Shop upgrade 2007/08

[Roccus]

Well, I wasnt going to do anything this year except up grade the electricity to my shop to eliminate all the extension cords.....

I then decided to add a 1050CFM air purifier, form there it snow balled to a total make over.. here's what's been done..

The first problem was the power.... I had three seperate extension cords, run(neatly) from 3 different 15 amp circuits that were shared in the house, simply put, run a shop vac and a saw... you pop a breaker, run the dust collector and anything else you pop a breaker... Run a table saw and half way through the cut... poop goes the power..

So I ran two designated 20 amp circuits to my two work stations and a 220 volt 20 amp circuit to my main dust collector from the main electrical panel....Now the shop is totaly independant of the rest of the house.

Next, I swapped the dust collector motor to 220 volt, this cut the amp draw from 11.5 amps down to 5 amps, the unit starts faster, and runs smoother and quieter and no more dimmed lights... Power to the benches is provided by 120 volt/20 amp cord drops which power the 4, 20 amp duplex outletts on each bench...

Now with the power in good shape, I installed a ceiling mounted 1050 cfm air purifier that filters out 85% of all particles 1 micron or larger and %65 of all particles .50 microns... It will cycle the air in a 30X30 X 8' shop 8 times an hour... It can be run by a simple on/off switch or run by remote control, which also can controls the motor for 5 different speeds and sets the timer for constant on or 2/4/6 or 8 hours, I cant believe the difference and how clean the shop stays, no more dust settling on everything.......( the main dust collector was fitted with aftermarket 5 micron bags last season, replacing the stock 35 micron bags))

Now that I was on a clean kick, I relocated my air compressor to a corner,added a computer fan and grates(with filters) for cooling the compressor that is enclosed in a sound deadening box....By eliminating the heat build up, I help eliminate the condenstion, external water traps and regulators were added and the air hard piped to both work stations and the paint booth.

The benches and paint stations got a make over, shelving was added and stock relocated, better utilizing my space, I was only utilzing half the lathe station, so I "rebuilt" it and made the back half into a sanding/grinding station, complete with 2 1/2" hook ups for both the 6" belt/9" disk sanders 1" belt/5" disk sanders to go into the main dust collector... I took my bench grinder and drill doctor from my main work bench and added them to the station, I then added a 4' light strip to give bettter visability for deicate tasks...

I built a stock rack along one wall to hold ply wood, and longer pieces of wood...I made alot of more subtle changes, not worth noting here...


The final piece of the puzzel is arriving today, I'm replacing my PSI duplicator with a Vega.... ENOUGH ( for this season)

I'll post up pictures tomorrow...

[jimi4290]

..master roc..at it again..

[Roccus]

OK in order, first the relocated air system, note the fresh air grated in the front, the computer fan is on the back side, above the compressor sound box are the air regulator and water trap..

Next is the 850 CFM dust collector, it rolls out of the way if I should need to use the sander at the end of the bench, it is piped in to all the tools and the spray booth... a copper grounding wire runs the entire length of the system to eliminate any static electricity.. The power is supplied by a 220 volt cord drop with a twist lock connector.

To the side of the dust collector and pointing the long length of the shop is the 1050 CFM air purifier...

The next 3 pictures are of the newly formed Sanding station, I made a shelf on the bottom for akwardly stored items as this is out of the main work stream...

the next two shots are of the lathe station, with new aquired Vega duplictor installed..

The next picture is of the main work bench, draws have been added on the left hand side, with the extra room created by moving the grinder, wet stone and drill doctor I added another vise and moved the towel dispenser to the left side for painting convience..Behind the bench is the paint statin, I moved the air from above and ran it through the cut in the middle of the bench, this keeps the air hose out of the way lessening the chance of knocking the airbrush to the ground ( it happend several times with the old set up).. the side shot is in one of the other photos showing the relocated air station..

the next three pictures are of the drilling and cutting station, air and electricity are dropped down from the ceiling and brought to each corner of the work station, the dust collector drop on the drill press is tied back with velcro, making it possible to adjust the hose for different platform heights while still keeping the hose out of the way..

The next picture is a long view of the shop and the newly created stocck rack for large stock, it lagged to the wall and supported by 4X4 trusses..
the following picture is of the small stock rack, this has the all important radio and sized stock, also in the picture is the Misc. storage shelves, they contain sand paper, adhesives, stencils and anything else needed to complete the job..

the last picture is an overview of the entire shop..

Hopefully this will give some of you ideas if you were toying wih upgrading your own cave...

[FrankET]

Roc,

VERY, VERY nice!!
Thanks for some more ideas.

[Striperjim]

Very Nice rock. I have to cut about 4 very large trees down to get a workshop on my property. I hate to take em down but they roll this monstrous thing (horse barn) off and need the clearance. Im hoping to get it done before the winter.
I plan on converting it to a workshop.

[jimi4290]

..now your ready to build..

[BryanL]

Very Nice Roc...

[barnold3784]

Sweet shop Roccus. I dont know what makes It Better. All those crafty tools or the 18x 24 61lb Bass pic over the bench???

[Rickski]

Roccus,

Looks like you have your spray booth hooked up to your dust collector. Is there a filter between the booth and the collector?

I just picked up a Delta AP400. It's only rated for 650 CFM, but I think it will do better at holding down the dust than the shop vac. My other form of dust collection is from a home forced hot air heating system. I took the squirrel cage blower and built a wooden box around it. Both sides of the blower accept a 20" x 20" pleated filter. Seems to work really well.

[Roccus]

Originally Posted by zeema

Roccus,

Looks like you have your spray booth hooked up to your dust collector. Is there a filter between the booth and the collector

I think I've state this before, but it's worth repeating, I have two filters ( note the box behind the spray booth, one filter is charcoal, the other is polly fiber.... this booth is for NON flamable, water based paints only, all other flamable paints are sprayed outside...

[Roccus]

It's even more pleasant to look at and keep clean now, I sheet rocked the walls Sunday and hung my pictures and plug case lastnight as well as a cork board for the city of Champions...

[Roccus]

Even more improvements.... I made the dust collector two stage... added a few decorations to the sheet rocked walls...

[Rickski]

Looks great. Is the 2 stage dust collector working out? I have a Delta dust collector and the intake has a cross shapped "finger guard" Really looks like a couple pieces of 1/8" round stock welded in place. When using a jointer, the long wood shavings get caught on the bars and eventually restrict flow. I would think the same would happen when using a planer.

Do many of the bigger chips get past the 2nd stage?

[Roccus]

The two stage is the nuts!!! wish I had done it sooner, The main reason I finlay went two stage was because I blew up a plug and part of it made it past the "T" and blast gate and lodged in the blower fins, totaly stopping the motor.... luckily,no fins were bent, it takes alot to stop a 1 1/2 hp motor spinning at 3400 RPM's!

So for a 25 dollar top, a $18 dollar trash can, I eliminated the problem for good,two added bonuses, one, nothing but the finest of dust goes past the metal trash can, and even then, it's not alot, the cyclone effect of the incoming air dumps most of it in the can, , emptying the filter bags was always a PITA messy job... now, I slip a trash bag over the can and invert it, quick clean and easy, no more fussing with clamps...

[zimno1]

as per the paper towel location it dawns on me you are a lefty. really nice work. i wanna see the close up of the box o plugs on da wall