What's everybody doing?

Changing a few of the shop server hard drives.  It's amazing how the size of things have changed over the years.  The 1TB (1,000 gig) in the old version and new SSD version are in a pic together.  The old one is over half full with my Alldata repair + estimating program, the rest is backup + storage.  That drive is also over 12 years old and that is a good life for that style so it got cloned today and is working good.  I've lost the old style drives before, and they were backed up but it's always best to upgrade and update things before they break...  

The other is to replace the main C: drive, it has Windows and Linux Mint on it with a dual boot system and is getting full, it's only 256 gig now.  I just need to decide if I should leave it as is or change it from dual boot to running Windows in a Virtual environment inside of Linux.  The nice thing about the VR setup is not having to reboot every time I need Windows for something, which isn't very often...

Also been catching up on some cleaning, blasting + rearranging.  There are tractors + parts stuffed literally everywhere and the whole shop + both garages are the same, not to mention the parking lot, trailers, and 20' wagons full of stuff around here.  Then there is the matter of all the stuff in a large locked up barn at the farm that the new owner is letting me use, about 100 more in there...  Nothing but walk paths everywhere and I'm getting a little wore out with it. 

Time to sell a few things I think lol.    

I did get 1 bench cleared + cleaned but there's a lot more to go.  The 2-8' benches on the same wall with all the smaller equip on them is next.  Kevin, my HVAC friend with the other articulating tractor we did is going to be changing + redoing the original Package units (heat pumps) ducting from outside to inside and a lot of the stuff on the back wall has to be moved to do it.  We may start on that this weekend weather permitting, it will not be a fun time...    

 

The worst greasy and oily parts are all steam cleaned and ready to be blasted + put up after many years on a cart.  I really need to do better about putting things off and letting things pile up.  

I'm starting to think that for what I do in my environment now that too many work benches are just a catch all, and a place to throw things and not be able to find them later.  I guess that's why over the years I've been taking them to the farm.  There are 5 or 6 more in the barn with the horses that have been slowly migrating over there for the past 25 years...  One way or another I have to find a way to keep things from getting cluttered like that again, and my OCD loves the clean look.  

I'm not sure what's next, but the place is in for another major rearranging.  I really need everything from that back wall in the pics close to the machining area.  The rolling carts are nice, easier to move, and everything is organized by type and thickness of steel.  All the pieces on the carts are too small for the big Fastenal metal racks and it seems I'm looking for those smaller pieces all the time.   Time to come up with a new plan.  

 

Kevin and another friend was here Saturday so we moved the benches out and got started.  After first inspecting the units they both have some rot at the bottom of the coils and both have small leaks around the compressors.   After figuring the age and cost to make them last longer it just doesn't make sense to invest much in 25 year old units, so the redoing of the ducting is a no go...  They've done really well with no work over that time so they have actually done more than expected. 

It looks like both of them will be taken out and replaced with 2 split systems and moved to the front side of the building.  There will be no need for ducts on the new ones and they will perform to -15 degrees with no aux heat.  They will save a ton of $ on the electric bill and be closer to where most of the work is done.  I can also crank them up and keep nice and toasty without thinking about the meter spinning off of the building. 

Needless to say the shop is clogged up worse than ever so I better get a start on this process of cleaning + rearranging. 

 

Everything is clean minus 1 hole to fill where the thermostat was, then I have to replace the metal where the ducts were once the package unit is out.  Everything cleans real easy with the help of the LA's Totally Awesome Orange cleaner.  I've been using their stuff for many years, found out about it at Big Lots about 18 years go, now it's at the Dollar Tree for $1.25, refills are the same price.  They make the best of everything I've ever used, I always use it on the metal and the floor.  It's also a lot stronger than Simple Green or Purple Power at a much much less cost, there's a pic of it below. 

Don't use it on shiny tractor paint either though unless you're doing a restore, it will turn the paint dull and flat as soon as it hits it...  

 

Had a little time today so I got out the metal needed to fill the old duct holes once they're out, keeping leftovers comes in handy sometimes. 

The S-10 also got lowered to put a few things for it in the truck I've found around here over the years, it's been a really long time since it was down.  Once the floor is cleaned up I need to start figuring out a new floor plan.  What I would really like to do is play with the truck but oh well, maybe someday...  

I hooked the thermostat back up for that West unit that was taken off, I've had some interest in peeps buying the old units.  I think I can easily get $1K each for the old units, duct work, filter grille, output grille, extra filters, thermostat and all for each one, they can even have the concrete pad if they can get it home...  They are already set up for a pole barn as well.  

 

Slowly but surely things are coming along.  I try to make it a point to do a little blasting, cleaning, organizing, mopping, and a few other little things for at least a little bit everyday.  I'm also trying to get the steamer out once or twice a week for misc cleaning of parts, tractors, attachments, equipment, + such.  Seems like everything changes every hour or so but that's ok.  

It will take awhile but I am determined to get stuff cleaned, blasted, painted + put in the parts dept, or organized where it belongs if it kills me lol, a lot of this stuff has been sitting around and on carts for almost 10 years and I'm a little sick of what a mess the shop has become...  

The rear corner back to the black chain cover on the 2 post rack is pretty clean, if you look at the back of the black cover (right side on last pic), it's easy to see it's nasty with a strong red tint.  Not sure what a new paint solution will be, but painting the IH Red implement paint with the spray guns has got to go.  It makes a terrible mess and is really hard to clean up the mess it makes.  There's a lot of new advanced water based vehicle paints out, I may look into that...  

 

I've decided to work on the 1/3 of the main shop that has been started on and move toward the machining and test bench area.  That area is where the rearranging and the new split systems will be so may as well get it cleaned up, organized and ready.    

As Nappy said in the shoutbox, today is such a nice day it will be nice to enjoy the weather and run the steam cleaner most of the day.  I took the day off from customer work, minus phone calls and cleaned off most of the welding bench early this morning till it warmed up a little... 

I sill can't believe how red everything is, but with the steamer it cleans up nicely.  I even got the 312-A hill mower cleaned up, and some NOS Dozer blades, a WH dump cart, and a few other things to put on CL today.  Now it's time to get to a little sweeping + mopping.  

 

It will take awhile to get the place cleaned up like it used to be but it's worth it to me, minus the soreness and prob a few chiropractor visits lol.  

So far about 1/2 of the left side 1/3 of the shop area is done and looking pretty good.     A big benefit I forgot about is how much brighter the shop is in that area from light reflection on clean surfaces.  Now it's time to move a lot of stuff to get to the next spot to clean...  


 

The more I look at the clean spot the more the rest of the shop gets on my nerves... 

I decided it's time for a major redo on a few things starting today.  A lot of things will be changed, improved, and redone to get everything where it belongs and get rid of the clutter.  The start was some welding table changes (in the tools purchased section - welding table original topic). 

The test bench is getting totally redone underneath, the old grinder - small drill press bench is as well.  I have an almost 2 entire fastenal stores worth of fixtures here and it's time to start putting some of it to use.  

 

Half of the welding bench redo is done but before doing the other side I'm jumping to the test bench.  It will depend what happens there that may determine what happens on the other side of the welding table since it's close to that area.

All the ideas I had on the test bench redo were based on keeping or working around the 12' bench already there.  It seemed like whatever I thought up to maximize storage + space just didn't want to fit, or left empty or wasted spots.  Then I had an idea lol.       I think it's best to take out the original wood bench and replace it with 4 customized Fastenal units and going the full 16' across.  Some bins, some shelves, maybe some other things, whatever seems good as it gets redone.

Will prob start on it next week.  It will surely make the terrible mess in the shop even worse till it's done.