Question: Compressed Air & Electrical Drop - Location

[jbailey927]

If I am going to run a compressed air and power drop to a workbench area, do I want it in the middle of the cealing over the floating workbench or up high on the wall over the counter area. At $500+ for a cox Ezcoil I dont want to be running drops all over creation.... I was thinking of trying to run at only one location in this working area. What are you throughts on the best location? Thank you in advance!

I was thinking a real for power and a real for compressed air. So two reals at the drop point with power run in cealing and air run on surface.
It is an existing concreat block wall with limited power outlets so I would find uses for the cord on both worktops for power and of course the air as well.
I use the Miter more than the table saw and I use the miter saw twice a month.

 

[johnre]

A centralized reel for air or power in a bench or shop environment is going to guarantee you've always got a cord or hose draped over something whenever it's used. I only have these around vehicles, where this isn't an issue.

For power I prefer the "overkill" approach, I put a stationary power strip in the back of each workbench, underneath, and drape power cords over the back of the bench to connect to the strip - that way, there's no cord mess on top of the bench, it hangs down over the back. There's always a strip nearby that way.

A master power cutoff switch is in the front of the bench for safety, so I can cut off the entire bench if something goes wrong.

For air, I put in a drop down the wall at each bench, then tap off and mount a quickconnect up front underneath the tabletop. I can pop in a self-recoiling type hose anywhere I want, and it's handy to have it available at tabletop level. If unused it usually stays out of the way, or if I want I can pop it out of the quickconnect.