Sunday, September 26, 2010

Framing Started

I got the first two walls framed up this weekend.  It went well, a bit quicker than expected.  I trimmed the studs down to fit on the foundation wall so I'd end up with a 8' finished wall height.  Had to get a bit creative and rip treated 2x4s in half lengthwise for the bottom plate, as the existing bottom plate is a 2x6 with 2x4 framing.  

Here's Katie, the wonder dog, helping.  Right now, she's "wondering" what's going on in her garage!  The lathe will go right in front of the window.  The bench/cabinets will go to the right of the lathe, near what will be the door.  That's it for this week.  Hopefully the other two walls will get framed up next weekend.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Electrician

I met with the electrician today.  They'll run a new 30A 220v circuit out to a new subpanel for my room.  Then I can branch off for the lights and the outlets.  I'm currently using one 20A circuit in my basement turning room for both the outlets and the lights.  I'd like to have more power in case I upgrade from my Jet Mini.

Current Amp Load:
  • Ridgid AF2100 Air FIltration 0.9a
  • Ryobi BS903 Band Saw 2.5a
  • Ryobi TS1350 Miter Saw 15a
  • Ridgid WD0625 Shop Vac (Dust Collection) 7.3 a
  • Jet 1014 Mini Lathe 3a
I don't believe the 15a listed on the Internet for the Jet.  It has a 8 amp overload breaker built in, so obviously, it's lower than that.  Using this, I calculate the Jet amperage at 3.

Only the air filtration, lathe and shop vac are used continuously.  That's a total of 11.2a.  The rest are used intermittently.

The new shop vac (Festool) will draw 8 amps, so that's not significantly different than the Ridgid.

The Nova 1624, that I may upgrade to, will draw approximately 10 amps.  So, 30 amps spread about the shop in two circuits should be fine.

I'll may run the shop lights off one of the garage outlets that'll be covered up in the remodel.   Since I'll only have 2-3 fluorescent fixtures, it won't be much load.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Building Permit

Since we have a new building code here, I have my permit ($50).  I've spoken with the building inspector and he's OK with my plans.  I was concerned that I wouldn't be allowed to use plywood on the interior, due to the one hour fire rating requirement.  Since the garage already has a fire wall separating it from the house, I can use plywood.  This will make hanging shelves etc. much easier, plus it's a more rugged material.  

Plans

Here's the floor plan of the garage, with the shop added.  The large dotted rectangles are the cars.  We only have two, but I want to leave space for three.  Not really space for three Suburbans (!), but space for one and two smaller vehicles. 
















Here's a rough shop plan, I've changed a few things since this was drawn, but it's close. 

Since the room is so narrow, all the tools and bench will go on the North wall.  I'll add a second window into the garage directly across from the "real" window", so I can ventilate on nice days.  The lathe sits directly in front of the north window.  This'll be nice. 


Cabinets - I'll look at ReStore for used cabinets.  I don't want anything 'open' as the shavings and dust create too much mess.   ReStore is a fun place to look around.

I'll build a wood base for my small bandsaw, so it'll sit on top of the small tablesaw.  I rarely use the tablesaw, so this should work well.

I'm planning to purchase a nice, ie- QUIET, dust collector, either a Fein or Festool.  I'll build a small rolling cart for it and add a Dust Deputy .  Finally, I'll mount my grinder on top of this cart.  Everything has to do multiple duty with my limited space.

Old Shop

Here's the old shop.  You can see the shop vac hose running outside the room.  This was done to reduce the noise a bit.  Not ideal, as it then carries the dust outside the shop and the shop air filtration.  You can just see the shop filtration (Ridgid) hanging from the ceiling. 



The grinder for sharpening sits just outside this room.

Background

I started woodturning three years ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed it.  After one year of turning in the unheated garage, I moved into a small 6x8' room in the basement.  This worked, but it added dust to the house.  Further, my chopsaw and bandsaw remained in the garage, due to space limitations.   This led to a lot of walking through the house, changing shoes each time (trying to keep the shavings out of the main house).

We've decided to add a room in the garage for my turning.   It won't be huge, but it'll be better than 6 x 8!