Other Hobbies / Interests

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Geoff
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Geoff » Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:22 am

One of my main detractors from working on my cars is working on my house or building things for the house. I suppose that qualifies as a "hobby", though it can sometimes be more like a "jobby".

One of my latest "yeah, I can do that" projects follows...
My wife wanted a cabinet to put in our living room along a wall. She found a few she liked but they were expensive, not the right size, and some were in the UK.
bar-1.jpg
bar-1.jpg (61.76 KiB) Viewed 5511 times

I looked at what she liked and said, "That's just metal and wood paneling, I can weld and bolt some wood into place." So I came up with a few designs in SolidWorks
GlassTop(Full).jpg

I then bought 60 feet of 1x1" tubing, 48 feet of 1x1" angle, and some 1", 2", and 3" flat stock from a local supplier. I did all my cuts on my compound miter saw which I fitted with a metal cutoff wheel. I clamped everything together using 90° angle clamps and MIG welded the frame and door frames together.
Meanwhile we bought 60 square feet of "utility oak" flooring (basically nasty, mismatched, cracked remnants) which I proceeded to screw up even more by bashing it with old chains. I then did different techniques of "distressing" the wood on each piece so that no two pieces would be the same.
Here's a shot of some of the wood with the frame in the background:
IMG_0411.JPG
The kind of dirty that doesn't wash off :eyebrows:

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Geoff
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Geoff » Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:38 am

I bought some forged brackets and decorative add-ons. I was afraid the welds would be tough to do and end up brittle but they seem to be good and they were pretty easy to do. I just set the welder on the lowest voltage that I could use and still get a decent bond to the base steel.
IMG_0420.JPG

Of course the harder part was welding some thin gage sheet metal stampings to 1/8" thick steel plate.
IMG_0423UP.jpg
Monkey Business

I cleaned it, primed it, and then painted it with a quart can of rustoleum flat black which I thinned with mineral spirits and applied with my detail gun
IMG_0436.JPG
The kind of dirty that doesn't wash off :eyebrows:

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Crazyswede
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Crazyswede » Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:50 am

I like the patina on that cabinet in the first photo :lol:
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby SwedeSport » Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:56 am

Nice Job,

That will look cool in the house.

I started this thread to showcase the non SAAB talents we all have. The skills we all have cross over to many other areas, it's interesting to see what we all do when we are not working on SAABs.
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Geoff
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Geoff » Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:01 am

Jason, when I was "distressing" the oak flooring I kept thinking about your '89 4dr rat rod. :lol:

Here's the frame fully painted and in the house:
IMG_0437.JPG

The wall behind it used to be a full wall. I opened it up along the stairs a few months after we bought the house to let heat from the wood stove upstairs.

Here's one of the wood panel sections being glued together. I had to clamp it in two directions to press the tongue and groove together and keep the pieces in a flat plane.
IMG_0429S.jpg
The kind of dirty that doesn't wash off :eyebrows:

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Jordan
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Jordan » Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:02 pm

Did you raid the sample bin at Lumber Liquidators? :lol:

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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Geoff » Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:45 pm

Jordan wrote:Did you raid the sample bin at Lumber Liquidators? :lol:


That would have been easier! I ended up getting this: http://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll/c/Utility-Oak-R.L.-Colston-OA2U/10008112 88 cents a square foot. One bundle was red oak, another bundle was white oak. Lots of different color and grain variation.

After beating each piece with old chains, hammers, nails, etc. I painted each piece with multiple coats of colors. On many of them I sanded all the paint off which left little specs of remaining paint in the dents and cracks in the wood. I then stained them. This duplicates what I've seen on floors of old houses where the floors have been painted different colors throughout the years and then sanded back down to raw wood and stained or polyurethaned.

On other pieces I stained and then painted and then started sanding the paint off until it started peeling.

Add that all the wood was mismatched and rough anyway and I ended up with a whole bunch of wood that looked like it had been reclaimed from old houses.

Here's the (almost) finished piece:
IMG_0462UP.jpg

(just need to get a few more carriage bolts)

I built the top so that there was a glass inlay in the frame with wood underneath it. That way we can put coasters from our travels under the glass:
IMG_0463.JPG
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby SwedeSport » Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:17 pm

The knotty pine paneling is the perfect backdrop for this project. Really lends itself to the crafty, repurposed, patina style of the cabinet
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Crazyswede » Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:20 pm

Geoff Clark...Engineer by day, bicycle repair man by night. :yay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01xasUtlvw
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Geoff » Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:20 pm

"Bicycle Repairman! Our hero."

The knotty pine wall existed, I just had to create something that would fit the surroundings. I've actually repurposed extra pieces of the pine wall (which I cut in half when I opened up the stairway) into a number of things. The shelf on the wall and all the shelves inside the cabinet are left over pieces from the wall.

Here are some antique style fleur de lis pattern knobs and skeleton key locks I used on the doors:
IMG_0464.JPG

I had a friend who is a machinist put pockets in the doors to fit the locks. He also put some slots in the uprights of the frame that the lock engages into. I secured the locks to the doors with rivets that I hammered into place.

Antique style hinges and stamped steel decorative corner pieces on the doors:
IMG_0466UP.jpg

I got all the screws, carriage bolts, and rivets from a local supplier, http://www.fastenermill.com/
The place has been in business for decades and has a lot of old inventory. All of the flat head screws I got from the "back room" where everything is $1 a box. The only catch is everything in the back room is old and can be odd sizes. But I was able to get this box of screws:
IMG_0469.JPG

The screws were made by Central Screw in Keene, NH back in the 1950's or '60s. They have a great vintage look because, unlike modern screws, you can see the tool marks on the head and there is a distinct sharp edge around the edge of the head. Plus the box is cool. They add a nice older touch and remind me of hardware in old tools that my grandfather had.
The kind of dirty that doesn't wash off :eyebrows:

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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby 99Super » Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:51 pm

Geoff, I love the cabinet. That's some fine work!

I was in Stanley last week for work and shot some cool video that aircraft fans should like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U47bOzVk1NU
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby SwedeSport » Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:14 am

Well,

The bicycle bug has bitten me once again, as I have made some progress on a few bike projects.

I built the Flamboyant Lime 79 Sting-Ray hot rod a few years ago, and I recently stripped it down to give it a nice paint job and do the graphics and finish work, but more on that later.

I am putting the finishing touches on the "Sting-Runt". Its a little Razor micro bike that I have customized to mimic an old Schwinn.

I modified the frame by taking some 3/8 steel rod stock, and using a car rim as a mandrel, bent the bars to add the signature cantilever bars to it. While I was in there I cut off the tabs that mounted the various accessories. I welded on some new tabs to hold the chainguard, and primed it, followed by a basecoat silver, and finally a candy blue metallic similar to the classic Schwinn "Sky Blue".

The chainguard is an original Sting-Ray piece that has been shortened, pie cut, and pieced together until it fit it's new frame. You cannot tell that it was modified from the outside, but if you look at the back, you can see the evidence of the surgery it took to make it fit.

I used the original micro bike wheels, but I used my heavy duty drill to make a tire truer, and with files and sanders and such, was able to flatten out the rear tire to mimic an old Schwinn SLIK. The front tire was rounded off to mimic the brick pattern tire used on the front of a Sting-Ray. Using a plastic paint, I taped the tire up, and sprayed the sidewalls with white to turn them into whitewalls.

I picked up a sun beaten but solid banana seat and sissy bar, along with handlebars, and stem from a childs size Schwinn 16" bike. The sissy bar had to be cut down a little , the bars and stem were cleaned up a bit. After peeling back the cracked and hardened vinyl, the crusty seat pan was revealed. I had the seat framework sandblasted, and hosed it in several coats of satin black. It then had 2 layers of 1/2 inch foam glued to it, and to top it off I wrapped it in a nice white textured vinyl. The seat pan went back together, and I adapted the seat clamp that fits the micro bike seat post. The Schwinn seat post is an odd size so you have to use the clamp that works with the post you choose. I picked up some new white repop Schwinn handlegrips to tie in with the seat color.

I got a new white cable and a Schwinn brake lever, and easily connected it to the drum style brake on the rear wheel.

I just got it back from the vinyl graphics guy, he put a headbadge decal on it, added the Schwinn logo to the top tube, and applied some custom parody artwork to the chainguard. The graphics really tie it all in and make it really look like a legit Schwinn. The classic Sky Blue and White paint scheme really makes the look complete.

I still have a few final touches to add to the thing. There are still a few stickers that need to be added, the seat tube will get a Shwinn cross logo, and the seat pan gets a few decals yet. I plan to order a repro seat tag that goes at the rear of the seat, in between the sissy bar bolts. It also has a vintage headlight mounted to the stem, and a rear tail light that will serve as a brake light. I am going to rewire them to accept modern L.E.D.s. I may add some other accessories as I find them at the vintage bike shows.

In all I am happy with the way this bike turned out. More later on the 79 Sting-Ray.
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Crazyswede
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Crazyswede » Fri Aug 23, 2013 11:12 am

I have no words.
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Geoff
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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby Geoff » Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:11 pm

Interesting bit of work there! It would have been funny if you changed the name to "Shaaawing!" What's it like to ride? I want to see a picture of you on it. All I can think of is....
Image
The kind of dirty that doesn't wash off :eyebrows:

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Re: Other Hobbies / Interests

Postby SwedeSport » Fri Aug 23, 2013 1:02 pm

Schwinn made a "Swing Bike" back in the day. It had two head tubes and pivoted at both.

I saw a hot rod bike built from a swing bike, where the guy had the graphics redone to say Schwing Swing-Ray...

My runt is able to be ridden, but it's a bit of a challenge since the balance point is so far back, you have to keep your weight forward.
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