Above 1200 Sq/FT T.h.e...e…x….p…..a……n…….s……..i………o……….n

[Bob Heine]

We were going to paint everything outside, but then we both came to our senses and decided to use the nice big conditioned space upstairs.....duh!
...

I like the chase for the electrical and I'm now going to do that in my little shed.

Great decision to use the conditioned space (and SWMBO). Because you consider that space a mess I won't post any pictures of my REAL MESS(ES). My own SWMBO has added my office to the list yesterday.

 

[MAYOR28]

I like the chase for the electrical and I'm now going to do that in my little shed.

Great decision to use the conditioned space (and SWMBO). Because you consider that space a mess I won't post any pictures of my REAL MESS(ES). My own SWMBO has added my office to the list yesterday.

The current state of affairs/(despairs?) downstairs is more



Hoping to having some time over the next week to get everything straightened out a little......


..

 

[MAYOR28]

Was able to get some more of the wall up this weekend. I made a template to route the holes for each of the outlets, mitered the ends, and glued & nailed the boards to the wall.

I also got 40'+ of trim up on the back wall at the ceiling.

...

 

[MAYOR28]

Outlet covers on:

Still need to add the top piece of trim to the outlet strip. That will cover up the gap between the plywood and the dark gray outlet rail..

...

 

[MAYOR28]

It has been a busy few weeks here, COVID-19 or not, but I have been making some slow progress on the shop. I need to get some more updates up here, and I have started working on getting my shop air scrubber together.

I took a break from the actual build out of the shop to do a lot (ton really) of car maintenance. G6 shocks/struts, brakes, water pump, evap valve, tie rods; Focus brakes, tie rods, fog lamps; F150 new fuel pump......

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[MAYOR28]

Okay, time to update......

 

[MAYOR28]

The wife wanted to shuffle the priorities a bit, so we started working to finish the upstairs.....

I started with finishing out the "lift" over the stairway. I bought this giant worm-drive cable pulley a while back with the hopes of making a ladder hoist. Repurposed it here, I think it works well. Since it is worm drive, it does not unreel when you release torque on the handle.

Added a stringer attached to 2 rafters, and 1 double truss. Through bolted with metal backer:

Next up was to decide what to do with the walls.....she decided she like the plywood look, but wanted something a little more wear resistant, so we rolled on some polycrillic.

And then we started trim for the corners and seam between the roofing:

...

 

[MAYOR28]

The next steps for upstairs was the flooring. We bought this industrial carpet off craigslist a long while back. It went down really easily, just put a big square of carpet tape in each of the tile corners. Seems to have worked well:

Bonus, here is how that pulley looks with the ceiling up. We were able to trim the hole pretty close, not too shabby for 2 amateur tin workers.....

 

[MAYOR28]

Then back downstairs to focus on the compressor room.


Reworked the regulator layout:

1/2" drop right outside the room (on the woodworking side of the shop):

Clamping layout:

And home!

I am sure it doesn't look like much, but I swear I took those pipes in and out of the little room 7 times to get all the cuts right. And I am slowly getting better at cutting threads, I was terrible to start with.......

 

[Pressingonward]

Nice progress. Do you have ventilation to your compressor room? I know at work we had the compressor in a small closet for a while and we had to add some serious ventilation to keep it from overheating. Of course it was running at ~90%+ duty cycle 8 hours/day...

 

[MAYOR28]

Nice progress. Do you have ventilation to your compressor room? I know at work we had the compressor in a small closet for a while and we had to add some serious ventilation to keep it from overheating. Of course it was running at ~90%+ duty cycle 8 hours/day...

I do not right now, but I have plans to add something......

I was thinking an attic fan with a built in thermometer, but I want to find a used one, or a really cheap one...




...

 

[MAYOR28]

Should I push cool air into the room, or blow the hot air out?

I found a real cheap bathroom exhaust fan, and a temp controller that I think would do the trick. Just not sure if I want to vent to the outside, or just **** in ambient shop air into the room when it is hot.




...

 

[Pressingonward]

You'll need both an inlet and an outlet, whether they be to the shop or to the great outdoors. If the room is inside your insulation envelope, then venting into the shop would make the most sense, though it will let some noise come through.

I'm not sure whether having the fan **** or blow would be better for this application

 

[MAYOR28]

You'll need both an inlet and an outlet, whether they be to the shop or to the great outdoors. If the room is inside your insulation envelope, then venting into the shop would make the most sense, though it will let some noise come through.

I'm not sure whether having the fan **** or blow would be better for this application

Good thinking, in that case, I may just put a temperature controller on the air scrubber that I have mounted above the air compressor. Add an inlet to that and bingo, air circulation in/out of that room.

 

[Pressingonward]

I bet that would do the job

 

[David-L]

One thing to consider with the air compressor dryer so close to the compressor is the air hasn’t had much time to cool off. It will have more time to cool once it’s on your woodworking side and allow the moisture in the line to condensate.

 

[MAYOR28]

Been a minute since I updated this......I think I had 2 posts that got deleted in the great server meltdown, but I will see if I can resurrect those pictures.

 

[MAYOR28]

So for months I have been looking for a pallet rack for the shop. I have not been able to find anything nearby for under $800. But I was able to find a guy up near BWI Airport, so a box truck rental later, and we had 2x 32,000 shelves for the shop.

I paid $40 per upright, and $28 per pair of cross beams. Truck cost like $130 for the day, so not too bad for a lot of shelf.

Got a sweet fan too!

I had originally intended for the rack to go over top of my bench in front of the lift, but the AC unit and the placement of my tools made that impossible. Therefore, I had to settle with the center placement, but so far (its been a few months) I like it there better actually.

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[MAYOR28]

Next on the To-Do list was fixing this eye sore. I had spent a great deal of time measuring and cutting the original plywood panel that went here, only to realize utter disappointment.......therefore a fix was in order. I cut out the bottom of the plywood panel, and accented the new panel with different colors. I also cleaned up the electrical a bit, and switch the fans and door openers around.

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[MAYOR28]

Been getting some quality shop time in recently. The cool nights make it very enjoyable with the doors open.

 

[MAYOR28]

Whoa! Been a minute since I updated this. I guess I should add some pictures this weekend.......

 

[iced98lx]

Whoa! Been a minute since I updated this. I guess I should add some pictures this weekend.......

Yep, it's time!

 

[Finallygotit]

We're waiting.......

 

[MAYOR28]

So in the downtime since last updates we have:
1. Completely finished the trim, upstairs and down
2. Plumbed in the hard lines for the compressor.
3. Installed a dust collector (with sweet DIY remote switch) & overhead collection hose
4. Finished the 'counter-tops' that we got for free
5. Filled the pallet rack
6. Finished the DIY air scrubber (almost)
7. & Made a general mess in the shop.

 

[MAYOR28]

The is the completion of the air scrubber. Its basically a whole home HVAC unit, that I have wired for blower only, but additionally rewired to get the 3 speeds out of the fan (previously it was wired for 1 speed only). I built a slick little timer circuit for it, so I can turn it on for 20-60 minutes at a time.

The filters go here.


Some more work done to the filter box:



Had to remember how I wired this thing.....



Inlet on the side of the compressor room:



Outlet on the front of the room:


Controller location, with 2 control wires pulled through:


The filters installed, there is room for 2x 1" filters, and 1x 2" filter. I got a bunch of those 2" filters for like $0.75 each, so I designed the whole thing around that.

 

[MAYOR28]

Here is the control panel I made for the outside of the compressor room. This and the dust collector share a circuit, but there is no chance of tripping the 20A 240v breaker.

Fan speed select & one of those timers like hot tubs use. Simple, easy, cheap!




And here is the close out panel that allows me to access the filters and swap them out.

 

[iced98lx]

love that filter setup, very cool!

 

[MAYOR28]

love that filter setup, very cool!

Thanks! Lots of time involved, best thing is, I think I probably spent like $45 total on the thing. Forgot to mention the HVAC unit was free from a local shop that swapped it out for a new one in someone's house.

 

[MAYOR28]

New benches were next. We have had these things kicking around outside for almost 16 months while the rest of the building got worked on. They faired okay, but the tops were ruined. Nothing a little ingenuity and elbow grease couldn't fix. Did I mention these were FREE.99 too?

And some new MDF & masonite tops!

Tops have a groove cut for the trim:

And I polished up the trim:

 

[MAYOR28]

I still need to come up with a unique solution for the outlet of the air scrubber. I would like it to be directable, so I can have it point towards the main interior of the shop, and just straight down that short wall.

Anyone have any neat ideas?

...

 

[bugnut]

Work benches look good in Red!

might a plantation shutter work for air flow, could be adjustable too

 

[MAYOR28]

Work benches look good in Red!

might a plantation shutter work for air flow, could be adjustable too

Thanks!

Yes, a plantation shutter would work nicely, that is a really good idea. Let's see if I can find one used or cheap........

 

[Finallygotit]

I still need to come up with a unique solution for the outlet of the air scrubber. I would like it to be directable, so I can have it point towards the main interior of the shop, and just straight down that short wall.

Anyone have any neat ideas?

...

What is the size of the opening?

 

[MAYOR28]

What is the size of the opening?

About 12" x 30"

 

[Finallygotit]

Then how about one of these?

 

[MAYOR28]

Then how about one of these?

I want something like that, but I am not willing to pay for something like that........

 

[iced98lx]

I want something like that, but I am not willing to pay for something like that........

Story of my life on nearly everything... lol

 

[MAYOR28]

The compressor piping was a start, stop, start again project. I borrow a pipe vice in order to make the threading much easier. The Ridgid pipe threader was sourced from Facebook Marketplace, I paid $40 for a whole lot, then sold some of the bigger dies and handles for $50!


The whole shop is plumbed in 3/4". I have 3 double drops, the one single drop I already posted, and a hose reel between the 2 roll up doors.

The pipe is clamped with these unistrut brackets, I cut and painted them, then assembled them to 1/2" plywood to space it off the wall.





Here is some of the run.


This the drop beside the lift post, it is the low point, hence the separate drain. The reel has a drain on the end to the left.

 

[MAYOR28]

In order to not have to cut and thread pipe exactly (rank amateur here), I finished the ceiling run with this piece of flex hose. It is a 3/4" NPT hydraulic line that Napa made for me. It was too much money, but it worked out perfectly.

I left a T at each end of the piping too (just in case....you never know what I may want to add)......

 

[MAYOR28]

Oh! And the best part, there was only 1 leak when I pressurized it the first time. Turned out to be one of the drains on the outlet fittings, tightened it up, and no more leaks!