Assorted Garage/Shop Projects

I haven't had very much time to do work around the garage this year, but in the last month, I finally finished some projects and made progress on a few others. My goal is to have a neat and orderly garage before I die, despite having to time-share it with wife and kid crap.

First up, a very simple project. I have a big tablesaw. When I leave for travel, every horizontal surface becomes a target for the wife and kid. Juice boxes, fast food drinks, mail, trash, wet clothing, etc. I recently purchased my dream saw, which depleted me of the cash I needed for a homicide attorney, so I needed to find another path.
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/sawstop/sawtop03.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/sawstop/sawtop01.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/sawstop/sawtop02.JPG
I made this quick table to fit very snugly over the saw top and rails. It's cheap melamine, so my heart won't break when water rings and mud stains appear on it. I added some felt to the underside to allow a little bit of air circulation in the event that any moisture condenses on the saw top over the winter months. The saw also has multiple heavy coats of paste wax to give it a little more protection as well. Eventually, my plan is to figure out some sort of folding extension system, so I can use it as a support table as well.

I had a rolling cabinet that I built out of a lot of leftover 2x4s. I built it to be the exact height of the tailgate of my truck, so I could use it to transfer heavy things into the garage. It was functional, but it wasn't exactly pretty or built with love. I painted it flat black and cut some melamine panel inserts so that it would match with the rolling counter-top it lives under. While I was at it, I painted the junk shelf as well in the same color scheme.
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/truckb...uckbench02.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/truckb...uckbench03.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/truckb...uckbench06.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/truckb...uckbench08.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/truckb...uckbench09.JPG

I looked at my drill press, and thought "I could cram more stuff on this". This was not a terribly complicated thing to build, and the few pictures I have make it clear how it was built. Since this is shop furniture, I used a lot of pocket holes for expedience.
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress02.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress01.JPG

I made the drawers using a lock miter bit. They aren't quite perfect, but for the limited practice I have had with the bit, I think they came out well enough.
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress07.JPG

I gave the carcass a couple coats of Rustoleum Flat Black high durability oil-based paint. I've been using this stuff on a lot of my shop furniture, and I like it. Goes on quick, hides a lot, and it can be touched up with a Sharpie when necessary.
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress03.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress04.JPG

The doors I painted with some leftover Killz white latex primer. It was free, and it more or less matches the white of a lot of the melamine work surfaces in my garage.
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress06.JPG

I am sure a ton of people have thought this up before and implemented it in a thousand better ways, but this is my one bit of clever in this whole thing:
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress09.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress08.JPG

Used the back half of the cabinet behind the column to store the long and/or obscure stuff I use with my drill press. However, it can be hard to get at it up against the wall where my drill press commonly lives, so I did this:
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress11.JPG
http://www.johnnyego.com/wood/drillp...illpress10.JPG

I've also got a workbench project going that has reached the slow and tedious stage. If there is any interest, I will post some pictures of it as a work-in-progress.

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My goal is to have a neat and orderly garage before I die

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Looks to me like you're already there!

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Originally Posted by JohnnyEgo

I recently purchased my dream saw, which depleted me of the cash I needed for a homicide attorney

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???

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Originally Posted by kidicarus13

???

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He wants to murder them for putting random crap on his work surfaces. I know the feeling.

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Originally Posted by blacklabel

He wants to murder them for putting random crap on his work surfaces. I know the feeling.

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Got it. Must be getting late.

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Originally Posted by kidicarus13

Got it. Must be getting late.

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Or he murdered a bum and I've read too much between the lines. Hopefully he comes along to clear things up. On the other hand, he's doing a great job organizing his garage.

Could be either. You never know with some guys.


When I reached the realization that there wasn't much price disparity between a good divorce lawyer and an adequate homicide lawyer, my perspective on marriage changed.
It changed again when I realized I couldn't afford either one after buying a new tablesaw, so rather than go insane when it ended up with rusty water rings, I built that top for it.

I've pretty much given up on having a neat, orderly garage. I do feel good about that saying that clutter is a sign of genius. Based off my garage I'd say I'm smarter than damn near everyone.

Knowing how much of a craftsman you are. I'm still perplexed how difficult it is to get that truck between 2 gates with a 12' opening AND miss the garage ;)

The again you were able to get in and out of the alley, not once but 2 times . I tip my hat to you sir.

It's like crossing the Panama canal or having sex for me, Jim. Either way, I need a well-trained team of mules and some stout rope to keep me on path and not banging into the walls, which are a metaphor for the side of your garage.

Edit: And with all three activities, there is usually a lot of cursing involved as well.

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Originally Posted by JohnnyEgo

It's like crossing the Panama canal or having sex for me, Jim. Either way, I need a well-trained team of mules and some stout rope to keep me on path and not banging into the walls, which are a metaphor for the side of your garage.

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Once again, your humor will probably be lost to many while appreciated by the few, thanks. BTW: Those 75gr privi bullets came in today.

A simple solution to your most vexing issue: All flat, horizontal surfaces get a hinge at the front edge. When you leave for travel, you lift the surface at least 30 degrees and use a prop rod at the rear edge.
"it can be touched up with a sharpie". Pure freakin' genius.

Great work on the craftsmanship. Now, how do you fit a truck in there?

Sadly, I don't. My wife's minivan, the kid's crap, and my motorcycle occupy the other two bays. It's why everything I make is on wheels. When they leave for work and school, I roll their crap out and mine in. Reverse the process right before they get home.

I finally got my garage clean enough to get a vehicle into it. Next is more shelving.

Looks good! I might have to borrow some of those ideas.

I sorely need to redo my garage layout to get more storage room. Sucks having only a two stall and three vehicles. Any small project can ruin it for the wife's spot. :D

Your pics are inspirational, Johnny. I'm in the process of dressing up my garage. I put the epoxy paint down last Tuesday evening. I wanted the shiny, airplane hangar look, but I'm actually a bit disappointed with the final product. I didn't realize how poor the finish is on my concrete. It's very wavy. When it was dull and dirty before, I didn't notice all the undulations in the finish. Now, with everything shiny and one color, it looks like dung.

I'm planning a re-do next spring and will probably do a finish similar to your floor. It'll hide the imperfections in the underlying concrete and provide a bit of anti-slip for our snowy winters.

I'm hoping to install the workbench across the front wall sometime this week. Might be a good rainy day project as the weather is supposed to deteriorate over the next few days.

I'm also planning to repaint the entry door and the trim around the door. My brother says I need a black hose, too, as the green is really harshing on my black and grey theme.

http://www.woodardfamily.com/hosted/Garage.JPG

If you're going to redo the floor, you might be able to put a layer of self leveling concrete in there to smooth everything out. I don't know how well self leveling concrete works with car weight though. You'd have to ask an actual contractor about that.

Your garage looks beautiful, NFATrustGuy. I think mine looked like that on day 1, before I moved all my stuff in.
I have a polyaspartic floor with an epic crap-load of flake. The end product is pretty matte, which hides a bunch of flaws, and it has a bit of traction to it. It's held up to the abuse of several winters worth of mag chloride being tracked in by my wife, as well as heavy tool traffic, impacts, and tire rub. Cleans up well with a deck brush and some water with a little bit of Dawn soap. It's about four years old now, and hasn't peeled or come up anywhere that I can see yet. I am very happy with it. I used Mile High Coatings to do it, as they were the only locals offering polyaspartic a few years back, but now I gather there are a lot of folks who can do it. If you elect to go that route, I am sure you will be happy with the end result.

I like your surface protection! I can't believe the number of times I have found a nice rust ring on my steel top or splash marks from the hose outside! I too am familiar with the game of garage tetris.. only I still can't fit a car in mine. My wife "loves" me! Your mobile bases look a lot better than mine, I'll have to do some research on those.

very nice setup. hopefully when i get a place i can get one going

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Originally Posted by NFATrustGuy

Your pics are inspirational, Johnny. I'm in the process of dressing up my garage. I put the epoxy paint down last Tuesday evening. I wanted the shiny, airplane hangar look, but I'm actually a bit disappointed with the final product. I didn't realize how poor the finish is on my concrete. It's very wavy. When it was dull and dirty before, I didn't notice all the undulations in the finish. Now, with everything shiny and one color, it looks like dung.

I'm planning a re-do next spring and will probably do a finish similar to your floor. It'll hide the imperfections in the underlying concrete and provide a bit of anti-slip for our snowy winters.

I'm hoping to install the workbench across the front wall sometime this week. Might be a good rainy day project as the weather is supposed to deteriorate over the next few days.

I'm also planning to repaint the entry door and the trim around the door. My brother says I need a black hose, too, as the green is really harshing on my black and grey theme.

http://www.woodardfamily.com/hosted/Garage.JPG

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Forget a black hose, I'd go with red, something to add a little color. If you get too much on the monotone scheme, it kills it, kinda like the wavy floor thing, trust me, a tiny bit of color to bring out the gray tones is where it's at. Get rid of the green hose though, green sucks.

You guys make me ashamed of my garage. :D I really need to get it organized better.

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Originally Posted by Dave_L

You guys make me ashamed of my garage. :D I really need to get it organized better.

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No kidding, right?

I have no room in my garage, and had to re-arrange/damn-near-stack-my-motorcycles to get enough space for my drill press to work on a few projects.

Moving two households worth of crap into my house (my wife's parents estate - 2 houses, 2 workshops, and 1 barn on a piece of property in OK) basically said no to spare space.

My happiest day. It was all down-hill for the garage from then on.
http://www.johnnyego.com/dump/house/garagefloor01.JPG