Setting Up Shop

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  • #81
Lights were delivered today! And since my last post I've also picked up 4" PVC for the DC lines. Still need to order the wire that goes between the main panel and the sub panel. Will probably order that tonight.

Over the next few days I hope to make some good progress getting lights and DC lines in place.

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  • #82
And there is almost power! Cable arrived today for the run between main and sub panels. It arrived fast too. Ordered it at 10:15PM on Wednesday. Had a pair of tracking numbers for my order by 10AM. Picked up by FedEx in the late afternoon from their warehouse Thursday. And delivered today, Friday, about lunch time. And that was ground shipping... Helps that the place I ordered from I found out is located in the Chicago area, so it didn't have far to travel.

I was going to order the cable I needed from Home Depot. When I looked at it previously, they estimated delivery at close to 3 weeks away from ordering. Yeah, not going to cut it... I had stumbled across Wire & Cable Your Way in searching for an alternative source. The cable was cheaper from them, though more with shipping. The fast delivery time was well worth the little bit extra money overall. I also ordered some cord for eventually wiring up a few tools that are in process of restoration, or will eventually be in process of restoration. I'm certain I'll be ordering from them again for future wire needs.

This afternoon I got the cable ran. Got everything done for wiring the garage and in the sub panel. All that is left to do is get it all hooked up into the main panel! Hope to do that tomorrow.

Also started putting up lights. Got a run of 4 up. Had to plug them into an extension cord to check them out. Hopefully more will go up tomorrow. With all of these - I bought a pack of 20 - it will be well lit in the shop.

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Sprung said:
And there is almost power! Cable arrived today for the run between main and sub panels. It arrived fast too. Ordered it at 10:15PM on Wednesday. Had a pair of tracking numbers for my order by 10AM. Picked up by FedEx in the late afternoon from their warehouse Thursday. And delivered today, Friday, about lunch time. And that was ground shipping... Helps that the place I ordered from I found out is located in the Chicago area, so it didn't have far to travel.

I was going to order the cable I needed from Home Depot. When I looked at it previously, they estimated delivery at close to 3 weeks away from ordering. Yeah, not going to cut it... I had stumbled across Wire & Cable Your Way in searching for an alternative source. The cable was cheaper from them, though more with shipping. The fast delivery time was well worth the little bit extra money overall. I also ordered some cord for eventually wiring up a few tools that are in process of restoration, or will eventually be in process of restoration. I'm certain I'll be ordering from them again for future wire needs.

This afternoon I got the cable ran. Got everything done for wiring the garage and in the sub panel. All that is left to do is get it all hooked up into the main panel! Hope to do that tomorrow.

Also started putting up lights. Got a run of 4 up. Had to plug them into an extension cord to check them out. Hopefully more will go up tomorrow. With all of these - I bought a pack of 20 - it will be well lit in the shop.

View attachment 186771
Click to expand...


I am finding that shipping is often much faster from lesser known companies and the pricing is as good or better. Most of them take paypal so I think that gives you a little protection if something goes wrong. We have all but stopped ordering from Amazon because the shipping on non essential items is often a few weeks out.
 
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  • #84
I agree with finding new/lesser known companies to order from as of late. Amazon Prime has been great for us to have, but they've really slowed down with all this. Even ordering things they deem essential are taking 4 days to a week to get here. And what they might deem "non-essential" might be essential to a business or person who is ordering from them. It's really frustrating and we've been ordering less from them than we usually would.
 
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  • #85
:yipee::yipee::yipee::yipee::yipee:

Today we made the connection into the main panel. I now have more than enough power for the shop - the garage now has a 100A sub panel. This means I have power to run all my tools. This means I have heat (even though the need for heat is just about done until late fall). This is a huge step in getting the shop set up. And I'm quite excited to finally be at this point!

:yipee::yipee::yipee::yipee::yipee:

Next up: Lighting and dust collection.
 
Very cool Matt! I'm still working on my dc, almost done.
 
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  • #89
Eric Rorabaugh said:
Now we can finally start seeing some projects from the Sprung again!!
Click to expand...

Close! :sarcastic:

Got to get dust collection lines run and machines dialed in. That should happen during the course of this week!

Then on to shop projects!
 
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  • #90
And, if you're following along, the post I just made mentioned nothing about lighting. Well, that's because I finished putting up the lighting before dinner. Still have one fixture to put up, but will do that when I'm putting up the DC line in that same area. There will also be some task specific and bench lighting eventually installed as things are put into place and shop projects get worked on.

This shop will not lack for lighting. And I'm very happy about that, because that is something that was always lacking in my previous shop.

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  • #91
Well, today has become a major progress day in the shop.

Power to shop - Done!
Main lighting - Done!
DC runs - Making good progress!

Got a really good start on getting the DC lines run tonight. Another few hours or so of shop time and DC lines should all be in place. For now I'm using the cheap plastic blast gates I have. In time I plan to replace them with the good metal ones. But at about $15 each, and having just spent a good amount to get the shop wired and lit, buying anything for the shop will wait for a while. My wife has been very gracious to me in shop related purchases as of late.

Earlier today, after there was power in the shop, I plugged in and turned on the Unisaw. It hasn't been aligned yet, but it was good to hear it run. Hasn't been run since about the end of November...

The heater I installed is now able to be used, since it now has power. Real nice for taking the edge off the chill. I was working out there in a t-shirt today.

30.webp
 
That is going to be a beautiful work space. I am still hoping to get going on mine soon, I was wondering what you used for a dust collector filter? I will be doing something similar with mine and I have been looking at the filters online some of them are quite expensive.
 
Sprung said:
Well, today has become a major progress day in the shop.

Power to shop - Done!
Main lighting - Done!
DC runs - Making good progress!

Got a really good start on getting the DC lines run tonight. Another few hours or so of shop time and DC lines should all be in place. For now I'm using the cheap plastic blast gates I have. In time I plan to replace them with the good metal ones. But at about $15 each, and having just spent a good amount to get the shop wired and lit, buying anything for the shop will wait for a while. My wife has been very gracious to me in shop related purchases as of late.

Earlier today, after there was power in the shop, I plugged in and turned on the Unisaw. It hasn't been aligned yet, but it was good to hear it run. Hasn't been run since about the end of November...

The heater I installed is now able to be used, since it now has power. Real nice for taking the edge off the chill. I was working out there in a t-shirt today.

View attachment 187095
Click to expand...

Looks like progress. Using sch 40 for dust system...they make long sweep 90's. Replaces the two 45's and straight (2 joints). Brothers is grounded in multiple places but I still get zapped on it...
 
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  • #94
sprucegum said:
That is going to be a beautiful work space. I am still hoping to get going on mine soon, I was wondering what you used for a dust collector filter? I will be doing something similar with mine and I have been looking at the filters online some of them are quite expensive.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it will be a great place to work in! Our church's president, who is also a woodworker, was over to the house to help me hook into the main panel and he was impressed with both my work on the electrical and how the garage doesn't look like a garage - very much a shop.

The filter I have is a Camfil Farr. @ripjack13 found a great deal on them on eBay some time ago and shared it here. I think it was about $75, including shipping. It was open box, but brand new. A deal like that I couldn't pass up. I cut out the bottom end and attached one of those screw on replacement lids for a 5 gallon pail. The pail is a place where fines can collect and is an easily removed access for cleaning out, as needed. For example, if I forget to check the bin during long sessions on the planer, I've had it back up and pack the whole system full. Having that cleanout has been very nice.

Mr. Peet said:
Looks like progress. Using sch 40 for dust system...they make long sweep 90's. Replaces the two 45's and straight (2 joints). Brothers is grounded in multiple places but I still get zapped on it...
Click to expand...

I do have a couple long sweep 90's that I'm using in the system, but the two 45's actually provide a gentler turn than a long sweep 90, which yields better airflow. Most of the fittings I'm reusing from my previous shop setup, only had to buy a few new ones, plus new pipe (didn't bring the pipe with me). I never grounded my PVC dust lines in my previous shop and I never once got zapped...
 
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  • #96
Gdurfey said:
Matt, that picture above looks very bright!! Great lights!
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Not enough lighting was an issue in my previous shop space. I had plans to remedy that, but we moved before I got to that. This is my third shop setup. I started my own shop space when we lived in ND. I acquired my first big tools there. During the just about 6 years we lived in MN, the shop changed a LOT. So many new (or new to me) tools, tool upgrades, etc. I was set up in a one car garage, plus a small area of the basement, and it seemed like I was always having to rearrange or reorganize to fit new things in or improve the workflow.

Building on my experiences in my shop space in MN, there were a few things that were a priority for me in setting up the new shop space.
  • Great lighting
  • Frequently used tools at the ready - some days it felt like I spent half my shop time setting up or putting away tools. Here I will not have to pull out the planer to use it, stuff like that.
  • Set up shop with a look to future tooling. I'm pretty well set on tooling. A couple machines I'd like to get. A few that I wouldn't mind upgrading someday. But in setting up shop here, I wanted to set it up with future tooling purchases in mind - at least having a general idea of where they'll go without having to rearrange the entire shop.

Within the week I'll be set up and ready to go. Well, for the most part. There's still lots to do in the shop. Organization and storage. A corner workbench. Etc. But soon I'll be at a point where I can just build things. I'm looking forward to that.
 
Sprung said:
I do have a couple long sweep 90's that I'm using in the system, but the two 45's actually provide a gentler turn than a long sweep 90, which yields better airflow. Most of the fittings I'm reusing from my previous shop setup, only had to buy a few new ones, plus new pipe (didn't bring the pipe with me). I never grounded my PVC dust lines in my previous shop and I never once got zapped...
Click to expand...


So I assume you had all your machines well grounded or just never had the low humidity and dry sawdust combination to create a charge..?.. Odd, stranger things can happen. Carry on.
 
Sprung said:
The filter I have is a Camfil Farr. @ripjack13 found a great deal on them on eBay some time ago and shared it here. I think it was about $75, including shipping. It was open box, but brand new. A deal like that I couldn't pass up.
Click to expand...
sprucegum said:
That is going to be a beautiful work space. I am still hoping to get going on mine soon, I was wondering what you used for a dust collector filter? I will be doing something similar with mine and I have been looking at the filters online some of them are quite expensive.
Click to expand...

I'll check my ebay page to see whats the price is at the moment....be right back.
 
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