Garage hacks/ideas to make life better?

[Keith Seymore]

I've always preferred homemade wooden ramps to the store bought metal ones. They don't "scoot" when you drive up on them and they don't "spread" open over time. Plus, if you are a scrap wood junkie like me, then you can make them out of wood you have laying around, and make them as tall as you like.

Been using bad boys like these for a long, long time.

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[Keith Seymore]

This is what the GM guys use to wipe off the show cars at the New York or LA or Geneva Auto Shows: foaming glass cleaner.

GM has it's own label, but it's more expensive than the Home Depot stuff and you have to be near a GM dealer to get it (I suppose you could order it through Amazon and have it delivered).

I love it and use it for everything: wiping dust off the car, cleaning the seats or vinyl flooring, on chrome, even in place of hand soap and water to wipe your hands off (especially in the winter when the outside water is turned off).

Oh! - and for glass!

K

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[Keith Seymore]

A 2x4 functions as a tire rack, to keep the tires nice and tight against the wall...

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[Keith Seymore]

An old piece of poster board keeps the wheel clean when applying ArmorAll or tire dressing:

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[Keith Seymore]

This propane tank timed out because the valve style expired.

I added an adapter and use it as a small compressed air tank, for topping off tires when I don't want to (or can't) get the big air compressor and vehicle in the same spot.

K

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[Keith Seymore]

I keep a junk battery near by, for those occasions when you need a bit of 12V to check continuity or light a bulb, or for wiring a trailer.

K

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[Keith Seymore]

A little display case from Ikea keeps memorabilia clean while allowing it to be on display -

K

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[Keith Seymore]

Nothing trick about the commercially available sandblast cabinet (or homemade stand) but it did make me think of a funny story:

A friend of mine gave me this cabinet as a gift for helping her clean out her recently deceased husband's stuff. It had a broken clear plexi cover but other than that it was complete and intact.

I've had it probably ten years and finally over this most recent Christmas break I gathered all the pieces I would need and made a new cover, and new foam around the edge, added some protective clear coating on the inside/outside and added a little piece of chain to keep the lid from flopping backward when all the way open.

Probably a week after that one of the garage door springs broke. I ordered a new spring and commenced to installing it and, while taking the mechanism apart, I dropped the pulley off the end.

Guess where it landed? Yep - right dead center in my new sandblast cabinet plexiglass cover. Broke it into three equally sized pieces of scrap. It was in a state of repair for a grand total of one week.

So - now, I have a new garage door spring and I'm right back where I started on the sandblast cabinet.



K

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[4WDKC]

Nothing trick about the commercially available sandblast cabinet (or homemade stand) but it did make me think of a funny story:

A friend of mine gave me this cabinet as a gift for helping her clean out her recently deceased husband's stuff. It had a broken clear plexi cover but other than that it was complete and intact.

I've had it probably ten years and finally over this most recent Christmas break I gathered all the pieces I would need and made a new cover, and new foam around the edge, added some protective clear coating on the inside/outside and added a little piece of chain to keep the lid from flopping backward when all the way open.

Probably a week after that one of the garage door springs broke. I ordered a new spring and commenced to installing it and, while taking the mechanism apart, I dropped the pulley off the end.

Guess where it landed? Yep - right dead center in my new sandblast cabinet plexiglass cover. Broke it into three equally sized pieces of scrap. It was in a state of repair for a grand total of one week.

So - now, I have a new garage door spring and I'm right back where I started on the sandblast cabinet.



K

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you can buy plexiglass at home depot/lowes for quick replacements.. also if you havent already buy a large tube of orange RTV and use it at the seams of panels. It will help seal the box so sand doesnt leak out everywhere will last a long time and is easily redone when it leaks again. I say to use the orange stuff because its what we used in the coal pulverizers in the power plants and it was reapplied every two years when we would do maintenance on them. IF it lasts 2 years in one of those machines you may not ever have to reapply it in your blast cabinet.

 

[4WDKC]

I have copied suggestions from other forums and added to the collection.

1. Rubber mats for horse stalls - make great pads to keep your feet from hurting and hard material your creeper seat can roll across and they dont slide out from under you.
2. Laptop and flat screen tv - for a cheap garage computer for tracing wiring diagrams.
3. old cheap roll around tool box - make great welder carts and storage for welding/fabrication tools.
4. installed a poly parking lot bumper keep my front end off the back of the garage.
5. Colored electrical tape at the ends of tools for quick Identification.
6. Home Depot Rustoleum Epoxy Garage Floor Kit: BEFORE MOVING IN. $200 and 3 weekends of labor (2 for prep, 1 for application and drying) -Not perfect but looks really great and makes cleanup easy. USE the anti-slip powder!
7. Retractable electric cord reel on the ceiling: I mounted mine right in the dead center of the garage and it's the most awesome time saver / annoyance saver ever.
8. Retractable air hose reel on the ceiling: My next purchase. I am putting my air compressor into a Gladiator Garageworks cabinet, then applying dynomat and the foil insulation to the bottom section of the cabinet where my air compressor is (cuts down on noise), then adding a retractable reel air hose close to the electric cord reel.
8. Sink
9. Good lighting: I upgraded to LED lighting, but I'm adding 2 more LED lights and a dedicated over-bench light.
10. Carpet scraps for laying on
11. Bench Grinder with a dewalt wire wheel.
12. Bench Vice
13. Rechargeable blutooth speaker lets me run a show or music off of the phone and still get phone calls.
14. T-handle ratcheting alan wrench.
15. I gut my old 18 volt batteries and screw the shells on the wall, then I use them to house my cordless drills
16. Simple, but I keep a paper towel and toilet paper dispenser on the wall, can buy one at HF.
17. I made a sheet metal holder for the HF nitrile gloves mounted to the wall to serve as a dispenser, can buy one at HF.
18. have two wooden boxes under the workbench, one for clean and one for dirty shop towels. (I wash and reuse mine)
19. made four 10 1/2 by 10 1/2 by 7 blocks out of two by fours. three on top, three on the bottom and two runners. They make great supports for any thing, vehicles, for cutting wood, a quick step, etc.
20. old bathroom rugs, they're the best for lying on, the toilet ones are great for motorcycles, the cutout fits around the tires.
21. 4 inch PVC cut it to the lengths I need and mount them to the wall. They make great place to put moldings, wood trim and a variety of other things.
22. shelves above garage door rails for storage before.
23. a work bench with shelves under it for storage.
24. Old cabinets for storing paint,brake clean etc
25. Set up a commercial account for yourself at your local parts stores, they often sell brake clean for $2.00 a can to "commercial" clients along with other discounts on parts behind the counter. You dont need a charge account or a tax number.
26. Keep your eyes/ears open for someone that updates hardware stores, I got a rack of bolt bins from an old hardware store for $15
27. Check the insulation in the attic above your garage if its not already climate controlled, it helps alot .
28. Tire storage hangs from ceiling to keep them out of the way.
29. Peg-board double loop screwdriver holders (that never seem to work for screwdrivers I own), mounted to the side of the toolbox to hold the 1/2" drive extra long ratchets and extension
30. Peg-board fork things, again on the side of the toolbox to hold the vice-grips.
31. Plastic pipe with caps to hold the drippy grease guns

 

[Snoots]

Nothing trick about the commercially available sandblast cabinet (or homemade stand) but it did make me think of a funny story:

A friend of mine gave me this cabinet as a gift for helping her clean out her recently deceased husband's stuff. It had a broken clear plexi cover but other than that it was complete and intact.

I've had it probably ten years and finally over this most recent Christmas break I gathered all the pieces I would need and made a new cover, and new foam around the edge, added some protective clear coating on the inside/outside and added a little piece of chain to keep the lid from flopping backward when all the way open.

Probably a week after that one of the garage door springs broke. I ordered a new spring and commenced to installing it and, while taking the mechanism apart, I dropped the pulley off the end.

Guess where it landed? Yep - right dead center in my new sandblast cabinet plexiglass cover. Broke it into three equally sized pieces of scrap. It was in a state of repair for a grand total of one week.

So - now, I have a new garage door spring and I'm right back where I started on the sandblast cabinet.



K

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Cover the inside of the new plexiglass with Saran Wrap. When it gets cloudy, rip it off and install new. Saves the plexiglass!