Where do you put your cords?

[Brian Kent]

My 220 sockets are on one wall. All of the 220 tools are in the center of the room. It is very difficult or impossible to crawl around above my current shop ceiling. The floor is concrete.

So I can either string them along the ceiling or try to cover them up on the floor with a mat or a cord cover.

What would you do?

Thanks in advance.

Brian

[Matt Day]

Definitely ceiling - no tripping hazards and nothing to run over with stuff on casters.

[Don Jarvie]

1. Put new cords on the tools that are long enough to reach the wall outlets would be the easiest.

2. You could run 1 main 220 line from the wall to the middle of the shop for a plug and just plug each tool in and out as needed. This way you would run 1 cord along the floor with a cover on it, like one of this bump covers. Only issue would be tripping over it all the time.

3. Put a wood floor down with sleepers and run the lines from the wall to the middle under the floor. The most expensive but your back might thank you.

All of my tools except the TS is on wheels so I just move them around to the plugs, but I did add long cords to all of them though.

[Jerome Hanby]

When I recently rented a scissor lift to install my shop lights (my shop ceiling is absurdly high) I also wired in ceiling drops for a pair of 120 volt circuits and one 240 volt circuit to power an island in the middle of the shop. I figure I can arrange the rest of the equipment near enough to a wall that the cord runs won't be as big a pain in the neck to step over...

[Prashun Patel]

I find a raceway of cords on the floor less annoying than dropped from the ceiling. I'd use a 'ramp' style cover

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[glenn bradley]

The few places I cannot position the tools near the wall or within a group that provides a no-man's-land path to the wall, I use cord covers.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Ceiling





10101010

[Brian Kent]

If I string it along the ceiling, will hooks suffice, or is conduit necessary? Plastic or metal?

I have one Romex cable for the table saw and another with a twist plug for the bandsaw and jointer.

I need to keep them in the center of the room because they all surround the dust collector so I will have short hose runs.

I never need to roll tools in that part of the room so the only issue for a floor run would be keeping it low enough that I won't trip.

[Thom Porterfield]

Why not bring a line* on the ceiling to above your dust collector, drop a heavy cable to the floor and there, provide a junction box. Then just route your machine cables to that J-box.


*This line could be heavy gauge wire in conduit, or, if you like tempting fate, NM cable (Romex) stapled to the structure. But if it were mine, I'd use conduit from the panel to the J-box on the floor. Especially if you're not moving that DC/machine grouping.

[Jerome Hanby]

I ran conduit, but I was doing that on the ceiling anyway for lighting. I'm sure it's not up to "code", but I carried my drop circuits to boxes overhead, and attached the drop cords with clamping "grommets" screwed into the sides of the boxes. I bought 12 gauge extension cords to make the drop cords (replaced the female connector for the 240 volt circuit).

[Rick Moyer]

I find a raceway of cords on the floor less annoying than dropped from the ceiling. I'd use a 'ramp' style cover

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I made one out of a treated 2x6, beveled the top and grooved the underside for the cord. This is for my table saw only as other tools are along a wall.

[Thomas Canfield]

I made a ramp trough for both a 120 and 220V cord across floor. I ripped a piece of 3/4" cedar to get longest bevel off table saw and then used a piece of
1/8" steel plate as top across gap wide enough for the 2 cords. That worked well in old shop, and will be used in my new shop also.

[Ryan Mooney]

If I string it along the ceiling, will hooks suffice, or is conduit necessary? Plastic or metal?

I wouldn't use just hooks, I'd use either coated staples (if the wire is flat ala romex) or some sort of hanger/strain relief if round (aka extension cord). I'd be afraid that the cable would slide on the hooks and eventually abrade through (I've seen cable wear through faster than I thought it ought to in places where it had no business moving at all - like small vibrations so...).

Conduit would of course also work, but if you're planning on just running an extension/power cable through it w/o adding new outlets I believe you should still add strain relief. There is probably some regulation against running power cords with hangers across the ceiling :rolleyes:

When I think strain relief I think something like: http://www.campfield.biz/servlet/the-439/Whirlwind-Snake-Cable-Strain/Detail although those seem pretty sub optimal for draping a power cord horizontally across a ceiling and I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable will pipe up with the correct thing to use.

[Jim Matthews]

If you run a cable tray overhead, you can drop the line wherever you like.

If it's not necessary to keep the implement energized, you could drop short female "pigtails" and connect only when needed.
It would require you to coil the unused male end, but a tray keeps everything off the floor - no trip or water hazard there.

Having cleaned up after a 4" "flood" in my basement shop, I'm using fewer power tools.
I keep them unplugged when not in use.

jim
wpt, ma

[Kent A Bathurst]

My planer has to sit out of the way when not in use. I roll it maybe 6' into place to use it. For the power, I ran romex along the joist [unfinished ceiling] to a box, and from there took a short extension cord down through a strain relief. Female end is maybe 7' above the floor - higher than my head, but easily within reach.

That same 30a circuit continues on from the box to my DP and DC.

[Rod Sheridan]

You can't attach flexible cord to a structure, it's not allowed to be used as a replacement for permanent wiring.

I would either build a wood cover on the floor, or add a ceiling box with a drop cord cord.................Regards, Rod.

[Todd Burch]

In my old garage, my tablesaw was in the middle of the floor (2 car garage). I built a hollow square post next to the saw and ran all my wiring down through it from the ceiling. Plus, it gave me yet another place to hang tools and saw blades and what not. Nothing structural - just functional.

[Doug Herzberg]

I prefer raceways to overhead, especially with the TS. I wouldn't use Romex for an extension cord, if that's what you're talking about. It should be stranded wire. Around here, they won't let you get away with surface wiring with Romex, either. If it's not inside a wall or ceiling, it needs to be in conduit or some other protective cover.

I do have overhead 120v outlets everywhere, especially over the bench and the TS, which often serves as an assembly table. I hang pigtails to make them easy to reach.

[Brian Kent]

Doug, why would you not use Romex for an extension cord?

[Rod Sheridan]

Doug, why would you not use Romex for an extension cord?

Romex is meant for fixed wiring, where it's protected from mechanical injury.

It is not allowed to be used in place of flexible cord, as it isn't meant for flexing (solid conductor) and the sheath isn't abrasion resistant..........Regards, Rod.

[Brian Kent]

Bummer. I bought the Romex because I thought it was the top end safest.

[Jim Becker]

Surface mount conduit out to boxes above the tools and then correct strain relief connections with twist-locks for the drops with cords at exact length to do the job.

[Todd Burch]

Surface mount conduit out to boxes above the tools and then correct strain relief connections with twist-locks for the drops with cords at exact length to do the job.

And, it would be a heck of a lot more expensive than four 2X4s wrapped in 1/2" ply to create a hollow post with "normal" plugs!

[Deb Malloy]

I can't seem to visualize how the cord hanging from the ceiling would not get n the way of crosscutting. If anyone can post a picture I would appreciate it.
I'm in the process of setting-up shop and trying to decide where to wire the outlets. That of course entails where the tools are going to go. Trying not to put things in the "wrong" place are making this harder than necessary.

[Jim Becker]

And, it would be a heck of a lot more expensive than four 2X4s wrapped in 1/2" ply to create a hollow post with "normal" plugs!

True dat........

[Jim Neeley]

Brian,

What we call "Romex" (actually, Romex is a brand, like Kleenex) is solid copper wire while our extension cords are made up of many fine strands of wire. The solid copper is "better" when it is put into place and then not flexed back and forth. The solid conductors are better held in the wire clamps and less prone to corroding out. On the other hand, with enough flexing the single strand will fatigue and break. Hence the value of the many-strand copper used in extension cords.

Just my $0.02.. YMMV.

Greetings from Anchorage,

Jim

[Kent A Bathurst]

I can't seem to visualize how the cord hanging from the ceiling would not get n the way of crosscutting. If anyone can post a picture I would appreciate it.
I'm in the process of setting-up shop and trying to decide where to wire the outlets. That of course entails where the tools are going to go. Trying not to put things in the "wrong" place are making this harder than necessary.

Where will you have the duct to the DC? Run the cord along the duct.

[Doug Herzberg]

Romex is meant for fixed wiring, where it's protected from mechanical injury.

It is not allowed to be used in place of flexible cord, as it isn't meant for flexing (solid conductor) and the sheath isn't abrasion resistant..........Regards, Rod.

Yeah, that. Thanks, Rod. I didn't check back.

[Brian Kent]

Where will you have the duct to the DC? Run the cord along the duct.

The dust collector is in the middle of the room, with an octopus of short ducts to the dust-making machines. Its 110 cord drops down from the ceiling.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Mr Kent.....

My mistake. Points off for lack of clarity. I was replying to Deb's post immediately prior.

Kent

[Brian Kent]

Mr Kent.....

My mistake. Points off for lack of clarity. I was replying to Deb's post immediately prior.

Kent

Thanks. I got it now.