Garage hacks/ideas to make life better?

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Id love to have a garage that size but would have to move west of where I currently am and still not sure I could afford the property. one big door that swings or slides to one direction would be hell on hinges and casters. You could do 2 sliding doors like on a house so you can get in one side or the other.

I bought some led lights but thought I would use housing from older fluorescent lights to redirect the light.

The problem with something moving to the right is that there’s a covered breezeway right next to it. Something to swing open each way might be more feasible there. I have a two ton winch that would be cool to use for a door that pops up (this would still be hell on hinges) or even a bifold door. Those are really expensive, though. Sheesh. I’d like to come up with a cheaper solution.

 

[4WDKC]

The problem with something moving to the right is that there’s a covered breezeway right next to it. Something to swing open each way might be more feasible there. I have a two ton winch that would be cool to use for a door that pops up (this would still be hell on hinges) or even a bifold door. Those are really expensive, though. Sheesh. I’d like to come up with a cheaper solution.

I was thinking like sliding doors on your house work. Similar to this but hanging from the I/H/W beam already in place.

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I worked for a company that had these on a pole barn to house the trucks, trailers and equipment at night.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I have wifi and a bluetooth speaker in my garage in addition to the stuff I've seen. My home wifi didn't quite work out there so I installed a second router.

 

[Westislander]

A $15 dust cyclone collector (on amazon), unbelievable difference in dust collection.

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[Crispy]

A $15 dust cyclone collector (on amazon), unbelievable difference in dust collection.

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Pretty nifty. How do you have it set up?

 

[fried_daddy]

A $15 dust cyclone collector (on amazon), unbelievable difference in dust collection.

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I also have one of those. I love it. It also saves on replacing bags and cleaning filters on my vacuum.

 

[trukman1]

This thread reminded me I need another bag of cheap kitty litter for spills
and oil leaks on the shop floor.

I've found using dry laundry soap gets the oil stains out better than anything else I've tried. Outside driveway got multiple oil stains from contractors van. I cover liberally with the soap powders to about half an inch and leave it. Eventually the rain will wash it away and the stains wash away with it.

 

[Westislander]

Pretty nifty. How do you have it set up?

It gets bolted onto a 5 gallon pail, the top hose is to your shop vac the side hose is the pickup hose. As the dust and debris goes in it spins down dropping in the 5 gallon pail, hardly anything ends up in the shop vac

 

[TravisB]

A $15 dust cyclone collector (on amazon), unbelievable difference in dust collection.

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I need to get something like this. I have nearly destroyed my shop vac keeping dust down in the sandblaster.

 

[Westislander]

I need to get something like this. I have nearly destroyed my shop vac keeping dust down in the sandblaster.

Night and day difference since I started using this with my blast cabinet

 

[rt66paul]

You guys missed the couch that goes in front of the TV and next to the refrigerator.

 

[Keith Seymore]

I was thinking like sliding doors on your house work. Similar to this but hanging from the I/H/W beam already in place.

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I worked for a company that had these on a pole barn to house the trucks, trailers and equipment at night.

I was just in a restaurant that had something similar to this. It caught my eye because I thought I could do something similar to partition off the portion of the garage I work in, both for heat and visually, from the end of the garage that is pure storage.

The difference is that they had made theirs out of old closet doors and then made "hooks" that go over a piece of black pipe. That way you can slide them back and forth to close off the area, but you can also remove them completely or add extras as desired.

K

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[Keith Seymore]

You'd think as long as I've been playing with cars that I'd have a million ideas....

I'm having a slow time recalling them. I'll post a few as they come up.

Here's one I noticed just now : I make a little tab on the tape by folding it back on itself; that way the next time I need it I don't have to try to find the end.

K

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[Keith Seymore]

I've been painting steel rally wheels for probably 45 years. I didn't think of this until last week:

I used to tape around the wheel and then cover the whole tire sidewall with tape. That's pretty time consuming, labor intensive, and you go through a lot of tape.

I found an old piece of roofing paper and made a reusable "mask" out of that. Now I can do one round of tape and the rest of the tire is already protected.

K

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[Keith Seymore]

I resisted getting a roll around tool box for years, because I'm so "mobile". I used to have two (or three) of those little Craftsman boxes that I would set in the truck every time I went racing or on a mission of mercy.

It got to where I spent more time looking for stuff then I did actual productive work. Now that I have a nice, organized box I can reach my hand out and the tool is usually right there. I ask myself why I didn't do this years ago.

The way I overcame the "mobility" problem is, now when I go racing, I just wheel the whole box up the ramp of the trailer and strap it to the counter at the front. I've always taken every tool I own but now the orientation is exactly the same as when I am at home.

K

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