All fabrication and set up in the workshop is now complete and I am extremely happy the final set up, layout and how much spare room I have to move around everything. So what more did I have to finish since the last post? Sink & water supply, steel & fastener storage racks, paint booth, air supply items.
So am I ready to get started on the Mini again? In spirit, yes. In real life, no. I have some final house renovation tasks I have to complete before I can, however the next update here should be Mini related and by then it will be FOUR YEARS since I last worked on it!
Air Supply
The air lines that run around the perimeter of the entire workshop have genuine Nitto Hi Cupla quick connect fittings which make it an easy one handed job to insert or release hoses. I have two air outlets above the workbench, and four other around the rest of the workshop including one right next to the entry door in case I need air supply external to the garage.
I am also considering the need to do some sand blasting of some small to medium sized parts and the tiny and cheap 2hp compressor I have had for about 10 years would in no way keep up for more than I reckon 10-15 seconds so I upgraded and purchased a (second hand) compressor. I've upgraded from the smaller 3.2CFM compressor to a much larger 3hp, 11CFM belt drive compressor (21L vs 54L tank). The belt drive compressor is wonderfully quiet compared than the old direct drive one and can also run at much higher duty cycles. It also weighs 80kg! A new belt, new oil and cleanup and it was rolled into the paint booth and wired up.
Nut/Bolt/Fasteners Storage
I didn't realise how many nut, bolts, screws, and various fasteners I had from the house renovation work as well as stripping of the Mini and Starlet until I found that everything had filled two large laundry baskets plus 11 baby formula cans! I had to figure out a well organised way to store everything. My employer was throwing out a tall storage tower that was used to store A4 paper so I threw that in the back of my ute with a plan in mind. With the help of my work colleague & friend Martin who cut all the MDF pieces for me on his table saw, I went about making 20 drawers (300mm L x 220mm W x 60mm H) to store everything.
For the really small items, I purchased some plastic containers from my local hardware store that coincidentally were the right size for the tower. For everything else, I installed various combinations of drawer separators in the MDF drawers.
I painted the drawer fascias the same matching colour as the paint booth & workbench etc
and went about the 2 1/2 hour job of transferring everything from plastic containers/boxes/tins to the drawers. The result is everything stored very neatly and very well organised using a very small floor footprint. I used every single drawer too. Each drawer has handle/label holder screwed on with the drawer number label in it (I have a piece of paper on top of tower with a contents list of each drawer)
Steel Storage
Like the fasteners, I had no idea how much steel I had been hoarding so after some web research found a great idea from Julian Edgar from www.autospeed.com in one of his Workshop Tech Tips articles. Like the fastener storage tower, storing everything vertically used a very small footprint, in my case, approx 450x450mm. The steel rack was welded from scrap SHS steel and some rebar I had. The base is raised off the ground to allow a wheeled storage container to be stored underneath and hold smaller steel offcuts. One a side note, the second photos shows the orange wiring for the paint booth compressor, fan & interior light.
Paint Booth
To complete the paint booth it needed a bench, some filters installed and some drawers. Once the light, fan & compressor switches were wired up, I installed some second hand office floor tiles then just a simple pine frame with a MDF benchtop. I made some MDF drawers to store paint & materials and used an old computer server cabinet drawer (from another skip bin dive) for use with paint prep. I jumped on my wifes sewing machine and sewed some simple poplin curtains to stop overspray getting under the bench.
The inlet and outlet filter frames were made from second hand flyscreens which I cut to size. The inlet filter material is an air-conditioning filter medium (grey colour) for dust particle separation. The outlet filter material (not shown in pics) is a finer grade to capture paint overspray dust. All filter material was doubled up in thickness.
The paint booth door was also sealed with adhesive foam weatherproofing strips to make the entire booth near enough dust proof with minimal air leaks. As a nominal air flow test through the booth, I lit an incense stick in the booth and turned on the fan... I could feel the airflow, see the incense smoke be well extracted and was satisfied at the result for a non-commercial DIY booth.
Sink / Water Supply
The workshop has everythingbut including the kitchen sink. The sink was literally the only original item leftover from my house renovation and I have reused it for somewhere to wash my hands or drinking water. Between the paint booth and workbench, I made another simple pine frame to hold the sink. The water is supplied from a 220L drum (filled from the workshop shed rainwater downpipe) and a 12V caravan low flow pump (4L/min) powered by a laptop power supply. I have a IP56 rated switch on the right of the sink to turn the pump on/off. The waste outlet pipe for the sink was already installed when the slab was poured.
So am I ready to get started on the Mini again? In spirit, yes. In real life, no. I have some final house renovation tasks I have to complete before I can, however the next update here should be Mini related and by then it will be FOUR YEARS since I last worked on it!
Air Supply
The air lines that run around the perimeter of the entire workshop have genuine Nitto Hi Cupla quick connect fittings which make it an easy one handed job to insert or release hoses. I have two air outlets above the workbench, and four other around the rest of the workshop including one right next to the entry door in case I need air supply external to the garage.
I am also considering the need to do some sand blasting of some small to medium sized parts and the tiny and cheap 2hp compressor I have had for about 10 years would in no way keep up for more than I reckon 10-15 seconds so I upgraded and purchased a (second hand) compressor. I've upgraded from the smaller 3.2CFM compressor to a much larger 3hp, 11CFM belt drive compressor (21L vs 54L tank). The belt drive compressor is wonderfully quiet compared than the old direct drive one and can also run at much higher duty cycles. It also weighs 80kg! A new belt, new oil and cleanup and it was rolled into the paint booth and wired up.
Nut/Bolt/Fasteners Storage
I didn't realise how many nut, bolts, screws, and various fasteners I had from the house renovation work as well as stripping of the Mini and Starlet until I found that everything had filled two large laundry baskets plus 11 baby formula cans! I had to figure out a well organised way to store everything. My employer was throwing out a tall storage tower that was used to store A4 paper so I threw that in the back of my ute with a plan in mind. With the help of my work colleague & friend Martin who cut all the MDF pieces for me on his table saw, I went about making 20 drawers (300mm L x 220mm W x 60mm H) to store everything.
I painted the drawer fascias the same matching colour as the paint booth & workbench etc
and went about the 2 1/2 hour job of transferring everything from plastic containers/boxes/tins to the drawers. The result is everything stored very neatly and very well organised using a very small floor footprint. I used every single drawer too. Each drawer has handle/label holder screwed on with the drawer number label in it (I have a piece of paper on top of tower with a contents list of each drawer)
Steel Storage
Like the fasteners, I had no idea how much steel I had been hoarding so after some web research found a great idea from Julian Edgar from www.autospeed.com in one of his Workshop Tech Tips articles. Like the fastener storage tower, storing everything vertically used a very small footprint, in my case, approx 450x450mm. The steel rack was welded from scrap SHS steel and some rebar I had. The base is raised off the ground to allow a wheeled storage container to be stored underneath and hold smaller steel offcuts. One a side note, the second photos shows the orange wiring for the paint booth compressor, fan & interior light.
Paint Booth
To complete the paint booth it needed a bench, some filters installed and some drawers. Once the light, fan & compressor switches were wired up, I installed some second hand office floor tiles then just a simple pine frame with a MDF benchtop. I made some MDF drawers to store paint & materials and used an old computer server cabinet drawer (from another skip bin dive) for use with paint prep. I jumped on my wifes sewing machine and sewed some simple poplin curtains to stop overspray getting under the bench.
The inlet and outlet filter frames were made from second hand flyscreens which I cut to size. The inlet filter material is an air-conditioning filter medium (grey colour) for dust particle separation. The outlet filter material (not shown in pics) is a finer grade to capture paint overspray dust. All filter material was doubled up in thickness.
The paint booth door was also sealed with adhesive foam weatherproofing strips to make the entire booth near enough dust proof with minimal air leaks. As a nominal air flow test through the booth, I lit an incense stick in the booth and turned on the fan... I could feel the airflow, see the incense smoke be well extracted and was satisfied at the result for a non-commercial DIY booth.
Sink / Water Supply
The workshop has everything
It's looking pretty good!
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