New shop done!

[bob cohen]

It's been so long since I gave a report on the progress of my new shop (fourth overall), that I thought It would be best to just create a new post. Ok, it's not completely done, but nearly so, and it's clean. I have a drum sander arriving Monday, which will be the last equipment item going in. All other equipment is a holdover from my previous shop, except my new dust collector (5 HP Oneida High Vac) and air compressor (Eaton, 5 HP, 2 stage 80 Gal), both of which sit in an adjacent closet, which you can see in the building picture. I have a 200 amp single phase panel, with conduit to equipment running through the slab (4 inch; steel reinforced). The floor is finished with a "military grade" epoxy, which cleans super easily. The ceiling is 10' at the perimeter, rising to 12.5' in the center. The double door at the back of the shop is 8' tall, which made moving in a lot easier. I am happy to answer questions and will post more later, but I want to make sure that I can upload some pictures, which has caused me much grief in the past and is the reason I don't post more often.

[Randall J Cox]

Really nice, congrats!! Randy

[David Lageman]

Congrats Randy...new shop is awesome. Time to make some new dust!

[Jim Becker]

That looks really awesome!!! Congratulations!

[Steve Jenkins]

Very nice. I’m sure you’ll love it.

[Tom M King]

I really like your floor!

[Tom Jenson]

That’s a beautiful shop. Congrats!

[glenn bradley]

What a wonderful and inviting space. Congrats!

[bob cohen]

Just a few more details. The main shop is 25 x 42, with an adjacent 6x10 closet for the dust collector and air compressor. I went with nordfab ducting, which I ordered through Oneida (they call it snap on piping, but it’s nordfab and ships directly from Nordfab). I was warned about sticker shock, and will still shocked by the cost, close to five grand. The shop is heated and cooled by a Mitsubishi mini split which was $5500 installed.

[sean meltvedt]

Bob-looks awesome and clean. Now time to make some dust!
Cheers
Sean

[Thomas Wilson]

I am designing a dust collector system for my shop and am leaning toward Nordfab. They can customize the ends of fittings with Quick fit, straight, and hose connector on a component. When you are trying to get a compact tool cluster fitted for dust collection, the customization is worth the price.

Also, I very much like your shop layout.

[Jim Becker]

Thomas, you can also source clamp together from Blastgate Company. There's a price advantage over Nordfab, but the connections are completely compatible. (Grizzly's product is also connection compatible)

[Lisa Starr]

Beautiful shop. I'll second Jim's menyion of Blastgate Company. They're great to work with.

[Keith Outten]

What a great place to work, congratulations.

[Jack Frederick]

Very nicely done. How fortunate you are to have such a space.

[Mark Hennebury]

A Really Nice spot. well done.

[Kevin Jenness]

Five grand for ductwork? Ouch!

Nice shop- open and well-lit. Have fun.

[Von Bickley]

Great looking shop. I know you will enjoy spending many hours working in it. Congratulations...

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Beautiful shop, well done! Love the transom windows.

[Mike King]

Thomas, you can also source clamp together from Blastgate Company. There's a price advantage over Nordfab, but the connections are completely compatible. (Grizzly's product is also connection compatible)

A caveat -- the sleeves are not compatible. Just placed my order with Blastgate Company for the expansion of my Nordfab system...

[Jim Becker]

A caveat -- the sleeves are not compatible. Just placed my order with Blastgate Company for the expansion of my Nordfab system...
Correct. But the connections and clamps are cross-compatible. BLast gate was great to do business with and I had my orders quickly!

[bob cohen]

Five grand for ductwork? Ouch!

Nice shop- open and well-lit. Have fun.

$4800 to be exact, and that was after I eliminated a floor sweep for the lathe and a drop to the miter saw. I’ve always just used a shop vac for that and will continue to do so. I must say, the Nordfab fits together quickly and very securely, and is easy to redo, if necessary. I am happy I went with it. Oneida provided the flex hose, hose clamps and hangers. Attaching the hangers to the ceiling was the hardest part of the installation. I screwed 2 ft segments of angle iron to the ceiling rafters, and used S hooks to connect the hangers to the iron. Definitely a two man job!

[Scott Winners]

The wall behind your hand tool bench looks strikingly similar to what I hope to have installed someday when I get more space. Please do update us in 6-12 months if having the tools like that works well for you. If you were already doing it in your old shop I guess you like that arrangement just fine.

I can't quite decide what you are making with the templates down on the far wall. Are those patternes for rocking chairs?

[bob cohen]

The wall behind your hand tool bench looks strikingly similar to what I hope to have installed someday when I get more space. Please do update us in 6-12 months if having the tools like that works well for you. If you were already doing it in your old shop I guess you like that arrangement just fine.

I can't quite decide what you are making with the templates down on the far wall. Are those patternes for rocking chairs?

Yep, I’ve made two Maloof rockers and two his low-back chairs.

[Thomas Wilson]

You mentioned your old shop so I searched back for that post. It too was very nice but significantly different. I would love to hear your thoughts on what changes were improvements versus constraints that you just had to live with in the new building. The old one came ready made but this one you had built to your specs. My shop is more like your old one: two levels, wood floor, eye level windows, and dust collector on lower level.

[bob cohen]

You mentioned your old shop so I searched back for that post. It too was very nice but significantly different. I would love to hear your thoughts on what changes were improvements versus constraints that you just had to live with in the new building. The old one came ready made but this one you had built to your specs. My shop is more like your old one: two levels, wood floor, eye level windows, and dust collector on lower level.

The last shop was very nice, but I really craved more wall space, which is why I went with the transom windows. I sacrifice natural light, but I love having my tools on the walls close to where I need them. The other big improvement is the floors. The old shop floor was plywood laid over ceiling rafters and just wasn’t solid enough to dampen vibration, particularly noticeable with my bandsaw. The new floors provide a solid, vibration-free surface for the bandsaw and other large equipment. To me, vibration-free equipment is more important than easy-on-the-feet floors. Others may feel differently about that. The new floors are also much easy to keep clean—they sweep up beautifully. I also upgraded my dust collection system substantially—my new 5 hp cyclone is much more powerful than my old 3 hp unit, and the nordfab ducting is virtually leak-free. The square footage of the old shop was larger 850 sq ft/floor, but all of the major equipment was on one floor, so the new shop seems more spacious. Having 10 ft Hugh ceilings is also great (8 ft in old shop). The two things I miss in the old shop are 1) driveway access and 2) a separate room (on the first floor) for finishing.

[Thomas Wilson]

The last shop was very nice, but I really craved more wall space, which is why I went with the transom windows. I sacrifice natural light, but I love having my tools on the walls close to where I need them. The other big improvement is the floors. The old shop floor was plywood laid over ceiling rafters and just wasn’t solid enough to dampen vibration, particularly noticeable with my bandsaw. The new floors provide a solid, vibration-free surface for the bandsaw and other large equipment. To me, vibration-free equipment is more important than easy-on-the-feet floors. Others may feel differently about that. The new floors are also much easy to keep clean—they sweep up beautifully. I also upgraded my dust collection system substantially—my new 5 hp cyclone is much more powerful than my old 3 hp unit, and the nordfab ducting is virtually leak-free. The square footage of the old shop was larger 850 sq ft/floor, but all of the major equipment was on one floor, so the new shop seems more spacious. Having 10 ft Hugh ceilings is also great (8 ft in old shop). The two things I miss in the old shop are 1) driveway access and 2) a separate room (on the first floor) for finishing.
Thanks. I was pretty sure the wall space was a key improvement for you. I understand. I have almost no wall space, but I like seeing the trees. Do you no longer have a table saw? How is that?

[Jim Becker]

It's interesting that you call out things that I'm desiring for my proposed new shop building...10' walls, for example which I am truly looking forward to...and that you lament the lack of driveway access, which will likely also be the case here because of where I need to site the building to both meet zoning requirements as well as to avoid taking down live trees. I've been giving thought to using some transom type windows, too. I will have some regular windows, too, as I'm not particularly wall bound with how I utilize my shop, but using those shorter, but higher up windows can add a lot more natural light without compromising usable wall space as you note.

[bob cohen]

Thanks. I was pretty sure the wall space was a key improvement for you. I understand. I have almost no wall space, but I like seeing the trees. Do you no longer have a table saw? How is that?.

I still have my pm2000. It’s the first thing you see run you enter through the double doors in the back of the shop. I can drive up to them through my back

[bob cohen]

Thanks. I was pretty sure the wall space was a key improvement for you. I understand. I have almost no wall space, but I like seeing the trees. Do you no longer have a table saw? How is that?.

I still have my pm2000. It’s the first thing you see when you enter the shop through the double doors in the back of the shop. I can drive up to them by cutting though my neighbor’s yard, but haven’t needed to yet.

[bob cohen]

It's interesting that you call out things that I'm desiring for my proposed new shop building...10' walls, for example which I am truly looking forward to...and that you lament the lack of driveway access, which will likely also be the case here because of where I need to site the building to both meet zoning requirements as well as to avoid taking down live trees. I've been giving thought to using some transom type windows, too. I will have some regular windows, too, as I'm not particularly wall bound with how I utilize my shop, but using those shorter, but higher up windows can add a lot more natural light without compromising usable wall space as you note.

Hi Jim, I’m very happy with the 10’ ceiling, pitching to 12.5 in the center. All of the duct work is 10ft about the floor and completely out of the way when handling sheet goods. Of course, hanging duct work from a ceiling like that was not particularly fun, but it did give me a good excuse for buying a new step ladder :)! I was sold on the idea of 10’ ceilings from reading comments on this forum, which has always been a terrific resource for me.

[Jim Becker]

I'm also sold on the 10' base ceiling height myself base on many comments and photos over the years. The incremental cost difference isn't huge, but the utility is, and that's what I'll be shooting for. It will also allow me to go comfortably to vertical material storage which if done right, can be more efficient and easier to select from.

[bob cohen]

I'm also sold on the 10' base ceiling height myself base on many comments and photos over the years. The incremental cost difference isn't huge, but the utility is, and that's what I'll be shooting for. It will also allow me to go comfortably to vertical material storage which if done right, can be more efficient and easier to select from.

I hadn’t thought about storing my lumber vertically until you just now mentioned it. It probably is a more convenient way to sort through wood, but I don’t know that I want to give up the floor space. Have you see any good designs for vertical storage posted?

[bob cohen]

I'm also sold on the 10' base ceiling height myself base on many comments and photos over the years. The incremental cost difference isn't huge, but the utility is, and that's what I'll be shooting for. It will also allow me to go comfortably to vertical material storage which if done right, can be more efficient and easier to select from.

I hadn’t thought about storing my lumber vertically until you just now mentioned it. It probably is a more convenient way to sort through wood, but I don’t know that I want to give up the floor space. Have you see any good designs for vertical storage posted?

[Jim Becker]

I hadn’t thought about storing my lumber vertically until you just now mentioned it. It probably is a more convenient way to sort through wood, but I don’t know that I want to give up the floor space. Have you see any good designs for vertical storage posted?

That's the nice thing about vertical storage...yes, it uses a little floor space, but it's limited in most cases. What's most important about this method is that the material is fully supported along the lengths from the floor up. The material isn't truly "vertical", as in 90º to the floor. It's necessarily leaning and it cannot be only touching at the bottom and the top. There must be intermediate support along the plane that's parallel to the lean, as it were. I don't have any concrete designs, but there are lots of folks who store lumber this way. Sheet goods are also handled similarly.

[Julie Moriarty]

I'm jealous!

Please send your address so I can come over and make a mess. ;)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Really nice shop! Congratulations!

[bob cohen]

I'm jealous!

Please send your address so I can come over and make a mess. ;)

If you’re in the blacksburg, va area, I’d be happy to show you or anyone else the shop.

[Kris Cook]

Awesome shop. Congratulations.

[Thomas Wilson]

I passed the Blacksburg exit on I-81 twice in the last week and thought of your shop. In related news, James Taylor and Jackson Browne were great.

[Tom Bender]

Top Shelf all the way. Really nice.