Schedules for blog posts and videos / Pallet wood bathroom vanity update

Hello and welcome back!

Well after careful consideration, I've decided that every Wednesday I'll be posting a new post to my blog,  in which I'll relay the process of the current project I'm working on as well as any information that might be relevant to the current stage of the project or projects I'm working on.

On Sundays, I'll post the video from that particular week's portion of the project.

Please keep in mind, like most of you, I have an 8 to 5 job and have kids and a semi-supportive spouse. I also live in Florida so weather is always a factor when it comes to cure times for portions of the project.

So for this week's project, I'm working on building a vanity along with a counter-top from scratch using pallet wood. So far I've got the frame of the vanity completed as well as the bottom. The cabinet door frames are in place and I'm waiting on the hinges and other hardware I've ordered from Amazon to arrive.

I'm now using my GoPro, on an almost exclusive method. I'm learning how the camera works, and I'm trying to figure out the whole video editing software that comes along with it. The mount for tripods I ordered is in, I just have to dig out the tripod from my storage closet so I can use it at the shop. I've gotten a big kick from using the time lapse settings to create videos. I'm currently in the process of editing the first video from my sessions at the woodshop.

I'll be back later on to add the video.

Updated: 01-06-2016

I apologize for the delay, but here's the link to last week's video post.

https://youtu.be/iz1yjhw_kcs

Setting a schedule and upcoming projects

One of my biggest issues is time management skills, I spend a lot of my time looking for ways to better manage my time. So in order to keep juggling being a valuable employee, my personal life (fiancee and kids), my fledgling YouTube channel, and playing an occasional video game here and there.

Work: I'm grateful to  have an employer that allows me to handle my own time and allows me to function without being micromanaged to an extent. And allows me to doodle plans or ideas while waiting for the end of shift when I'm not particularly busy.

Home: Shared custody of my older kids, means my free weekends are premium time for my projects. And allows me to spend some much needed time doing my hobbies, and getting ready for a more structured schedule for posts such as this one.

YouTube: As I progress through this restructuring of my time, and by sheer luck of coming across an eBay auction for a slightly used GoPro + HD camera. With this I'll be able to step away from using my cell phone to create content and bask in the limelight that is the web from the front of the camera.

Games: I've decided to play my video games whenever the mood strikes or when I have a free period. Yes, I'm going to start using my time wisely and use it as a budgeted resource just like money.

So with this said, here's the link to my latest video, shot on my iPhone.

I will bring you along, any feedback is appreciated. Have a great day. 

Simple 2X4 Desk

Hello Again,


Today I'm going to show you how I built a simple, yet sturdy desk for my house. The desk was a pretty simple to make, it only took a few minutes to figure out the dimensions of what I wanted the desk to encompass. The following images were taken as I was building the unit.

The following materials were used in this project:

1 - 3.5 lb box of 3" Coarse Threaded Drywall screws
2 - 2X10X6 (for the top)
4 - 2X4X8 (Frame)


The cuts are as follows:

4 - 28" 2X4
6 - 8" 2X4
2 - 48" 2X4
1 - 45" 2X4
2 - 60" 2X10


The frames are pretty simple to make, follow the pictures as shown below. Make the two leg frames out of 2 sets of the 8" and 28" pieces, If you'll notice the bottom is flat and flush with the two uprights whereas the top bracing is vertical and flush with the ends.

The side rails were added afterwards to ensure that the desk top would be sturdy enough for what ever I wanted to put on it. The two 48" pieces are used for this. The 2 - 60" pieces of 2X10s were screwed in from the bottom, so the top could be stained, and sealed as shown in the last images. 

 The final touch was adding the accent bracing and rear brace of the legs.

Free, I said Free ...

Hello and welcome back to another post of my adventures. Well as you may already know from my previous posts that I'm pretty much all over the place at times. Moving forward, I was asked to clean out the 37 ft Silverton that belongs to my father. And in doing so I guess he realized how much crap, for the lack of a better word; he's got.

SO that being said, he and my younger brother came up from Miami and swung by my apartment in Central FL to pick up his stuff. But what happened next was astonishing, he left me with the following tools/parts/car:

- Air Compressor
- Brad Nailer
- Table Saw
- 1000 W DC to AC power inverter
- Deep Cycle batteries
- 99 Honda Civic (which he wants me to sell)
- a ton of drill bits and taps
- digital caliper

And that's from what I remember last night, this morning, I'm going over to check what else I can find in the stash he left behind as well as what's inside the car. As always I'll keep you posted, I'll be making a video for my youtube channel today. It's probably going to be a setup video on how to setup an at home/garage wood shop or something to that effect.

Boating Mishap

A Captain is a Captain no matter the size of the boat nor the size of the body of water, and your's truly has come in to the possession of a 1980 Silverton yacht, well, its too big for a trailer. Being a 37' monstrosity with dual Caterpillar engines, onboard Genset and a shit load of stuff I barely care to mention. But alas its for sale, so I'm entertaining offers on this thing. As I'm investigating its potential for fun under the sun. 

So yes, I'm happy this has come in to my life but I cant afford the dock rent as I'm trying to save for a house. So I'm serious, if you're interested in buying this boat let me know. 

Pallet Recycling 101

Welcome back for the latest installment of my adventures in woodworking.

So recently, on a pallet hunting trip, I decided to make a video to add to my fledgling YouTube channel (1 Video). So apparently having an old iPhone as my camera turned out to be pretty good, I just need a few things to get these projects/videos and blog posts coming on a scheduled basis. The first thing, well the one thing that comes to my mind when sourcing pallets is Etiquette.

I for one am grateful when individuals or a company posts on Craig's List for free pallets or crates or whatever industrial trash they no longer want and I can re-use or recycle in to something someone might want to have or keep. So in an effort to help other newbies such as myself.

I decided to post a video on my YouTube channel, on what I look for and how I go about doing it.

Collapsible Pallet Work Bench

For today's post, I'm going to show you how to I created a collapsible pallet work bench out of recycled 2X4s and a crate. The work bench is sturdy enough to hold all 325 lbs of me and will not wobble. 

The following is what you're going to need to make this bench for both tools and materials, I tried to keep it as basic as possible so anyone can replicate it. 

Tools needed:

- Drill

- #2 Phillips Drill Bit

- Miter Saw/Chop Saw/Circular Saw/Jig Saw/Hand Saw.

- Glue, lots of glue. (If you think you've got enough glue, go get more.)

- 12" Clamps at least 6, if you're working solo. 

Materials: 

- 5 LB Box of 2-1/2" Coarse Thread Drywall Screws

- 15 - 36" - 2X4

- 4 - 14" - 2X4

- 8 - 6" - 2X4

- 2 - 40" - 1X12 (I got mine from a crate that a workstation came in at one of my previous employers.)

- Various pieces of scrap 2X4. 

It's a pretty basic concept, first you'll start by gluing and screwing together 2 of the 2X4s to make corner pieces and make them in to an L shape. Use the clamps to hold the pieces securely in place while allowing the glue and screws to set. 

Once you have 4 of the corner pieces, arrange them on a flat surface facing one another and use 2 more pieces as spreaders. Place the top spreader piece flush with the tops of the legs, use a scrap piece of 2X4 to act as a spacer. See examples below of the completed leg assemblies. 

  

Next you can begin assembling the top, as shown below, the top consist of an I piece which is made up of 2 - 14" pieces of 2X4 and one of the 36" pieces, I would suggest using a square to find the straightest line for the center of these pieces, and use some imagination when placing the pieces on the 1X12. Use 2 pieces of 12" lengths of 2X4 to act as bracing for the top of legs. 

Next step is to assemble the bottom pieces that lock the legs in to a straight position, first, assemble the table with the legs facing down as show below.

The spacers can be assembled with the table holding the pieces in place, its a pretty simple process to make the bottom spacers, just make 2 Ls  with 4 of 6" pieces, then make 2 mirrored sets using the remaining 4 pieces. And use the 2 14" pieces as shown below and remember to screw and glue together as you're going along. 

Once you assemble your table it should look like this one below. 

If you have any questions as to the durability of the bench would like a video posted explaining how to assemble it. Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts. 

Go Go Gadget Honda!!

Hello Everyone,


Welcome back for another installment of my adventures as a woodworker or DIY-er or modder or handyman. Well if you've been reading my posts, you'll already know I own an old Honda. And with this car, I have great potential for awkward police stops or looks from people that have trucks. So lately, it seems that every Tom, Dick or Harry has some video about how they're so environmentally conscious by recycling pallets. 

Well I'm not one to brag, but not only do I recycle pallets, I also do fences, sheds, or other demolition type gigs to get as much free lumber as possible. Or I'll start calling a few local print shops to see if they have any crates as shown in the pictures below. 

Yes, I know wouldnt it be cheaper to buy an old truck and do all the reclaiming my heart desires. Yes it would, however, your's truly is a bit more inventive than most so here is what I came up with. 

That's right folks, I made a roof rack for my Honda and with this I've been able to gather a ton of pallets, 2X4s, and plywood. Mostly for free from Craigs List as well as other not so documented sources (my employer). I'm blessed to work at a warehouse and my employer sometimes gets crates in that we cannot use on our racks, so I take them off of the company's hands, so to speak. And turn them in to pieces of art or furniture or stuff. 

So with my car's rear seats being able to fold forward, I can do the following. 

And yes, I know my car is ugly as it sits but for a cheap ride, and a few minor repairs, I drive this car all over central FL and down in to the Miami area 3 to 4 times a year. Its not like I cant afford a roof-rack, I'd just rather not pay for some plastic and aluminum piece of garbage that will only hold about 100 lbs of stuff and eventually break. If my roof rack breaks, I can always unscrew the broken piece and fix it. All I need now is to get a few sets of ratchet straps to hold the main portions down as well as the rack itself.

Thanks for reading.   

From Pallets to ...

Today's posting, hmm, lets see. Ah Ha! Well I'm in to woodworking and follow other people out in social media that are also in to wood working. And for my next trick, I guess I can show you a fort I built for my kids at a place I no longer live at. Please excuse the quality of my work as it was the first time I built a tree-house/hunting platform as an adult. The platform sat about 4 feet off of the ground. 

So first thing is first.. I guess. I've got two kids that have a lot of energy. So I thought this would be a fun project to start doing on the weekends that I had them. The only items purchased for this project were the 3 - PT (Pressure Treated) 2X8s, the 4 - 8" Lag Screws with lock washes and flat washers, the 10 or so 2X4s, and a box of 2-1/2" Coarse Thread Drywall screws. 

Total spent out of pocket: $75

Total Money Saved: a few $100

It started like this. 

The base of the platform was made out of the PT 2X8 using the third as additional bracing on this pine tree. 

The base was plumb and level on both sides, I'm kind of anal when it comes to having a flat surface on which to walk on or in this case for my kids to walk on. 

The platform was made out of the 10 or so 2X4, each piece was equally spaced out from the other and strapped to the 2X8, floor joists if you will. The ladder was from a previous project, I built my kids a bunk bed a few years ago. This ladder was removed from it when the bunk beds were split and I kept it for this project. The planking used in this project came out of a ton (50 or so) 1/2 size pallets. Lets just say, I'm thankful for having a good reciprocating saw. 

As you can see, I was able to get the entire platform covered with this free pallet hardwood. And I even began using some of the pallets as walls so my kids don't get hurt. 

From the front of the tree-house, I added a few additional supports at the corners, though truth be told. It was a solid platform and it did not move at all. But better safe than sorry. 

I added paint to the platform and the legs to ensure that it would be somewhat water repellent. The paint color wasn't of my choosing, it came out of a friend's garage, and a bunch of 1/2 used paint samples came out with this grayish/blueish tone. 

We ended up painting both sides of the tree-house walls and ladder the same color. But I don't have any pictures of the finished project. I do have a video of my son painting it though, but I'm a bit too guarded to post it. 

Thanks for reading. 

The Crappy Honda

First and foremost, I didn't start this journey as a way to make people feel bad or stupid or inadequate. I'm not a trained mechanic, I'm not even that much of a gear head. All I've learned has been through trial and error. I'm just sharing my experience with you on this on-going journey to restore and build a decent ride without breaking the bank and any laws or at least with minimal law breaking.

The Search:

Honestly, I will begin with where most car builds start off with, I had a job but no car or no daily driver. My beautiful girlfriend was allowing me to borrow her car to get to and from work. And this arrangement was working for a little while and then it started to sour our relationship. I was starting to infringe on her independence by using her car, and like most guys I didn't realize it. But I did quickly enough to salvage our relationship and luckily for us it didn't affect our relationship negatively.

So there I was home alone, with my tablet sitting on the couch digging through what seemed like an endless supply of cars for under the $1700 mark. All I kept finding was a bunch of delusional idiots selling cars that have dead engines, dead transmissions, or working engines or transmisions but with the other 1/2 of the drive train dead as a door-nail. Or with no drive train altogether as if people in my shoes are going to pay over $600 for a car that needs to be towed. And then there are the ones that do run and are drive-able however there's something wrong with it. It's trivial but I live in Central Florida, and in the summer months it can get up to the triple digits with weather coupled with 80% humidity and now you've got a convection oven of an atmosphere.

Who in their right minds tries to sell a car in this state without one of the two following items in working order: Air Conditioning or Windows. When I was looking for cars, I must have run across 20-25 of them that didn't have working windows. I mean I grew up without having AC in my cars as a teenager and most of my adult life. And I can handle the Florida heat, but I will not bake in my car along with the tray of muffins in the passenger seat without working windows.

The Car:

As of the first half August 2014, I had a list of 10 cars that I wanted without hesitation, but just as soon as I started calling the owners back to go take a second look and a test drive. Most of my list dwindled down due to competition, but then I found it.

The car, the one car I'd wager my money on. It came 2nd, 3rd, 4th, maybe 10th hand me down. I found it a 97 Honda Civic LX, it had (still not painted to what I want) a primer gray with lightly rusted hood, a (still) unpainted front bumper, a (painted but wrong shade of color) passenger fender, and a crappy yet passable OEM original paint job. The tires with mix-matched between the front two 14" steel rims and the two 17" badly plasti-dipped by a teenager aluminum alloy rims. Granted the car did come with a full sized 14" spare tire that's saved my bacon more times than I can care to count along with the other two badly plasti-dipped 17" rims.

Let's call the previous owner, Dork; for the lack of a better name. I met Dork at his parent's house, he was quick to state that she's ugly but dependable. Dork started to attempt to start the car, he had to reconnect the battery and try again. Dork made mention that the battery was on its last legs (actually it made it about 7 months before it died). Dork also said he hadn't driven the car in a few months. The first test drive was a bit shakey, the car performed as you'd expect of a car that sat undriven for a few months.

The Deal:

Dork wanted $1500 for the car, originally. No, I didn't pay that much for it, and in fact I should've paid less for it in retrospect. After the test drive, I went through with an objective mindset and started diagnosing the car's issues while I was on my way home. Once I got home I started shopping the parts I would need if I had to fix the issues I found in it. The brakes system was shot, the locks were bad, the engine leaked/burned oil, leaked transmission fluid, pulled hard to the right, the headliner is bad, and the list went on and on and on.

So I put $950 on the table on Monday, thinking Dork would jump at it after he "lowered" the price to $1100. By Wednesday, Dork decided that the other offers were higher. But after the other potential buyers had flaked out on him enough and wanted $950 plus some computer work, so I counter offered him to $750 cash in hand, no trades, no bull and gave him a 5 o'clock deadline to respond. I guess it took him all day to decide, I didn't get a text or reply until just before 5 that day. And he agreed, to sell me the car with its dysfunctional glory for my paying price if I would get it out of his driveway that night.

The Steal:

A 97 Honda Civic LX that came with SOHC 4 Cyl with 4 Spd transmission with non-working power locks, working power windows, working power steering, Air bags, Sony XPlod CD player, working AC, set of 17" rims, decent for its age interior (headliner excluded), window tints, and that's about it. I drove the car home for the first time and it was a smooth journey. Don't get me wrong, I've owned my fair share of clunkers, putt-putts, daily drivers, and the like in my lifetime. And this Honda was like getting close to a decent car, though a badly maintained car. But still its a Honda, my girlfriend still doesn't understand what its like for a guy to have a car that we want to work on and make better just to show it off.

Repairs:

Oh here it comes the ugly parts. Spending hours, sweating my nads off and getting this car road worthy.

Mechanical:

Brakes: Replaced both rear brake cylinders, rear brake hoses, power brake booster, master cylinder, and flushed the brake fluid.

Engine: Replaced distributor gasket, oil change and filter.

Transmission: Added transmission fluid, and Lucas Transmission Treatment.

Suspension: After-Market (eBay) complete Camber kit, lower control arm, inner and outer tie rods, alignment and set of tires. 

Interior:

Electrical: Re-wired the radio, installed new speakers, new 12v outlet, replaced torn driver's seatbelt, installed new locks and ignition switch, new headlight switch, new dimmer switch, door actuators, gauge cluster light bulbs.

Asthetics: Replaced steering wheel, glove box handle, console bezel.

Overall, I think that having access to the service manual in PDF form has helped me out alot.

It's Yogi Berra not Yogi Bear!! R.I.P. Yogi.

One of the greatest baseball players has been called up to the big league by the Big Guy in the sky, today we lost, Yogi Berra. A legend on the field as well as off of it. With that said, I'm going to go educate a co-worker on the differences between these two.

Introductions are necessary....

Hello & Welcome to my neck of the world wide web, if anyone calls it that anymore.

Well, the short story is that I've had a great deal of exposure to different trades throughout my time on this planet. So as I learn new things, I've always been able to assimilate the new information, learn the processes and then while still following the parameters of the object or style I was trying to emulate, I end up modifying it to suit my needs. So after a long sit down, where most dads get a semblance of quiet. I've decided to start showcasing my skills and talents or lack thereof. 

In an effort to stay as genuine as possible, a little about my background, I'm a systems administrator. Or at least I like to think of myself as such. This will be a bumpy ride through my personal history of work and skill development. But mostly I hope that we both learn something, and that we both get something out of this verbiage. 

#1. A few good laughs

#2. We both learn something.

#3. That you keep coming back for more. 

These are some of my personal interests that I will be covering in my blog:

Carpentry / Wood Working / Furniture Making

Boats / Fishing

Mechanical Repair / Cars

Electronics / PC Repair

Renewable Energy

Design / Proof of Concept or Proto-Typing

Tiny House Living

Construction / Remodeling

And if you have some amalgamation of interests similar to mine then I would hope that you continue to forgive my grammatical errors and keep reading my posts. 

Have a great day.