Stan, The problem with nails is I have about 30 forged eye bolts, plus my collection of clevises. I am looking at a new tool box for my machinist tools right now and once I buy it I will use the small tool box they are in for the clevises and eye bolts. I am going to temporarily store them in a plastic coffee can.
I spent the day yesterday working on one of my framing nailers that got a nail jammed into the nose piece. THe nail was jammed between the nose piece and the punch that drives the nail.
It took about two hours to remove the nail, don't ask me how the nail got in there as I do not know. All I can say is I will be more careful when using the nailer.
Today I plan on getting more floor space cleaned up so I can move the stuff along the last section of the north wall that needs insulating and get that done,
Dan.

One thing that I forget to add about the tape holder, if you do not have a piece of 1/2" pipe, a rod could be substituted for the pipe. I used the pipe nipple because I had it.
Dan.

I picked up a used finish nailer, and found it will jam at least once every stick if I use import nails, but if I use name brand ones, it's fine...

The only nails I can buy locally are brand name nails, this was the first problem I have had with that nailer.
After spending a day cleaning and unloading the my storage shelves, I got the last section of the north wall insulated yesterday. I added insulation to the eaves of the shop also to help stop the cold air from infiltrating into the shop from them. That made a big difference in the time between heating cycles of the boiler. Today the plywood gets cut for the wall and the foam insulation gets cut and installed against the perimeter boards under that section. I need to back fill inside so I can move my parts washer to where the shelves were and then put the shelves where the parts washer is right now.
I need to get another HF sandblast cabinet for small parts so I can have both a bead blast cabinet and a cabinet for black beauty abrasive.
Dan.

I have full use of my sidewalk again, the last several days have been warm enough to loosen the snow and ice that was built up on the planking on the scaffolding. So yesterday I tore down the scaffolding. I forgot how nice it is to have a sidewalk. After walking around the scaffolding for so long I really appreciate the sidewalk once more.
Once that was done I worked in the shop, I finished backfilling the perimeter ditch that I insulated two days ago now. I have a small pile of bank gravel that I removed to pour the concrete pad at the back door of the shop a few years ago. It took two 5 gallon bucketfuls of it to fill it in. Once that was done I cut some plywood squares for the adjuster bolts to set on for the bead blast cabinets stand, and set the stand in place to figure out how I wanted to run the air line to the back door, this airline will replace the steel line that exists now. The new line will add one drop to the system on that wall. Each drop on that wall will have two air connections, one regulated and one straight line pressure.
I cut three pieces of 1-1/2" unistrut 4" long to hang the air line on, then mounted them to the bottom of the beam. and then cut a piece of 3/4 copper to 86-1/2" long and hung it with two unistrut clamps. Once it was up I discover that I needed to lower the existing line 1/2" as I forgot to puit a spacer under the unistrut when I installed the original copper.
I had to unsweat the ninety just above the valve for the rear of the shop and cut a 1/2" out of the riser to allow the line to move down to line up with the new section of the copper air line. I will be working on the air lines and the new outlets for the north wall today.
Dan.

Looking good, Dan.
Doc

did i miss why you chose copper lines?

Doc, Thanks.
md, the original air lines in the shop were steel. The piping came into the shop where the Idler would set for the RPC and the riser piping was in the way of the conduit I needed to run between the RPC's control panel and the Idler. I had to change the routing of the air lines, I had the tubing and fittings to replace the existing with copper but not steel. I changed the location that the air line entered the shop and how it was run also.
When compared with steel copper has a couple of advantages over steel, one is that it does not corrode from moisture in the system, two the man hours required to install it are a lot fewer, and three the tools required are a lot less expensive then those for steel.
I lowered the existing line and sweated the ninety, then went on to sweating the new air line. I got to the drop and had to stop as another OPP came into the shop.
Then yesterday the weather was too nice to work in the shop, 26F winds at 10 - 15MPH. mostly sunny skies, the snow is mostly gone and the ground is frozen . Little to no mud. I decided to work on getting the area where I need to set up the "garage in a box" that I am going to sandblast the crawler parts in cleaned up. This area is just north of shop, the "inventory" in that area needs cleaned up, sorted out, the junk disposed of and the rest put away.
Sandblast tent site clean up.
When I am working outside in the winter I always start the boiler in the shop so I can get warm without having to come into the house,I went to start the boiler and discovered that I had no fuel flowing to the burner, this problem happens when the weather warms up enough to melt the ice in the fuel tank, I usually add a bottle of Power Service to the tank when I have fuel delivered, but neglected to buy a bottle. So I had to take the filter off and blow air back through the line to get the ice off the supply port on the tank, I will get a few cans of fuel oil and mix in a bottle of Power Service and add it to the fuel in the tank. If the weather warms again soon I will add a bottle of red "Heat" and that should take the water out of the tank. It only took about a half hour to get the boiler up and running again. Once I was sure it would run alright I got ready to clean up.
The first step was to remove the ice that had built up and then slid out over the edge of the back of the shop. After knocking it down I shoveled it into my wheel barrow and hauled it to an out of the way spot were it can melt without it causing any problems. It took four wheel barrow loads to haul it all away.
The next step was to cut up the old lumber from rebuilding the wall. I set up saw horse and started cutting the lumber into sections that would fit into my fire ring. THat took a few hours to do, I had started a fire in my fire ring and all but a few pieces of OSB board are gone.
Today I am going to get work on moving more inventory out of the way.
Dan.

Dan, looking back over the pictures... Just love the fish!
Doc

well i hope that you didn't get the junk copper pipes we have had around here (maryland).. back in the 50's and 60's pin holes all over after 15 years.

Doc, my brother picked that up at a yard sale a few years back and it has kind of became a fixture in the shop.
md, the copper tube is all brand new, but it set outside for several weeks as I was finishing up the new water lines in the house in 2009.
I might get this section of the wall finished this weekend, it all depends on how I feel tomorrow. I have been fighting a cold for the last four days.
I plan on installing the conduit for the new outlets on the north wall tomorrow, there will be two separate circuits, these two circuits will eliminate my old outlet circuit on that wall. I will have to run a new wire to the one security light once I eliminate the old wiring as it was wired into that outlet circuit. Once I have the conduit and the boxes up I can pull the wire fairly quickly. We will see how it goes tomorrow.
Dan.

Just a quick update. I finished up the change over to conduit for the electrical circuits on the north wall of the shop yesterday, except for one item I could not find. That item was a GFCI outlet by the back door of the shop. When I got home from work today I decided to sort out my storage totes that I keep my electrical stuff in, and I found the GFCI outlets that I knew I had here. So after finishing sorting out the totes I installed the outlet and the wiring is finished. I made labels for the totes to what they hold.
Yesterday I also moved the shelf unit into place and put everything back on the shelves that came off of them. I am gaining space in the shop slowly but surely. The way it looks I will have the work bay cleaned out and ready for the crawler project by the end of the week.
Once the bay is clean I might take a couple of days and pull the insulation down and put up new. then sheet the ceiling with OSB board then paint it and re-hang the lights.
That is all for tonight. Pictures to be posted later.
Dan.

Is there a specific reason for pulling old insulation down and just not adding more? (Like it's moldy or sumpin?)
Just curious.. as around here (regular cold winters) we usually just add more to whatever is there when we upgrade.
Doc

Could be collapsing. Supposedly the way fiberglass insulation works is from the dead air space that is created in the material. Once the insulation loses its fluff your R factor goes with it. Adding more to the batt doesnt necessarily give you a better R rating and could possibly work with an opposite affect.I have a friend that is an insulation contractor.His theory on R ratings is that it is all smoke and mirrors. In order to get the rating advertised on the packaging the walls must be sealed up to keep outside air from getting in. His crew applies cases of really cheap caulking to all penetrations in the framing around doors and windows etc. The areas that get it include across the bottom plate where the 2x meets the sub floor or slab. They also shoot the bottom plate to the slab with powder actuated fasteners to insure the gaps or openings are kept to a minimum. Once the structure is sealed at all terminations the insulation process begins.

Doc, the ceiling of the shop is the bottom of the roof rafters, 0-12 to 2-12 pitch roof. There is no way to add more insulation to the ceiling without removing the existing and adding new. I am going to add 2 X 8 X 12' to the rest of the roof rafters to bring the ceiling onto one plane so I can cover the insulation with OSB board to prevent the vapor barrier from catching fire. I might add a 1/2" of P2000 sheet insulation to it also.
Bruno, these little buggers got into the insulation and chewed it up, I have been replacing the worst of it over the years and I am gaining on it.

American Red Squirrel.
These little buggers can sure cause havoc with your insulation when they get into it.
I am sealing the shop up as tight as I can to prevent air infiltration.
I am heading out to the shop to do something tonight in a few minutes.
Dan.

We have the Fox squirrels mostly here in town and the greys out by our lakes and low lands. A buddy of mine and I used to do all kinds of roofing when we were kids. We targeted the leak repairs and smaller jobs b/c it paid better than doing new roofs. We had a customer whom had cedar shake shingles on their house. The Fox Squirrels terrorized them. Those little SOB's could pull the shakes up and get into the attic. It was amazing how they could tear holes in roofs. We battled them for a couple of yrs as well as the homeowner sniping them a pellet gun. What we did to cure the problem that lasted for a few yrs was install a miniature electric fence around the perimeter of the roof. It took them quite a while to learn how to avoid it and get back to the roof. I was hoping the generations would just ignore the roof and live in the trees like they should.

Speaking of roofing . Your roof pitch is pretty slow. Do you have a metal or roll roof on your shop? The pitch is too slow for shingles. You need a minimum 3-1/2:12 pitch to use shake or composition shingles.

Bruno, we have both gray squirrels and fox squirrels here, the red squirrel is the destructive one here.
The shop roof was originally rolled roofing then I went to steel roofing and have less problems with it now. When I build the new shop it will have a 6/12 pitch, covered with steel roofing with all the bells and whistles. Everyone I talk to around here tells me to add the snow guards or snow breakers on the roof. But since I plan on adding pex tubing under the eaves and about four feet up the roofs slope, I figure I can turn it on once the snow has built up to a point I do not like and let it slide off. I do not want to be up on the roof in a few years trying to patch holes in it anytime soon.
I have to get several more storage totes to place the last of the John Deere 420C parts in and then finish sorting out a few more boxes of stuff.
I need to put the new tailgate on my minivan this weekend, and check it over for inspection at the end of February. The next project after the minivan will be adding one of my 100 gallon tanks to the existing air system to increase the volume so the air compressor will not be stopping and starting all the time I am sandblasting the crawler parts.
That is the plan as it stands right now.
Dan.

Just as long as you have something that will keep the sheets of ice from sliding off and hitting you in the neck when you walk by. They are required here on all commercial metal roofs here now. I did a lot of standing seam metal roofs when I was younger as well. My buddies dad had a machine that made the panels. This is no doubt one of the best roofs ever designed. All metal roofs are basicly maintenance free roofs and will last forever unless a hali storm comes through. Even then beides it making your roof ugly they still do their job well.

I need to update this thread to show the work I have done to finish the electrical and air systems I was working on.
All that is left to do on the air lines on the north wall is to install the split ring hangers and standoff plates on the quick connect side of the regulators to prevent damage to the regulator or union if the air hose would get yanked on.
After finishing sweating all the joints and adding a shut off valve to the painting air reel I pressure tested the new system and had one leak on one union that will have to be replaced. The union is bad from the factory and I will change it when I put the split ring hanger on.
I am looking for several short red rubber air hoses to leave hooked up to the straight air side of the drops to have two hoses handy in the shop while I am working will beat the heck out of having to drag out a fifty footer every time I need to use the air.
I still need to run the new copper line to the painting air supply hose reel, but that can wait until I have finished cleaning up the shop.
In several of the pictures below you can see that I replaced the "temporary" outlet with a GFCI outlet, this out let will be the one used most of the time to run power tools outside the shop. I knew I had a couple but could not find them when I was doing the wiring.
The next project to improve the shop will be running new wiring to the compressor, that will be in 1" EMT conduit.
Dan.

As of today all of my various projects are on hiatus until I get the front of the shop redone. I bought the surface grinder that I posted in the Toolbox section, this purchase and the upcoming purchase of the M-head mill has made the relocation of my boiler necessary.
The plan as of today is to remove everything from the front part of the shop and build a Mechanical Closet in the S/E corner to enclose the boiler. To build a closet, install the mill and grinder would require pouring three pads for them to set on. The percentage of concrete floor would be about 25% of the available floor space, so I figure I might as well pour a full concrete floor in the front part of the shop and have a decent working surface. I need to do two footer repairs before pouring the floor. Since one of the repairs will at the opening of the man door, I might as well replace the old door with a steel one I have here.
I am in the process of moving the air compressor to a new shed so I can build a more permanent one that will be insulated for noise suppression. To do this I need to build a new roof over the front of the shop, once the new roof is framed and sheeted I will be be adding a new Stainless steel chimney for the boiler. Then I will install steel roofing.
It seems like a lot of work and expense to go to on a shop building I am going to demolish later on, but I can not foresee having the money in the budget to build my new shop for a couple of years yet. So it is either shoehorn in the SG and the mill and work off of a gravel floor or do the remodel and have a better shop. A lot of the materials used in the construction of the roof and compressor room are materials that I have picked up for little money or for free.
Dan.