Oil Bench Redo

Well,,, there's only 1 wood bench and mess left in the shop so it's gonna get tackled this week inbetween other things and work.  I have oil and maintenance items scattered all over the shop and I need them all in one place.  The area in the back where one of the heat pumps used to be is getting redone for that.  

You guys saw some pics of this last week but I'll put them here again.   

First pic is where 2 gondolas were put after the heat pump in that area was sold and the metal was replaced.  Second pic is the carts that were back there as well.  The chain station is at the end of the pic and is already cleared and set up with new wheels as most peeps saw in that post.  The other 2 carts are still loaded just in front of the center rack, in the way of course...  The third pic is the mess on the last wood bench in the shop, it's getting cleared out and put on carts today as time allows.

The plan is to get that bench out of the shop and put 2 more gondolas just like the other 2 already there next to them.  That will allow for more adjustments on the fly, more size options, and more space to put things on.  Next will be building another custom 8' Fastenal bench (like the new grinder bench) and putting it in front of 2 of the gondolas for a work space, and a few blue bins as well. 

It's gonna make a real mess as usual for a bit, but will be super nice when done.  After that's done I think most things in the shop area will be in one spot and easier to find. 

 

Got a lot farther than I thought today.  Most everything was just put somewhere close to the same area so it wasn't so bad.  

Interesting story on the close up of that Murray thermostat new in the box I found today.  When I bought who I call Little Red in 97, a few of the first things I did was put a Magnaflow cat back system on it and bought a Hyper-tech re-programmer to reprogram the VCM.  When I did the re-programing it called for a lower thermostat than factory so I bought that one for it.  It's been on the shelf for over 25 years now but at least it's not made in China like they all are now...  Maybe I will get that done soon now that I'm taking a little more time for me.  

That truck is Little Red because the 4 door dually is Big Red.     I'm actually gonna sell the Dually and drive Little Red more when the weather is nice.  It only has 20K miles on it and has spent too much of it's time just sitting in the garage over the years.  

 

Bench is out and I found a nice surprise.  I thought the rolling jack under the bench was one of them for the now "shelf lift" but it turns out it's one of 2 brand new ones I had.  The two for the shelf lift are back by the tire changer under the pallet rack.  I had forgot that when I bought the second Bend Pak lift + rolling jacks they decoupled from the rack when lowered because of the new beam design, then they sent 2 more new ones and never asked for the old ones back.  One of the new ones was traded in on my pipe bender 24 years ago, and the other one has been under this bench for 24 years.  It's an ALI Certified made in USA 9,000 pound unit, and made in USA.  4 post lift rolling jacks like this one haven't been around for a long long time.  The cheap China ones are around $4,000 each now so thank the Lord for another nice blessing.  It's going up for sale as soon as it gets cleaned up.    I guess being too busy too keep up with things sometimes has an advantage after all... 

Anyway,,, bench is out, shelves are of the wall, the walls are clean, 2 gondolas are moved over, and the rest of that corner is properly cleaned.  Time for lunch then I can start on the next 2 gondolas to put back there. 

 

The last 2 Fastenal gondolas are assembled and in the back where they will be.  I didn't think they would be so big, they didn't look that big in the store but it has been awhile. 

The Fastenal blue bin fixture parts from the other garage that I thought I was done with are back in the shop again.  This bench will be like the others but a little shorter than the rest.  The others are 42" tall to get the work closer to the eye and avoid bending over.  Normal workbenches are around 36" tall and that's what this one will be since I won't be standing and working on it much.  The only thing I don't like is it will have to be off center a little, it's the only way to keep all of the weight on the floor instead of mounting things to the wall.  There will be a lot of fluids on these and just 12 gal of fluid weighs a little over 100 pounds...

It's coming along really good for just 2 days work but my back needs some rest after doing all of this by myself so it's time to call it a day. 



 

Everything is working out pretty good.   It's mostly done and I think shelf depth + spacing above the bench looks pretty good.  Easiest way to get things right was just putting some stuff on the shelves.  There will be a lot more room than there was.  Before there were 3 - 12" shelves, this time the bottom shelf is 16" and the 2 above it are both 14".  There's also more room below the 1st shelf where the bench is a little shorter.  I have a friend coming out tomorrow to help me get the rubber runner under the bench legs and metal top on the bench, I'm not gonna try that by myself...

The other 2 gondolas are new territory so we'll see what happens there later. 

 

Spent a lot of yesterday cleaning, organizing, cross referencing, and putting standard STP numbers on the oil filter boxes.  I used to know what they all fit but I don't do this every day anymore...  Hard to believe there are 116 filters on there with room to spare now.  I have 2 dozen more coming in next week, not that I need them now but they have a really good commercial account special on them by the dozen mix and match and I'll use them eventually, things are only going up and up you know...   

Been waiting for some 6" screws and a 6" long drill bit to come in from Amazon I ordered a few days ago.  I decided because of the weight it should be anchored.  Each unit gets anchored right below the top shelf and right under the air piping at the top of the bench where the 2 by's are.  They are immovable now and I'll sleep better. 

Next week I can start cleaning all the regular and red dust off the rest of the stuff and getting it on there, and cutting out the area where the green tape is to get to the outlets behind it. 

 

Got most of the main area done today.  After cleaning a lot of the bottles + jugs on there I decided what is in the back is staying in the back.  There's about 60 gallons of straight antifreeze and over 60 gallons of oil and I really don't need more stuff to clean.     There's also about 100 gallons of -20 washer fluid in the other garage on a pallet rack and it can stay out there too, minus a little I need to bring in the shop... 

First up was cutting out for the outlets.  When I got out the RotoZip that I've had forever I had forgot that a lot of old things had 10' cords, not anymore...  I kept a lot of transmission fluid out in Qts for when needed here and there, the transmission fluid drum had about 10 gallons of space in it so it went back in the drum. 

Next up was smoothing out the metal top on 2 of the plasma cut non factory edges so it would be easy to put the protective stuff on it that I use on the Horses.  After that was making a piece of 1 1/2" angle iron for the end because when 2 of these are put together it's a little over 8' and the wood top underneath shows.  I had to do the same on the grinder bench so it was already figured out.  There were also 3 holes on one end that got plugged.

Last was putting a little penetrating fluid on the top.  The stuff from a bottle or metal can will last a year or more on there, the stuff in a spray can doesn't last long, maybe it's the propellant, but there's some kind of reason.   It came out a lot nicer than I thought it would.  Now all of the benches in the shop match, and are metal. 

 

Finished up getting everything back on the shelves this morning, and even made a clean spot on the floor.  After seeing the clean spot I was ashamed of how I let a lot of things go around here.  I need to take time out from work to clean more often...  

I may switch gears for a little now, I'm eyeing the old craftsman bench and thinking about putting another gondola behind it for the use of the shelves.  The bench could stay because the drawers come in handy for bigger things.  

 

The more I move things around the more I see how cheaply things are made now, and how expensive they are now.  I bought the Craftsman bench on 3/2/2000 and it was originally used for my brake lathe + drum lathe.  I found it in my schedule where I put most things, not just appointments.  It has a 1 1/4" MDF top, a galvanized cover still in good shape, and the back, light, and organizers on top all came with it for $150.00.  You can't buy stuff like that anymore and $150.00 won't buy a good 4 wheel 2 shelf shop or service cart now. 

The camera did good at picking up all the red dust on and under something for a change.    Anyway, the wall and floor is clean in that spot, a little air line redoing is done, and the gondola is built and mounted to the wall behind where the bench will be.  Considering how heavy the bench is built, and all the larger drawer storage, it will be staying where it was.  The shelves will come in handy much more than the original back did.  Tomorrow I can clean up the bench, figure out a new top, then get to putting stuff on all the new shelves back there. 

 

Didn't get a lot done today, had a few peeps running in and out today.  At least the Craftsman bench is back where it goes.  It ended up with a 30" wide metal top on the right side and a 25" piece of the heavy 1/4" rubber mat on the left side.  All of the spray fluids also went there because they fit in the rear tray and will be easy to find.  If I have to do something small back there I'll start using that space.  There's also another clean spot on the floor back there yay. 

Maybe tomorrow there will be more time to see what's going back there on the shelves.  I'm just glad they're all done.