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What’s everyone’s favorite cheap tool chest? Doesn’t need to be a tank or an investment, I’m just using my girlfriends garage space and want to be a good guest. Craigslist/FB Marketplace/and OfferUp are coming up pretty dry.
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Feb 9, 2022 07:16
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The one I posted last page from Home Depot is massive and appears to be a loss leader in their price stackup. It's way under the dollar per inch width and number of drawers as all the others they sell. And yeah the benchtop is already cluttered all the way the gently caress up. Might be more than what you're looking for but it's a pretty good value.
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Feb 9, 2022 07:46
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HF has occasional coupons for toolboxes and discounts that improve if you’ve got an inside track membership. I have a bright green 5-door mechanics tool cart waiting for me to pick up, can’t wait.
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Feb 9, 2022 16:32
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devmd01 posted:Realized I had some scrap wood sitting around that was perfect for shelving so I added a couple more to the garage above the cabinet with stickers. You can never have too much storage. Are you using those T5 6500K amazon connectable LED lights (e.g. these)? I'm considering a bunch of them for my garage, but I'm worried 6500K is too blue compared to my current fluorescents.
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Feb 10, 2022 01:39
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Those are the ones, yep - they are bright as hell, not a lot of blue imo. Definitely use a drywall anchor to help with retention, the screws it comes with for the brackets are inadequate.
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Feb 10, 2022 11:20
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devmd01 posted:Those are the ones, yep - they are bright as hell, not a lot of blue imo. Definitely use a drywall anchor to help with retention, the screws it comes with for the brackets are inadequate. I've got the 5000K version here. They're awesome and zero blueness. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G2Q4VZN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 I put 16 of the four footers in a fairly standard sized, non-lofted three car garage. At first it seemed like a comical amount of light but I wouldn't have it any other way now. Go big and buy a bunch.
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Feb 10, 2022 22:55
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WTFBEES posted:comical amount of light but I wouldn't have it any other way now. Hell yeah light it up. The workbench third bay area is especially bright with five of those lights up above. With under cabinet LEDs above the workbench as well there are zero shadow/lighting issues when working on something.
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Feb 11, 2022 01:27
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devmd01 posted:Hell yeah light it up. The workbench third bay area is especially bright with five of those lights up above. With under cabinet LEDs above the workbench as well there are zero shadow/lighting issues when working on something. The lack of shadows thanks to light from every direction is the best part. I did some planning based on what some lighting nerd forum recommended and mapped everything out like so. Blue bars are lights. Yellow are cable runs.  It turned out real good. Each spot gets 6 lights around it for light from every direction. Not pictured are three more 2' undercabinet lights for workbench purposes. One minor note - a bunch of lights get covered by the garage door (located at the top of this picture) when it's open. I don't have a good solution to this, but it's a thing to consider. WTFBEES fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Feb 11, 2022 |
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Feb 11, 2022 04:49
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WTFBEES posted:One minor note - a bunch of lights get covered by the garage door (located at the top of this picture) when it's open. I don't have a good solution to this, but it's a thing to consider. Seems like a good excuse to attach a few tubes to the garage doors, and run them through a limit switch that only turns them on when the door is up. There are also companies that sell kits like this: https://www.carguygarage.com/accessories/lighting/led-garage-door-lighting
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Feb 11, 2022 18:16
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n0tqu1tesane posted:Seems like a good excuse to attach a few tubes to the garage doors, and run them through a limit switch that only turns them on when the door is up. Well poo poo, that's a thing I only just learned exists and can no longer live without. Maybe I'll go the MacGyver route to save a buck and burn a whole weekend.
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Feb 11, 2022 20:17
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I guess there could be a use case for it but IMO I'm only going to have the garage door open when I am working if it's a nice sunny day and therefore I won't care if the lights are blocked because the sun lumens will overpower whatever lights I have anyway.
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Feb 11, 2022 20:20
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WTFBEES posted:Well poo poo, that's a thing I only just learned exists and can no longer live without. Maybe I'll go the MacGyver route to save a buck and burn a whole weekend. Yeah, that kit is probably at least double, if not triple what it would cost if you pieced it all together yourself.
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Feb 13, 2022 04:25
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Also from that website:  Kind of want... https://www.carguygarage.com/accessories/lighting/billet-aluminum-distributor-lamp
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Mar 2, 2022 18:30
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Crosspost from the homeowner thread Technically the garage is part of the house, and arguably the most important, at least in my opinion. We moved in last June and it's great having a garage but now it's time to start making it work for me. We're still trying to plan how we want to organize it but we started with getting all uniform totes from Costco (green made black and yellow tough totes). I went through a bunch of stuff that was left by the POs like scrap wood etc. I couldn't find any rafter hooks that would fit my 4x8 beams so I bought some flat steel and made my own. I used rubber plumbing insulation for padding to hang our skis up and out of the way.   One huge issue was lighting, you can see in those photos. There was a single wall mounted flood light which just didn't really work. It cast bad shadows and didn't put out a lot of light. Harbor fright has some LED shop lights for $20 so I bought 4 and wanted to see how they would work. The lights can chain together so I plugged them into one another and swapped the old flood light with an outlet so the lights are switch operated. It was crazy bright after. No shadows. It feels like a new garage.   My garage door opener was super old. Zero safety measures, no remotes. The button to open it worked 50% of the time. I bought a new 1.25hp belt drive model and holy poo poo, it's really quiet. Having remotes and a key pad is nice. It also has a lockout feature from inside that prevents the keypad or the remotes from opening the garage which is nice. I also get a notification when it's open or closed. While installing it, I added another outlet and an extension cord reel. The other issue was there were only two outlets in my entire garage, one of which was up high for the garage door opener. I needed to add more so I started roughing out electrical for the other two walls. I'll be adding 6 additional outlets. In the next few weeks we'll be ordering sod so that will be fun. I also noticed our sliding glass door needs to be fixed/replaced. The window is bowed in and rubs against the door when it opens. The aluminium frame is also coming apart. I tried fixing it but it keeps coming undone when the door closes. It's going to be a busy and expensive few weeks/months.
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Mar 28, 2022 16:40
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Those lights will really perk up if you paint the ceiling and walls white.
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Mar 28, 2022 17:10
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Not really garage related, but figured better here than anywhere else. I'm trying to find a natural gas patio heater, or maybe even a much smaller (~10K BTU) tabletop heater. Problem is, natural gas seems to be very rare to find wheras propane is everywhere. Is it pretty straight forward to convert LPG to NG? I'm not scared to try and convert one myself as long as I am given the specs for changing an orifice (drill out the LPG?) and get the proper adapters for converting to a NG hose from a bottle/reg. Ideally I'd like a NG tabletop heater right out of the box (I can run a hose right up the centre of the table) but those don't even seem to exist.
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Mar 28, 2022 22:54
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slidebite posted:Is it pretty straight forward to convert LPG to NG? I'm not scared to try and convert one myself as long as I am given the specs for changing an orifice (drill out the LPG?) and get the proper adapters for converting to a NG hose from a bottle/reg. It usually is pretty straightforward, just make sure you check out what your buying to make sure it has something like a traditional orifice that can be changed or drilled out. Some of the patio heaters I've had apart are like.......tens of orifices all arranged in a circle and would seem like a huge PITA to do. Others have one in a centralized chamber kinda thing. You may need to play with the air shutter/are intake before the orifice too. In my experience I've only been converting NG to propane (mostly clothe dryers) and I have to close that up some. Aluminum tape actually works just fine because it's not hot there. You may need to drill/remove material to get a clean burn.
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Mar 28, 2022 23:12
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Thanks for that. Do you know if there is a guide for orifice size/BTU going from LPG?
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Mar 28, 2022 23:23
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slidebite posted:Thanks for that. Digging through bookmarks........and yes, this still works: https://ssl.ca/wp-content/themes/sinclair-supply/pdf/Gas-Orifice-Capacity-Chart.pdf Yes, this will give you an excuse to buy a number drill index.
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Mar 29, 2022 00:01
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Thanks man. Why don't you buy one and convert it for me too since you've done everything else for me lol
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Mar 29, 2022 00:16
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slidebite posted:Thanks man. lol the shipping (for the case of scotch you'll need to send me) might be pretty high.
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Mar 29, 2022 01:59
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Welp/Woot! Contract signed for new garage. It's going to be eye-wateringly expensive, but the result should be worth it. 35 square meter external footprint. I'll make sure to post pictures.
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Apr 8, 2022 13:18
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I'm gearing up for a full rewire of my detached garage. Previously the whole thing was served by a single 15A ungrounded circuit that's original to the structure from 1953. I had a 100A subpanel put in this week. Really looking forward to being able to run my compressor and open/close the garage door at the same time, or charging my EV bike without worrying about burning the whole thing to the ground. It's not enormous (oversized one car) so it's not going to be a huge project, but anything I should do while I'm at it? Here's my current plan: 15A circuit for lighting - I just have 3 of those Costco LED fixtures that were super popular ~5 years ago, might add one more 20A circuit for outlets - probably no more than 5 total including one for the garage door opener. Wondering if I should run a dedicated circuit for the opener or my compressor or if that's overkill. Opener says it pulls 5.4 amps (this thing is ancient but still runs great, smooth and quiet) Compressor is your typical 15 amp 30ish gallon Craftsman guy. No other heavy draws, just charging cordless tool batteries, 12v trickle charger, etc. 50A circuit w/ 14-50 receptacle for my 40A EVSE. God drat I picked a bad time to buy 6/3, oof. Anything else I may kick myself for not doing down the road? Sidenote: I got a box of Wagos for this project having never used them before. Even just playing with them on the bench I can tell I'll likely never go back to wire nuts. These rule. opengl fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Apr 17, 2022 |
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Apr 17, 2022 16:08
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Do you have to dig to run the new line out there?
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Apr 17, 2022 16:24
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Rhyno posted:Do you have to dig to run the new line out there? Yeah I had electricians trench a new line. Worth every penny after watching them do it.
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Apr 17, 2022 16:26
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opengl128 posted:Yeah I had electricians trench a new line. Worth every penny after watching them do it. I was gonna advise you to hire that out, I dug and trenched the well and drain pipe at my old house and I swear I still haven't recovered.
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Apr 17, 2022 17:34
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Our attached 3 car has lighting shared with some lighting circuits in the house, and has 12 of the LED 4' fixtures, with plans for 4 more once I get around to it. 3 separate 20a circuits for outlets on the three walls and one outlet between the big doors, and a 30a 240v on the back wall between the single stall and the double stall. I think you can never have enough separate circuits, but at a minimum I'd run separate lighting and outlet circuits, and the 50a 240v is something I wish I'd done rather than 30a. I still have access from an unfinished space to add them though, so I might do a pair of 50a 240v before we finish that space for eventual electric car chargers or whatnot.
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Apr 17, 2022 20:30
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I'm about to rewire my single car garage as well, I was planning on diying it with a trenching machine but now I'm a little concerned... Put the outlets higher up on the wall for easier access, more outlets on the wall where your workbench is going. Quad boxes with receptacles on separate circuits might be a good idea if you need to use two high draw devices simultaneously. More 240v receptacles for welders/compressors/heaters/dust collectors is never a bad thing.
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Apr 18, 2022 15:56
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I don't know if this is something you'll run into, but if I try to run my (ancient Craftsman belt drive 10") table saw and shop vac at the same time on the same circuit, I will almost always pop the 15A breaker. There is a second circuit I can use for the shop vac, but it kind of leaves the vacuum tethered to one corner of the garage.
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Apr 18, 2022 16:06
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Power where you need it is the way to go. More outlets and circuits than you think you need. I bought a couple of these power strips for the workbench and the support beam in between my cars and they are the best. I highly recommend it unless you want to just build in a shitload of outlets by your workbench. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B077VLL6BC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Apr 19, 2022 |
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Apr 19, 2022 06:37
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Bulk Vanderhuge posted:I'm about to rewire my single car garage as well, I was planning on diying it with a trenching machine but now I'm a little concerned... Mount the boxes so the bottoms are 50" or so off the floor. That way you can lean sheets of plywood or drywall against the wall without ever blocking a plug. I wired my 40x60 garage myself. Outlet spacing varies slightly due to windows and stuff, but they're no more than 8 feet apart. Except on the wall that has 3 10' wide rollup doors. 2-gang boxes with 12-3 wire run as a multiwire branch circuit - so I essentially have 2 20-amp circuits available at any given box. I mostly work alone, but I figure it will come in handy if a friend and I are both using thirsty power tools at the same time.
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Apr 21, 2022 19:09
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JoshGuitar posted:Mount the boxes so the bottoms are 50" or so off the floor. That way you can lean sheets of plywood or drywall against the wall without ever blocking a plug. Oh shoot I hadn't considered using 12/3 to run multiple circuits at once. So they'd share a neutral in that case? Didn't know that was permitted and I haven't started yet so I may swap out my 12/2 for 12/3 to save some runs, obviously ensuring the hots are on separate legs.
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Apr 21, 2022 19:28
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opengl128 posted:Oh shoot I hadn't considered using 12/3 to run multiple circuits at once. So they'd share a neutral in that case? Didn't know that was permitted and I haven't started yet so I may swap out my 12/2 for 12/3 to save some runs, obviously ensuring the hots are on separate legs. There may be some jurisdictions where it's not allowed, YMMV. You'll ideally want to use a 2 pole breaker, which will both ensure they're on separate legs and make it impossible to switch one side off while leaving the other hot. I went with 2 pole GFCI breakers, which weren't cheap ($50 or so), but eliminated the need for any GFCI receptacles. They do share a neutral, but with the hots on separate legs the neutral won't get overloaded. If you're pulling 20 amps on each leg, they'll cancel each other out on the neutral so it will basically see zero amps.
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Apr 21, 2022 20:02
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My current situation after my usual light springtime organization. I think the garage is probably 1200 square feet or so.  Vehicles inside are - S2000, EP3, DR350, and Duke 390. Oh and the Honda Nighthawk which isn’t actually mine. Hard to see, but there are also four full sets of wheels and tires plus two more sets of bare wheels there behind the DR and Nighthawk. There is a super nice U-shaped workbench setup in the back right corner with multiple shelves underneath. All my tools are kept in there as a sort of workshop-within-a-workshop. I really need to find a better storage solution for all the wheels and tires so that I have a space to fit a Kei Car. There’s also another garage which houses the Del Sol and some half-dozen small bikes and mopeds. Oh. And the tractor hole that keeps the Kubota and several other dirt bikes dry Help. Imperador do Brasil fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Apr 21, 2022 |
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Apr 21, 2022 20:06
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I see nothing that needs any help. Could make tire racks that hang off the wall or that i-beam.
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Apr 23, 2022 16:12
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JoshGuitar posted:You'll ideally want to use a 2 pole breaker, which will both ensure they're on separate legs and make it impossible to switch one side off while leaving the other hot. Want is the wrong word there. A 2-pole breaker is required for both of those reasons - you need each hot leg to come from opposite legs of your panel, and you can't create a situation where shutting off one breaker doesn't kill both legs.
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Apr 23, 2022 19:06
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Imperador do Brasil posted:I really need to find a better storage solution for all the wheels and tires so that I have a space to fit a Kei Car. Three? sets of ramps and various other light weight things can be held in overhead hanging storage or shelves that start at chest height. Tires sets to the walls, as high up as possible. Quickjacks can be stored vertical on the wall. The wall above/behind the S2000 could have a cabinet or shelves hung to hold miscellaneous buckets and stuff to get it off the floor. With the quickjacks and other stuff moved off the wall you can park the civic closer on the passenger side wall then park the bikes at a bit more of an angle once the tires are out of the way and you should have space for a kei car in the middle. https://floorplanner.com/home is free and really good for playing with moving cars/bikes/benches/etc around to see what will give you the most space where you need it.
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Apr 23, 2022 20:19
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As a newbie welder, I am obliged fabricate shop furniture whenever the opportunity arises. Made of steel angle and 3/8" rod, it's conservatively rated to carry 100 lbs of grinding discs. (I pulled it off the wall this week for maintenance. It's in the paint shop getting a coat of gloss enamel in mustard yellow.)
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Apr 24, 2022 07:07
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IOwnCalculus posted:Want is the wrong word there. A 2-pole breaker is required for both of those reasons - you need each hot leg to come from opposite legs of your panel, and you can't create a situation where shutting off one breaker doesn't kill both legs. From what I understand a 2 pole is by far the preferred way, but 2 single breakers with the handles tied together is also considered acceptable. But yeah, definitely just go for the 2 pole. The only advantage to the single breakers and a handle tie is...saving enough money to maybe buy a pack of gum?
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Apr 24, 2022 13:12
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Could use some AI advice on paint/epoxy/other sealant options for a cement garage floor. Wife and I are in escrow on our first home and it has a pretty sizable garage which will be great fun to get dialed in for car projects. Major work may have to wait as we prioritize what needs to get done asap on the house, but for the garage specifically it seems to me the easiest time to do the floor is while it's empty and not full of all our poo poo. My buddy said to avoid Home Depot for this and get a kit from an industrial supplier like this one. So who's done the epoxy floor thing, any horror/success stories? It sounds like prep is the most important part, not unlike painting a car.
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Apr 26, 2022 01:24
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