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| patgizz | new garage- what would you do? | ||
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my new house has a 26' wide by 32' deep garage, about 20 years old pole built, still looks new. the electric is lacking, they just ran romex through underground conduit and have one 110V circuit for the whole deal and one shop light in the middle. totally not cool for vehicle stuff.
we're going to upgrade the house panel, have to because it has one of the old recalled federal pacific breaker boxes. depending on the main size i'm going to call my electrician and ask about upgrading to a 200 amp main service. my dad is a trained "super milrite" from the steel mill and had to take every electrical class that an electrician would in order to be licensed by the state to perform electrical work in the mill, and he will be doing everything. as for the garage - we will be running a new 220V line to it and putting in it's own main panel. there will be plenty of lighting. with a blank slate - what would you do? i'm planning to position all the outlets at workbench height so no matter where stuff ends up along the walls i will not block outlets. would you hard plumb air lines or stick to hoses? stuff that is a given and will be moving with me: 60 gallon upright compressor large blast cabinet 20 gallon parts washer 52" roller tool chest 26" roller chest(houses all my automotive elec/plumbing supplies) 30x80 steel worktable welding cart w/ welder usually 2-3 engines on stands at a time need space for 2 bench grinders, have thought of mounting them right off the wall but any thoughts? there is a 5' wide overhead door that goes out the rear of the garage, i've already thought about adding on a room in the back for the compressor, blast cabinet, storage of engines on stands, and general parts inventory that may otherwise take up valuable floor space, but this would have to be next year. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/25 14:22
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| Matatk | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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You planning on making workstations for different projects? Ie: tool storage and bench in one area, welding in one area, grinding in one area, etc? I think you would want to keep flammable materials away from the grinding areas.
I think the sep. area for the large compressor would be a good idea especially if it's noisy. They can be annoying. I can't help with hard lines vs. flexible. Post some pics! Matthew |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 1:51
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| red_johnny | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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On Sabbatical
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Jeesh, I think you just about got the tool part covered. Maybe a lift if you got the coin. As far as the hard line or not I would go hard line if its easier for you but if it were me I would go and run a line up to the top and center it the add a coiled drop down line that you can reel up or down. My dad did that and its very nice to just reach up and grab the air line. It hardly ever gets in the way as you never have to step over it.
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 2:04
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| CentralCoaster | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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I've thought of actually installing lighting along the baseboard of the walls in some places. This would light up the underside of anything you're working on. Bright shop lights above are no good if they cast shadows under everything.
I would also paint the interior white, this will reflect more light. An overhead hose reel would probably be good enough. Is compressor noise going to be an issue? Might not be a bad idea to put that in a seperate room or closet and insulate it. Just make sure it can breathe enough or else has an exhaust fan. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 3:45
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| BillH | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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If you're going to build engines, the first thing I'd do is clean and paint the floor. It makes a big difference, oil spills wipe right up instead of soaking in, etc. Products like U-CoatIt would run about $300 for that size shop in one color. And, like CC said, white walls.
I'd definately have all the bench grinders, blast cabinet, welder, etc. at the opposite end of the shop from whwre you do your builds, possibily separated by a curtain wall on a track. I've been looking at the inexpensive storage cabinets at Home Depot. 3 foot by 18 or 24 in deep and 6 ft high - $100 The new Summit tool catalog has a compressor semi hard line tubing (50 ft) and fitting kit for $60. I personnally wouldn't mount the grinders on the wall. Once in a while trying to grind or wire wheel a long piece at an angle, the wall gets in the way. Plus you can move them if they're on a stand. I wouldn't have any trouble using the inexpensive Harbor Ft. stands. Elect. outlets at bench height works really well. We had the 6ft strip outlets (with sockets every 8 inches) in the raceshop. I'd also build a shelf with at least 4 outlets for all the damn battery chargers that clutter up the work bench,drill, impact, LED worklite, etc. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 14:49
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| Durango_Boy | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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I have the Harbor Freight grinder stand and it's too short. I'm going to have mine extended so I don't have to bend over.
For noise purposes, if you use a lot of air tools, a sound proof section for the compressor is a good idea. Make sure it's ventilated. Soft wall lines won't be a problem if they are easier for you to run than hard lines, and you can use the coiled drop lines for the air tools. It'll keep things quiet for you. I installed two overhead retractable extension cords in my garage, one on each side. One is a multi plug and the other is a drop light with a plug. Perfect for quick power needs that are easy to get out of the way. Multiple overhead lights are great, but as mentioned they create shadows. The only problem I found with low wall mounted lights is they can blind you when you're under a car and looking towards one on the opposite side. A good radio is a must for continuous tunes, and a beer fridge is almost more important than any tool in the garage. LOL. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 15:07
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| BillH | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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That's a very good point. It's probably more cost effective to extend a HF stand than to build your own. Same thing with the work benches, I have one that's around 40 inches or so tall. It's much easier on the back. Ditto on the beer frig. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 16:01
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Every man dies but not every man lives. |
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| Durango_Boy | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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Elite Guru
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Oh, another tip if you have older battery chargers, is a custom outlet just for the chargers. I used a dial light timer, and a four socket wall box. I installed the timer to control the sockets that the chargers plug into. My batteries have a timed charging limit of 3 hours. If you exceed that you destroy the batteries and chargers both. So, I set my timer to 3 hours exactly, and my batteries have lasted me for over 7 years now with continuous use in various cordless tools. The timer was one of the best things I did for my battery chargers. I can charge a battery and walk away and not have to worry and forget to check the amount of time it's charged.
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 16:10
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| CentralCoaster | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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There's a science to running air lines also.
I've seen setups where they slope the lines up hill and then put dead legs in them, to catch condensation. Similar to how you'd install a steam line. Basically the air coming out of the the compressor is hot and can condense when it cools through the long air lines. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 18:21
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| CentralCoaster | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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Would you say this only applies to certain types of batteries or chargers? I don't use my Dewalts that much, but I've left them on the charger for days at a time on occasion. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 18:23
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1985 Z51, ZF6 |
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| CentralCoaster | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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Also make sure you run a seperate circuit, or unswitched power for the garage door opener outlet! You don't want to kill it everytime you turn the overhead lights off.
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 18:24
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1985 Z51, ZF6 |
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| Durango_Boy | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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I think with more modern batteries and chargers you'd be fine because the chargers actually have some chip controlling the battery charge and they stop charging. The batteries and chargers I have don't have nay control or switch off means, like many older style batteries and chargers. New ones...not a problem, old ones...a problem. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 18:52
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| BillH | Re: new garage- what would you do? | ||
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The Stig Moderator
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Yep, what I do for the dead leg is to tee into the vertical down line where I want a quick disconnect, attach the disconnect to the horizontal leg of the tee and run a 6 to 8 inch piece of pipe below that with a pipe plug or a radiator bleeder to drain the line. Or you can spend $900 for the smallest Ingersoll Rand refrigerated air dryer, tee hee hee. |
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Posted on: 2009/2/26 22:06
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