Shop Layout Questions

I have a 20'x20' shop that I am remodeling and am seeking suggestions
for an optimum layout for building. Currently it is wired basically,
and I know I (read electrician) will adding a plurality of shop lights
and higher voltage outlets. Other than that, what else should I
consider?

Here are lessons I learned from converting a 2 car garage to a shop
* Have plenty of room for storing completed assemblies, and parts in
process. Learned this the hard way.
* Make sure your work bench is a work bench, and never a storage bench.
* In addition to a wall work bench, you'll want a center of the room work
bench.
* You want to be able to clamp things to the edge of your work bench. I
don't have this on the wall benches.
* There are bunches of things you want accessible at your work bench, or
extremely close. For me, those things are drill bits, dimple dies, chuck
keys, scothbrite, files, brushes (for cleaning work, tools, and the bench),
and also hearing, eye, and dust protection. I recently added a screwdriver
rack (not that I use them on aluminum projects), but the first items are
the most important.
* Use oven liner pans so that your various liquids don't drip onto things
below
* I've got a ton of plastic shelving from the home supply store. Really
helps clean the place up.
* Make the shop visually attractive. I hung some airplane pictures, painted
the walls and floors, and the epoxy floors are very easy to clean. Doing
the floors was a pain and I did a lousy job, so make sure you've got great
instructions on every step.
* I also have one corner of the shop that has back issues of magazines, how
to books, catalogs, all that, along with an old easy chair.
* Have great ventilation, both to keep cool and also to get fumes out. I'm
still working on this part.
* Make sure you have a good supply of scrap wood and scrap aluminum.
* Have the shop vac handy at all times. It's real easy to keep a spotless
shop spotless, but it's hard to keep a pretty clean shop from turning into
a mess.
* Segregate the airplane stuff from the household stuff. Household stuff
can quickly turn your shop into a real mess.
* I really like having plastic, multi-bin containers for holding related
small tools.
* Time spent getting your shop in shape will pay itself back very quickly.

Enjoy!

Ed Wischmeyer

John Ammeter wrote in message . ..


I've run copper pipe through my shop. We're building a new
home and shop and I plan to run 3/4" copper throughout the
shop. I might even run a line to the house since I'll have
a hobby room there, too.


John: Something to consider......If you decide to make a run to the
house, lay in some large plastic conduit and run the air line inside
using bulk 1" airhose with the regulator in the hobby room. At the
same time, run you a Cat 5 or fiber link and a couple of pair phone
cable and a couple of pairs of low voltage lines plus a pull line.
Then you can rig a low voltage compressor control from the hobby room
as well as a powered on/off valve for the air run to the house. You
can also use one of the low voltage pairs to control an external light
if the shop is any distance from the house. The Cat 5 and the phone
lines are a bonus if you decide to put a computer out there and if you
want phone extension in the shop.

The extra bucks upfront won't be too bad compared going back and
adding things in after construction is done.

Craig C.

On 3 Jul 2004 09:59:08 -0700,
(Craig) wrote:

John Ammeter wrote in message . ..


I've run copper pipe through my shop. We're building a new
home and shop and I plan to run 3/4" copper throughout the
shop. I might even run a line to the house since I'll have
a hobby room there, too.


John: Something to consider......If you decide to make a run to the
house, lay in some large plastic conduit and run the air line inside
using bulk 1" airhose with the regulator in the hobby room. At the
same time, run you a Cat 5 or fiber link and a couple of pair phone
cable and a couple of pairs of low voltage lines plus a pull line.
Then you can rig a low voltage compressor control from the hobby room
as well as a powered on/off valve for the air run to the house. You
can also use one of the low voltage pairs to control an external light
if the shop is any distance from the house. The Cat 5 and the phone
lines are a bonus if you decide to put a computer out there and if you
want phone extension in the shop.

The extra bucks upfront won't be too bad compared going back and
adding things in after construction is done.

Craig C.



Those are all excellent ideas. I had three 2" plastic
conduit run through the shop foundation when they built it.
It would be easy now to run three conduits to the house.
The shop and house are going to be about 80 feet apart. I
like the thought of a low-voltage controller for the
aircompressor. I always keep it full of air but have the
"switch" off in case I rupture an air line or fitting...

I'll probably be using my wireless LAN in the new
house/shop. If I put the router in my wifes office it will
be a direct 80 foot shot to the shop. Both have wood
construction with Hardi-plank walls so the signal should
make that distance easily. I'll be running a phone line
plus an intercom, too....

John

I am obviously getting into this subject late in the discussion, but
John has nailed it. Copper pipe is the easiest and least expensive way
to plumb for compressed air. My only caveat is that when I did my first
shop that way I used standard tin/lead solder. My system was not
pressurized all the time so there was a lot of expansion and
contraction. This worked the solar joints just enough that some very
minor leaks developed. I removed and re-did the joints using flux-less
silver solder. Never had a joint leak since. (have a copper solar panel
that I built using this flux-less silver solder. Over 200 joints and
after 6 years, still no leaks.)

John Ammeter wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 21:52:52 -0700, Richard Riley
wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jul 2004 00:46:48 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:

:
:"Roger Halstead" wrote
:
:
: Eventually I plan on building a sound proofed enclosure around the
: compressor. Galvanized pipe for air lines around the inside of the
: shop instead of having to pull a hose around.
:
: Roger Halstead Not galvanized pipe. It is illegal to use as gas pipe,
:cause the plate can flake off, and plug stuff up. It could be bad for your
ower tools.

So what's legal? Last year I spent a day running galvi parallel to
the PVC that was there before, because I was being told it could blow
out.

I've run copper pipe through my shop. We're building a new
home and shop and I plan to run 3/4" copper throughout the
shop. I might even run a line to the house since I'll have
a hobby room there, too.

John

--
Bruce A. Frank, Editor "Ford 3.8/4.2L Engine and V-6 STOL
Homebuilt Aircraft Newsletter"
| Publishing interesting material|
| on all aspects of alternative |
| engines and homebuilt aircraft.|
*------------------------------**----*
\(-o-)/ AIRCRAFT PROJECTS CO.
\___/ Manufacturing parts & pieces
/ \ for homebuilt aircraft,
0 0 TIG welding

While trying to find the time to finish mine.

My thought process in running too far ahead...that's "solder joints" not
"solar joints."

"Bruce A. Frank" wrote:

I am obviously getting into this subject late in the discussion, but
John has nailed it. Copper pipe is the easiest and least expensive way
to plumb for compressed air. My only caveat is that when I did my first
shop that way I used standard tin/lead solder. My system was not
pressurized all the time so there was a lot of expansion and
contraction. This worked the solar joints just enough that some very
minor leaks developed. I removed and re-did the joints using flux-less
silver solder. Never had a joint leak since. (have a copper solar panel
that I built using this flux-less silver solder. Over 200 joints and
after 6 years, still no leaks.)

John Ammeter wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 21:52:52 -0700, Richard Riley
wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jul 2004 00:46:48 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:

:
:"Roger Halstead" wrote
:
:
: Eventually I plan on building a sound proofed enclosure around the
: compressor. Galvanized pipe for air lines around the inside of the
: shop instead of having to pull a hose around.
:
: Roger Halstead Not galvanized pipe. It is illegal to use as gas pipe,
:cause the plate can flake off, and plug stuff up. It could be bad for your
ower tools.

So what's legal? Last year I spent a day running galvi parallel to
the PVC that was there before, because I was being told it could blow
out.

I've run copper pipe through my shop. We're building a new
home and shop and I plan to run 3/4" copper throughout the
shop. I might even run a line to the house since I'll have
a hobby room there, too.

John


--
Bruce A. Frank, Editor "Ford 3.8/4.2L Engine and V-6 STOL
Homebuilt Aircraft Newsletter"
| Publishing interesting material|
| on all aspects of alternative |
| engines and homebuilt aircraft.|
*------------------------------**----*
\(-o-)/ AIRCRAFT PROJECTS CO.
\___/ Manufacturing parts & pieces
/ \ for homebuilt aircraft,
0 0 TIG welding

While trying to find the time to finish mine.

I recently completed the worktop of a modified version. I'm building
a Fly Baby, so I built mine 8' x 30", with the 2x4s set in 2" from the
edges to provide clamping room. I used 5/8" particleboard for the top
- it was ten bucks cheaper than the 23/32 ply, and a darn sight
flatter. Details at
http://www.itasca.net/~corrie/homebu...log.htm#latest . One
note - with two sets of doubled 2x4s running the length of it, it's
heavy as all get-out.

Haven't built the legs yet; it's sitting on an old worktable for now
in the workroom in the basement. Still need to work out the details
of how I'm going to to do the feet. My garage floor isn't level, so I
need to figure a way to rig vertically-adjustable locking casters.

I'll build a second one when I'm ready to lay out the full fuselage.
This one will do for now as a general workbench, and for building a
cockpit mockup (hat tip to Erich on the yahoo flybabylist group!) I
figure I can do a lot of preliminary work in the basement before I
have to move out to the garage.

Corrie

"Ebby" wrote in message ...
I built three of the EAA 1000 tables. I made them just a bit wider for my
Hatz airframe. They are very functional and moving them into different
configurations works great for doing tailfeather, gear, torque tube etc..
The lower shelf is a must as it stabilizes the table and provides great
storage. If I recall they worked out to about $60 apiece and I had a lot of
3/4" plywood left over for other things. That was 2 years ago.

"Corrie" wrote

Haven't built the legs yet; it's sitting on an old worktable for now
in the workroom in the basement. Still need to work out the details
of how I'm going to to do the feet. My garage floor isn't level, so I
need to figure a way to rig vertically-adjustable locking casters.

Use 4 x 4's and put the casters off to one corner. Drill a pilot hole for a
3/8" lag bolt. Roll the table where you want it, then use a wrench to back
the bolts out, till the weight is sitting on them, instead of the casters.
--
Jim in NC


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"Morgans" wrote in message ...
"Corrie" wrote

Haven't built the legs yet; it's sitting on an old worktable for now
in the workroom in the basement. Still need to work out the details
of how I'm going to to do the feet. My garage floor isn't level, so I
need to figure a way to rig vertically-adjustable locking casters.

Use 4 x 4's and put the casters off to one corner. Drill a pilot hole for a
3/8" lag bolt. Roll the table where you want it, then use a wrench to back
the bolts out, till the weight is sitting on them, instead of the casters.

Yeah, I'd thought of that. I'd like to find a solution that doesn't
require me to crawl around the table with a wrench, popping up and
down to see if it's level yet. Hard on these old knees. G I'd
like to use locking casters rather than jacking the table off the
wheels. Still need to think on it some more, but I've got in mind
making a moveable "foot" at the bottom of the leg. The foot would be
adjustable vertically, probably riding on a threaded rod for a
jackscrew. The locking caster would be at the bottom of the foot.

The idea is to be able to put the table away at the end of the day,
leave room in the garage for a ground vehicle.