This page is not “public”. I have to send the link for you to see it. I had a garage addition built. We started on 11-15-11. My original 24 x 24 2 car garage became my full time permanent workshop. The new garage is for our cars. My first plan was to just bump out another bay and have 3 garage bays in a row. But it did not happen that way! I have a large open area of my yard adjacent to my old garage. It is actually another lot. Since I am on a corner lot, zoning restrictions and the amazingly stupid wandering route of the gas main for my house has rendered building anything permanent in this area impossible without moving the gas main. It should have entered from the front of the house with a shorter run but the gas meter is on the corner of the original garage. The gas company traced the main which in places gets up to 2 feet from the surface. No one would let us pour concrete on top of the gas main without moving it. A new structure would literally have to be in the middle of the yard once zoning offsets are considered which is not convenient. I did not want to get involved with moving the gas main so I built down the driveway instead. We just got the driveway paved 7 months earlier and ½ of the asphalt had to be removed for the addition. I wanted a 24 x 24 addition on the front of the original garage but that is where the line of sight zoning restriction that kept me to 24 x 17. The extra few feet beyond 17 feet would really have been helpful for parking the cars and opening rear hatches inside the garage after returning from shopping. It is a little tight. I knew that there would be a new dividing wall built to separate the old and new garages as heated and insulated and not insulated. The wall was built 4 feet inside of the old garage to give the new garage more space to park the cars. It was too much money to have the original brick garage front removed and supported with steel beams so it remains as is. The garage doors were moved from the old front to the new front. Even with the 4 feet concession I wound up with a much larger workshop than I ever expected. With the layout taking up most of the basement I had little room for tools and tinkering. I have plenty of room now, over 400 square feet of full time workshop space!

The top 2 photos are from 2009 BEFORE we bought the house!

Note the 30 year old drywall ceiling was never painted & it smelled bad – yikes!

2010 2011 2012

Compressed Air, HVAC, Insulation and Windows

This was the bulk of the garage/workshop remodel work. It took an obscene amount of time to complete.

I had the original 3 steel garage windows replaced with insulated double hung in 2009 by the contractor that did my roof, which I had known all of my life. We grew up together. Not a good idea. Roofers do not necessarily know how to install windows! Don’t let a real Crackhead touch yur house _ EVER. He ordered the windows as the wrong size and tried to “make them fit” with wood framing and spray foam. In the end he ran out of spray foam and just left them as is so the windows were never sealed at all. When I looked at the top of one of the windows where it was supposed to be sealed I saw the outside! I knew I would have to remove them and start again, which is what I did. They are now as caulked and insulated as you can get.

There was a heater in the garage when we bought the house. It was a small hanging industrial looking unit that you might see in a factory or warehouse. As with everything else original in our house the heater worked fine but it was old. It had a gas pilot that occasionally blew out and had a slight scent of leaking gas so it had to go. I had quotes of $3500.00 to $6200.00 for a full house HVAC system. As much as I would have liked the convenience of it, for the hours in a year it would be used I simply could not justify the expense. There really is no HVAC system made aimed at being used in just garages and workshops. Pretty much the only options are a separate heat and A/C unit or the full 1 ½ ton HVAC system at a premium price. There is also a heat pump “split” system but a big hole has to be cut in the block wall – no thanks. It was not recommended if a possibly dusty environment anyway. Further, none of the original windows were big enough to put install ANY window air conditioner so I had a larger one cut in during the addition work. I found a smaller gas heater unit for a reasonable price.

The heater was called a HOT DAWG (by Modine) so how could I NOT get it? It pretty much bolted up in place of the old heater but is almost ½ of the size. The workshop footprint called for a 40,000 BTU but I got a 60,000 BTU. I wanted it to be able to hold the temperature and get there quickly if I had it turned down at night. I also ran a 220v dedicated line next to the window for the air conditioner. (See below)

The adjoining shop wall to the house remains exposed cinder blocks because it is insulated in the house so there was no need for double insulation. There are lots of wires etc on it and would have been very difficult to cover up as well.

I wanted to stud out and insulate the 2 remaining exterior cinder block walls.

In July 2012 we had an enduring heat wave. When it was approximately 100 degrees outside the shop remained at 80 degrees maximum without the air conditioner in use. Previously it had hit high 80s + on hot days before the insulating was done. I call that a success!

There were originally many circuit breakers in the garage sub-panel that were not identified. I wanted to clean that up a bit and better identify the breakers. I probably went too crazy with outlets but at least every wall is on its own circuit breaker now. I ran a stereo speaker wire, thermostat wire and ¾” steel pipe in the walls for compressed air distribution. I am very happy on how the compressed air piping turned out – just as I wanted it. There are now 5 compressed air quick disconnect outlets total on the 2 walls. There is an air outlet just where I need air without any hoses cluttering up the floor. When the milling machine was moved in I just snapped in a coil hose with a blow off gun – done! The compressor is now on the other side of the divider wall so it is quieter. I just flip a light switch and it starts up. Before getting the new compressor (See below) I actually used 2 110v compressors when I am using the blasting booth because that uses a lot of air volume. I have not popped a breaker yet.

I was previously using my paint booth with a wood vent insert I made and put in a window for the 2 exhaust ducts. They are now permanent vents through the walls as seen below. The header and top panel over the double doors is removable for large items like the milling machine. The opening goes floor to ceiling at over 9 feet high. Take out a few screws and the panel can be coaxed out. I made it snug to keep it air tight. There are 2 handles mounted on the other side to assist in its removal.

All new walls were sheathed with ½” A/C birch plywood. The A/C gave a suitable finished look to it when painted. With the plywood things can be screwed to it and hung from it anywhere. I left the drywall screws exposed in case I want to access any part of the walls in the future to or add change something. I HATE sanding spackle truly more than anything in remodeling which is the main reason for using plywood. I was really phobic about handling fiberglass insulation in any way. The manufacturing process must have changed in the past 20ish years to create a significantly less irritating end product to the installer. I got through the insulating stage largely itch free which was great. All studs were screwed to the block walls with concrete screws in multiple places.

Concrete Ramp

In order to meet code the new garage floor had to be poured 2 inches higher than the old garage floor to get slope away from the house – yet another challenge to this project. Occasionally I would previously take my table saw outside to avoid the dust so a concrete ramp had to be made. I also knew my milling machine would be moved here. After the dividing wall was built the ramp was formed in place by the double doors just plopped on the old floor but it did not last. With the maximum thickness being 2 inches down to a feather edge the concrete cracked in 1 week while still curing. This was cause for a side project of serious and amazingly dusty proportions! I rented a concrete saw to cut down 2” and cubed the original floor in the footprint of the new ramp. I literally chipped it out with a cold chisel and hand sledge hammer for almost 2 days. The saw threw concrete dust everywhere. The first photo below was taken after 2 hours of shop vac work. My left hand took a beating a few times with the hand sledge hammer. There are still some scars remaining from the job. Oh what fun! But in the end the ramp was a minimum of 1 ½” thick surrounded by and anchored to the original floor. I used concrete screws for the concrete to bond to. It should NOT crack now!

I used Solidworks to try and figure out the ramp cubic volume but was WAY off. (:->)

I had to get 2 more bags of concrete in the middle of the pour to finish the job.

Painting the floor and Moving In

When this space was still the garage I used epoxy floor paint since it was the first time it was ever painted. The epoxy paint was also over $400.00. This time I decided to use oil based concrete paint to save money. It might not have been a good decision. The paint can said a 2 hour tack free time & recoat in 24 hours. HA! They lied! I put the heater on to 75 degrees for at least 12 hours. It still took over 60 hours before I tried to walk on it. 5 days later I was still scarring it when something was moved. So my pretty new floor is not as pristine as I hoped for but I HAD to move back in and get started on other projects. At least the epoxy paint was cured completely as per the directions. I don’t think any time of year would have cured the oil based paint in 2 hours.

I am also making this space Dog proof so our Pack of Dachshunds can run around while I am in the shop.

Two of my late Pop’s most prized possessions are shown here – his 1950s built Craftsman table saw and wood patternmakers vise on the left end of the work bench. Most people have never seen a vise like this. The table saw is still going strong after 60+ years.

Added 2-18-12

Added 3-27-12

Don Wood is in the shop!

Decorated with classic images of the Mighty PRR, B&O and N&W

I have a reasonable collection of Don Wood images on the shop walls. Most are computer generated but 1 print (so far) is a darkroom print I purchased directly from Don. It is the M1 above the drill press. He said it might be the last print he made on his enlarger with his negatives. All prints past that point were computer generated. What a true class act Don was and the last of the real old school master rail photographers. I went to the estate auction after he passed and bought most of what is seen below. Some are VERY large prints! The rest of the images are mostly from negatives I bought on eBay that of course are not by Don Wood. They are darkroom and computer generated as well. My computer photo printer can make 13 x 19 enlargements.

I still have a few Don Wood darkroom prints to hang up that are currently in need of frames.

Don sent a few of them to me for free just for corresponding with him.

Lathe

Added 4-3-13

In March 2013 I upgraded a bit to a larger lathe. I got it used from a Craigslist ad. It is a 7 x 14. The old Unimat was OK but had its limitations and had issues drilling on center. This is a lot more powerful. I did not want or have the space for a massive floor lathe. I was hesitant about getting a “Chinese” lathe like from MicroMark or Harbor Freight because they might not be accurate enough. This one was made by C.M.T. but it is very similar to other MicroMark etc. lathes. Some reviews on line said they are fine as a hobby lathe.

Added 7-18-21

After 8 years of having this it had issues as well. I could not shim the cutting tools leftover from the Unimat to cut on center. It had this annoying cap nut that was difficult to access with a wrench to lock the tailstock. I was using an Exacto saw for parting off. It was mostly just being used for drilling out driveshaft couplings, by far not all a lathe should be able to do. In July 2021 I was in a machine shop class that showed me how to use full size lathes, some of which could be used on this lathe too. I bought a new quick release toolholder that has adjustable height tool clamps that could be set to cut on center. I bought a kit that converted the tailstock to a camlock that was much easier to use than the old wrench. I also got carbide tip insert cutter tools and a part off tool that works much better now.

Milling Machine

I have owned this full sized Milling Machine since about 2007. It is an “Induma” which is an Italian knockoff of a Bridgeport Mill. Not too many people have an Induma. Most things that fit a Bridgeport fit this as well. I bought it for $250.00 with a brand new motor – less than it was worth in scrap. I was living in the second floor of an apartment and I still bought it! I had no idea when or if I was ever going to get a house. Luckily a friend found a place to store it for me for free for 5 years but I had almost no access to use it either.

It is over 7 feet tall and possibly 1500 pounds plus! It has a custom motor mounting plate for a 110V C face motor making 3 phase power not needed. A friend wired it so the motor can be reversed. It has the usual barrel switch but does not use that to reserve the motor. Making the shop so I could have room for this machine was a factor. I finally had it moved here on 4-12-12. So I now have a heavy duty machine in my arsenal – to work on trains! I believe in having tools to do the job. With every new tool you get, it just increases whatever you can make.

In July 2021 I took a machine shop class that taught me how to use the mill better. I got the power feed motor working and bought basic machine shop accessory tools I did not have.

Added 4-25-12

Air Conditioner

I bought the Air Conditioner on 4-24-12. According to the Air Conditioner rating chart the shop requires a 12000 BTU for the size of the room. This is a 24,500 BTU! It will be only run on an as needed basis when I want to work on the hottest days. I want to hit cool and blow cold air like a Bering Sea Hurricane! It is a BEAST at 125 pounds! I installed it by myself. It wound up being a bit more involved than I expected. I could not use a conventional A/C support brace because of the vinyl siding over the block wall. I would ruin it trying to find solid support so I made an aluminum brace from angle and bolted it to the foundation. The milling machine came in handy here! The instructions said to mount it level as it is supposed to hold water in the bottom tray. When it was mounted level condensate leaked back inside on the window sill. I had to do some adjusting to give it a slight pitch away which made it trickle drain and still retain water. All is fixed and fine now.

2-5-13 HVAC Update

The heater and A/C unit have done a great job. Getting to my wanted temperature only takes about 10 minutes. The insulated walls are really keeping the shop at a good temperature. There is easily a 20 degree difference from the outside temperature to the inside at any time I get for free without the heater or A/C running at all.

Added 7-10-12

Parties!

The Work Shop doubles as our party room! Doggies are allowed to party here as well.

Added 11-10-12

A wave of organization hit the workshop. Much more to come, especially in sorting and organizing nuts, bolts and small items.

Added 2-10-13

My 110v Craftsman compressor died after about 7 years of use and abuse. It always struggled to keep up when I was using the blast booth by running constantly – NOT good for it at all! I sometimes ran my second 110v compressor at the same time. It was probably the biggest 110v unit made. I decided to step up to a small 220v unit which almost doubled the compressed air capacity, and there was only $75.00 difference between the 2 units. It was a no brainer. I had to run a new 220v line across the shop and into the garage. It was quite the involved project. On first fire up after 3 days work there was a pin hole leak in the tank because of a bad weld at a seam. Lowes made it good by swapping out a new compressor here today so I did not have to take it back to the store. That made things a LOT easier!

There are no wheels. I also did not want to hard wire and pipe it in. I got rid of that awful bleeder valve for draining condensate and replaced it with a ball valve I can reach. I made a 40’ long hose up to connect and drain it into the street.

As you can see it is a beast – almost 6 feet tall! Kobalt is made by Campbell Hausfeld.

Added 9-27-13

In spite of my best efforts of putting pipe dope on all joints, my air pipe system in my shop walls has a slow leak – someplace. I am never going to find the leak.

I wired the original 110v compressor to a light switch. When I put the 220v compressor (as shown above) in I did the same thing with an all new 220v circuit. I wanted to have compressed air all the time but this would leave the compressor to cycle to keep up with the leak. If I put a valve right at the tank it is not likely to leak there.

That is when I bought this. It is a normally closed 110v coil shut off valve. Now the compressor stays on all the time. When I want compressed air I flip the light switch on that was originally for the old 110v compressor. The valve snaps open & the system is charged with air. When I am done for the day I turn off the switch & the valve closes. The pipe system leaks down in about 15 minutes – big deal - but the compressor stays fully charged at all times. Best of all, this valve can be operated very remotely even though for me they are right to the other side of the wall. Since the piping gets reduced down to ¼” right next to the tank I could have gotten a smaller valve! (:->) Oh well…

2019 Valve Update

These diaphragm solenoid valves leak if you get a speck of schmutz thrown from the compressor. It easy to fix and clean but it is annoying. I have switched to a motorized ball valve. So far so good. I also added a line strainer.

Added 11-21-13

Harbor Freight Blast Booth

Know that if you want a blast booth, and you SHOULD want a blast booth, it is going to be a dirty mess. You cannot put this in a utility room next to the washer and dryer. Top load, side load, it does not matter - they leak blast media and create a mess. It cannot be avoided.

I have wanted a new blast booth for a while now. My original plastic booth was getting to be over 10 years old. It has served me well with truly hundreds of models getting blasted over the years. But it was getting to be problematic with leaking blast grit ALL over the shop. I spent some significant time trying to add better sealing but it did not work that well. At over $3.00 per POUND for the 400 grit aluminum oxide why blast and coat the shop with it and then have to vacuum it up? My plastic booth also did not blast very well any more. It took a long time to blast a car.

Harbor Freight now has a store about 20 minutes from me. That can be dangerous to my wallet! Their items are generally OK for occasional use. They sell a free standing all steel booth that is just slightly bigger than my original booth. A big advantage of the Harbor Freight booth is it was designed with a much deeper hopper with makes the blast fall to the bottom better. I was getting “angle of repose” issues with the original booth that continually ran out of blast to the feed tube even thought the booth was FULL of grit. I was getting bombarded with coupons for an end of October sale so I caved in and bought it. It came in a MUCH smaller both than I was hoping for meaning it was a complete assembly job from sheet metal components. The manager said he could assemble one on about 2 hours. HA!

Assembly and the modifications did turn into a week long ordeal as do most projects I work on.

Just after buying it is when I read the reviews – probably not the best move. Most liked it, but some said it leaked. After starting the assembly I can see where there are possibilities for leakage if you followed the directions exactly and did nothing extra. That would NOT be me! I was >>>truly obsessed<<< that it would not leak so much as even ONE microscopic grain of blast grit. There is an additional 30ish feet of foam weather-strip and a complete tube of caulk consumed in my madness. I even bought a $20.00 3000 PSI hydraulic bulkhead fitting (for 60 psi air!) so I could seal where the air entered the booth!

Besides the very basic construction I did almost nothing the instructions suggested. All original holes were caulked with a sheet metal cover patch pop riveted in place. The lighting, where the air enters the booth and especially the top glass were all modified. All lighting for a blast booth should NOT be IN the blast booth. After about 3 real seconds the blast grit covers the light bulb and you can’t see a thing. With my old blast booth I cut holes in both ends and mounted lights. For the new booth I cut a hole above the window for a 24” long fluorescent fixture. This meant making a new window and sealing it as well.

You must be able to do maintenance. There is a thin sheet of plastic that goes over the window that eventually gets fogged with the blasting and needs replacing. On the old booth with the opening window/door it was very easily done. The new booth has a side door so the glass is sealed. As designed the glass is attached with bolts and NUTS! Think about the side door and trying to access a dozen loose bolts and nuts. NO! I lined the opening with 1/8” thick aluminum bar. I screwed it to the booth and tapped holes to match the original window frame screw pattern.

For the plumbing I moved everything down to the lower left front corner. This kept the air and grit hoses very short. Once through the bulkhead fitting I put a tee. There is a blow off gun in the booth (not included) which is mandatory. You can blow off the model before opening the booth and clear the lighting or window. The grit pick up tube was mounted down in the hopper as opposed to just stuffed through the mesh bottom. I had a custom “window” screen made to use in place of the heavy grate bottom. The window screen continually filters the grit from debris as I blast, and keeps small detail parts that always come off while blasting from going down in the hopper to likely be lost. This window screen idea has worked VERY WELL! A small brass detail item did come off a model I was blasting, but the only way I noticed it was because the part was sitting on the screen when I was done.

I added 4” to the legs with adjustable feet. It was made for a vertically challenged user! I am 6’-2”.

A short test at first made it all worthwhile. It was awesome! The booth is sealed so well the gloves stood straight out when I turned the shop vac on! The blasting aspect is 1000 times better than my old booth. It does not leak in the slightest while using it but does dump some grit on the floor almost every time when opening the side door. That is really annoying. I did not think about that possibility, and there is really nothing I can do.

Plumbing

Windows

Window Screen Bottom

Airtight!

The gloves stand straight out when I turn the shop vac on.

Added 1-4-20

PRR & PRSL Logos

I have had both original unused PRSL logo stickers having in my shop for years now. I just got an unused PRR Keystone. The Keystone was already mounted on Masonite but was not covered. I wanted it protected. The difficulty in getting a keystone shaped picture frame was obvious so I got heat shrink window plastic sheet. You shrink it with a hair dryer.

Getting large odd sized round picture frames for the PRSL logos is why they remained in the cardboard I got them in for years. Since the shrink-wrapped Keystone turned out pretty well I kept on going.

I photographed the 3 stickers when they were not wrapped. Some were a bit wrinkly. It did not immediately occur to me that the PRSL stickers could be brittle. By far they were not brittle even 50+ years later. They were actually rather bendable. You can still read the Scotchlite writing on the back of the older PRSL sticker.

I had to make a large compass and cut plywood backers for the PRSL stickers. The older PRSL is 15 ¾” diameter and the newer PRSL is 19”.

Everything is now hanging in my shop over my workbench. I just used 1” wire nails. This is why I used plywood and not drywall in my shop. I can mount anything I want anywhere I want. I hate drywall.

Updated 7-18-21

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