One year later 40'x80'

[fnieto]

We broke ground on new shop about 13 months ago. Its been long days as I have a career to finish up (15 months left). I work 24 hrs shifts so every other day has been spent on shop project.

The New building is located next to our home in rural Tucson AZ. No HOA and low density property. Our lot is 1.3 acres and neighbors are friendly and keep to them selves. We built our home in 98 to include a six car garage with intentions of never running out of shop space. While this 1300sf space worked well for many years, I kept buying more equipment to stay competitive and meet the demands of projects that would come our way. In the end it quickly became challenging to stay efficient as some machinery would have to be moved to allow for more room.

The decision was made to expand. The new shop is located on the side of the old shop with the intensions of converting the old shop back to auto/motorcycle storage.
This photo shows the over crowded conditions.

 

[fnieto]

New site layout.

 

[fnieto]

foundation prep.

 

[fnieto]

The pour

 

[fnieto]

steel delivery and staging.

 

[fnieto]

More concrete work (back apron front trench drain) around 25 yards.

 

[fnieto]

Trench drain complete and rated for fork lift traffic.
Skinning the red iron.

 

[fnieto]

Garage doors (Janis) three jack shaft lift masters and one insulated roll up (area of future two post lift) door.
Dried in!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Nice, real nice and thanks for sharing..

Regards

 

[fnieto]

200 amp electrical panel and over 3k feet of wire. Bays have individual circuits for lighting (T-5 six tubes each) three way switches at each end of shop.

 

[fnieto]

Nice, real nice and thanks for sharing..

Regards

Thanks 1/2 cup!
BTW, you where the first to welcome me to GJ.

 

[fnieto]

Insulation.
R-30 wall and ceiling. wired in and scrim sheet finish.
Thermal break 2" tape was placed on red iron prior to securing roof sheets. This should prevent condensation between sheets and perlins.
3/4" plywood 8' up and along the entire perimeter was used for solid anchoring.
Taped, textured, primed and painted.

 

[fnieto]

Evaporative cooling system (Swampzilla).
12K CFM (thanks lady_g for your help taming her down).
Scheduled spiral oval ductwork to preserve overall hight.

auto correction is my worst enema! LOL
Thanks larry_g !

 

[fnieto]

Air system; 1" fastpipe extruded aluminum powder coated in blue. Teflon compression fittings all rated at 190 PSIg. About 350' to create a loop system with five double drops and two over head drops.
H2O system 3/4" copper reduced to 1/2" at sink and swamp.Two 3/4" spigots for filling mop buckets. 1/4 turn ball valve at all supplies.
Unistrut was used for anchoring and trapeze support.
I was able to use our Ercolina rotary bender to bend the fastpipe to the correct angle at the peaks.

 

[Jordanp252]

Wow.. That is a nice dang place.. Got some $$ going on. Doing it right every step of the way.

 

[fnieto]

Floors sealed.
Solvent base sealer was used after extensive buffing and mopping (this job really sucked) and more mopping and yes more mopping. Xylene smells really bad but with the right PPE its doable. I had to do 1/2 (40'x40') at a time,wait five days and move all the stuff to other side to complete the job. No pictures of the buffing/cleaning and sealing as I worked by myself so all you see is the end results. I did use Sika self leveling caulk on saw control joints prior to sealing.
6" vinyl wall base finished the floor job up. Two 100' coils so no joints in-between.

 

[A_Pmech]

Pretty 4th gen Birdcar!

 

[fnieto]

Compressor/air dryer pulled from old shop. Cleaned serviced and in service in the "Bodega".
New copper plumbing for auto tank dump penatrated the building for quiet operation. The auto dump and the air dryer is plugged into a switched receptacle for easy operation.
A by-pass valving system provides service/maintenance for the air dryer without interruption of air to the shop.

 

[fnieto]

Pretty 4th gen Birdcar!

Thanks brother, but its a 97 GMMG F-1 Z-28.
I still think the 98 Trans am WS-6 i use to own was faster

BTW, its for sale....12K original miles

 

[fnieto]

Equipment move in. This phase has been long as some of these machines are heavy and our fork lift will not clear the 7' headers. So it goes like this, lift machine, place 1" tubing and roll like the Egyptians. Once I can purchase the machine with the fork lift its moved to the end of the wash rack and cleaned (inside and out) serviced and moved into new building USING FORK LIFT.

First piece is a CNC Plasma table followed by a CNC 2 axis mill. One Plate roller, and a big a$$ Dake/Johnson band saw.
I still need to relocate a 51 ton Scotchman iron worker, smaller Mill, 14x40 Lathe
scotchman semi auto cold saw, another heavy profile roller, Three tool boxes, welding/jig tables, metal/plate rack, horizontal band saw etc .
The last system will be a three phase rotary converter. I need to "stage" the machines to run the conduit and receptacles.
I should get back out there and get something done today.

I would like to acknowledge some folks for the help they gave me over the past year.

Jarad V
Jerry V
Warren B
John F
Chad G
Lyel S
Brice W
Larry G (forum member)
And to all on GJ who has shared similar stories and experiences.

 

[fnieto]

Wow.. That is a nice dang place.. Got some $$ going on. Doing it right every step of the way.

Thank you, It's all part of my retirement present (to my self the wife says). I will leave my full time employment (fire service) of 25 years only to work my true passion of fabrication/machining and auto restoration. And I get to sleep all night

 

[Jordanp252]

Thank you, It's all part of my retirement present (to my self the wife says). I will leave my full time employment (fire service) of 25 years only to work my true passion of fabrication/machining and auto restoration. And I get to sleep all night[emoji106]

Good stuff. I hope to do the same one day when I retire. Thanks for what you did.

 

[ADSR]

awesome build!

 

[fnieto]

awesome build!

Thanks Brother. We have been very blessed over the years.

 

[Zeke]

Damn, I bet you didn't care much for the concrete crack in such a sweet shop. Really nice set up. I'm a car resto guy myself but I think I'm done. Doing smaller jobs now. But I'd welcome a big shop!

 

[fnieto]

Damn, I bet you didn't care much for the concrete crack in such a sweet shop. Really nice set up. I'm a car resto guy myself but I think I'm done. Doing smaller jobs now. But I'd welcome a big shop!

Good eye Zeke, but I have more cracks than I hoped for. Not sure, but I can only suspect the heavy rain ( I mean HEAVY) days leading to the pour. I'm guessing the prepped base needed more compaction. We used a early entry softcut saw the same day as the pour for control joints. 3000 psi with fiber and remesh as well as #4 rebar on all footers. Main pour was 76 yards.

The slab is now 13 months old and no heeving has occured.

 

[fnieto]

Moved in another piece of machinery. Pulled all panels and de greased serviced and scrubbed entire machine. Looks as good as new.
Seven machines left to move in.

 

[Morio]

Nice build!!! Looks fantastic!

 

[fnieto]

Thank you Morio

 

[fnieto]

Moved out, serviced, cleaned and moved in the Scotchman 51 ton iron worker.
So far the heaviest piece yet.

 

[fnieto]

What type of fabrication?

We do custom metal fabrication of all sorts. Work with most types of common metals. We also produce a special rescue cart used for Mass Casualty incidents.
Custom 4X4 applications to hot rods, Harley's. We have two Milling machines (one 2 axis CNC), cold saw, and a 14X40 lathe that comes in handy as well for those custom gun builds as well.
We also do proto type work for special projects.
The East end of the shop is for automotive restoration/maintenance.

 

[fnieto]

Installed the Three Phase (RPC) on Sunday and ran four wall services and two overhead service drops. System is very quiet and fairly close to balanced voltage. I have powered up the Lagun Mill, Vertical Band Saw, and the 51 Ton Iron worker with no frequency change in the Idler Motor (7.5 HP). The Plate roller motors has been rewired for 230V and I still need to install the replacement 230vac VFD prior to powering up.

We still need to move in the Lathe, another mill and a cold saw (all three phase).

 

[fnieto]

Pictures failed to load...try again.

 

[madoc1]

nice shop and impressive equipment. what year is your 40? mine's a '75 with a 355 sbc.

 

[fnieto]

maddoc1,
thanks, my 40 is an 82. Totally stock engine with smog equipment. The suspension is HFS and has ARB lockers front and back. I built a custom front bumper that holds 160 psig to operate the lockers and inflate tires. The winch doubles as compressor to keep around three gallons in volume of air.
From all the rigs I own, I drive my pig the most.

What year is yours? Got any pictures?

 

[LutzTD]

wow, thats a dream shop. Cant wait to see what you get into....

 

[fnieto]

Got another piece out of the old shop, cleaned,serviced and moved in.
Scotchman semi auto cold saw. Not 100% sure its gonna live in that exact spot yet.

 

[fnieto]

Another mill and lathe cleaned and moved in. I'm in the process of installing a DRO on the lathe as well.

 

[fnieto]

Installation of the DRO scales was a PITA. It's calibrated and in operation, well worth the effort.

 

[TurboCup87]

I am in awe. What a great shop! The size and layout are great. My respects to you. Enjoy your "retirement"