[tulowd]

Greetings: Have slowly making my detached 1.5 car old rickety garage into a place to get my stuff done over the past 10 years. Used to service my snowmobile in there when I rode every few days, but since the car restoration became serious, this place has become a multi use shop; with the car parked in a car shelter in front of the garage. Ghetto of sorts, but when you have limited space and big plans, you make do.

Garage is 13 x 25 inside space with only a 7 ft ceiling, but a 2/3 loft I built for storage a few years ago. One wall is a workbench and tool cabinets with shelving above; there's a home built 60 gal 17 [email protected] compressor (fully plumbed with 3/4" iron pipe, drops and multiple outlets, a welding table I built, several work benches, a plasma cutter, Mig welder, metal chop saws, drill press and a bunch of other metal working stuff. There are a few wood tools incl a small table saw that need to be moved from the basement upstairs.
Brand new 2hp HF dust collector sitting in the shed, where the sandblasting cabinet will also move to once all this gets plumbed in after winter.

Over Xmas I built a serious car audio test bench/switching system around a 70 Amp Astron power supply, Odyssey AGM battery and full switching and functional car audio system using an Alpine CD player, and Alphasonik eq/crossover with multi inputs and outputs, driving an Orion 225HCCA high current amp in stereo and a Rockford Fosgate Punch45HD running 2 Ohm mono; all this is powering a pair of Axiom bookshelf speakers and a Fosgate HX2 1000Watt 12" dual voice coil subwoofer. Music we have, as well as the ability to easily test any car audio component from a head unit to a tweeter or amplifier.

Will post some pics once I figure out how.

Paul

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Posting pictures isn't that hard Paul.Until you get to 10 posts they have tobe in your hard drive, i.e. not a link to a photo sharing site. If you want to add them to this thread then click on the Advanced Reply and look for the Manage Attachments button. Click on it an a new screen will appear. You'll need to maximize it's size to full screen. Click on the first Browse Files button and it will go to your documents. You'll need to find the picture file you want, possibly in your My Pictures folder and highlight and then click Open. That file name should show up on the first line of the Browse Files section. Once you have all the pictures selected then click on the Upload button and wait for the files to upload to the thread. It will let you know when it's done. Then you can Close This Window and the picture files should show below the text box where the Manage Attachments button is. It's easy when you know where to find everything.

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Hey Paul , here is a pic of the pods I made for my 84 gmc truck. Each pod is lit up with a single high output led.
Was working on an amplifier rack for behind the seat . I had three JL audio amplifiers , and was going to have them all together with led highlighted 1/2” lexan between each . Then on the sides we’re going to be ducts for a blow threw on each side.
Was going to build a bandpass box with 2-12” job audio subs that would be ported threw the back wall.
This all came to a screeching halt after I visited our theatre and got tinnitus

 

[Danman1957]

Nice truck Rick

 

[Danman1957]

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum.

Nice to see another Canadian on board. You will surely enjoy this fine bunch of people and the vast amount of knowledge to share.

Dan

 

[tulowd]

Here's some shop and car pix, also picked up an old Excalibur fence in prime condition - used to have one in the 90's that worked amazingly well - manufactured in Pickering Ontario, but out of business now. Shop is stuffed full of mostly tools, some car parts like the doors and some miscell components, the rest is spread out throughout the sheds, basement and my kids room upstairs.....lol

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Wow that’s a serious looking setup That car looks like an awesome project too, I’m assuming 302?

 

[tulowd]

some more, incl an effective mousetrap, my home made air compressor setup and whatever else pictoral I can find.

 

[tulowd]

and some more

 

[CharleyL]

Interesting, but for your next project I think you need to triple the size of your shop. There isn't near enough space left for serious woodworking.

My wood shop doubles as an exhibits building shop for the NC Science Museums. I design and build exhibits for them occasionally, and my shop needs triple the floor space too.

Welcome to Router Forums. I can see that you at least have one router in there.

Charley

 

[tulowd]

thx gents. Real woodworking occurs outdoors between the garage and the car shelter. Thx, there is a pile more woodworking stuff in the basement workshop as well; kinda like Hoarders meets Overhaulin' but less fighting, more alcohol and all at a glacial pace.

The reality is that I need at least a 6 car shop for my setup, and the car, snowmobile and truck. Never going to happen, unless I start a Go Fund me campaign, lol. Living in the city sucks when it comes to this kind of thing, but we all have our crosses to bear, so to speak.

If I had a real shop with hoist etc the car would have been done long ago, but hey - it's supposed to be a hobby; I installed and fabricated virtually everything on it except the prep and paint, and didn't build the motor or rear end. It's a fully girdled and studded 5.0 / 302 stock block with every component new except the block and timing cover. Fully ported Edelbrock Victor Jr alum cyl heads and intake, custom carb, all ARP studs etc. 333 cid, runs on 91 Octane pump gas and makes 444 rwhp the way it sits. Car fully assembled is about 200 lbs lighter than stock, with a 1.5" extended wheelbase, track widened, adjustable carbon fiber wing and front splitter, 4 wheel flares and enlarged wheel openings, engine setback 1" and a fully seamwelded chassis with re-enforced full frame and roll bar setup. Road course happy and should run a high 11 in the quarter mile in full street trim with street / road race tires......12.5" wide at all 4 corners. Here's what it looked like when I stripped it down, also a video link to some track and road course action coming up after 10 posts.


Good Times; car should be 4 seconds per lap and about 1 sec quicker in the 1/4mile after all these extensive mods...sound system included lol.

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Cool hobby you have there . I see your a fan of mustangs. My stepbrother actually owned a factory 1971 351 Boss Mach1 Mustang back in the day . Was a beautiful car, especially if you liked standards

 

[DesertRatTom]

With audio systems like that, you should know about the very good deals on hearing aids you can find at most Costcos. You will certainly need them at some point if not already. My hearing went down four decades ago when I covered a Beach Boys Concert for my paper. Went for 35 years or so withough being able to discern lyrics. That's why old guys like old songs, we remember the lyrics even if we can't hear them.

Apparently one of the board members at Costco has a severe hearing loss and got tired of the over inflated prices and state laws the allowed for the price fixing. So he got the laws changed and set up hearing aid centers. They have their own brand which are made by one of the big manufacturers, but less than half the price. And they have some very good models for half again of that lower price.

I've sent a lot of friends there and all are pretty happy.

There are lots of medicines that are ototoxic (harm hearing), including the stuff they inject during certain scans, and certain cancer treatment drugs.

So your sign that if it's too lound, your too old, is really inaccurate. If it's too lound, YOU will be partially deaf by the time you're middle aged, and for many people, by the time you're in your early 30s. That means you won't be able to hear music worth a damn. Abuse it and lose it. And join the age of saying "Huh?"

As good as the new model hearing aids are, they are a pain to keep in batteries and don't necessarily let you hear naturally. For example, if two people are talking withing earshot, you won't be able to understand anything anyone says. And hearing aids don't let you hear whispers. The high frequency sounds are most easily damaged, so the voice range of frequencies of women will be among the first to go. You should know that people blame deaf people for their problem (because it inconveniences them), and your lady partner will be perpetually pissed at you, and think you don't care about her because she thinks you're ignoring her. This is the stuff of divorce and having to sell your tools to pay the support. You probably think I'm kidding, but most of us with hearing loss know the situation.

Hearing occurs in the brain, not the ears, so if you have a loss of hearing input to the brain, it will lose the ability to understand speech, starting with the S sounds. You may or may not be able to recover that ability as you get older. There is a rehab for this that works for some people, but it's hard to find because most bull-headed guys refuse to get the treatment.

But it's your loss, not mine, and I know young guys think they're bullet proof, so they don't use hearing, knee or eye protection or blow off dust masks, and then take off all the cutting guards and safety gear. That explains why carpenters and other craftsmen are unable to work much past age 50, because they're lame, deaf, have COPD and missing digits.

Blast away guys. Have fun now and regret at leisure, and much sooner than you think. Much as I like live music, I never go because all the rock musicians are deaf as boards and crank up the gain to harmful levels that are damaging the fans and it's often just painful.

I live where a lot of cars going down the road with thump thump thumb rumbling at 140 Db. I hate having to be near them because that is painful to me. So are screaming children in restaurants. You may think it's grumpy old man stuff, but it just hurts since that's the frequency my aids amplify the most.

So this is just a preview of what's waiting for you, all caused by loud music. Chances are probably one in 50 that your hearing will survive the assault. Sorry to be so
"loud" about this, but hopefully someone will get the message before it's too late.

Strong letter to follow.

 

[tulowd]

Thx Charley - for sure 4x the space is needed but living in the city is a big restrictor. Have to deal with what I have, the woodworking primarily occurs outside between the garage and car shelter under a sunshade/umbrella when it's warm and dry enough outside. App a 10x15 ft space which seems to work for now.

I have 3 routers - a PC690 is mounted in the table, I have two old what look to be decent B&D routers albeit with only 1/4" collets. The one appears similar to the PC690 and has some US made (?) mfr name on the metal part of the casting/machined main body.

Will eventually get a 3+ hp motor for the lift and run the PC as the main freehand one, the plunge B+D will be used for making holes, the other B+D likely I will make a circle guide for cutting speaker holes; if I don't get something figured out for my old school Bosch orbital jigsaw; since it creates way less dust and is quicker. Time will tell, especially how effective the remote mounted dust collector system turns out to be once it's connected and tweaked.

 

[tulowd]

This is for DesertratTom:

Lots of good advice and info in there. As for hearing loss, fortunate that it's still pretty decent, and I'm almost 55 and have built and sat in systems that exceeded 150 db, but not usually for long. My intent of building something radical in the audio world is similar to having a very high powered car - you can use it without necessarily running it at maximum. I enjoy a variety of music at a variety of levels, from classical to Motorhead and lots in between. Having high quality sound is more important than ultimate volume levels, but a system that distorts at 120dB, in a convertible especially, is a fail.

As for your assumption/suggestion that I am without safety inclinations, you are mistaken. I have suffered lots of sports / motorsports induced injuries and an quite OCD about safety - from always wearing helmet and body armor when I ride my 150hp snowmobile, to safety glasses and triple checking whether a bit is tightened or the welder is disconnected prior to changing tips.

In any event, I'm glad someone is looking at my pics and posts with enough detail to see the hundreds of tool box stickers. I still chuckle every time I see the Too f.... loud sticker.

My car lic plates and my email / forum handle has been tulowd ever since 1988. I do prefer and build sound q first tho. BTW - loudest thing I ever experienced besides the 157 dB demo van I had, was the Motorhead concert in Toronto in 1982. Ears rang for 2 days, lol


Hope this clarifies some things and that we can be friends, despite our difference in opinions.

 

[tulowd]

Dust collector in shed next to garage, along with a decent pic of about half the garage when it's cleaned up. Have a 240V stove element heater as well as a standard little 1500W ceramic heater keeping it cozy in there when it's -10C or colder here. For you SAE types, it has hit -10^F here overnight once this winter, brrrr lol

 

[DesertRatTom]

Hi Paul,

Since my own hearing loss (profound in the high ranges), I've been worried about anyone who is listening to excessively loud sounds, music or otherwise. I really like music myself, pretty much the same range as yours, but I can't stand being in loud venues. The personal aspects I talked about are some of the worst things about it. I'm in a senior group where hearing loss includes most of our male members and a lot of our women as well. I actually try to be a bit light about most things, but hearing loss is a terrible thing.

Just because I'm passionate about this particular issue, doesn't mean I'm unfriendly. I think there are lots of people on here I'd like to hang around with. A lot of shared experiences among us--we were all of us young at one time, and I came up as Rock matured.

I also moved my DC unit outside last summer. My shop is a little like yours, pretty sawdust free (although I find an occasional pocket of sawdust left over in some corner or behind something that hasn't moved for a long time. Pix of my setup below, the chip collector really helps.

Glad you're being careful. I think ultimately that safety is a state of mind far more than devices and it sounds like you are careful about both.

 

[tulowd]

Appreciate the sentiments, Tom; you are right; when situations like what you mention are front and center in your life; it is a good deed to share the knowledge/awareness. Thank You for making me think of hearing (loss). My mother and most of my family and friends complain I don't listen..... is that related? lol

Eyesight is the big one we all deal with as well - certainly have noticed a significant drop in my vision the last ten years (from 20/15 ; 20/20 up to about age 35), especially when the light is dim. Eye doc says I'm good and lucky to still see as well as I do; BUT - the reality sux. In bright lighting situations, the retina (?) closes up like a lens on a camera, vastly improving the depth perception and helping the focus immensely. In most situations, I gotta wear readers when in the shop doing anything remotely close to detail oriented. Got a $10 pair of safety glasses from Summit Racing that have a 1.5 bifocal insert at the bottom; they are most helpful and get put on for grinding, sanding etc. My welding helmet has 1.5 magnifying insert inside which also helps; but even being automatic on, it is still real tough to see what the torch tip is doing; hence the finished product is not as consistent or nice as it could be.

Love your DC setup - I recently added a Dust Deputy and Hepa filter to my 20 year old ShopVac and I gotta say I'm amazed at the positive improvements - quieter, more effective, and zero dust blowing around the small garage. One thing, if I may- you do realize that a corrugated hose has a massive restrictive effect on the airflow of a DC system, since the pressure differential is so low compared to a vacuum. If you have the time, you may want to look at converting that to smooth 5" (or 4") metal ductwork and large radius 45* elbows, as used in forced air heating and air conditioning. Just a thought.

Plan on adding at least a cyclone bucket at some point for the DC, as well as a better upper bag, since the HF is a 5 micron fail. Seeing I cut mostly MDF and also sandblast, the respirator will continue to be a fashion item - side benefit - it reduces allergy like hayfever to virtually zero....as long as it's worn.......

I think initially I will most likely just run a 4" or 5" hose out the front of it and see how that goes. Ultimately, the shed will receive full 120/240V power, lighting, compressed air and real ductwork to connect to the garage. Hopefully I can do without until the car is at least movable in the spring before I get sidetracked some more.
The ductwork will likely run above the ceiling, but really need to think this thru first. Also going to position the HF sandblasting cabinet (after some heavy modifications to improve it's functionality) into the shed and make a new, full height door frame and likely re-roof the thing. I bought it from Lowe's as a parking lot demo for $50 incl all the 2x2 patio stones a few years ago. Disassembling and putting it back together was a Meccano project lol.

I have seen some YouTube videos of guys and girls building the cyclonic separators with those fibrous drums and sealed lids. Looks to be effective and very cost conscious, especially compared to the industrial DD pricing. The one vid showed a version of our DC being modded to incorporate wall mounting the motor and making the cyclonic pre filter removable from below - way better space usage and serviceability. I will try to find it and post it, now that I am above the 10 post virgin threshold.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. We got 6" of fresh snow last night - would be a perfect day to ride, but I will be shovelling and heading back into the garage to finish off my test bench - during the design phase I forgot to move the "speaker testing circuit and switch" from the list to the drawing.........built the entire thing and only noticed last weekend that there is no simple signal output to test speakers....mega DUHHH!
That will be corrected today.

My buddy came over with 6 nice 1990s vintage car amplifiers he picked up from ebay over the last month - total win - some Rockfords, incl a monster 800W rms stereo/mono amp as well as a nice Phoenix Gold ZX450 audiophile grade 4 channel......all 6 worked fine; he was stoked and got them all for killer low prices, since they were purchased around Christmas.

More pics coming later.

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Paul , regarding eyes , google led light and your eyes . We did not evolve with blue light, and the main component of led lighting is in fact blue , regardless of what they tell you .
The shortest visible wavelength of light is blue , which does the most damage to your retinas .
I wear blue blocker readers when I use my phone and iPad , computer etc. You’d be surprised how searing the light seems when you take your blue blockers off .
I removed all my led lights in my home . I had no choice on that though, as 30 minutes of exposure without protective glasses will make the herpes virus on my right eye active again.

It’s a real shame , as engineers at MIT have a redesigned incandescent light bulb that has more efficiency than an led , but politicians have banned incandescent light , so it can’t be developed.
I miss red and green light lol

 

[tulowd]

Paul , regarding eyes , google led light and your eyes . We did not evolve with blue light, and the main component of led lighting is in fact blue , regardless of what they tell you .
The shortest visible wavelength of light is blue , which does the most damage to your retinas .
I wear blue blocker readers when I use my phone and iPad , computer etc. You’d be surprised how searing the light seems when you take your blue blockers off .
I removed all my led lights in my home . I had no choice on that though, as 30 minutes of exposure without protective glasses will make the herpes virus on my right eye active again.

It’s a real shame , as engineers at MIT have a redesigned incandescent light bulb that has more efficiency than an led , but politicians have banned incandescent light , so it can’t be developed.
I miss red and green light lol

Thx for the insight, so to speak. I actually work within the commercial / architectural lighting world as a sales manager/ schmoozer.

The harshness of LEDs were most apparent in the beginning, my thoughts are that a lot of the negatives of the perceived harshness has been toned down by a variety of factors, the least of which is recognition that a direct light source needs to be dampened/diffused for human comfort.

As for the color issue, I'm thinking this is based on the chemistry of LED operation - remember the Texas Instruments red led calculators in the 70s? The push for more output, as well as the human sensitivity to the different spectrums (we see in lower intesities of 5000k colored light better than other regions; this is why parking garages for example, can have lower lumen levels, but still meet sight requirements) is obviously pushing this forward.

I have not heard of the damaging effect of the blue, since we usually talk about 2700k-4000k as being the standards used. Maybe that's why my eyes go buggy after 5 hrs of Netflix on my 65" LED tv?

Hmmmm, something else to spend time on the computer.........gotta go out and shovel some snow and work in the shop a bit. Back later on.

Here is shot of our booth at the annual big lighting show in North America along with some of our fixtures. We design and build virtually everything in house in Brampton Ontario; about 95% of what we build is LED powered now.