Summer Workshop Sortout

 

It's probably just a summer thing but the garage was filling with flies after our trip out to Jasper, so a deep clean was in order.  It ended up producing a car load going to the dump and space has been restored.  More importantly I feel like I can get stuck in on mechanical work without tripping over disorganization.  The Triumph Bonneville project has reached an apex with the engine out 

I've had a couple of longer rides this week on the Concours and that resulted in some more ergonomic adjustments.  This video talked me through how to adjust the gear lever (without wasting my time with a lot of youtube blahblah), so I did and now I'm not lifting my foot to change gears.  Even with modified pegs, new saddle and handlebars I'm still struggling to feel the kind of 'it-fits' feeling I get on the Tiger though.  It isn't a Kawasaki thing, it's a sports-touring thing.  The big Versys I rode 8 years ago fit the same way.  Perhaps what I'm looking for is a shaft drive big adventure bike with a big load capacity, like the newer 1200cc Tiger or the BMW GS.  Though if I wanted to get really eccentric I could consider so Italian options like the Moto Guzzi V85TT.

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The Motorcycle Electrical Systems book I got last winter suggested popping a voltmeter on your bike if it didn't come with one.  The Kawasaki has one in the digital display but the analogue Triumph Tiger doesn't, but now it does:

There was a relay under the dash that had full voltage only when the ignition was on, so I slipped the wires for the voltmeter in there and it only comes one when I'm riding.  The Tiger showed a steady 12.4v when I rode it up and down the street, suggesting that the reg/rectifier fix I did last year is working well.

It was a busy week, but after dropping off the boy at camp one day I went for a ride and ended up at Higher Ground Café in Belfountain where even mid-week you'll find an interesting assortment of bikes, this time including an old C10 Concours!

I'd like to work an extended ride into the summer and I still have a few weeks to go before the school year picks up again so hopefully I can figure something out.

Limited Workspaces: Making the Most of a Small Situation

The garage is a less than single car (it's so small a micro-sized Mazda2 hatchback won't fit in it).  It does the trick with motorbikes, but you get more than two in there and it's so full it's difficult to get around a bike to work on it.  It's also dark and bloody cold in the winter.  I'm trying to think of a way out of it short of moving.

Since I can't go out I could go up.  The attic above the peaked roof on the garage is a workable space currently being used for storage but the only access is a ladder on the house wall which not only messes up a wall that could be doing something else but also makes access to the attic a real pain in the ass.  Looking into solutions it appears that drop down stairs are possibility and they aren't even particularly expensive.  Even a good one is under six hundred bucks.

If I can get the drop down stairs sorted it won't cost much and opens up the top floor to easier access while also making valuable wall space available down below since the stairs fold up into the ceiling when not needed.

The next step would be to address the poor lighting.  A neighbor has a glass garage door that looks fantastic, lets in lots of light and would also let in some solar heat in the winter while also being well insulated.  This is where the prices start to climb.  Doors like this start at a couple of grand and go up from there.  I might be able to find a used alternative for less, but a glass door would solve a lot of the lighting issues, at least during the day.

If I really wanted to blow the budget I'd also get windows installed on the back wall.  I don't know what window installs on external walls cost, but I don't imagine they're cheap.

The last piece of the puzzle is working out heating in a space that was never designed for it.  I've put thick rubber mats down that are much better than the concrete floor, but it's still damned cold to work on in a Canadian winter. 

Tempzone under floor heated mats would do the trick.  Because they're focused where I need them they'd probably be more efficient to run than the air heater I currently have in there.  The garage is about 200 square feet, but I don't need the whole floor heated, just the square around the work benches.  A cunning selection of those mats would create an area of heating around the lift and mean I'm not working on aching feet when it's minus forty outside.

With the upper floor more accessible I'd move the permanent shelving I've got on the bottom floor upstairs, making more room to move around, which was the point of the exercise in the first place.

If I did the full pimping out including the windows I'd put a sit down workbench in the attic for finer work and finish the space more than it currently is.  All in I'd guess that the windows, garage door, drop down stairs and heated flooring would be in the vicinity of:

• Drop down stairs (350lb capacity):  $600
• Glass garage door :  $3000 (est. though some cunning shopping might reduce that to $1700)
• Heated flooring in work area:  $1400
• Window cutouts and installs (one up, one down):  $1500 x 2
• Hardware to finish attic (lumber, wiring for electrical):  $1000

TOTAL:  $9000

With all that in place I should be able to park a bike (or two) off to the side and still have plenty of space to work.  It's not really lost money if it raises the value of the house, right?

DIY Garage Expansion Plans

I've always been tight for space in the the < 1 car garage I've currently converted into a bike hole:

It's a good size as a workshop, but when I'm trying to store two bikes in there it gets awkward.  The easiest fix would be some alternative storage for bikes.   Using shipping containers to build a garage is a thing.  There is a company nearby that sells them, though the prices aren't public.  They seem to go for two to four grand, which seems a lot for a metal box, but I've heard lower prices about.

A ten foot container next to the garage would look something like this:

With some driveway expansion and levelling I could connect it through the currently useless back door while making it a drive out storage shed.  With the garage no longer having to hold bikes it could become what it's a great size for:  a workshop.

Another alternative is to just build an extension off the side of the existing garage wall:

The long, cold Canadian winter has me thinking about ways to make my limited space more usable.

Snow Garage

The snow's flying.  I like watching Waiting out the Winter for some inspiration at this time of year:



WAITING OUT WINTER from Andrew David Watson on Vimeo.

I did my own less cool and moody version of it here:

I'm beginning to see why I'm sore after doing a few hours in the garage.  I'm all over the place!  The Tiger has new oil and filter and has been cleaned and coated and is now living under a blanket until the weather comes back to us.  The battery's in the basement on a smart charger.

In the process of cleaning up I noticed a missing rubber on the bottom of the seat.  Gotta figure out how to get that, the cracked rubbers on the mirrors and the rubber thing that covers the rear brake wiring.  



The Tiger's going on fourteen years old.  Fourteen years in Canada means wild swings in temperature.  The rubbers need renewing.  There's a winter project.

IIHTM: The Digital Workshop

If I had the money, what would the dream workshop look like?

I'm a computer tech teacher by day, and the 3d printer revolution is astonishing to behold.  The dream workshop would have the usual suspects (awesome tools etc), but it would also have some truly alien looking tech.

Ever seen a resin based 3d printer?  It's like something out of Terminator:



3d printing is about to get even wilder, with larger scale prints becoming an option.  Imagine a 3d printer that could handle motorcycle fairings... except you could do anything you want.  Want a fairing made out of dragon scales?  No problem!  Want customized etching across the entire fairing?  No problem!  Want to design a radical fairing using the stock mounting points?

Some time in Blender and you'll be ready to print radically customized fairings and other parts.

The BigRep1 goes for almost $40,000, but imagine what you could print in over a cubic meter of build space - motorcycle fairings would be not problem.  I think I'd rent one first to see what I could get away with before buying.

Using resin based printing instead of additive 3d printing means you can produce parts that have the same structural nature as cast pieces (they aren't made of bonded parts).  These pieces would be incredibly strong - they could also be made much more quickly.  Instead of hours long build times, we'd be looking at minutes...

If you're looking for futuristic workshop inspiration the Big Hero 6 garage would be a good place to start - in there he's 3d printing carbon fibre!  The holographic display is pretty dope too...

Iron Man is another film that gives you a good idea of what a 21st Century garage might look like.  Tony Stark's workshop is a holographic wonderland with built-in fabrication capabilities.

It was once thought that with fuel injection, onboard computers and digitization we would be losing the ability to modify and customize our motorbikes.  It turns out that digitization is actually handing the ability to manufacture back to individuals from the factories that took it from them.  Industrialization meant standardization and centralization in the 19th and 20th Centuries.  In the 21st Century manufacturing will return to the craftsmen it started with; localized micro-manufacturing is going to be the way of things to come.

If you're making shop space for yourself, having a computer in it gives you access to a world of information (I frequently use my to watch how-to videos and view schematics), but that workshop based computer is soon going to be providing a lot more than just information.  Do yourself a favour, get a handle on 3d modelling, it'll come in handy in the near future.

Ways to get started:

• Get handy with Blender - it's free, and it's powerful!  There are also a lot of tutorials available for it online
• Structure Sensor: a 3d scanner that snaps onto your ipad.  It makes making 3d copies a breeze!
• Basic 3d printers start at about $1000.
• If you want to give printing a try, many people in the maker movement offer 3d print services. It's a nice way to see what a 3d printer can do for you without the overhead... 3D Hubs is one such option, and they'll introduce you to makerspaces in your area.
• Sketchfab is handy for sharing and doing light editing on 3d models.

XS1100 Yamaha 3d model by timking17 on Sketchfab

Update:  Just saw this.  It'll print 18 x 18 x 24 inch pieces and is made by a Canadian company!  That'd do the business...