New Project - Machine Shop

[scuncio]

I've always wanted a commercial property where I can store and work on some cars, and was finally able to purchase something I could afford with enough room and potential to be a functional workspace. This building was a machine shop since the 1940s and went through a few additions but only two owners, ever. The floors are pretty gross and the place is generally filthy after auctioning and moving most of the machines (I kept just a few for my own tinkering).

I'm pretty excited but pretty overwhelmed with the size of the project. What would you guys recommend for the floors? I'm going to need to spend a lot of time degreasing them, and dealing with some spalling and a few divots. I'm thinking about foregoing epoxy and instead, grinding them as best I can and sealing them. I don't think the epoxy will adhere due to the decades of oil exposure.

Anyway, wanted to share this with the folks here and post periodic updates as I make progress.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Machine-Shop/i-tczc3ZK/0/3843dcbd/X2/E93837EB-1332-401F-8547-41AA95A04037-X2.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Machine-Shop/i-whPsv59/0/710faa07/X2/1144B76F-0449-4D67-A970-084E9C0224A9-X2.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Machine-Shop/i-fCRptm4/0/3e5118fe/X2/3C5C1455-95F4-4C04-92A8-50A966E7E0D3-X2.jpg

[Keith Seymore]

Looks good. I think I could find happiness in a place like that.

K

[Z282NV]

Congratulations!

I agree, just grind and polish. You may have to fill the cracks and fill divots as you mentioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06L7WHXbcw0

[olredalert]

----Wow, this is good news! I know you have been thinking about this for awhile, Tony. Good for you. I'm only guessing but betting the floors are pretty thick so maybe a massive grinding would pay benefits. Looks good for a two post lift too! Lots of benches, but you need one good, long sturdy one to use to beat on,,,LOL! Can't wait to see the progress.....Bill S

[Jeffp920]

Congratulations Tony. Looks like plenty of room and most importantly cost wise, plenty of power. A little scuff and buff it'll be good to go. I just finished a shop this last weekend. Gonna move in next week. Best I can tell you is take the project in steps so it’s not such a big job.
Good luck, Jeff

[napa68]

Congrats Tony!

I love the way finished floors look, but I just don't see the practicality in it. Grind, clean and polish IMO.

Keep the updates coming!

[Too Many Projects]

WOW !! That is way cool !!
I would get commercial de-greasing soap and clean that floor as much as possible first. ZEP makes some very good cleaners. Just going right at it with a grinder may smear the oil around and further into the concrete.
Maybe rent a steam pressure washer to break it up too.
Now I REALLY wish we were closer, I'd be over there helping...:cool2:

[scuncio]

Thanks guys! Sealing it is. Mitch, I wish you were closer too, I would love to have your help!

[Lynn]

Agree with Mitch. You want to pull as much of the grease oil OUT of the porous concrete before sealing.

For cracks, am using this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/271773621361

You can buy directly from Radon Seal on their website, but you have to pay shipping. They sell the exact same product on Ebay, at exactly the same price, but free shipping.

The crack repair is really a two person job. You do not have time to set the caulk gun down and start working in the sand. The epoxy based mix will harden in the needle. It is already a very small needle. No much bigger than one you get a shot with.

Congrats. Super cool. Already have air lines and electrical. I would ditch the current lights and go LED. I bought four footers that link (up to 10) so if one goes bad, I just go up, unplug and replace.
I have them all hung with chains. I would also hang them much higher that the current ones. You will get more even light. I went for 70 lumens per square foot of floor space. I have no dead spots.
Everyone is shocked when I turn the lights on. Feels almost like daylight.

Hopefully you don't run into all the issues I did with my place.

[L_e_e]

Very cool!! What city is it in Tony?

[Crush]

If you ever need some help on a weekend let me know. Happy to help! And congrats

[ruralrte66]

Very Nice Tony! Happy For Ya!!

[scuncio]

Thanks, guys. It's in Warren, not too far from my house.

[169indy]

Security- Security - Security.
To bad in these times. Proactive countermeasures are needed. Hopefully you can keeep the rif raf out.
I like it!

[mockingbird812]

Well done Tony. Good luck and keep us posted! :headbang:

[CanCOPO]

Congratulations.

[Charley Lillard]

Congratulations. Just grind and polish.

[chevyandpontiac]

Congratulations love the building, you will be amazed how quickly it fills up.

[Lynn]

Just curious. What machinery did you keep?

[scuncio]

Just curious. What machinery did you keep?

I kept an old Clausing lathe, Bridgeport vertical mill, a couple drill presses, and a hydraulic press. I'd like to get a bandsaw, some sort of pedestal grinder/polisher, and maybe a surface grinder.

[big gear head]

I've got a South Bend lathe and a Bridgeport mill in my shop. It's amazing how handy they are. I run mills and lathes every day at work, so I'm not real interested in using them when I get home, but it's sure nice to have them.

[cook_dw]

Very cool and congrats

[chevyman0429]

Congrats Tony. Looks like alot of fun !

[RPOLS3]

Congratulations - you'd be surprised how the floors will clean up with some citrus peel degreaser and a floor scrubber. Once clean you can decide next steps, grind and polish would look great.

[scuncio]

Thanks guys!

Jake, what brand degreaser do you recommend? I have used the Zep purple degreaser on a stained driveway, and was thinking about picking up a few gallons, but the fumes are pretty intense. Would be nice to have a citrusy alternative....

[dykstra]

Congrats Tony! Awesome shop! I hope this doesn’t distract you from posting cars for EBay and other seen ads!LOL

[Rfish]

Thanks guys!

Jake, what brand degreaser do you recommend? I have used the Zep purple degreaser on a stained driveway, and was thinking about picking up a few gallons, but the fumes are pretty intense. Would be nice to have a citrusy alternative....

This product is pretty good…..

[cook_dw]

Zep has a citrus degreaser. I use it all the time on my preservation projects or really anything I am cleaning. Link below


ZEP Heavy-Duty Citrus Degreaser (https://www.homedepot.com/p/ZEP-1-Gallon-Heavy-Duty-Citrus-Degreaser-ZUCIT128/100676344)

[A12pilot]

Wow, Tony!! Wow!!:biggthumpup:

I had years of oil on my floors and the epoxy guys ground it down and coated it in the gray hangar floor color for my liking. I need to have them come back after all the grinding and welding is done on the 507 to just clean it up a little. I’ll be building an extension on for fabrication later this year. Lifetime warranty against lifting too. Whatever you do, don’t do it yourself. That takes precious time away from cars which now you have the space for.

We should start a Yenk.Net garage show there where we all get cameo roles:hmmm::3gears::shocked:

Good on ya!!

Cheers
Dave

[RPOLS3]

Thanks guys!

Jake, what brand degreaser do you recommend? I have used the Zep purple degreaser on a stained driveway, and was thinking about picking up a few gallons, but the fumes are pretty intense. Would be nice to have a citrusy alternative....

I will get a product spec for you from our cleaning guys - I've just always known it as Citrus Peel - but when I google that nothing comes up.

EDIT- It's Orange Peel

https://www.whitecap.com/p/specchem-1-gal-orange-peel-cleaner-and-degreaser-56662/c21/255c21

https://specchem.com/orange-peel

https://www.diamondtoolstore.com/products/orange-peel-citrus-cleaner

[RPOLS3]

Here is another one that one of our cleaning guys uses with good results:

https://www.spartanchemical.com/products/product/224004

[dykstra]

Any updates Tony?

[Too Many Projects]

Any updates Tony?
https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.php?img=https%3A%2F%2Fhosting.photobucket.co m%2Fimages%2Fq752%2FStillwaterchevs%2Fpopcorn-and-drink-smiley-emoticon.gif

[scuncio]

Coming along. Purged all the old furniture and 1980s office stuff and filled a 20 yard dumpster. The dumpster was picked up yesterday so I’m theoretically close to being able to repaint the walls and do the floors. I parked my son’s wrangler in the main shop to give an idea of the scale. It’s not huge, but I should be able to fit 6 cars in the main area fairly comfortably.

[Too Many Projects]

Looks plenty danged big from here...:laugh:
Won't be long, you'll be buying more vehicles to fill 'er up...https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/q752/Stillwaterchevs/stirpot.gif

[L_e_e]

6 cars?....That ceiling look plenty high to me....:beers:

[67since67]

Tony, is your game plan to buy up all the cool cars FS instead of posting them for us to see??

[olredalert]

----Tony,,,Noticed the side room. Is there more room over there? Parts area, maybe? Plenty of room unless craziness envelopes you,,,LOL!.....Bill S

[scuncio]

Great point on the lifts - I need to save up for those! I’m actually using this to get a few of my cars to the point where I can sell them and free up some space in my home garage. I’d like to keep this place as a working garage with “limited” storage. We’ll see if I can keep that promise to myself.

Bill, the room through the garage door is the machine shop area. I only need about a third of it for my machines, got to decide what to do with the rest of it.

[scuncio]

6 cars?....That ceiling look plenty high to me....:beers:

Now how on earth do those cars get hoisted to the top rack?

[COPO]

Looks like fun to refurbish the shop and get it ready for some new projects. The high ceilings are a big plus. Enjoy.

[Too Many Projects]

Now how on earth do those cars get hoisted to the top rack?
They would be loaded on a lift/pallet that drives up to the rack and then rolled off.

[olredalert]

Great point on the lifts - I need to save up for those! I’m actually using this to get a few of my cars to the point where I can sell them and free up some space in my home garage. I’d like to keep this place as a working garage with “limited” storage. We’ll see if I can keep that promise to myself.

Bill, the room through the garage door is the machine shop area. I only need about a third of it for my machines, got to decide what to do with the rest of it.

----Fridge for starters of course!.....Bill S

[cook_dw]

You can see the plates for ramps to be installed. Drive them up there.

[Crush]

They would be loaded on a lift/pallet that drives up to the rack and then rolled off.

Seems like it be a lot of work to take your car out for a Sunday drive. But then again maybe these don’t go out for drives, sadly

[napa68]

----Fridge for starters of course!.....Bill S

Well duh??:biggthumpup:

[Too Many Projects]

You can see the plates for ramps to be installed. Drive them up there.
That would need to be a very long and sturdy ramp. Those stand offs are used for vertical stop plates, to prevent a vehicle from rolling off too and are just bolted. Not sure I would trust that arrangement to hold the weight of a car ??

[Andy]

I had a new pad, so I'm unsure about prepping the old one, but I acid etched mine and used a product from Sherwin Williams called Armor seal. I've had it on there almost two years now and the only places where it has come up is where a piece of steel or heavy tool hit the floor hard enough to chip the concrete. It's easy to clean, chemical resistant, and isn't too slippery when wet. I went with a color called steel grey i think and it's light enough to brighten the shop up. Good lighting makes all the difference in working in there as well. I have 7, 21,000 lumen lights in my 40x60. They were about $100 a piece on amazon but are on sale now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0761L281Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

https://www.sherwin-williams.com/painting-contractors/products/armorseal-8100-epoxy-floor-coatings

[dykstra]

Any updates Tony?

[scuncio]

I had a security door replaced, had the inside walls pressure washed, and have been working on the floors every free moment I can get away. SLOW progress….

[Lynn]

Yeah, I have had no luck getting the oil stains out of my concrete. Even using acetone leaves a dark spot. I have some HC microbial stuff on the way.

https://www.covertecproducts.com/product/coverclean-hc-microbial-cleaner-for-oils-diesel/

[Charley Lillard]

That would need to be a very long and sturdy ramp. Those stand offs are used for vertical stop plates, to prevent a vehicle from rolling off too and are just bolted. Not sure I would trust that arrangement to hold the weight of a car ??
Most 4 post lifts these days have wheels so you can roll them around. You could roll one up to one of those, lift the car up right in front of it and roll it on.

[Too Many Projects]

Most 4 post lifts these days have wheels so you can roll them around. You could roll one up to one of those, lift the car up right in front of it and roll it on.
That's true and would work. I had my 2 lifts inline in my old shop and have transferred cars from the back lift to the front one, and vice versa. Rather intimidating doing that 6ft off the floor..:ooo:

[scuncio]

Lynn- spent four hours on a small area of my floor, with the Zep citrus cleaner and then the Zep purple degreaser, and still I’m not having much success getting these oil stains out. Did you have any luck with the microbial cleaner?

[Lynn]

It did not do as well as I had hoped.

[RPOLS3]

Lynn- spent four hours on a small area of my floor, with the Zep citrus cleaner and then the Zep purple degreaser, and still I’m not having much success getting these oil stains out. Did you have any luck with the microbial cleaner?

Tony - you might consider renting a ride on floor scrubber. All of the commercial cleaning companies that I've seen use this product with good results use the ride on scrubber. Probably have to make several/multiple passes with it too. This is not a miracle solution if the machine oil has been there for decades though, once it gets into the concrete unless you shot blast the surface (which creates other issues and even then it's likely the stain is permanent) it's not coming out.

[dustinm]

Sorry to hear that Tony. Part of the problem is that the oil wicks into the grain structure of the cement so therefore you need a something to get in and remove the oil and then the left over carbon deposits. If you cant live with that then you are looking at light surface grinding, acid etch, and finally an epoxy coating.

[CDNL-78]

Tony, rent a bush hammer and try a sample area where the staining is at it worse. You can go to any depth to see where the staining/saturation ends. As mentioned before, the concrete is porous and most likely soaked in pretty good. If this bush hammering becomes an option, you can rent a scabbler (does a larger area at a time) and do the entire floor and then skim coat it with an epoxy. Good luck.

[Too Many Projects]

OK, Tony, time for an update. Been wondering where you are at with this a for a while now. Hopefully, you have done something with the floor and are now building either of your Camaros...https://www.yenko.net/forum/cache.php?img=https%3A%2F%2Fhosting.photobucket.co m%2Fimages%2Fq752%2FStillwaterchevs%2Fpoking-with-stick-smiley-emoticon.gif

[SuperNovaSS]

I’m curious about this shop progress also.


Jason

[scuncio]

I decided I'm going to live with the floor as-is. I've been continuing to degrease it and it looks a little better. Replaced one of the overhead heaters that had a cracked heat exchanger, moved my lathe and mill where I wanted them, sorted out some electrical stuff and bought a decent blasting cabinet. It's functional enough now - just need a duplicate of every tool I have at home!

[Too Many Projects]

Thanks for the update, Tony. Which car are you going to get started on ....https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/q752/Stillwaterchevs/poking-with-stick-smiley-emoticon.gif?width=53&height=15&fit=bounds...:grin:

[olredalert]

----Looking forward to a walk thru, Tony!.....Bill S

[scuncio]

Scored these today - one seems to work. I've always wanted a Sun machine.

[Lynn]

I believe those are very early machines, especially the 404. Pretty sure it is older than my machine. See pic.

Very nice.

Paramount may have the missing parts you need. Can also help convert to solid state, eliminating all the tubes.

AND, they have an adapter so you can check HEI distributors.

[scuncio]

Very cool! Yes, I will be calling them for sure.

[scuncio]

First car related project underway in the machine shop! Swapping out the fuel tank supports and shocks in my son's 98 Jeep. What a rust bucket....

I got the compressed air system leak free (ish) and functional yesterday. Was pretty impressed that the system was 140psi yesterday and still 120psi when I came back the next day (after turning the compressor off).