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To keep your voltage drop to 3% or less as recommended (but not required) by the NEC, using aluminum wire: 3/0: 60 amp maximum current draw 4/0: 75 A 250 mcm: 89 A 300 mcm: 107 A 350 mcm: 125 A 400 mcm: 143 A 500 mcm: 178 A 250 mcm wire is the smallest allowed for a 200 amp service entering in...

I'd strongly recommend that you move the transformer closer to your building. 475 feet is a very long way and subject to a lot of voltage drop. Normally you'd use 250 mcm aluminum for 200 amps to a building, you'd need twice that size (500 mcm) to keep your voltage drop below the standard 3%...

I have a floor model 20" Clausing. They make them in both floor model as well as two shorter versions designed to be bolted to a steel table, generally in a ganged arrangement. I have used the added capacity of the floor model's taller column for woodworking when I am drilling into the end of...

I will second the above. I use the same VFD as above for my 1.5 hp Clausing drill press. It cost about $200, which is not much more than a decent static converter that size would cost. The drill press came with a two-speed consequent-pole (delta/wye-wye) motor and a drum switch for...

The little jurisdictions that have a few hundred yards of interstate frontage near St. Louis are notorious for this. They'll drop the speed limit from 70 to 60 and make the sign almost invisible until you're right on it, such as just over the crest of a hill or right behind a road sign...

@ycgoat Do you have a recommendation for a wireless-relay switch that would work for this usage? I figured 100 amps as a worst-case scenario as only I will be working out there. Thus only one tool plus lights and something that could run automatically like an air compressor would be my...

I see that the average lifespan of the LEDs is rated at the number of hours before they drop below 70% of initial lumen output. This is 100,000 hours on the better integrated fixtures and about 50,000 hours on LED tubular bulbs. My concern is not so much about this but about early death of the...

I will be building a 50x80x14 machine shed in the next few months. I have a reasonable idea of what I will have done for this but I would like some feedback before actual work starts. The building will be a 50x80x14 pole barn with a concrete floor with a vapor barrier underneath, and...

Do you have a thread about your paint booth setup or garage build? Also, what Deere do you have there getting painted?

Is there a specific reason you'd recommend anchoring the posts to foundation walls vs. simply sinking the posts? This building will be built at the top of a knoll in a cleared field in southwest Missouri. If it's helpful, the soil is about a foot of loam, about 6-8 feet of gravelly clay, and...

The firewood will be kept under a carport not contiguous with the outbuilding. Ditto with the diesel barrel, that will not be right next to the building either. Brush fires around my area are not common and limited due to vegetation, topography, and the abundance of creeks and springs...

All right, I did some thinking and drawing and have decided on the following: 1. Size will be 40x60 or the closest similar size based on building materials (e.g. 42x64). Sidewalls will be 14'. 2. There will be three 16x11 conventional overhead garage doors on one sidewall. 3. I may decide to...

I do appreciate the suggestions. I am glad to be able to have a location where I can finally put up whatever I want, and that includes a nice garage and a big outbuilding. I've lived in town in the past where there was no garage, and later had a tiny two-car (18x21x8?) garage that it was a...

I don't anticipate cooling this building with anything more than fans. I *probably* won't heat it, but if I did, it would be with one of the hang-on-the-wall propane-fired heaters. The 20x20 woodshop at a past house was not cooled but it was heated with a 5 kW electric hang-on-the-wall heater...

Thank you for the recommendations. I will likely go for the first option as that should be about the right brightness level. On a similar question, I will also have a woodworking shop in my basement with unfinished 9' floor joists overhead and concrete/stud walls, and a concrete floor. I was...

I would like more light in the new garage than I have in my current garage. I am estimating that I would be happy with about twice the current light level of my current garage. As I see it, my options are to use 1) tubular fluorescents, 2) removable linear LED bulbs in a fixture (such as in the...

Hello, I am going to be building a new house with an attached 32' x 28' x 12' three car garage and am looking for suggestions on lighting. This will be used for parking vehicles only. I would like some suggestions on lighting this area. My current garage is a 31' x 24' three car and has three...

Hello all, My wife and I are going to be building a house and putting up an outbuilding on an ~80 acre piece of ground here in the next year or so. We are mostly done with the design phase of the house and should be getting the finalized plans from the architect shortly. The house is a...