GARAGE: Workshop and Garage reorganized

After getting my new tool boards, I was wondering what to do with them. I decided to keep them, because I liked them so much. But where to hang them? After years of collecting various stuff and hanging it in random free spaces, it got me thinking how I could improve the whole thing.

I was never really happy with the layout, particularly that green drawer on the left in the previous photo. The idea was originally to have the soldering table underneath that light shaft, but since my wife decided to put a big bucket with tomato plants on top of it, the only thing that comes through that windows are spiders when I open it to vent. Also, the parts washer in the middle of the room can get the whole area quite smelly.
In the bay-area, there was a lot of stuff standing around. Including my very first crappy cheap tool trolley which I never used, but kept for sentimental reasons 🙂

I started to think and measure how I can improve the whole situation with minimal work. And that quickly spiralled into a load of small tasks.
Main goal: Move the green drawer to the rear –> requires the white shelves to me moved to the right.
Move the white shelves completely to the wall –> requires the power outlets and tubing to be moved about 10cm.
Move the soldering table to the left side –> Requires the grinding machine to be moved.

On the positive side, the drawer just fit between the window-frame and shelves by the millimeter and the whole moving also allowed me to:
– Move the parts cleaner to the window (better air ventilation when working with it)
– Move the blue drawer and the big workbench about 10-20cm to the right, giving better space between shelves and workbench.
– Move the trash bin into the former area of the parts cleaner (more central)
– Move the silver shelves (not visible) further to the right, giving some better access to the steps.

After this was done, I also removed some things on the Wall of the Bay area and moved some things further up on the wall, so I could hang all the Nice vintage Datsun tool walls:

Overall, I’m very satisfied with the new layout. The change is minimal, even though it was more work than expected. But the space is much more accessible now.

The soldering area has more light and isn’t hidden behind the green drawer (Yes, I’m aware that the textile banner behind the grinder is probably not the best idea.)

And on the opposite side I moved some crap to another area, so i finally  had some space to hang the removed prints from the Garage and even make a display shelve with my “best-off” parts:

Over the years I’ve hoarded loads of stickers from friends and nice brands and suppliers, so I decided to give them a bit of credit by putting them on the blue drawer:

After a proper cleanup of the whole garage and workshop and scrapping some things. I think the area is much cleaner now:

And a wide-angle view of my garage area:

Thanks to Chris (26th-Z) I was able to get some of the missing tools for my Datsun 240Z factory toolbox too. Strangely, some of my parts are pretty similar, but had completely different part numbers. And all of them have a slightly different shape, material, or coating.

Well, the good thing is I have now one complete set with the mentioned part numbers in the manual and box to complete it: Excellent, and thank you, Chris!