Power Supply

[Rod Wolfy]

I'm not sure from your message how your garage is set up or finished. My first garage didn't have drywall and the studs were open. The second & third one had drywall.

If you're handy: I put a couple of 240 breakers in the open spaces on my panel (in the garage) and ran the wire thru the 2x6 in the wall between the bay that the panel was in & the next one over, then put in a couple of boxes with a 220 outlet in each. Not that hard, especially with YT videos to educate you. I did it over 20 years ago, before YT. Cost now is about $100.

[Jim Becker]

Jim do you mean that at the same outlet you are plugging and unplugging the tool your using at that moment? The cord on my table saw for example is incredibly short. It seems like a lot of moving around to make that happen?

You can have multiple outlets on one 240v circuit just like you can (and normally do) with 120v circuits. Just be sure that the machines you intend to plug into that circuit are never going to be running at the same time. For example, I can support my sliding table saw, my bandsaw and my J/P combo on the same circuit. There will never be an instance when I'll be using any of those machines simultaneously.

As an aside, I tend to put pigtails on my machines and then custom make extension cords that are the length I need to get from the machine to the outlet it will be using. That keeps things neat and also provides for a complete disconnect right at the machine for any kind of service/maintenance without having to get to the wall or ceiling outlet...which can invariably become blocked from time to time "just because".

[Maurice Mcmurry]

My garage shop only has one 20 amp 240 volt circuit. I have 6 240 volt outlets. My biggest motors are 2 HP. (table saw and dust collector). It is a one person shop. I have yet to trip the 20a 240v breaker. My welder outlets are connected directly to the 40a sub main. The 40a 240v "shop" breaker in the house has never tripped as well even when I turn the buzz box up to 11 and burn up cutting rods. Everything has been inspected and passed.

[Will Blick]

ditto what Jim B does....
if u are a ONE man shop, u cant run two machines at the same time.
To the OP,
agreed, 240 V is so helpful...but with small machines, 120v can suffice.
think of this in terms of how much potential energy a machine has in amps...
120V at 15 amps = 15amps
240V at 30 amps = 60 amps, or 4x the potential energy, that is significant, and useful for certain tasks like jointing, planing, re sawing, TS when using thick hard woods, etc.
be sure to check your incoming service, and be sure its sufficient to support what u are doing.
And if you do not get permit, assuming u are in the USA, and the house burns down as a result of faulty work, often insurance does not cover it...something u might want to investigate.

[Jim Dwight]

Yes, you need to have capacity for a dust collector and the most power consuming tool it could be paired with. Probably a table saw or jointer/planner. Probably 3hp or 5hp motors on both tools.

I will also disagree with the other inputs you've received, however. I've made lots of furniture for myself and my kids using only 110V machines. My DC is the "2hp" HF motor/blower mounted on top of a super dust deputy and discharging outside. My garage shop is not heated or cooled and eliminating filtration helps the admittedly small DC work OK. My table saw is the 1 3/4 hp SawStop PCS. I have to be more careful about what blade I am using for deep cuts or difficult wood but I can and do cut 3 inch deep in hardwoods whenever I want to. I have a 14 inch Jet steel frame bandsaw with 13 inch resaw capacity and it works fine on 110V. My planner is an old Ryobi and I use an old Inca 8 5/8 capacity jointer. My tools are not as powerful or as capable in some ways as the tools others are using. But I don't think my tools limit what I can make although they may limit how I can do it. For instance my jointer has really short infeed and outfeed tables so I use my track saw to get large boards ready for glueup. That allowed me to make a 10 foot long dining room table last year.

I think there are definitely advantages to bigger more powerful tools and a bigger more powerful DC but I don't think they are necessary for a hobby shop. I have two 20A 120V circuits for tools and a 15A light circuit. You will probably need to do some wiring to have even this much in a typical garage. It will not be a lot more expensive to add 220V circuits versus 120V. Just depends on whether you are willing to work within the limitations of less powerful tools.

[Will Blick]

> I've made lots of furniture for myself and my kids using only 110V machines.

Valid point... anything is possible... I should have prefaced my response, "240V circuits are more desirable for most heavier duty ww machines". Heck, u dont even need any electricity at all,
like the Neanderthal forums here. They make gorgeous furniture with just their own physical power and hand tools, like they did 200+ years ago!

That being said...if anyone in this hobby is running new circuits, just run 4 conductor cable from breaker to end source, so you will be prepared for anything in the future. Size accordingly, of course. The 4th conductor is optional of course, but some machines require a neutral to have both 110v and 220V.