What did you do in your shop today?

[Lone Star Mini]

Hmm, maybe I need one  8.gif

Yesterday undid my AC wiring on the fuse panel and connected up the heat.  Was a brisk 37 out yesterday morning.  2nd shop job for the day was cleaning up tools I had scattered everywhere with the variety of bus jobs I've been doing.

Dan.. I believe you recommended a fabulous heater.  I have yet to purchase it, but I did run wiring for "one day".  Do you still have the same unit?

[94touring]

Hmm, maybe I need one  8.gif

Yesterday undid my AC wiring on the fuse panel and connected up the heat.  Was a brisk 37 out yesterday morning.  2nd shop job for the day was cleaning up tools I had scattered everywhere with the variety of bus jobs I've been doing.

Dan.. I believe you recommended a fabulous heater.  I have yet to purchase it, but I did run wiring for "one day".  Do you still have the same unit?

Northern Tool pro fusion 7500 watt heater.  Runs about $170.  I'd post a link but their website is extra slow today.  Heats me out of my shop.

[MPlayle]

Here is a link to the full selection of garage heaters sold by Northern Tool:

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_heaters-stoves-fireplaces+electric-heaters+overhead-electric-garage-heaters

[Lone Star Mini]

Okay.. these have dropped in price because the last time you told me about these, they are around $400.. or at least that's what I remember and thus for holding off with the purchase at that time..  Perhaps my memory is bad, but this price is far more reasonable for my wallet...   

[BruceK]

Today I cleaned up my Mini in preparation for the Mini drive that Michael has organized for tomorrow morning with the local Mini club.  I put it up on jackstands looking for the source of an annoying rattle.   Didn't find it.  So it's sure to bug me on the drive tomorrow. 

[cstudep]

That is a beautiful little car. I am really starting to like that color.......or is it colour

[gr8kornholio]

The shell on the main page is mine, done by Dan with a pepper white roof.

[Lone Star Mini]

Got up to measure the wire that I ran years ago for a heater...  apparently I ran 12-3 which is not proper for the ProFusion heaters.. darn it.  I think I will go with the small unit than what Dan has given my shop is only 15x30.  Either way, I have to run different wire.

[Lone Star Mini]

Today I cleaned up my Mini in preparation for the Mini drive that Michael has organized for tomorrow morning with the local Mini club.... 

I have missed every mini drive possible.   Of course I can't seem to tune into the forum on a continual basis so it's my own fault.  One day, I will manage to catch one of these mini drives..    Hope you have/had a great time Bruce (depending on when you get this message).

[94touring]

Got up to measure the wire that I ran years ago for a heater...  apparently I ran 12-3 which is not proper for the ProFusion heaters.. darn it.  I think I will go with the small unit than what Dan has given my shop is only 15x30.  Either way, I have to run different wire.

I know our buddy Don has the small version and it doesn't heat his garage well.  I just have my heater mounted above my fuse box and the heater wire directly to 60amp fuses.

[Lone Star Mini]

Good to know Dan, thank you.  I'm already rethinking and wanting to go with the 7K unit.  I have been pricing and measuring the length of  8 gauge wire that I will need.  Given 8 gauge is kind've expensive, I don't want to buy more than I really need.  I will have to run the wire external as well, but that is okay.

[BruceK]

Today I cleaned up my Mini in preparation for the Mini drive that Michael has organized for tomorrow morning with the local Mini club.... 

I have missed every mini drive possible.   Of course I can't seem to tune into the forum on a continual basis so it's my own fault.  One day, I will manage to catch one of these mini drives..    Hope you have/had a great time Bruce (depending on when you get this message).

Thanks Randy. We had a great time. Only 4 Minis ran, but the weather was perfect and Michael laid out a great run.

[Lone Star Mini]

Thanks Randy. We had a great time. Only 4 Minis ran, but the weather was perfect and Michael laid out a great run.

So where was the drive today?  up in the DFW area or did you go elsewhere?  I love what two of the minis have done by placing their texas tag over the Euro tag..  Easy pull of the texas plate and wah-lah..  cool...

[BruceK]

Thanks Randy. We had a great time. Only 4 Minis ran, but the weather was perfect and Michael laid out a great run.

So where was the drive today?  up in the DFW area or did you go elsewhere?  I love what two of the minis have done by placing their texas tag over the Euro tag..  Easy pull of the texas plate and wah-lah..  cool...

No. I live  near the San Antonio area now.  This run was in the Hill Country just north of San Antonio and kind of southwest of Austin.  Many great roads out there.

Yeah I don't even run a Texas plate unless I absolutely have to. Just use the UK plate original to my car.

[MPlayle]

I tried to make a video of the drive.  The camera automatically broke it up into a series of files.  I recorded until the camera battery died.  I've uploaded them to YouTube for those that may be interested.  I know the audio is poor.  The links are listed below as hyperlinks versus embedding the videos here.

Here are the drive video links (in order):

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 1

https://youtu.be/xjX5wdCfAnQ

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 2

https://youtu.be/7FPJc6ONjH8

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 3

https://youtu.be/eY0ZYWLejtQ

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 4

https://youtu.be/P1LVv-VOe0E

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 5

https://youtu.be/Eb6CfO4-RTA

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 6

https://youtu.be/GkTsbGgNLXc

Mini Drive Nov 15, 2020 - Part 7

https://youtu.be/YoptjcGFcag

[Lone Star Mini]

Looks like a fun run with fabulous weather...

[Lone Star Mini]

Michael.. looks like you have some wonderful cars.. I had no idea...

[MPlayle]

Randy,

The Burton and the Mini Marcos are sold and gone to their new homes.  I just have the regular Mini now.  Mine is the ruby red with dark silver roof in Bruce's pictures.

[Lone Star Mini]

Randy,

The Burton and the Mini Marcos are sold and gone to their new homes.  I just have the regular Mini now.  Mine is the ruby red with dark silver roof in Bruce's pictures.

Ah.. okay.  I was watching your other Youtube videos...  love your mini too (of course)

[94touring]

Brake pad day on Jens BMW.  Fronts went well.  Rears on the other hand...  some mindless idiot at the tire shop over torqued the rear lugs.  One of each wheel uses those locking lugs with special key.  Well the key promptly broke due to how much torque was required.  The fronts I tossed those lugs straight into the trash for that reason.  The regular rear lugs after not coming undone with my impact required a breaker bar and a 3 foot length of additional pipe.  Re damn diculous.  She'll have to take it to BMW to let them take a try at removing those keyed lugs.

[Lone Star Mini]

After salvaging the bulk of the front end of my shell, I'm am attempting to re-purpose with a little creativity.  Some time ago, I bought the cheap harbor freight 110 lb sand blaster and could never seem to get it to work properly.  I pulled it out after months/years of storage and managed to get it to work half way.  When it worked, it did a great job.. a tad pleased with the sporadic blaster, my task was foibled by the rain....  now waiting for the rain clouds to disappear..   

[MiniDave]

Got my SWAG portaband table today - not very happy with the service as I ordered it on the 14th and paid for 2 day shipping - got it today, a week later........but, pandemic I guess.

Anyway......it's a slick bit of kit.

The issue for me is that when I'm cutting vertically I can't see where the blade is going with very much accuracy, so my cuts tend to wander a bit. Then I wind up grinding a lot to straighten the piece out. With this setup you have a foot pedal to control start/stop and speed and you even have a miter fence to feed for even more accurate cuts, plus the ability to cut accurately on an angle.....plus too and also, since it's up on a well lit table I can see what the hell I'm doing!  ;D

I'll give it a try later today, I still need to dial it in and square it up. Another thing I like is that it takes up a pretty small amount of bench space.

[Lone Star Mini]

Got my SWAG portaband table today - not very happy with the service as I ordered it on the 14th and paid for 2 day shipping - got it today, a week later........but, pandemic I guess.

Anyway......it's a slick bit of kit.

Looks great....

[Willie_B]

That is a really slick looking setup there Dave. Might have to look into that.

[MiniDave]

I wasn't very happy with the way the blade fit my new SWAG table, so I sent them an email asking about it. They called today and gave ne a couple of tips on how to adjust the saw blade bearings to shift the blade around a bit so it would be straight in the slot and square to the table. They also offered to send me a new top plate with just the saw blade slot in it that I could re-drill the mounting holes to square up the saw. The other benefit of doing that is that it won't have all the extra holes for all the other saws....the downside is that it won't be powdercoated like the rest of the top of the table. I think I can live with that......