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Equipping a shop

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Rut

Rut

Obi Wan
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Reading the list of shop tools on another topic got me motivated to start this topic. We are making progress after the fire and a new roof is on the house and the clean up/demolition on the shop, pool, back yard, etc. has begun in earnest. The guy operating the demo equipment pulled a lot of the parts I wanted to keep out of the rubble including exhaust manifolds, engine blocks and heads, etc. and put them aside and I'll go to the private dump and sift thru in hopes of finding more.
My wife and I have decided to fill in the pool, not build the shop back, and look for a site to build or if we can find a single story or master on the main floor house with room to build a shop. Our most promising lot opens to a wooded area and it has enough slope for a basement and we are waiting on the engineers to get back with us. If it works out I will have a basement shop that's approximately 45x70 with 12'+ ceilings which will give me the room I want. All that said what would you equip your shop with? I'm going to start with a budget of $50k and want your ideas of what to equip it with.
Thanks, Rut
 
That's huge Rut but I'm not nuts about a shop under the house just because of the threat of what you just went through. I keep all my welding equipment in a room separate to my rebuild room just so I'm not tempted to weld around flammable's. With that kind of budget you can afford welding and machining equipment on a limited scale. To start though I would say a couple of good vises and if you are salvaging tools from the fire they may have lost their temper. My dad bought a bunch of wrench's at an auction that had been through a building fire and though they looked good as soon as you tried to use them they would bend. Depends on how hot they got.

Kurt
 
2 post lift, lathe, MIG welder, parts soaker, engine hoist, hydraulic press, grinding wheels and buffers, drill press, the list could go on and on.
 
I would set up part of the shop as a paint booth with the proper ventilation & exhaust. I have to do all my painting outside. I can't tell you how many times I've been delayed because it's been too hot, too humid, too cold, etc. A small bead blaster would be helpful, and of course, a lift. Heat / AC would make the shop more liveable.

Bed, shower and kitchen so you never have to leave the shop. :welcoming:
 
At the very least do a side by side or better yet courtyard the garage
'I like the fire wall between me and my cars.
fire travels up no way I would tuckunder.
 
I'm with Nomad. A basement shop, particularly if it is going to house cars, is going to stink up your house with fumes and make enough noise to annoy your wife. IMHO a separate garage/shop building would be preferable. Obviously, a good compressor would be high on the list, located in a soundproof room or in an enclosure outside the shop. I really like the idea of the systems where you can run air line plumbing around the shop to plug in your air tools. A nice HVAC system and lighting would make it more comfortable and a lift would be ideal. You can spend hours on this site looking for ideas: https://www.garagejournal.com/ If you need new tools, I'd search the yard sales and pawn shops and CL for some good American stuff.

Glad to hear you're not abandoning the hobby and are getting back on your feet. Oh yeah, you'll need a really big beer fridge.
 
Thanks guys...very good advice so far. My desire to build the shop into the basement comes from the available lot size in our area. A single story lot is non existent and I may be relegated to an existing house with room to build a detached shop. The shop will have HVAC and plenty of dedicated circuits in both 110 and 220 and I'll pipe in air at several locations to keep the amount of stiff spaghetti down. I'm replacing a 2.5 hp floor drill press and a 3/4 hp bench top drill press and I'm thinking along the lines of a Bridgeport mill/drill. I'm considering a plasma cutter and upgraded mig or possibly a tig, but I've never used a tig. A lift is a given as well as a good compressor and welder and your thoughts on a separate shop are well taken!
Thanks, Rut
 
No mention of an espresso machine above.
 
Rut, I have a good commercial Miller stick welder. I could add a wire feed to it but have never felt the need. The only place it would be handy is in spot welding sheet steel together. Besides the Miller I have a good oxy acetylene torch and have done a lot of gas welding over the years as well as stick. I have also done Mig and Tig and I do have a Tig set up. Cheap and if you are proficient at gas welding it is quite similiar. I do regret not having a foot control starter boost for the Tig that is common on newer equipment. I have to scratch start the torch which is a pain and limits the kind of work one can do. That is once the arc is started you don't want to have to break it. Tig will let you weld aluminum as well as mild and stainless.

Kurt.
 
A couple of thoughts.

1. Running water and a floor drain as well as a sink.

2. A urinal - you can buy then with a folding sort of lid.

3. Plastic ceiling to floor curtains - this would allow you to either create a temporary spray booth - or a temporary place to wash your car in the winter.

4. A separate room for compressor/ media blaster etc. And another room for parts etc.

5. Zones - lighting, maybe even heated floors - though Alabama, maybe not
 
Oh and a sitting and thinking area
 
Something I miss dearly
I nice utility sink!
and a dorm fridge
laptop or iPad
and a comfy chair for the above JP thinking area
 
SD Bugeye said:
At the very least do a side by side or better yet courtyard the garage
'I like the fire wall between me and my cars.
fire travels up no way I would tuckunder.
Click to expand...

That's what made me clean up and organize my workspace this fall. I live in a split-foyer type house and the garage is in the lower right hand quadrant. The upside is that it is more like a garage-and-a-half, so I have a lot of room. The downside is that it is directly below the bedrooms. I realized I was creating a huge fire hazard with all the various chemicals, paints, rags, etc. strewn all over without any kind of thought to organization or safe storage. I'm much more comfortable with my workspace now. Fun thing about cleaning up is discovering all the stuff you didn't realize you had.
 
No one has mentioned a decent sound system - nothing major, but better than a tiny tinny radio. And NOT a TV: if you want to turn your brain to mush, do it elsewhere.
I've got quite a good AM/FM/CD in the back of the garage and the boom box we bought our son about 25 years ago up by the door in case I'm out on the driveway doing something and would like to listen to a sporting event.
I'd love to have a lift, for both working and for storage. Trolley jack; air tools; a lockable steel cabinet outside (if the garage is part of your home) for all chemicals etc. that are open; garage door opener; some windows; heat and a fan in our climate; organized storage (ha! good luck!); torque wrenches; every hand tool known to man (in two sets); quality hand tools as appropriate; junky ones (our BMW needs a really big socket to undo the oil filter canister; for the price of a real socket, I bought a cheap 3/4" drive set - plenty good enough for the odd time I need it. But I can't afford to buy cheap tools that are used more than once a year) as appropriate. I'd like a parts washer and a utility sink; a good stool with a height adjustment and a wide base; hammers/short handled sledges/regular sledge; 110 volt LED trouble light with a magnet on it; plenty of plug-ins, about 4 ft off the floor; a slab that has a good perimeter foundation (frost heave in my world) as well as concrete coming up 3 to 6 inches on the side with the framed walls on top; good lighting; if you use fluorescents for the ceiling, then don't hard-wire them into the box but put a plug-in in the ceiling box and plug them in - that gives you a few switched plug-ins in the ceiling (depending on your electrical code). Even if you never use them, doing the wiring that way gives you choices.
If it's large or expensive and you can rent it or borrow it - don't buy it, so you don't have to store it. Some sort of dry outdoor storage for the stuff like a collapsible engine hoist or engine stand that you did buy. Real safety equipment (face shield; goggles; hearing protection muffs (work tunes are good)); lots of adjustable shelving.
Better yet: take the budget and buy toys that doesn't need real work or find someone who owns all the equipment and has a similar skill set and is affordable. Then just buy the really comfy chair, and watch...... Doug PS: put a shelf above the garage door so it's inconvenient to access and up high, and that's where you keep anything toxic that you really don't youngsters accessing
 
A serious suggestion: have a separate electrical panel and lots of 110 volt outlets; and make sure you've got 220 out there. More flexibility for tools and for the future. But I do like the idea of the beer fridge, comfy chair, and a decent sound system - all coupled with someone who is competent, cheap, energetic, and working on your projects while you applaud. Doug
 
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