Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet first things first AKA The Dog House

With the projects list growing and seemingly endless distractions , I am hoping that having a new dedicated workshop will refocus my energy to move forward with them.... .
Its not the large garage I was hoping for but it was free and now I am making it suit my purposes... So far I have replace the rotten paneling and some other wood ... Painted the floor and I will do some form of insulation so I can use it year round... yesterday I put in a window so it wouldnt be so dark inside. I did put in lights as well... They were turned on for about an hour then the electric went out and the breaker blows every time I plug in the outlet. so I am back to running an extension cord ... for now at least till I figure out where the short is...

Any way, progress is being made and then I will start the projects again !!

Nice Wade! I like the idea of a dedicated workshop, although having a cooled/heated basement is kinda nice. Is that in PA?

"Cozy"

Nice.

"Beer Barn"?

Wade, you really have the space for opening a resort for old abandoned Beezas. This looks like the barn where the Chevelle or the Corvette was parked when i had the pleasure to visit your farm. It' s really nice place; and a shame that is not around the corner. I think we could have lots of fun together, and spend some time with wrenching or just hang around. And your big barn has some potential for beeing a man-cave. And i love to create resorts like that. It don't need too much bling-bling or high-tech stuff. But you should think about getting a solid motorcycle lift for sure. It will make it easy and a pleasure to work with on the bikes. With so many new project bikes, i guess you are now a full time mc maniac now. Welcome on board.
Cheers Dieter

Nice
I just had an 8'x12' installed next to the house. The only 'client' so far has been the A65. Had to finish up and get it out in order to get to my lawn mower.
The main breaker box for the house is only a few feet away. If I knew what I was doing I'd run power to the shed. But I don't wish to burn down my house, so an extension cord will have to suffice.
I think the only time a bike will live in there will be for major surgery. It's more likely to be my paint booth once I get a proper exhaust fan.

I did the extension cord thing for a while when I was living in my trailer with a shed next to it ... but I ended up doing all the wiring myself on my house, including two 200 amp breaker boxes. I'm no electrician, but I know people who know something about it, and they showed me what size wire to run, what size breakers to use, and what outlet to put in. They can tell you those things while standing there with one of your beers in their hand and you making notes.

Then go to a good electrical supply house (not a big box store) with helpful folks who know what you need. Once you know that, the hard part is digging the ground up and running the wires through walls and such.

Your extension cord is more likely to burn down the house than a proper breaker and wire!!

Lannis

JD - Yes thats in PA... Come on by anytime....

Dieter .. Thanks . I too wish "it was around the corner" It sure would be nice to e able to just pop in and see more of my Britbike friends in person... We could do some serious wrenching then...

This new space is not one of the existing buildings... This is something I found on facebook for free .. I just had to pay 300 bucks for someone to move it... I had been hoping for a big 2 + car sized garage addition but that would cost money and probably a divorce if I built a garage before we have a kitchen in the house. But this new shed will do for now ... Here is a picture of it from the outside... Its a fixer upper but what do you expect for free , right.... If it helps me focus on a project and get it finished then its all worth it.. That kitchen will get done soon enough too and all will be right in the Schields household







I have the red harbor freight lift in the barn with the B33 project on it so I will have multiple work stations but as you all know a barn is impossible to heat so no work gets done in the winter... At least I can work on something when its cold outside... Maybe Ill rethink which lift goes where.... but the wooden one I made (seen in first post) served me well when I replaced the engine in the Lightning many many years ago...

Dave - I am with you on that .. I dont want to burn anything down either... Some things are better left to the pros ... Electric and plumbing come to mind for a start...

Photo site is flipping my images.... Trying to fix that... Bare with me

I have used a whole house ventilation fan for my shop exhaust. Have a buddy who works well with carpentry, made a plate that allowed the fan to bolt to the wall at a window opening. Made a frame to hold air filters { Four each, 14X14} Works great.

Best to keep paint spraying on the down low if you have "sensitive" neighbors...

Where I live between 2:00 & 3:30 in the afternoon all my neighbors are at work And their kids are still in school so I spry laquer and paint then. I've been getting away with it for several years with no problems so far.

More progress on the workshop .. toolbox’s and benches in place now after ten years being store in a “not so ideal” place .. drawers cleaned and oiled.. next job will be to change out the tools and crap that was in them in exchange for the proper british motorcycle tools .. probably finish the walls up another few feet and square up the doors.. ... then choose a project to start working on.. As Andy suggested on FB , maybe it'll be the WM20... Which makes sense since it is somewhat mostly together already. But I still have a bit to do before the workshop is ready...

Wade,

I think it's great! And a cool homemade bike lift/platform to boot

Here’s mine

Wade......I love that first photo viewed from the door looking in. That stuff piled on top of the shelves on the left........” to be continued”.... I know those piles!!!! That shop is really looking nice. Since you have the barn space to stash stuff you’re not working on.......looks like plenty of room and well thought out.

Hopefully it won’t end up looking like mine. Yea there’s a bike on the work bench but I can’t get it off because there’s a bike in the floor behind it!!!!

Fine job and I’m sure you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Your friend in NC, Gordon

DPO......shouldn’t there be a flip flop somewhere on the floor?? 😀

You were able to fit a lot of tools inside. Looks good.

Thanks guys!! ...Yeah the piles of stuff on the shelves is just the tools and crap that I took out of the boxes.... The goal will be to not have anything , tolls included, in that space that are not for the sole purpose of fixing/building/maintaining a British motorcycle...

Good idea, I kicked everything out of my workshop that had no right to be there years ago, and never regretted it.
Nice workplace Wade, Did you install some king of heating in there ? I suppose it can get pretty cold where you live.

I have two different kinds of electric heaters... One is a hot plate that plugs in.. That might be enough? I'll try it since its hangs on the wall and wouldnt take up any space... The other is a space heater that would take up some floor space but would definitely do the job... Another choice is a small kerosene torpedo heater but that might be overkill and I wouldnt want it to burn my shed down ... I think I will be covered either way...

A few years ago I had a metal cabinet that someone gave me strapped to the top of my SUV and forgot it was up there when I pulled into my carport. It was too tall and not only ripped off my roof rack but also bent the cabinet all to hell... Instead of throwing it away I decided to use the metal for workbench tops. The front where the cabinet doors rested turned out to be a perfect fit for the bench I was doing this time. I wanted a backsplash as well so I called everyone within driving distance that might have a metal brake to do one 90 degree bend in this heavy sheet metal. Not one business called me back so I did it myself. The idea to do it myself evolved over drinks one night with Tom and Dave M. Beer is certainly a confidence booster

Using some leftover Ipa wood from my deck to sandwich the metal and holding it in place with some old C clamps... Worked a treat... with a little extra persuasion from a big hammer... Almost needed heat but didnt...







Before






After






Finally using my dad's vice







4 screws hold the top to the wall... feels solid but I might need to bolt the bench legs to the floor if I ever need to really exert force on the vice work








93 degrees out and the shed stays cool for a few hours but the insulation cant keep it out all day so in went an AC so I could do some work on the bench and some cleaning up... This was a quick brace that I made up in a hurry to hold the AC straight and level in the window ... I'll decide how permanent it will be after the usual "temporary fix" time lapse occurs...




My pile of stickers has gotten quite large so I loaded up the bench and added a few to the craftsman boxes as well






Organized the tools a bit although I think it will evolve as I start using them ...

Been looking for vintage Snap on , Whitworth sockets and wrenches to round out my very small collection

















One thing I would like to fix is this old fan... It worked great when I found it but then quit so I started to take it apart hoping I would see what was wrong but I did not... Might be over my head to fix it .... Any thread recommendations on fixing old fans??

Looking good, Wade. If there is nothing obviously wrong with the fan, the motor may just have dry bearings that need a couple drops of oil worked in by hand with the power off.

I did all that about 4 months ago, looked great in the new place. 4 months on, it already resembles the old place. Oh well...

Gotta love that one exposed sharp corner on the lower front, let's see how long it takes to bite you.

As to the "temporary" A/C bracket, I'd whack off the excess, seal or paint it, and call it permanent.

Looks all tidy and well organized, I like that, and it's a must in a small worksop. you can not expect to do a quality job in a workshop that looks llike a pigsty.

Thanks everyone!!! Should be rolling the first bike project in soon....

Not going to count the fan as the first project

but there is a forum for everything apparently. Here is one just for old fans http://www.afcaforum.com/

Too bad Hawaiian Tiger doesn’t chime in. He is a collector of fans. Might message him.