Workshop & Garage New Years Resolutions

[Spimothy Leary]

I thought this might be an interesting topic.

What are some tools/gadgets you want in the next 12 months?

Me First.

Dump my 3" farmers bench vice for a 4" non swivel type, lots of options on CL, super reasonable

Some kind of parts washer bin, tired of washing parts in the side yard over the rocks.

Ultrasonic cleaner, what the heck, i have a paypal balance.

At least 3 of the 5.5 mm because I can never find it when I need to pop a hood apart. And of course, some more 10mm because they walk away.

A blast cabinet, i really really really miss having access to one and that means I can finally get a badazz compressor instead of this crappy portable.

Next ?

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I need to wire an outdoor outlet so I don't have to run an extension cord to some heat tape on an outside drain... but dammit I'm tired.

 

[DanSquires]

I thought this might be an interesting topic.

What are some tools/gadgets you want in the next 12 months?

Me First.


Some kind of parts washer bin, tired of washing parts in the side yard over the rocks.

A blast cabinet, i really really really miss having access to one and that means I can finally get a badazz compressor instead of this crappy portable.

Next ?

A parts washer, and a blast cabinet, are both life savers.
I made my own parts washer with a sink from habitat for humanity restore, a 5 gallon bucket, a cheap submersible fountain pump, and some plumbing parts.. I think I've got 30 bucks in it. Because I just used a standard submersible pump, and because I have this one in my garage, I use ZEP industrial purple (off the shelf at HD..) very low/no odor and cleans fantastic, and wont explode.

I have a stand up HF blast cabinet, it does its job.

Tools I want/need.. an endoscope camera for my phone
New powdercoat gun, and larger oven

 

[mikidymac]

I finally bought a Harbor Freight 20 Ton press and can say, why the heck did I wait so long.

"It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." Buller.

 

[soccerdad]

I need a good bench vice as well. The main thing I need is to clean out all the crap from the garage. Space is the biggest thing I need now. At a cross roads now. Thinking ski boat or pontoon next season to go with a couple of the skis. So I guess the blown motor will go under the house and won't get rebuilt. I have a mini-mill which is great. I also use it as a small press. I would love a paint booth area, for wood projects and ski stuff.

 

[Matt Braley]

I've got the HB blast cabinet but I need to make a place for it and take it out of the box. I need to dig my own boat ramp to the canal in my backyard. I want to get the tool that allows me to bore my own cylinders.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

My shop is an absolute disaster I need at least a week of cleaning and organizing. I just finally got the new storage spot all finished up that was alot of work. Ill have to post a picture of that up once I get the last few pieces organized and put away. I have a spot in mind for another shelf then I have no less than 20 boxes of parts that need sorting,combining, and tossing. I think right now I have 6 different boxes of 97 XP parts that Id like to get down to 3.

Im also committed to lose some freakin weight, I went to the doctor a few weeks ago b/c of my back and I almost cried when I got on the scale. Prob two years since I had to get on one. I will absolutely lose 20lbs, would like to possibly drop 75 but I dont want to commit to that until I see the 20 drop. Gonna suck but I gotta do it.

 

[boatrboy]

Just added one led garage light to replace a fluorescent and now I want to change them all! No more wondering when it will come on in cold weather. Like minne I am committed to lose weight. On the lighter side, since I am new to the pwc world, I am committed to learn the ins/outs of my project 2000 rx. Who knows maybe even able to help someone when I do ....

 

[Mickirig1]

Want a great tool? Buy the best Drill Doctor. I got one for Christmas a few years ago. They sharpen drill bits like new! After the first few I did. I collected them all. Sat with some Beers and sharpened ALL my bits. They zip through like NEW! Nothing like seeing the chips fly and have the hole drilled.
I want a new flame wrench. ( Torch ) A variable adjustment arc welder. and a car lift for the garage.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

A parts washer, and a blast cabinet, are both life savers.
I made my own parts washer with a sink from habitat for humanity restore, a 5 gallon bucket, a cheap submersible fountain pump, and some plumbing parts.. I think I've got 30 bucks in it. Because I just used a standard submersible pump, and because I have this one in my garage, I use ZEP industrial purple (off the shelf at HD..) very low/no odor and cleans fantastic, and wont explode.

I have a stand up HF blast cabinet, it does its job.

Tools I want/need.. an endoscope camera for my phone
New powdercoat gun, and larger oven

any chance you can give me the rundown on this parts washer rigging ? And what practical purposes it might hold ?

I'll be honest, I've never really even used one, I just know I need something.

but I DO know that my current system can be improved: which involves carrying them to the side of the house, laying them down on rocks and spraying stuff with superclean, then scrub brush and the hose. Add the electric pressure washer if i'm really feeling ambitious, for small stuff its aerosol can's & spray bottles and old toothbrushes.

I'm kind of using urban amish approach right now and its not pretty.

 

[DanSquires]

any chance you can give me the rundown on this parts washer rigging ? And what practical purposes it might hold ?

I'll be honest, I've never really even used one, I just know I need something.

but I DO know that my current system can be improved: which involves carrying them to the side of the house, laying them down on rocks and spraying stuff with superclean, then scrub brush and the hose. Add the electric pressure washer if i'm really feeling ambitious, for small stuff its aerosol can's & spray bottles and old toothbrushes.

I'm kind of using urban amish approach right now and its not pretty.

You had me at urban Amish.

First, the reasons..
It costs less. Instead of buying cleaners to use one time, it's continuously used again and again.
The environment. Instead of the one time cleaners or much harsher chemicals being washed out in the front yard, they can be disposed of properly.
Ease of use. No more urban Amish.
I really am surprised at how much nicer having the parts washer has made life, I couldn't imagine working without one now.

Parts needed:
A sink. Try to find a deep utility sink.. but if you want to spend less, find whatever old one you can at Habitat for Humanity Restore or similar place.. that's what I used. I got everything for mine at our local habitat, except for the pump, which I had.
A bucket with lid, 5 dollar home depot item.
Submersible fountain pump, 20 bucks at harbor freight.
Drain pipe plumbing, a shutoff valve, some pvc pipe and clear hose.

I just drilled some holes in the lid for the feed tube, drain, and power to the pump. The large shutoff is unnecessary, I thought I'd need to to keep fumes from escaping and smelling up the place, but the cleaner I use doesn't put off odor.
The small shutoff is for flow control from the pump, and is necessary.




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[Spimothy Leary]

Cool beans! I don't need much to make that. Thanks !!!!

 

[DanSquires]

Cool beans! I don't need much to make that. Thanks !!!!

No problem, it's a very simple thing to make, need any more advice, shoot me a pm

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[AdamXP800]

I've got to get my garage and shed organized. I also need to get my blast cabinet in the garage and home from the lake house. The garage looks like a bomb went off after assembling that ski



95 XP800!!!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!

 

[dgoodwin10]

This year's resolution is to get organized and make better use of our shop space. To begin with was tool and part storage. For tools:

The blue Homak box was a Christmas present from the folks to add to my scratch and dent special Craftsman boxes. And yes, I like stickers.

Aside from some simple shelving to store parts, I started this project last night. I plan to have all hardware organized and have a book of schematics to know exactly what goes where. It's more fun than it looks... Maybe

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[fitty650sx]

I got fed up tripping over parts too.

 

[racerxxx]

OK, so some of you guys have seen the pics inside my home shop and know that I love tools. So, I recently got a new job and "had" to just upgrade my tools to some goodies one of the new guys turned me on to. I'll never go back to any other allen wrench after using these made by WERA. These are the bomb. They're almost torx shaped but are designed to actually grip the allen head better. So, I was using my old trust ball end Bhondus allen wrenches like I have for the last 20 year in my previous job when I stripped a small M3 flat head screw. Well there ain't much meat for the wrench to grab on M3 allen. I went and borrowed this guys wrench and got the screw out!!!!!!!!!!!! Sold, I went home and went $77 deep on an imperial set of allens and also a metric set. Nothing I have seen in 20 years using allens comes close to these. I use these 8 hours a day. THey're longer than your standard allen wrench and have a nice sheath over them. I bought mine off amazon.


http://www-us.wera.de/catalog_us.ht..._l-keys_l-keys_for_hexagon_socket_screws.html

Now, I also need to wear safety glasses, a huge pet peeve of mine but also important. I have had metal removed from my eye twice already over the last few years, it's not fun. So......I wanted to get some Racerxxx Oakleys and retire my old Oakleys into my new safety glasses. So, I snapped up some clear lenses off ebay for my old Black Oakley Gas Cans and order up my custom Oakley Gas Cans in my favorite color. Clear frames with Yellow "O" and Iridium lenses. I originally was going to use the clear frames with the clear lenses but once I put them on I just couldn't do it. So, if you have old Oakleys upgrade them to your saftey glasses for the shop.

 

[soccerdad]

Safety glasses are a necessary evil. Actually now my eyes are "older" so I have some with magnifiers in the bottom. Awesome! Makes it worth it to wear them. I also wear contacts and used to routinely have to change them out due to metal in them. I called them my safety contacts... But I am very lucky. One day I was in the crawl space under the house on my back. I was using my cordless 18V driver drill to hang some duct work. I kept getting crap in my eyes but would just blink it out. I was too lazy to crawl out and get my glasses. So on the last screw I was working over my head trying to get the screw started into the side of a floor joist. I used both hands to give it some extra force. The screw flipped sideways and I used both hands to pull the running driver bit into my eye..... fortunately it skimmed my nose as it came down, bounced off the white of my eye and into the inside lower corner of my lid. It knocked my contact off center and started to bleed. I thought my eye was toast since I couldn't see out of it. Turned out it took a small chunk out of the white :ack: (looked gruesome but not a real problem) but cut my lower tear duct drain in half. After micro surgery, they got me patched up without any lasting issues. I NOW WEAR SAFETY GLASSES!!! :facepalm:

 

[racerxxx]

Wow sd that sounds nasty. After the first time the eye doctor told me I need to wear safety glasses while working, no question. So the second time was self inflicted. I rubbed my eye with the back of my hand, which had the metal sliver on it and the rest is history. Oddly both occasions were right at Xmas. So the first time I had to endure 3 days of pain until the office could open and the second time I had to wait 2 days. It's wonderful feeling your eyelid drag against the metal sliver EVERY TIME YOU BLINK! Oh, and the lack of sleep cause the irritation, tons of fun. So as a guy who has excellent vision and doesn't like glasses except sun glasses, lol.

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[Seadoobuddy]

Safety glasses are a necessary evil. Actually now my eyes are "older" so I have some with magnifiers in the bottom. Awesome! Makes it worth it to wear them. I also wear contacts and used to routinely have to change them out due to metal in them. I called them my safety contacts... But I am very lucky. One day I was in the crawl space under the house on my back. I was using my cordless 18V driver drill to hang some duct work. I kept getting crap in my eyes but would just blink it out. I was too lazy to crawl out and get my glasses. So on the last screw I was working over my head trying to get the screw started into the side of a floor joist. I used both hands to give it some extra force. The screw flipped sideways and I used both hands to pull the running driver bit into my eye..... fortunately it skimmed my nose as it came down, bounced off the white of my eye and into the inside lower corner of my lid. It knocked my contact off center and started to bleed. I thought my eye was toast since I couldn't see out of it. Turned out it took a small chunk out of the white :ack: (looked gruesome but not a real problem) but cut my lower tear duct drain in half. After micro surgery, they got me patched up without any lasting issues. I NOW WEAR SAFETY GLASSES!!! :facepalm:

Wow, you were lucky. I started wearing safety goggles and gloves when cutting the lawn a couple years ago. Some neighbors thought I was over cautious until i told them about an article I read which stated a man using a rotary mower ran over a piece of wire and it went up his nose......it turned out to be a piece of chain link fencing once removed after surgery. Of course googles won't protect the nose but eyes are most important.

 

[AdamXP800]

Yea I'm a stickler on the safety glasses. Metal, sand, carb cleaner, any of the above suck in the eye. I had cancer at age 15 and went through a ton of chemo and it did a number on my eyes already. I need to keep the eyesight I have lol



95 XP800!!!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!

 

[1of500]

Man I almost never wear them. And I've had all kinds of chit in my eyes. Last summer I took a shot of carb cleaner direct hit in the eye. I flushed it with the water hose for like 30 mins and went back to work on the carb. The only time I always wear them is cutting metal with power tools

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[Minnetonka4me]

Oh man...carb cleaner in the eye...I am a glutten for punishment! Ive prob done that 3-4 times and not just a little. Its about the only time I ever throw tools. Typically Ill throw a set on when doing some carbs but not always. Then...the steel in the eye. the shop teacher in 7th grade played a video for us that had an up close shot of a doctor pulling metal out of a guys eye and I almost threw up. I can still see it vividly, yet I typically dont wear them. Yes, Im an idiot.

day 3 eating nothing but granola, lettuce, and Chicken....this is gonna be a long year.

New Tools....1-500 got me on the Panduit Zip tie tools and I love them. Buy used on ebay, $200+ for new is insane.

I bought a fresh X5 Rigid impact driver and boy my 2 year old one was used up. The new one is 10x better. They just released a X6, brushless...want it. I also bought some 4.0ah batteries on a buy one get 1 deal and man those work great in the HD 1/2" drive impact and the circular saw. That Impact with the battery makes quick work of crank case bolts.

Still going crazy about the JIS screwdrivers, best ever. Rarely a screw I cant get out.

 

[1of500]

Oh man...carb cleaner in the eye...I am a glutten for punishment! Ive prob done that 3-4 times and not just a little. Its about the only time I ever throw tools. Typically Ill throw a set on when doing some carbs but not always. Then...the steel in the eye. the shop teacher in 7th grade played a video for us that had an up close shot of a doctor pulling metal out of a guys eye and I almost threw up. I can still see it vividly, yet I typically dont wear them. Yes, Im an idiot.

day 3 eating nothing but granola, lettuce, and Chicken....this is gonna be a long year.

New Tools....1-500 got me on the Panduit Zip tie tools and I love them. Buy used on ebay, $200+ for new is insane.

I bought a fresh X5 Rigid impact driver and boy my 2 year old one was used up. The new one is 10x better. They just released a X6, brushless...want it. I also bought some 4.0ah batteries on a buy one get 1 deal and man those work great in the HD 1/2" drive impact and the circular saw. That Impact with the battery makes quick work of crank case bolts.

Still going crazy about the JIS screwdrivers, best ever. Rarely a screw I cant get out.

I'm a makita fan personally I've had just about every major brand of cordless power tool you just can't kill makita. I have an impact driver that I've had since lithium ion first came out 2007ish BOTH battery's still work the impact looks like hell but it won't die either. I lost 20 lbs by cutting back on the carbs and eliminating carbonated drinks just drinking alot of water.

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[Spimothy Leary]

day 3 eating nothing but granola, lettuce, and Chicken....this is gonna be a long year.


Still going crazy about the JIS screwdrivers, best ever. Rarely a screw I cant get out.

thx for the reminder, I hinted about them over xmas but apparantly not loudly enough. Got the Ryobi impact cordless instead, Don't tell them but I don't like it. Came with a spare battery & charger so i'm happy with that.

Man I almost never wear them. And I've had all kinds of chit in my eyes.

luckily I need rx glasses all the time, so I always have something on, they have bailed me out 20 times easily.

next stop.. google me some JIS screwdrivers