Tom King Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Are you using offset snips-the kind where the handles stay above the surface? Wiss snips require some fine tuning to cut nicely. On a recent large, complicated job, I discovered Milwaukee snips, and will keep using those. If you really want to take the easy way out, get an Irwin metal cutting blade, and a cheap circular saw. I use that with some sheets of pink styro board ripped to fit in between the ribs when the sheet is upside down. The styro goes on top of a sheet of plywood, that's on top of 2x4's on sawhorses. You need ear plugs under muffs though. https://www.amazon.com/IRWIN-Metal-Cutting-Circular-Blade-4935560/dp/B0030XMFHK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1531506638&sr=8-3&keywords=irwin+metal+cutting+blade I put 24 gauge standing seam hip roofs on two small porches, on an old house I worked on. The pitch was so low, I wanted to give the roof planes every chance to stay straight, so used the thick stuff. There was no way I was going to cut that with hand tools. You can't even see the top of the porch roofs from the street. All the cutting was with that circular saw blade. It's surprising how fast, and clean it cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted July 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 1 hour ago, Tom King said: Are you using offset snips-the kind where the handles stay above the surface? Wiss snips require some fine tuning to cut nicely. On a recent large, complicated job, I discovered Milwaukee snips, and will keep using those. If you really want to take the easy way out, get an Irwin metal cutting blade, and a cheap circular saw. I picked up a pair of the offset Milwaukee snips - they're pretty nice, but were still getting stuck in the middle on long rips. If I ever do it again, I'll pick up the metal blade for the circ saw, but I've only got a few rips left... I should be able to make due at this point. Thanks again for the tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Good luck. I know you'll be glad to be finished. Try having your helper gently lift the near side piece (or whichever side is the part above the jaws as the cut is being made) as you are cutting it. Is the weight of that piece causing the sticking? There should be no weight of material down on the snips. If so, that might take care of it. We do so much stuff without thinking about it, that I forget all the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 Build a platform for the lift to sit on. Should not be hard to get a 12’ lift to hit 15’. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted July 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 Good news! My Dad and I finished the ceiling this weekend, and I finished up the upper wall steel panels on Monday and Tuesday. We got the last of the main lights installed as well, and I spent some time last night shortening the cords and running them in cable keepers (second picture), so they look WAY less crappy. I love the way the steel looks on the walls and ceiling. I'm also pleased with the LED lights - they're plenty bright, and the 5000k color temp is quite nice when the garage door is open. The only metal left to install is a single strip to cover a gap between the garage door and the center post (see the red arrow in the image below). I also made a home depot run for materials to case the windows - pre-primed, finger jointed 1x6 pine boards to the rescue! I got a coat of white paint on them last night, and they'll get installed tonight. After that, I'm enclosing the bottom of the exposed beams with quarter inch ply (you can see insulation and framing thru them). I picked up 4 more lights so I can have separately switched lights over the center of the shop where the table saw is going, as well as over the bay just to the right of the garage door where I'm planning to do finish and hand tool work. It's going to be brighter than the sun in there when I'm done. The rented lift goes back a week from today, and it will be nice to work standing on the ground again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 19, 2018 Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 It sure is coming together nicely. The more I look at that metal it makes good sense. Cut & screw it up , Done ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted July 19, 2018 Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 Looks good. I like the metal. I was thinking one day Id like to use metal for the walls and ceiling for a finish room. It would go up quick, help with the lighting and clean easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted July 20, 2018 Report Share Posted July 20, 2018 Coming along nicely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted July 20, 2018 Report Share Posted July 20, 2018 Looking better everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted July 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2018 I had a busy weekend: First: I installed and caulked the 3 window casings (1x6 finger jointed primed boards FTW)! Once that was done, I cut and installed some 1/4" plywood panels over the bottom of the beams to dress them up a little. I cut these about 1/2" wider than the beam and then hit them with a flush trim bit in the Trim Router to match them up to the sides. After taking the pictures below, I also applied just a bit of stain to darken the white-ish edge of the ply. I think it looks pretty sharp. Last night, I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the mountain of metal scraps and cut offs, and sweeping up all the chips from flush trimming the edges of the ply. The lift is ready to go back, and the shop is looking pretty good. The final project for last night was to tie all the outlets together on the north, west and south walls so I could test the circuits before I put up the wall coverings... Both circuits tested good, and I spent the evening in front of the TV adding pigtails to all the outlets so I can install them faster once the walls are done. On to drywall! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post pkinneb Posted July 24, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 24, 2018 Its a lot of work but you will have an awesome space when you're done! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted July 24, 2018 Report Share Posted July 24, 2018 Don't put a chair in there, for a good while, or you'll just sit there and look at the shop, and not get anything done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robert Morse Posted August 24, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 Another quick update to share progress... the last few weeks have flown by, but we've started hanging drywall (12' sheets are not THAT bad...), and my Wife convinced me to stop doing drywall in order to put down epoxy on the floor. So instead of drywall, I spent last weekend acid etching the floor (and then rinsing and sweeping repeatedly. (after the acid etch) The change in plans was because I had an opportunity to get the product at a reduced price, as well as enlist the help of a friend who's a journeyman painter for a local city. He came over on Wednesday, and I took the day off to help out with the application. The "polycuramine" product was a 2 color blend of Copper Pot and Amaretto, and it looked GREAT right when we finished laying it down. Lots of swirls of color which looked almost like flames, and depth to give it visual interest. We went to lunch, then visited mutual friends, and when we came home and looked at it again, a whole mess of bubbles had risen up thru the coating while we were gone. The floor was clean before we started, but I think he used a roller with too thick of a nap, and laid the bubbles into the epoxy while rolling it out. After several hours of the painter on the phone with the supplier, evaluating fixes, and a fair bit of swearing, we came up with a plan to sand the whole floor, and then lay down another coat of epoxy to smooth it out. This time it would be clear, rather than pigmented. He spent Thursday sanding down the high spots, and touching up the bubbles, and at 11pm last night we laid down another coat over the entire floor. Based on how it looked 5 hours later (this morning), the second coat seems to have taken well, and I'm looking forward to getting home this afternoon to check it out. The plan is to let it sit until Saturday evening (2 full days, just to make sure) and then get the rest of the drywall back inside before the rain shows up again. I've started pricing the rental for a rough terrain forklift rental, so I can get the saw, jointer/planer and other heavy equipment from the house down to the shop... let's get this thing DONE! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmize Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 That floor is awesome. I don’t know if it would show every speck of dust or hide it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 Really cool looking floor Robert. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 Floor looks good. Looks like it will be easy to sweep when you have to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 Wow now that's sweet!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 That floor looks cool in the picture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morse Posted August 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2018 Thanks all - the floor turned out well and I'm super pleased with it. There's a section where the repaired bubbles look like the little dark inclusions you see in maple burl... and there's chatoyance in the floor too, neither of which I have been able to capture in photos yet. I like it. After a day of boyscout popcorn sales, and kids birthday parties, I'm headed out to work on the drywall shortly. Only 10 sheets left! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Very nice Robert. My floor is very ruff cement and hard to clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Sawdust Posted October 8, 2018 Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 Robert I just finished reading this whole thread and I'm very happy for you! I used to live in Magnolia, and have a good friend up in your town. That shop will be wonderful to work in and serve you very well for many years. I'm proud of you for all the work you've put into it and admire the finished product. I imagine by now you've moved tools into it and have started making sawdust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robert Morse Posted October 8, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 We've been so busy, I forgot to update this log... Over the past month, we: Finished drywall, mud, sand and painting had the final electric inspection installed half of the vinyl baseboards Installed the clearvue cyclone and a side note: we have friends who are opening a winery, and he asked if he could store a dozen wine vats, 1100L - 2400L, he was importing for a few months. So we've had a few of those in the shop as well during that time. I wasn't looking forward to the drywall, but given there were no corners to deal with, and only one seam on most of the wall sections, it wasn't too bad. the 12' sheets were a bear to move around, but we managed OK. I had the kids help, my daughter loved putting mud over the screw holes. Painting went quick, I did the Behr "one coat prime and paint", and applied 2 coats of Euro Gray... it turned out really well. There are a few spots where I can see I missed sanding back around screws, but all in all, it looks great. One of the things we wanted was for the kids to feel like they have a place out in the shop too. So I decided to let each of them pick a color, and then they helped paint half a wall. The Girl loves puppy dogs, so she chose a tannish brown. The Boy chose Superman blue. From a "building the shop" perspective, I think we're about done: there's some more vinyl baseboard to install, and one 6" wide section of exposed wall in the corner next to the door, as well as casing the door, but that can all come later. This weekend, I rented a loader, and hauled all the big tools from the garage to the shop. Tablesaw, Jointer/planer, bandsaw, drill press, drum sander, old dust collector, etc. I was very pleased to see the CRC 3-36 I had sprayed on the table saw had mostly prevented rust, and the bandsaw and drill press were still in good shape as well. Last night, I unwrapped the Hammer A3-41, and started assembly. I should be able to get back out there on Wednesday, and get that finished up, and start getting stuff set up. Tonight, I'm going to hang the bottle opener, and my Wife and I will share a good beer to christen the shop. I've got a Belgian I've been aging carefully for a couple of years, I think we'll go with that. This build will be done. Project#1 is a rack for sheet goods... then we start on work benches for the kids. Once those are done, we'll start on the wife's Honey-do list, and other house projects. Thanks to everyone who followed along, and offered advice and/or support! I'll probably have a couple more updates as I add shop furniture, etc. but I'm looking forward to posting in the other categories. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VizslaDad Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 Rad. Many congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 Love it! Well done dude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondhockey Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 Very nice - I hope you spend a lot of time there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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