My homage to Jack's garage

[Willem Fick]

I recently moved into a new place, and for the first time have a proper garage. Not huge, but at least a two car job. My challenge is that have three cars, and with my outside bay, exactly three parking spaces, which means all my stuff has to be as movable and as compact as possible.

In addition I also need to finish the restoration of my Porsche in this space. To this end I realized some time ago that I needed a rotisserie, the build of which is tracked in another thread (will post link later)

So here's the plan:

• LOTS of light.
  
• LOTS of electrical outlets.
  
• All tools in cabinets and drawers, no wider than 800mm, and against a single wall.
  
• Lathe against a second wall, together with a fold-down "Certiflat" type welding and work table, together with some related tools in a shallow rack above.
  
• Pedestal drill, bench grinder and vice on a movable table.
  
• Built-in compressor, with hard air lines, and connection points throughout the garage.
  
• All-in-one welding cart for MIG, TIG and stick welders, and also a portable oxy-acetylene setup.

Unfortunately I already started this journey some weeks ago, and will post pictures of all the progress so far, but my compressor is in the process of going up, and here's the in's and out's of that:

I was always planning on using old propane tanks for my compressor, as they are cheap and easy to find, and would allow me to expand the compressor volume 120l at a time, by simply adding more bottles. By pure luck I came across someone clearing out some junk, and bought this a setup of motor, compressor head and two propane tanks for roughly US$100.



They looked a bit rough, but the pump is a sound two piston unit and rated a 10bar. The motor is working though old, and will in due course be replaced. I have access to 3-phase (380V), and this might be the decider as to ultimately upgrading from this single phase unit.

After a bit of elbow grease it started looking a bit better, and it all cleaned up reasonably well.



Next step (no pictures I'm afraid) was to cut away the steel rings and bases from the tanks, weld shut the old drainage holes, and install new ones by drilling holes and welding on flange nuts. I also welded on brackets from which they could be hung vertically, and constructed a pair of outriggers that could be wall mounted, and from which the bottles could be hung.

After a coat of paint the first bottle was installed late last week.



At first I attempted to lift the tank into the rafters myself, but it turned out to be a bit more complicated than first thought, so had to spend a few beers on getting a couple of friends to help. End result looked good though, and in the picture you can see the outrigger, as well as the drainage plug I spoke of earlier.

The same friends came by earlier this week, and the second bottle went up.



Last night I started installing the copper plumbing, as well as to put together a frame on which the compressor head and motor can be wall mounted. The plumbing proved more difficult than anticipated, as I can't do the soldering in place, due to the proximity of the wooden roof trusses. I therefore have to measure, mock up, and mark in the roof, and then bring it all down to my work surface to solder there, hoping nothing has of course moved.

Unfortunately got distracted by late night emergency repairs to a gate support (I live in a housing complex, and am the go-to handyman), so couldn't quite get done, but will post more pictures and update this thread as I go on.

Willem

[herr_oberst]

Cool! So far so good!

[Evans, Marv]

Yes, very cool and innovative to boot! I never considered the idea of using propane tanks for a compressor. Lean something every day.

[wayner]

That’s as crazy as using motorcycle carbs on a car, it’ll never work

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Yes, very cool and innovative to boot! I never considered the idea of using propane tanks for a compressor. Lean something every day.

They are awesome for this, and rated at 30-40 bar, so exceed my requirements by a long way! Being able to mount them in the roof also saves huge amounts of space!

[Willem Fick]

For lights I went big. I have four 4ft LED tubes for the central parts of the space, supplemented by another four floodlights that light up the areas closer to the side-walls.

Sadly with the cars in the way I couldn't get a great picture, but here's the basic idea:



Ran all the cables in pvc conduits, which are sagging a bit as you can see, so I'll be hammering in some saddles to hold them tidely in place.

When all lit up it is quite literally as bright as day in there, with minimal shadows, and helps these ageing eyes to see my work properly!

Willem

[Willem Fick]

The distribution board was dowright dangerous, and I replaced that too. Ran a new 60A cable, with a matching 60A breaker on the garage end. Installed four separate 25A plug circuits too. Plugs for static work areas such as the lathe and workbench will be mounted in power skirting, whereas I will be installing a number of plugs in the rafters to provide nearby receptacles for the rest of the space. As I am fairly tall and the rafters at 2.1m this solution is more practical than it may seem!

[vash]

the reuse of the bottle is pure brilliance..i love it.

and i love the curved window openings. this is gonna be awesome.

[Willem Fick]

Vash, sadly those are a real pain to me, as they are actually open archways that are considered an “aestetic feature”. In short, they take up precious wall space, let drafts in and noise out, and I can’t remove them! I am busy hatching a cunning plan as to how to deal with them elegantly...

[Willem Fick]

Work is taking me out of town for two days, but more progress and updates over the weekend, as I hope to have the pump and motor mounted before Monday. Will also clear some clutter and show off my US$10 drawer cabinets!

[304065]

Willem, have you considered hydrostatic testing the tanks after modifying them? Your personal safety is important to us!

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by 304065

Willem, have you considered hydrostatic testing the tanks after modifying them? Your personal safety is important to us!

Your concern is well appreciated!

I don’t have the means to do hydrostatic testing, but I have given this some thought at least!

The plan at the moment is to turn it on, charge it to around 15bar at night when cool (10 deg C) then let it stand at max pressure for a day, allowing pressure to build from the daytime temperature increase (20 deg C or more). If it was planning on going, that’ll probably be the time it does, though I would imagine (hope/pray) that 10bar (roughly 10kg/cm^2) is probably not really enough to cause catastophic failure.

[Willem Fick]

Won’t tell the wife this but probably missing my garage project more right now than I do her and the kids!

[motion]

Looking good, Willem! Sounds like the relationship with your garage is bordering on unhealthy

[bob deluke]

Willem,
Great job so far. I agree with 304065 on hydro test of tanks. They are a pressure vessel, and stateside are stamped with an ASME stamp. Older tanks are usually hydro tested during their lifespan as moisture in the tank can weaken the tank structure. Be careful..

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by motion

Looking good, Willem! Sounds like the relationship with your garage is bordering on unhealthy

It has literally been 10 years since I last had a proper garage Richard, and I am relishing every single moment! Driving to get it done so I can at least have a functional Porsche to drive before I get too old to get into it!

[304065]

Originally Posted by Willem Fick

Your concern is well appreciated!

I don’t have the means to do hydrostatic testing, but I have given this some thought at least!

The plan at the moment is to turn it on, charge it to around 15bar at night when cool (10 deg C) then let it stand at max pressure for a day, allowing pressure to build from the daytime temperature increase (20 deg C or more). If it was planning on going, that’ll probably be the time it does, though I would imagine (hope/pray) that 10bar (roughly 10kg/cm^2) is probably not really enough to cause catastophic failure.

Willem,

I am not an engineer, but an acquaintance of mine had a similar situation, where he was advised to NOT do any testing of pressure vessels with air, hence my original concern.

Here's how it was explained to me. . . .when you hydro test with water, the water is incompressible. So if there's a leak, water comes out, until you shut the pressure off. The water that fits in the tank is only equal to the volume of the tank.

When you do an air pressure test, because air is compressible, you are putting a very large volume of air into the tank, many times more than the volume of the tank. So when there's a leak, all that volume comes out, in an uncontrolled way. This will generate enough force to push fragments at very high velocity, if the tank fractures, or even dislodge the tank from its mountings and turn it into a missile.

There is a lot out there on DIY hydro pressure testing-- a search may come up with some good suggestions that would be easily within scope of your excellent skills.

Good luck!

[vash]

ooohhh..those are open windows. only bars as a barrier.

man, custom windows in there would be SWEET!! keep the arches.

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by 304065

Willem,

I am not an engineer, but an acquaintance of mine had a similar situation, where he was advised to NOT do any testing of pressure vessels with air, hence my original concern.

(Snip)

Good luck!

Thanks for that, appreciate the advice! Busy researching what’s available to me in this regard!

[Willem Fick]

Te weekend turned out busier than expected, so I didn't quite get as much done in as far as fitting the compressor motor and head in concerned. Partly to blame was the fact that I actually don't have a workbench yet, and it is rather "primitive" to work on the floor.

Realised that I needed a quick solution, and went ahead and made myself a set of fold-away saw horses. I got the idea off YouTube some time ago, and as it so happens had some square tubing lying around.

The end result:



(Picture taken at night so as to show off my lighting!)

With a piece of plywood shutter-board as a top, these make for a very handy temporary workbench, that'll save my back as I finish up the compressor bracket, as well as my "new" project of installing shelves in the kitchen pantry. (boards to the upper left of the picture).

In time I'll still cap off all the open ends and perhaps even paint them, but for now they serve a great purpose, and of course tie in very nicely to my philosophy of taking up as little floor space as possible when not in use.