Trying to organise a garage workshop...

Here's what I do with files ...
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It's not ideal, because the file surfaces kinda drag inside the clips. But it gets them organized, visible, and handy. The mounts are meant for screwdrivers, but I found them a lot less than satisfactory for that purpose - difficult to get the shank of the driver exactly into the notches. But OK for files!


Non-magnetic version:
That solves the problem I see with peg board hooks which rely on the handles being always on firmly, which they are “mostly”…
 
it's a never ending battle, that's for sure! I'm in the midst of rearranging part of my pegboard and bench due to putting a much (much!) bigger lathe on it.
 
That solves the problem I see with peg board hooks which rely on the handles being always on firmly, which they are “mostly”…
I've tried pegboards in the past. Trouble is, even with the many styles of "hooks" available, it's often difficult to hold all the different shaped tools I have.
 
yeah, there's quite a bit that goes in the draws under the bench top, but for commonly used stuff (hammers, screwdrivers, drills etc) it's really handy. This'll be the 3rd time I think that I've had to rearrange stuff, so the flexibility has been worth it.
 
So at this point the garage is looking pretty nice!
All painting is done, steel sheets around the entire wall, LED lights in the ceiling and so on.
I like the steel sheets protecting the lower section of wall. I would like to have done so in my shop but costs and time got in the way.
 
I like the steel sheets protecting the lower section of wall. I would like to have done so in my shop but costs and time got in the way.
Thanks! The idea was to mostly protect from grinding sparks and similar, the sheets are also siliconed to the floor so sparks can't get in behind and cause problems.
I'm in constant fear of accidently starting a fire so I tried to build in as much safety as possible. :)
 
So whilst I'm renovating my car, restoring my milling machine, building a workbench and organizing my garage, I figured I needed more to do. :rolleyes::D

Technically it still falls under organizing my garage so I'm not really starting a new project I guess?

Either way I got annoyed by this area, it's just a mess with no real order of any kind.
It started as a good storage for car tools but has since lost it's purpose and just collects crap.
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After emptying the entire section I turned my attention to the compressor to start with, it's very loud and also shakes the entire wall behind it.
On the other side of the wall is our kitchen and whilst my wife has a really good patience, it's not endless. :D
This is where I really overcomplicated things.
Kinda shooting from the hip I ended up with a variant of this frame.
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And made this up with the mill and lathe, I know I could've just used off-the-shelf parts but my time and scrap is essentially free, store-bought items are not.
This consists of a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter, a milled, bored and threaded 90* angle, another adapter(1/2 to 1/2), lathed and threaded tube and a valve.
This hooks up to the bottom of the compressor tank for draining it, previously it had a tiny ball valve underneath that was really difficult to reach.
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The frame now let's me hang up the compressor on what's essentially bungee cord, hopefully stopping any vibrations from transfering to the frame.
The frame then further sits on anti-vibration pads made for laundry machines.
Behind this I spray glued some foam pads to further reduce echoes, vibrations and general noise.
I really overcomplicated things here by making a single cord go into 5 cords on the other side of the pulley but it's fun to experiment.
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The compressor slid into it's place.
It does stick out considerably more sitting like this but the amount of space I gain on the right is more valuable than the walking space to the door on the left.
You can still walk by it without having to do anything funny.
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So did any of this help?
I didn't do any sound tests before I tore everything apart but this is what I measured afterwards.
74db standing quite close to the compressor and 49db in the kitchen on the other side of the wall.
It used to be so bad that it rattled the glasses in the cabinets, now it's like a calm conversation!
In the garage it's gone from deafening to bearable although headphones is probably still a good idea for longer periods of running.
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I need to look further into silencing it by altering the intake, I've heard that can make a very large difference as well.
 
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Nice sound deadening results. The new compressor layout looks like it will improve cooling as well.
 
Quick little project and I think the compressor part is now done, I've decided it's quiet enough to not start messing with mufflers etc.
The compressor has always gotten pretty hot which has a significant impact on how moist the air is that comes out.
The less moisture the traps has to catch, the better.
The pulley wheel has some fins on it but it obviously only cools the head whilst it's spinning(and generating even more heat).

I've previously had this fan up under the bench, basically just unmodified motor and propeller from a floor fan.
What I did now was cut the shaft way down to make it more compact and roll up this shroud to help it focus the air flow.
It's currently in a pull configuration so it doesn't start counteracting the pulley fan blades.
Also doubles as protection so you don't get a fan blade in your thigh. :grin:

Everything is of course automated, as soon as the block goes above 40c, the fan turns on and doesn't stop until it goes below 35 again.

I had to extend the sheet as I didn't have any stock long enough and the welds are absolutely awful. Both my MIG and TIG are out of action so I had to resort to trying to stick welding 1.2mm sheet metal, so much not fun.
After blowing a lot of holes I just gave up and ground most of it down flush, looking closely you can see the two darker "lines" in the back.

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Looks great! ... and should be very effective.
 
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