Show us something that you MADE

Normally I would post something that was built in the shop for one of the cars, but with the frigid temps this past 2 weeks, I decided to spend some time at the house straightening and organizing the basement. When done, I decided to do a once-over to Jen's garage bay. It's been filled with crap, dirty and a general mess since we built the house 10 years ago. She deserves it, so I went for 2 nice shades of grey, put in a chair rail, framed around the heater and trimmed up the steps. New handrails and 4 8' light fixtures finished it off. She was so appreciative and liked it so much, she asked if I could do the other 2 bays! Not happening as there is too much crap in that side of the garage.

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

Just to clarify, Jen is the snowblower? 

Do you have a lot of conversations with her? 

I built a couple of outfeed/work benches for my wood shop, and used them to practice my cabinet building techniques.  I used 2x4 studs and imported birch plywood, so relatively cheap material, but jointed and built like cabinetry.  MDF tops with hard wood edge banding and $10 sheets of remnant laminate from the plywood supplier.  Clamp face is cedar cut from rough sawn stock.  They have adjustable feet for leveling and detachable casters to move them around.

In reply to sevenracer :

I hate to admit it, but I have the next 2 bays and there isn't room for it! Remember the thread about what to do with your junk when your gone, I forgot to add all the crap here at the house too!

Snow day Today, so I knocked out the pantry. 
 

8am. 

In progress

8pm. 
 

Door handles and adjustment tomorrow, and my part is over. 

Folding cart for my Arcdroid Plasma cutter

In reply to snowrx :

Love it! The arcdroid looks like a really handy tool to have around too. 

Remodeling my Great-grandparent's farmhouse one weekend at a time.  Nearing the end of the hardwood installation portion.  I really dislike termites.  1000 feet down maybe 300 to go.  Then the kitchen and bathroom and windows and roof....

In reply to Steve_Jones :

Oh man!  I'd love to have a pantry like that, but won't because in a month it would be waaay over full.  Look for her soon on an episode of "Hoarders".

Nice workmanship Steve.

This is pretty random, but l tried my hand at heating and bending large PVC conduit today.  I'm installing solar panels as a DIY project and putting conduit underground for the wiring from the panels to the house.

I first tried a propane weed burner torch, but I would've grown old waiting for that thing to heat the conduit sufficiently.  Not being known for patience, I moved on to oxyacetylene..

I got it hot enough to bend eventually, but scorched it pretty good in the process.  You had to keep the torch moving and a few inches away. 

Worked on my setup, put the next piece in a section of angle iron to hold it when it got hot and droopy (is that a word?) and allow turning it for even heating.  Also made a rudimentary form to hold it in the desired shape. 

Better.  It's weird to have normally rigid conduit bending like a hosepipe.

 There's concrete almost 2' out from the stem wall, so this is as close as I could get the pipe to exit the trench.  I'll have to build some protection for this but at least it'll run up the wall now.

My daughter bought a 1948ish house, with a poured concrete front step, and it's coming apart.  Second step is mostly gone.  

So, this.  Home Depot risers, 1 inch channel framework welded up and lag bolted to the top,  Bob's yer uncle.

Made my own rubber gasket lol

I used a gasket rubber sheet from Home Depot (plumbing dept) and my laser engraver/cutter.

Worked out!

I mean, I think. Not rained yet, but should.

Finally got started on the loft ladder after 5 years.

The treads from sawmill run red oak:

I finished up a new piece for the living room this past weekend based on a 1971 Opel Ascona.  I was inspired by the pickup truck tailgate benches and wanted to work on my welding skills building a frame from scratch.  I watched Marketplace for a cheap car getting parted out with a good patina and this Opel caught my eye.  It doesn't hurt that its a bit obscure too, only car people will know what it is.  I took a sawzall to the rough donor car and went home with the fenders, hood, and core support to get started.  

I found a local metal shop and brought home a few sticks of 2" square tube and some angle iron to build a frame that would hold the front clip and a shelf of some sort.  A little trial and error lead to to a relatively square frame with decent welds.  Youtube helped with some setup questions on the welder and I got to work.

Then it was time to mount the front clip and cut everything down.  Didn't want to make any mistakes here, but a scratch or two wouldn't really be noticeable either. 

Then it was time to find some wood to serve for a top shelf and bottom filler piece.  I found someone in the area with live edge cuts of wood that were kiln dried and brought home some walnut and maple.

Seal up the metal frame and coat the body panels with some Penetrol to keep the rust from flaking off in the house and  add a few lights to achieve the final result.  Bonus shot of the VW Air Cooled engine table I made years ago.

And Done. The long exposure makes the headlights look brighter than they really are, just 194 bulbs in fresh new Toyota H4 sealed beam housings.  This one came out pretty good!