J Forbes says:
>
> Oh boy, we get to design a new shop! First of all, 24' x 24' will be
> WAY too small. Mine is 30 x 44, and it is WAY too small! Seriously, if
Hey my shop is 68x55 and has a 30x55 loft and it's too small! What ever
size you get will be two small once you start to use it. Just be glad to
have a space specifically for shop work.
Jim's right when he says have areas set up for seperate tasks. I have an
area specifically set up for messy work, like wood working, welding and
the like, then I have an area near the lift area with grinders and drills
and stuff that makes metal shavings, and then I have an area that can be
closed off with inner overhead doors that I keep clean to use as a
painting, assembly room. I also have an office area that has its own
locked door and ac this is nice to close off the noise of the compressor or
stereo or tv or what ever and just think.
Other things: (most taken from the shop-talk list over the years as well as
experience)
White walls, a good reflective surface is melamine board, it comes in 4x8
sheets for about $12 and is white-board material. Great for making notes.
Paint the ceiling (or rafters) white too.
If you drywall the interior, think about reinforcing the lower walls with
plywood. I did this in my shop covering the bottom 4 feet with 1/2"
plywood and the number of times I've had something heavy bump off it and
not punch a hole in the wall or been able to bolt down a set of shelves and
not worry about the bypsum holding is uncountable. The ply goes on top of
the drywall for fire prevention.
You can never have enough outlets.
Natural lighting is far superior to electric, but more is better. I have
some large overhead doors that I open in the summer time, to let in light,
but in the winter time and nights I use a pair of 400w mercury halid lamps
in the ceiling. Windows are nice too.
If your shop has to be multipurpose (almost a given with a standard garage
size), build a large worksurface you can wheel around. I have a table I
made from scrap wood, its surface is 5/4 floor plywood, 3'x8' then wrapped
with 2x6 and covered with a 1/4" sheet of aluminum. The legs are 4x4s with
cross braces and a turnbuckle cable, and have lockable wheels on them. It
can easily hold 1000 lbs. It's great for engine assembly-disassembly, but I
think I use it for almost every project, wheeling it over to the area I'm
working on and using it for an easy surface.
Contrary to Jim's suggestion, DO NOT use pvc for compressed air. Even
though Sched 40 is rated some ultra high level like 600 psi, the fittings
and joints are not. When the compressor cuts in, there is a wave of
pressure that can be really high, even if the regulator is set to like 90
psi. Compressed air is cold, which can freeze pvc and make it brittle.
When cold brittle pvc is struck with a hard blunt object it will shatter
and send shrapnel through the building. If you have to put in hard lines,
go with copper (and silver solder), galvanized, or black pipe. If you want
to run a long length, look at PEX tubing. It's green in color and can
withstand pressures of upwards of 2000 psi. The PEX tubing is relatively
cheap but the fittings are pricey, so plan it out so that you have the
fewest connections. One other benefit of PEX is that it is flexible enough
to be put inside walls and follow corners without using any fittings. I
found this stuff when I was working at Intel in the factory, it was used to
bring in Argon and Helium under extreme pressures.
--
__
Miq Millman miq@teleport.com
Tualatin, OR
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|