Re: Show Me Your Garage
I have the same problem of having to work in the same space as I park other cars - my Corvette never far from something I'm hammering on.
I have a metal shop building in my back yard. Its 24 x 36 which would park four cars (two wide by two deep), but I often have two cars parked on the right and using a great deal of caution, can work on a third car on the left while dismantled parts scatter into the space ahead of and behind it. In the following pics, there are two Corvettes, my brother's 72 and my 69 undergoing trailing arm rebuild.
A few ideas you might like to copy....
The 4-bulb flourescent light fixtures above the workbench and machine tools. Got them at Lowes about $50 each.
Plumbed some air lines and have drops from the ceiling in the center of the garage. Use a coil hose so I don't have to mess with rolling up air hose or reels.
Stainless steel top workbench. Bought three cheap kitchen base cabinets, screwed them together with two layers of particle board tops. Had a local sheet metal shop fold a stainless top to glue over it. Total cost right around $300 but that was a few years ago.
The steel worktable was $50 from a local company that sells used warehouse furnishings. The Burroughs steel shelving units were from the same place similarly cheap, but you'll see I have two transmissions sitting on those shelves - not your average Home Depot shelving. Mabe you can find a similar supplier where you live.
Electric outlets, one every 8 feet along the perimeter wall. I never have to use an extension cord more than 6 feet long.
Budget priced 40" tall rollaway tool cabinets make excellent narrow (18" deep) workbenches and tool stands. When the casters are removed they are 36" tall and solid as a rock. As you can see, I've got a 500lb machine sitting on a $499 cabinet from Tractor Supply. (BTW, the Kobalt SS tool cabinet from Lowes has massive casters and a very beefy internal structure to support all the weight on the casters, far better than anything else under $1,000.)
Here are some things I wouldn't do again
DIY Floor Epoxy. Its not nearly as durable as the commercial stuff. A friend of mine had a same size garage done with a commercial product for $1,400 and mine was about $250. I've had to patch lots of small spots over the years and then redo a whole section after a Toyota Landcrusher spilled tranny fluid. Corvette fluids don't seem to affect it thankfully. I wish I'd spent the money for a professional floor.
24 x 36 rolling cart. Thought it was a good idea at first for the convenience, but its mostly just in the way. Constantly moving it out of the way and once it rolled into a car and left a gash. Car was destined for the paint booth anyway, but hey, more to fix. Would have made me sick had it been one of the nice cars. I'm really anxious about tools on wheels, even my shop vac for this very reason.
Yellow flourescent bulbs. Get what they call Daylight bulbs if you can find them.
Most of my other complaints have to do with the way the building was built and the dimensions, but there were constraints. Often we have to conform to whatever space we already have and just make do.
I have the same problem of having to work in the same space as I park other cars - my Corvette never far from something I'm hammering on.
I have a metal shop building in my back yard. Its 24 x 36 which would park four cars (two wide by two deep), but I often have two cars parked on the right and using a great deal of caution, can work on a third car on the left while dismantled parts scatter into the space ahead of and behind it. In the following pics, there are two Corvettes, my brother's 72 and my 69 undergoing trailing arm rebuild.A few ideas you might like to copy....
The 4-bulb flourescent light fixtures above the workbench and machine tools. Got them at Lowes about $50 each.
Plumbed some air lines and have drops from the ceiling in the center of the garage. Use a coil hose so I don't have to mess with rolling up air hose or reels.
Stainless steel top workbench. Bought three cheap kitchen base cabinets, screwed them together with two layers of particle board tops. Had a local sheet metal shop fold a stainless top to glue over it. Total cost right around $300 but that was a few years ago.
The steel worktable was $50 from a local company that sells used warehouse furnishings. The Burroughs steel shelving units were from the same place similarly cheap, but you'll see I have two transmissions sitting on those shelves - not your average Home Depot shelving. Mabe you can find a similar supplier where you live.
Electric outlets, one every 8 feet along the perimeter wall. I never have to use an extension cord more than 6 feet long.
Budget priced 40" tall rollaway tool cabinets make excellent narrow (18" deep) workbenches and tool stands. When the casters are removed they are 36" tall and solid as a rock. As you can see, I've got a 500lb machine sitting on a $499 cabinet from Tractor Supply. (BTW, the Kobalt SS tool cabinet from Lowes has massive casters and a very beefy internal structure to support all the weight on the casters, far better than anything else under $1,000.)
Here are some things I wouldn't do again
DIY Floor Epoxy. Its not nearly as durable as the commercial stuff. A friend of mine had a same size garage done with a commercial product for $1,400 and mine was about $250. I've had to patch lots of small spots over the years and then redo a whole section after a Toyota Landcrusher spilled tranny fluid. Corvette fluids don't seem to affect it thankfully. I wish I'd spent the money for a professional floor.
24 x 36 rolling cart. Thought it was a good idea at first for the convenience, but its mostly just in the way. Constantly moving it out of the way and once it rolled into a car and left a gash. Car was destined for the paint booth anyway, but hey, more to fix. Would have made me sick had it been one of the nice cars. I'm really anxious about tools on wheels, even my shop vac for this very reason.
Yellow flourescent bulbs. Get what they call Daylight bulbs if you can find them.
Most of my other complaints have to do with the way the building was built and the dimensions, but there were constraints. Often we have to conform to whatever space we already have and just make do.
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