don’t think running more wires will be hard. He couldn’t find the place where the existing wires entered. I did. I found out how to bury bigger wires. This is something I can handle.

I tried to open one of the boxes the big wires go through, but the screws are carbon steel, not stainless. On an outdoor box. Unbelievable. The philips slots are nearly gone. I decided this was a good excuse to order special pliers for removing damaged screws. They’re called Vampliers. They look like they have little teeth.

Vampliers are sold on TV, but they’re actually excellent Japanese pliers. The company makes other good tools. If you order them under the Japanese company’s name, you pay much less for the same product. That’s what I did.

I had to find stainless screws made to screw into plastic. They exist. Amazon sells them. They’re called “thread rolling screws.” I ordered a pack of 25 for $3.47. I made sure they had Philips heads on them so I don’t have to go dig out a ridiculous Torx bit or use a flat blade which is guaranteed to slip out 15 times per screw.

I want to put my lathe and mill in the garage by the house. This is not an optimal setup, but I think it’s better than cramming them in an un-air-conditioned workshop. For under $600, I can put a unit in the garage window.

It’s not that terrible, having to walk between buildings to get tools. The distance is around a hundred feet. In fact, now that I’ve got a hose reel mounted, I don’t think I need two big compressors. I can do most of my air-intensive work in one building, and if I need to something in the other one, I can just extend the hose to it.

All I need now is good weather. Hurricane Dorian was wonderful. Yesterday, I enjoyed the hurricane in cool weather with pleasant breezes that really mitigated the sweating. Now we’re getting abnormally hot weather, and it’s supposed to be here for days. The shop fan is okay, but it’s no substitute for October.

I may get tarps for the tractors and start parking them outdoors right now. That extra space is very tempting. The John Deere looks like it has spent at least 15 years outdoors already, so a tarp is probably more than adequate. It’s never going to look like a new tractor.

I still want the brace for the front end loader. With a brace, you can work on the tractor with the loader raised. Very helpful. And it’s a simple and fun project.

I will post a photo to show where things stand now.

The junk in the foreground needs to be stored and/or rearranged.

Clearly, I now have room for a propane forge.