# Building my own workshop



## Limburger

Hi!

I've bin watching this site for quite a while now and thought arrhh meaby I just make a thread to share the build of my own garage. I live accros the big river (Netherlands) from you guys, so the style of building is probarly a bit diffrent. Also my english will not be flawless, I appoligise for that.
I just finished school a couple of years ago were I learned to be a Agriculture mechanic (mostly tractors). So building things like a garage/workshop is new for me, I got a lot of help and input from my dad. 

Now almost precise 2 years ago I bougth the house, there was a 1,5 car garage with it wich was in bad shape, so it had to go and make room for a some what bigger place. I have a Ford F100 1953 pickup that I am restoring, in the years that I have the truck i've rented 3 diffrent places to work on it but every single one of them had some massive downsides like, to small, no electricity or just to far from home.
I saved money over the few years and when I bought the house I started drawing a garage so I could get some ideas what I wanted. Now 31th of may 2021 most of the garage is done and the finishing is going on (mainly on the inside). I will post regurarly some pictures allong the way. I allways love pictures when scrolling thrue a thread.

The jungle and the old garage.






This is the ''plan''.





After two days of chainsaw madnes and a day of demolishing the old garage with friends I called a good mate wich has acces to a excavator and he digged down the garage.





Marked out the foundation and made the actual foundation. 





Dumped some concrete in there  there will be a steel structure so I made the ancor points of threaded bar already in the foundation. Kind of a pain to put them accectly in the correct spot, side note I f'ed one ancor point up


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## Adam W.

Hello.

You're right, that was a jungle. I couldn't get my head around the pictures in the beginning.


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## Doug B

Looks like that’s going to be a really useful space, nice work so far


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## danst96

Welcome to the forum! Love the Netherlands, used to come over at least once every 2 weeks for work.


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## murphy

Nice job so far, what size is it, keep the pictures coming


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## Limburger

Adam W. said:


> Hello.
> You're right, that was a jungle. I couldn't get my head around the pictures in the beginning.



Yeah when all the green was down and away, I could totally see the garage standing there.



Doug B said:


> Looks like that’s going to be a really useful space, nice work so far


Im doing the inside now and AWW how nice it is to have a nice shop of your own.



danst96 said:


> Welcome to the forum! Love the Netherlands, used to come over at least once every 2 weeks for work.


Really?! what kind of work if I may ask?



murphy said:


> Nice job so far, what size is it, keep the pictures coming


Thx,
Its 5.1meters wide and 11 meters long. I loved to go till the end of de proparty but it just would be unpractical in the future. So I had to settle with the 11 meters. Still very happy with the dimensions so far. I guess in the near future its to small again


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## danst96

Limburger said:


> Really?! what kind of work if I may ask?


I work for a company supplying labels and packaging to fashion brands, I have a lot of customers across Europe and Amsterdam is quite a centre for many head quarters.


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## Record 1984

I just finished my shed/garage, best thing I've ever done. I would advise you to do as much of it yourself as you can, then you'll know every block, pipe and wire. You'll save a fortune and the self satisfaction is priceless. Good luck.


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## Ollie78

This looks great. 

Ollie


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## Hsmith192

This is really cool, look forward to the updates!


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## Limburger

Thx guys, another picture dump below 



danst96 said:


> I work for a company supplying labels and packaging to fashion brands, I have a lot of customers across Europe and Amsterdam is quite a centre for many head quarters.


Interresting! Thx



Record 1984 said:


> I just finished my shed/garage, best thing I've ever done. I would advise you to do as much of it yourself as you can, then you'll know every block, pipe and wire. You'll save a fortune and the self satisfaction is priceless. Good luck.


Yeah, only the mason (guess its called that?) work I didnt do, the inside walls we did by our selfs. Oh and the floor is finished by a pro, those things just need to be tip top.





We let the foundation dry a bit, then we removed the boards and started marking out the garage and the walls. Never did this but we took our time and god her done. Was kind of the old fashion way with a hose filled with water to make for a make shift level. (works great )





The mason made an outline to get to level with the brick work. Then started on the neighbour side. This was a bit of a pain because I couldn't build the wall from the neighbour side so we had to do it backwards from the outside to the inside. But it just had to be done this way. It was kind of strange to do it this way but I rolled with it, i'm a mechanic i'm just trusting older people with years and years of experience. Since the mason was doing his job, I already designed the steel structur and ordered it.





Gladly my boss is awesome and has absolutly no problem with me fixen these thins on afterhours and weekends. So we fitted the long beams in the saw and made them shorter  It was very tricky to get the angle ride but we managed.





Made some anchor plates and welded them to the beems. Also made the plates in the roof pieces for the wooden beams (don't know the correct english pronounciation).





Having a collegue with a loader and a extention helps alot!





The day after we put the beams up we made it a bit stronger by putting the wooden beams in, here you see me with cast on my right hand  Did something you guys should read twice I think  Feel kind of stupid, im no dodgy person or what so ever when it comes to tools and sharp thins, but this one struck my fast. I was measering some things by my self to check my drawings. I had my tape measer all the way out because I was measering a long distance, I was pulling it a bit so it would not sack so much, when suddenly the lip thing came of and the tape came in like a jet fighter and sliced clean in my pinky finger.
After some stitches I went further, and a couple of days later my tendon snaped  I just cut the tendon half way thrue and later in the week it snapped.
Realy bad luck, now I had 2 surgeries and a lot of fysio but the right pinky just works half now, we call it a reminder for building my garage.

Later this week more pictures!


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## Spectric

I gather this workshop is for your 53 Ford pickup, is that the one with the sidevalve engine, or in American terms a flathead?

Have you thought of having a pit in the workshop, makes a lot of jobs easier unless you have enough height for a two or four post lift.


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## Limburger

Spectric said:


> I gather this workshop is for your 53 Ford pickup, is that the one with the sidevalve engine, or in American terms a flathead?
> 
> Have you thought of having a pit in the workshop, makes a lot of jobs easier unless you have enough height for a two or four post lift.



Yeah that's correct, although I would love to have the original engine in there. When I bought it some one put a 4,6v8 injection engine in it. And i'm okay with it, better fuel mileage and more hp. The driveability goes up a long way with this engine and trans combi.

Good question.
I thought about a pit but I hate the mess that collects in there, i'm a real nitpicker when it comes to a dirte workplace. So wen I poured the floor I left 2 patches clear of in floor heat and made the concrete about 30cm thick so I could mount a two post there when I want it. But for now I do without.


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## Spectric

I have worked in several places with pits, for commercial and they were all tiled with lights built in and concrete steps both ends to get in/out. In early days with cars we used pits or ramps but what a god send were the four posters. A lot of these pits had sectional lids so that kept them clean, big downside was gas welding in a pit, access great but Acetylene being heavier than air you can guess where that collected.


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## Limburger

Spectric said:


> I have worked in several places with pits, for commercial and they were all tiled with lights built in and concrete steps both ends to get in/out. In early days with cars we used pits or ramps but what a god send were the four posters. A lot of these pits had sectional lids so that kept them clean, big downside was gas welding in a pit, access great but Acetylene being heavier than air you can guess where that collected.



Yeah correct at work we use a fourpost and for the heavier tractor a moveable two post.


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## Spectric

Those moveable jacks are really great, easy to just put out the way when not required , and thinking back you could for a car easily make a rotator so long as you fixed the jacks down first so welding the underside would be really simple.


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## clogs

Limburger, nice w/shop......if you are like me, I'm in mine more than indoors at home....
what you going to do for heating....? I would have been tempted to use under floor heating...so cosy when it's snowing outside.....

not seen a tractor lift like that before....all my tractor work is on the smaller antique side of thing plus the odd Kubota and the smaller Massey's....but I just use a normal 2 post car lift (2.5ton)....have two lifts at the moment, just might get another as it doubles the parking availability....made some adjustable feet/legs to get up to the high points under the tractors.....
all we need now is a few photo's of the Ford truck you lucky boy.....

these are mine....
1934 Commer bread van with my 6m caravan...in a truck stop, Northern Italy during the trip down here.......
the boss drove the Kombi ( ex Dutch) and overloaded trailer....plus 3 dogs n 2 cats.....took 10 days to drive to Crete, Greece......
just a bit crazy.....hahaha.....




plus my 1928 C4 Citroen pick up.....yep need to loose some weight.....



me and a pal loading it onto the artic truck for the transport here......loads'a fun.....just gotta rebuild the front axle and the body....
my 2 collectable tractors allready loaded.....


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## Spectric

clogs said:


> plus my 1928 C4 Citroen pick up


I have never seen one, must be rare and without the Citreon badge I would never have guessed it was a french vehicle.


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## clogs

actually there are loads out there...mine came from the Med coast so no rust......last owner 40 odd years....
it started life as a 4 door sedan.....
then during WW2 when fuel was rashioned they just cut the back doors off and made pick-ups....
mine has two gearboxes (farm work)( the second reverse gear is now blanked off) and is RHD....
up till 1935 you could buy either L or RHD.......think the idea was when they were &issed they could see the curb......LOL....
also all RHD vehicles at that time had to have a Green light on the back for night time running ( as well as the norm red) to denote RHD.....have that green lamp and undamaged......
it also has wind up windows, very Citroen'esk.....no heater and just one wiper.....cable brakes and wibbly wobbly steering....hahaha....
actually it drives all right......the chassis, along with the friction shocks and running gear are all rebuilt....new roller bearings throughout......
it'll go back as 12v......there's a huge 3 brush dynamo...so it will be gutted and a much modified Kubota alternater made to fit inside.....apart from the pulley size u'd never know......

yep I just love old vehicles.....and completely nuts....

I took a late 40's Morris J to Los Angeles when I went to live there.....drove it across the US via Texas on the way home....great laugh.....
lastly when my 40's Indian is rebuilt it will be ridden up thru Europe (taking in the Indian International rally) flown to the states for Daytona speed week and on upto the Sturgis rally.....
finally ridden the last part to LA to see if any of my mates are still alive......and if she (her indoors) lets me do a tour of both islands of Japan on the way home......
Bee's in your hair and oil on ya shoes.....hahaha...why buy NEW.......lol.....


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## Limburger

Love the C4! Dude that thing is cool. Pictures of my 53? Coming up!
I bet im more in my shop that my house. Now im fixing the inside just like I want to have it, it's starting to grow on me to start my resto in my own good layed out place!

Freshly powder coated frame. I did rebuild the transmission by my self. What u see is almost all new or rebuild. Apart from the engine that was in good condition.





I did refresh the look of the engine, cleaned the injectors and replated all the hardware.





Current state.






New shop update this evening.


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## Limburger

Update:





Started with the inside wall and insulation.





Made the beam to go in the back for the attic.





Measered out the holes for the attic beam, could have done this in for hand but I wanted to match the inside wall brick work.





Hanging it in with the sketchy hoist, don't look at the hook When the beam was up there I looked at it and thought hmm, better be carefull.





Finished the attic beams in, yeah there are a allot of them, but I asked around and got all diffrent answers to how many I should put up there. So I made it my own way, the overkill way. Want to put my spare engine and trans up there and alot of other stuff.

Next week pictures of the start of a very overkill set of doors.


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## Limburger

Brick work is coming out pretty good. Some moist places due to the rain.





Made a template of the beam so I could copy it to the outside:





And started the far side inner wall. Allot of cutting and trimming.





I'm making the big doors in front by my self, they are 2.90 meters tall and 1.45 meters in with a piece. So a nice big opening to easily drive inside with big cars of a trailer. For these doors I need a heavy duty frame work, also I wanted to make a angle iron above the doors to hold the structure on top of it. 





A mate of mine has a big brake and he made me these U shape posts, I'm planning on welding feet on them and the door hinge parts and after all the metal work I get the plated.





Welded on the hinges:





Made the top piece:





Made the triangle pieces in the beams to hang my crane beam to.





Got a few mates to come drink beers AFTER they helped me to man handle the crane beam in place. Beer was good  





Little jump here, the door steel work has been placed and started the final side of inner brick work. Really like how it's coming together, I had this in my mind since the beginning but wanted to make it when I could make the final measerments.





Last one for today, this one with a nice sun:






Stay tuned more is coming!


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## Limburger

Front mason work done, that completes all the mason work. Big mile stone for me, now its up to me to finish it.






Ordered a load of fill dirt to fill it to the correct level. Done this so it can sit for a while and really harden up so its a solid foundation for the floor.





Ordered roof panels and start laying them.





All panels fitted, starting to look like it  





And with help of friends we put all the roof tiles on it.





Next is the floor, the part I am most happy about!


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## Limburger

Were talking floor!
I had planned to make a infloor lift for small use, working on bikes engines or just to make it a table to drink beer. I bougth the lift and it has a 1000kg capacity. Measures 85cm-1700cm, I reset the switch wich limits the hight so it will now go 115cm out of the floor. Made the hole layed some insulation in it and some rebar and poured concrete in it.






before I made the foundation of the garage I placed some pvc pipes under it to make an entrance for the electrical and water and so on. Next time I have to make the entrance higher and not under the foundation. But this is a lesson for me, something for a next time.










Made the angle iron pieces for the 2 holes to prevent the corners from braking off or damaging.









Started laying insulation, like this job 









First layer of rebar:





Installed the front angle iron for the doors to close to and a plate were my lock will hook in to. Alse set the infloor heat and the second layer of rebar.





Now the cherry on the cake comes, after all the work to prep the floor the point of pouring comes. I chose for a coloring powder in it, this makes the concrete a little darker then plane concrete. I really wanted a nice floor and I hope this will help that, this is 1% powder, I looked at a place wich had 2% but that was a bit to dark for me. You can see in the concrete thats coming out of the truck some dark/black lines/streaks from the powder.










The long work of sanding/finishing the concrete starts, he started around noon and did the final finish pass at 08:30 in the evening. Really but really happy with how it turned out. He did an amazing job and you can see in the finished picture the reflexion that there is almost no flaw in it.






After alot of finish work and spraying on the curing compound (wich makes the incredible shine) the floor is finished:





Enjoy the weekend!

EDIT: the floor will dry up alot lighter than it is on the last picture


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## Fitzroy

Just to let you know, I hate you, I shall never look at another of your posts  they make me cry with envy! Looking fantastic, will be an amazing place to work/hang out.


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## Limburger

Fitzroy said:


> Just to let you know, I hate you, I shall never look at another of your posts  they make me cry with envy! Looking fantastic, will be an amazing place to work/hang out.



Ahh hate to hear you wont look at my future posts   The stuff that's coming is pretty nice also, somethings really busted my b*lls but in the end they worked SO good. Thx for the post!


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## Doug B

That’s looking excellent @Limburger I look forward to seeing the finished result


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## danst96

I have servere workshop envy, love it


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## Soylent1

Excellent work, that's going to be an epic workshop


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## thetyreman

looks amazing


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## Limburger

Doug B said:


> That’s looking excellent @Limburger I look forward to seeing the finished result


I can tell you it's a very kind of ME garage. I want to have my things nice and the way I want them to be. 



danst96 said:


> I have servere workshop envy, love it


Great to hear, thx man!



Soylent1 said:


> Excellent work, that's going to be an epic workshop


Thx, yeah really coming together.



thetyreman said:


> looks amazing


Thx


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## MARK.B.

Superb stuff all round , that floor is really something else I would hate to be the first person to scratch that beautiful finish


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## Keefy.

Really nice.


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## Limburger

MARK.B. said:


> Superb stuff all round , that floor is really something else I would hate to be the first person to scratch that beautiful finish


Yeah I dropped a hamer on it after 2-3 weeks. I did feel it in my guts, and it was only a small spot  



Keefy. said:


> Really nice.


Thx


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## daftdog

We all want you to move away so that we can move into your house but only if you leave the workshop.


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## Limburger

I'm sorry no can do


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## Limburger

Small update this weekend. Made my final measerments on the door frames and finelised the design , now I have the floor in I can make measerments on the mm instead of a well educated guess. 




They are 83mm thick steel frame doors. 80mm Insulation in them. Windows for natural light in the top, and a brain cracker lock system that I have in mind. I really tried to think these doors true to make it once and don't adjust them from the original design.





Got my welding table inside, the floor man said it would be best to not let items stand on the floor for longer times. There was a possibility that it would be visible so I tested the crane  





Some color samples 





Installed the door and windows after I mounted the stone thingies (don't know the english word, in dutch we say Vensterbank).

Next time, the color scheme.


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## Westwood

So impressed with this -great work. You AREN'T gonna get any sawdust or scarf on that floor are you ?


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## Limburger

Westwood said:


> So impressed with this -great work. You AREN'T gonna get any sawdust or scarf on that floor are you ?



After the floor was dry I really was carefull, but fast after that I just treat it like a shop floor. Offcourse I dont smack it wreckless, but I have to remind myself I made it to work in/on it. It really cleans very easy, one swipe with the broom and its clean.


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## Limburger

After a couple of evenings work with my mom, the ende result really came in nice. I saw this same color pattern in some one elses shop on youtube and really liked it, thought it looks real clean. Also the walls are a bit easier to keep clean when they are grey, its washable paint so if they get real nasty I should be able to give them a good scrub. Before I applied the grey I painted a sealer to keep the walls from sucking up all the paint and moist.

Its kind of dark so the colors very a bit in real life.










Since I didn't have a big welding table to my acces I asked if a metal worker wanted to make my door frames to my drawings. 50x80x3mm box.





Measered out were my hinges would be and started drilling the half circles for my threaded weldons. (this proces took my 3 drill bits , after the 2nd one I completly lost it. Things cost 40€ a piece. When the last hole was completed I did a small jump of joy ) I needed these to sit on the corner of the box so my doors would open more that 90 degrees without hitting the frame. I came up with 105 degrees of opening.





Welded in the threaded bushings, One door hangs just a couple mm higher, I wish I tackled it at this stage but I thought I could ajust it out. In the end you can see the diffrence . Another lesson for the next time.





I wanted the doors to lock in all direction with just one movement. So I designed a system and made all components to lock the doors to the top bottom and both sides. Needed more movement in the handle so made a drive system with a small sprocket and a big one to get more turn out of it.
The hardest part was to make this thing INSIDE a door, I didn't want it to come out of the door, it all had to be inside it.





Took me a morning to design and fit it but it works amazing.










Rivitted the outher skin on, made from 1,5mm sheet metal. Outside will be a nice wood in the future, but with current prices I just wait on that one.





Next time more door work!


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## Limburger

Did some final welding on the doors and sealed the outside very good so no water will ever come in between the metal parts. If all goes well there should come any water to these doors.

Bought some very wear friendly paint (don't know the correct pronounciation) its called Hamerslag lak in the Netherlands it has a rough texture.






I was curius what the weight of the door frame was without the innerskin, all the hardware and glas work. So I said to friends the one that guesses the closest gets a beer on me!
One of them guessed 174KG a piece, he liked the beer:





The overhead crane was really handy, we could just lift them of the trailer and set them upright. We den set them on a piece of cartboard straight up and slided them into place.





The day after we hanged the doors we got some weather and minus 13 celcius. So glad I got them in. After that I worked in the evening on hanging the electric gutter, but it just got to cold with a small heater in there. I just had to wait the weather out to do something again.





Mounted the glass in there, really surprised me how much light came in thrue them:





The doors are not ready for now, still have to put wood up on the front and insulation, but thats for another time. So I did put the inside panel on there so it would not just stand in the garage to get damaged. Looks kind of vault like now. I plan to do some decoration on the inside on the door.





Next is electic and lights


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## danst96

Can I employ you to come build my shop?


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## Limburger

Hmm Leeds, never bin there. Yeah sure I drop by sometime to take a look


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## Limburger

Next is air and electricity, i wanted to do the electricity my self to learn it a bit. I do have some knowledge about it but not enough, so I asked some friends how I should make it and ordered all the stuff I needed. I did hang some gutter to lay all the wires in, in my opinion its so much nicer to see and very easy to work with in the future. 
First I made the airlines, I ordered some hydraulic hard line and a bucket of couplings to connect them. 






Made some down drops (4x) and a connection for a hose reel. Also made a pipe that goes down to my workbench to have air in the workbench. (the workbench is coming to an end and is pretty awesome in my eyes) 






Did hook up the ground cable and the main feed from the house and ran all the cables to the outlets.





I asked a LED rep to come and look at my garage and my wishes and help decide wich light fictures would suid me and my garage. I went a little overkill, but you cant have enough light. 4 60x120cm high lumen panels in the front area (high area) and 8x 30x120cm highlumen under the attic, this came out real nice in the beams so they would hang flush with the beams. And finally I added 2 30x120cm highlumen panels on the attic. They are 4000K so it would not be so bright white when they are on. I'm really really happy with the result, almost no shade, and I can work on the bench pillar drill and sander without standing in the light.










Looks very yellow on this picture but its just nice light.





Next up is workbench!
Preview:


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## Limburger

I had a idea about how my workbench should look like. I'm a bit of a nutcase as it coms to stuff of my own, i often really think things thrue to try and think of everything. As in spray cans away from the welding area, build in air plugs. Build in controlls for my hydraulic table. 

My main goal was to have a really sturdy workbench, that if I would move in the later future if that was the case I could unscrew it and seperate it in 3 pieces (heavy pieces). Wanted to have a lot of storage underneath, place for aerosols behind a door/drawer. I have a quite large collection of bolts/screws and i don't have a good place to store them and sort them. A while ago I found a nice cabinet with 28 metal containers inside wich can be taken out, this is the cabinet on the 3d drawing with the two doors. I wanted to set that underneath also for quick acces an so it's out of the way. When I was drawing it up I found I could add space for my toolbox to role under this way I have my tools handy and if I need it elsware I could easily take it.

It will all be metal, included the tops. The big spaces are 6mm steel plate and the section with holes is a fixture table wich is shown below:




In my drawing I made space for metal/wood storage behind/under the workbench, this will be changed to only the place behind the bolt cabinet and toolbox. The long pieces will go in a rack on the attick so I have more space for my welders and plasma cutter that will live under the workbench in the far corner. 




I had to make a steelbox frame with allot of diffrent sizes so I made a saw list with colors (OCD here) this way I could shop everything at work and take it home to weld.
Started tacking everything together:









Ordered a bunch of drawer slides and measered the drawers, this was a precise job since the slides dont permit for much play. Asked a friend if he would be able to set them in a brake and tack them.





A mate had a TIG welder and we could really use a practise piece so we did weld two evenings to weld the drawers together. We did manege but it was alot of work.





Measered out weare the slides should go and trial fit the drawers:





Now it was time for the front plates to make it neat:





Fresh lick of paint for the frame and drawers:









I welded in the weldtable section afterwards, because this had to be 100% lever in all directions to get the best result on the fixture table.





Made the controlls for the hydraulic lift table in the workbench for easy acces. Also started running the airsockets, I did add a pressure gauge to see how many pressure is in the system and if I should set the compressor on (I can put it on from below so in case something leaks it doesn't start when i'm not at home).









More pictures in the weekend, I think it will be almost finished by then.


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## Limburger

I ordered some aluminium to make some shelves in the place between the drawers, but unfortunatly it didn't come yet.
Made some wooden boards to screw the shelves to:





I did put the toolbox in place to see how it looks like:





Slided in the drawers and masked of the stripe and sprayed on the blue stripe.










I need to get some thin wood board to make a grit like insert to put in the aerosol drawer, this way they stay put:





Behind the cabinet and toolbox spot, I made shelves to store short and middle length off cuts of metal and sorts. This way its easy to acces and not in the way when working.





Really but really pleased how it looks so far!
Still need to search sutible drawer handles.


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## Spectric

Limburger said:


> Still need to search sutible drawer handles.


As you have made the workbench and drawers why not the handles, could be simple two brackets and a tube through the pair.


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## Limburger

I thought of that, and meaby I will but I have to narrow down a design. I'm kinda picky about it


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## clogs

that project is a work of art....I'm sure your very proud.....
most hobbyists in the Uk would be happy to loose a leg to have your workshop......
If ever you move it will add extreme value to the price of the house....
Every house I had I did something similar but not as smart....
Say I spent £10,000 on the workshop it added another 10,000 profit to the price of the house......
easy peasy.....


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## danst96

This is an insane level of attention for a home workshop. Something I can aspire towards with my upcoming workshop in Canada


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## Spectric

How about polished and shaped aluminium channel, then anodise black or red to stand out.


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## Limburger

clogs said:


> that project is a work of art....I'm sure your very proud.....
> most hobbyists in the Uk would be happy to loose a leg to have your workshop......
> If ever you move it will add extreme value to the price of the house....
> Every house I had I did something similar but not as smart....
> Say I spent £10,000 on the workshop it added another 10,000 profit to the price of the house......
> easy peasy.....



Thx, yeah it deffinitly will not affect the value in the negative way.



danst96 said:


> This is an insane level of attention for a home workshop. Something I can aspire towards with my upcoming workshop in Canada



Yeah i'm aware of that  I just love looking at other workshops on the web and youtube to look how and why people do things. I work as a mechanic everyday and have worked on my car in 3 diffrent area's. So overtime I got an idea what I would like and what not. And I tried to implement that in this setup. I really try to make it flow and work good for ME. That's why the bench is quit high for normal people but for me its perfect.


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## Limburger

Spectric said:


> As you have made the workbench and drawers why not the handles, could be simple two brackets and a tube through the pair.



Found them! I was walking thrue the builders shop searching for aluminium angle pieces. I found them and wandered on, but when I saw the sliding door hanger profile I thought hmm what if I use them upside down...
















Really pleased with them, they grap easy. Quite cheap, i'm Dutch so that is a very big +, and I could make them the length I needed them to be.


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## Spectric

Thats what I like to see, people thinking outside of the box to make things different, and ultilising anything available even if not for the original purpose.


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## Limburger

Workbench is nearly finished, some small detail work. Still in the proces of putting some machines in place, need to make a shelf for my small drillpress so its a bit higher and that way I can sweep under it to keep the ground clean. I've put in the fixture table and leveled it out to have a nice level work/fixture table. I did put the fixture top about 2mm higher than the other tops to clear them if i would fixate something larger than the size of the table.
Also cut up some 3mm wood board in strips and made a can divider in the aerosol drawer to prevent them from sloshing around when opening/closing the drawer.

Fixture top, 1400mmx920mmx15mm St52 metal plate with 20mm holes 100mm on center.





Aerosol drawer. Room for 54 cans and bigger things in the bottom, I dont know if I make dividers in the bottom. For now I leave it like this.





The cabinet under the bench shown in the previous post holds 24 metal ''trays?'', I had planned to use this cabinet for a hardware storage, bolts nuts washers screws legbolts etc. I had a metal shop cut a bunch of 2mm plate to make dividers and I welded them in. After that I painted the trays, currently I have some sorting to do  about 10 hours of it...









Made a stand for my bigger drillpress to also set the chuck higher for better working hights and to keep the floor clean around it.





And took the car home


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## Spectric

Your power sockets look interesting, I don't know about Dutch electrical systems but are they 230 volt single phase in blue and 400 volt three phase in red both in the same enclosure? If so how are they wired, as I have not seen anything like this.


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## Limburger

Spectric said:


> Your power sockets look interesting, I don't know about Dutch electrical systems but are they 230 volt single phase in blue and 400 volt three phase in red both in the same enclosure? If so how are they wired, as I have not seen anything like this.



That's correct, 3 fase simply to the 3face socket and one of the 3 fases go to the 230volt. I splitted them up so every one has a diffrent color to the one fase 230v.


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## Spectric

That is interesting as in the UK we cannot do things like that, not thought of as good practice.


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## nickds1

Limburger said:


> That's correct, 3 fase simply to the 3face socket and one of the 3 fases go to the 230volt. I splitted them up so every one has a diffrent color to the one fase 230v.


That would scare me. If you have two bits of kit in the same room on different phases, you can have around 415V volts between them...

Maybe they are far apart, but folk use extension cords...

That's potentially (!) a very serious zap!!


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## Spectric

nickds1 said:


> That would scare me. If you have two bits of kit in the same room on different phases,


That is one of the reasons it is not good practice, you can lose control of what phase is supplying each single phase socket and end up with as you say a 400 volt Pd.


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## nickds1

Spectric said:


> That is one of the reasons it is not good practice, you can lose control of what phase is supplying each single phase socket and end up with as you say a 400 volt Pd.


Definitely not good practice, but I'm not a sparks - I deal in uV and picoAmps...

Was the 17ed where the two metre rule was dropped? I'm not sure the current edition actually forbids having outlets on different phases in a single domestic room, but I'd be pretty cross if that was found in any recent work.


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## Limburger

nickds1 said:


> That would scare me. If you have two bits of kit in the same room on different phases, you can have around 415V volts between them...
> 
> Maybe they are far apart, but folk use extension cords...
> 
> That's potentially (!) a very serious zap!!



I'm not a electrician so I find this very intriguing. I was not aware of that! Can you explain how you could have +-415V? We have a N Earth F1 F2 F3, between N and a fase is always 230V why do I get 415V between two of them? Only between 2 Fases you would hit 400V but that is not the case in my outlets.



Spectric said:


> That is one of the reasons it is not good practice, you can lose control of what phase is supplying each single phase socket and end up with as you say a 400 volt Pd.



Teach me please 
I want to understand this problem.


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## Limburger

Ah wait I though about it a bit, I understand. This is something to think about indeed. I was better of making 3 normal 3 fase sockets and made a separate 1 fase double outlet in the middle. I leave it for now, since these sockets are not there to plug in everyday tools. I ask around a bit here, otherwise I just unplug the 1 fase or screw on normal 3 fase outlets.


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## Spectric

Hi

Been in electrical engineering a long time but with UK regs and distribution. So all power generated on the distribution system is three phase, L1, L2 & L3 are the phases with 400 volts between any pair. The star point is where the neutral is taken from and between any phase and neutral you have 230 volts.

When providing a supply to a domestic property you get just one of the phases and neutral to your distribution board to give 230 volts. With an industrial supply you get all three phases and neutral to your distribution board to give both 400 volt to heavier loads and 230 volts to lighting and lighter loads.

So when installing a three phase & neutral socket it is wired from a protective device within the distribution board to the outlet which will often incorporate an isolator. For 13 amp single phase sockets they are all wired from one of the phases from a common protective device as a radial, 20 amp if running 2.5mm or 32 amp if running 4mm. In the Uk we used to use the old ring main run in 2.5mm but history now. If you need a 16 amp single phase supply for a larger load then these need to be wired from the distribution board from a 16 amp protective device. 

The problem with the blue industrial connectors is that they are un fused and rely on the upstream protective device, unlike the 13 amp sockets where the plugs can have upto a 13 amp fuse fitted. Remember the protective device is sized to protect the wiring and not the load that is pluged in or connected.

The situation you don't want is for two single phase loads in close proximity to be on different phases because under fault conditions you have the posibility for a potential difference of 400 volts.


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## Limburger

Thx for explaning, here we only have 16A at minimum. 1 phase or 3 phase. The 3 Phase can obviously go alot heavier but I run 16A 3phase and also 1 phase.
The last sentence you posted can you explain that? How you get to the 400volts pd?


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## Spectric

If you have two single phase outlets, one is on L1 (brown) and neutral and the other is on say L3 (grey) and neutral with appliances connected then although each appliance is independently running on 230 volts, between these appliances is L1 & L3 so the possibility for 400 volts between the two. If both were on the same phase, say L1 then the voltage between the two would be close to zero.


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## Limburger

Jip I see. But how can these two outlets on diffrent fases be any harm to some one? Okay I have the 230V and 400V outlet combined, but they are not gonne be used on the same machine or some related to each other? For instance if I plug in my welder on a outlet (230V) and my grinder on another both on diffrent fases how can these harm me with the 400V pd?


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## jcassidy

I'm interested in this too, I am guessing the answer is you're not leaving any safety margin for accidents.


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## nickds1

Yes - we are looking at worst-case fault conditions, which is what you should be doing.

If Appliance A of phase L1 develops a fault and appliance B on phase L2 simultaneously has a fault, you have the possibility of 400V between them - enough to kill - it's the current that kills, but double the voltage and the current doubles too, albeit briefly, until you cook a bit.

Unlikely, yes. However these are the conditions that could prevail and which the object of safe design is to avoid.

The bottom line is:

Complying with your local regulations for the type of building & use
...and only then...

What risk you're comfortable with accepting going forward


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## TominDales

Limburger said:


> Did some final welding on the doors and sealed the outside very good so no water will ever come in between the metal parts. If all goes well there should come any water to these doors.


Just come across this thread. A very nice build, you are very quick and talented with the metal work.
I notice you call yourself Limburger. Do you come from that part of Holland? One of my best friends from university was from Limburg, and I have many happy memories of staying in Maastricht and South Netherlands, the only hilly bit. Good luck


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## TominDales

Limburger said:


> That's correct, 3 phase simply to the 3face socket and one of the 3 fases go to the 230volt. I splitted them up so every one has a diffrent color to the one fase 230v.


This is a good forum for these types of questions as there are many professional electricians who can advice and explain what to do.

You may want to talk to a friendly local electrician who knows the local regulations. It seems an easy fix, use just the one phase for all your single phase work.

Its important to do the electrics in compliance with the local regulations. Not just for your own safety, but, if or when you move on a new owner , or a friend or visitor would not know of any unusual situation. Most of the work accidents i've known happened when someone modified a tool outside of the norm and it was fine for years until a new person came along. So it really guarding against a rare event, but that is what the regulations are for. 400v is a killer. Its seems a simple fit to just use one phase for all the single phase sockets.


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## Limburger

nickds1 said:


> Yes - we are looking at worst-case fault conditions, which is what you should be doing.
> 
> If Appliance A of phase L1 develops a fault and appliance B on phase L2 simultaneously has a fault, you have the possibility of 400V between them - enough to kill - it's the current that kills, but double the voltage and the current doubles too, albeit briefly, until you cook a bit.
> 
> Unlikely, yes. However these are the conditions that could prevail and which the object of safe design is to avoid.
> 
> The bottom line is:
> 
> Complying with your local regulations for the type of building & use
> ...and only then...
> 
> What risk you're comfortable with accepting going forward



A friend of a collegue is electrician, he is coming over for a talk and look over. Thx so far




TominDales said:


> Just come across this thread. A very nice build, you are very quick and talented with the metal work.
> I notice you call yourself Limburger. Do you come from that part of Holland? One of my best friends from university was from Limburg, and I have many happy memories of staying in Maastricht and South Netherlands, the only hilly bit. Good luck



Jip, thats correct.




TominDales said:


> This is a good forum for these types of questions as there are many professional electricians who can advice and explain what to do.
> 
> You may want to talk to a friendly local electrician who knows the local regulations. It seems an easy fix, use just the one phase for all your single phase work.
> 
> Its important to do the electrics in compliance with the local regulations. Not just for your own safety, but, if or when you move on a new owner , or a friend or visitor would not know of any unusual situation. Most of the work accidents i've known happened when someone modified a tool outside of the norm and it was fine for years until a new person came along. So it really guarding against a rare event, but that is what the regulations are for. 400v is a killer. Its seems a simple fit to just use one phase for all the single phase sockets.



Working on it.


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## MichaelChou

Limburger said:


> Thx guys, another picture dump below
> 
> 
> Interresting! Thx
> 
> 
> Yeah, only the mason (guess its called that?) work I didnt do, the inside walls we did by our selfs. Oh and the floor is finished by a pro, those things just need to be tip top.
> 
> View attachment 111686
> 
> We let the foundation dry a bit, then we removed the boards and started marking out the garage and the walls. Never did this but we took our time and god her done. Was kind of the old fashion way with a hose filled with water to make for a make shift level. (works great )
> 
> View attachment 111688
> 
> The mason made an outline to get to level with the brick work. Then started on the neighbour side. This was a bit of a pain because I couldn't build the wall from the neighbour side so we had to do it backwards from the outside to the inside. But it just had to be done this way. It was kind of strange to do it this way but I rolled with it, i'm a mechanic i'm just trusting older people with years and years of experience. Since the mason was doing his job, I already designed the steel structur and ordered it.
> 
> View attachment 111689
> 
> Gladly my boss is awesome and has absolutly no problem with me fixen these thins on afterhours and weekends. So we fitted the long beams in the saw and made them shorter  It was very tricky to get the angle ride but we managed.
> 
> View attachment 111690
> 
> Made some anchor plates and welded them to the beems. Also made the plates in the roof pieces for the wooden beams (don't know the correct english pronounciation).
> 
> View attachment 111691
> 
> Having a collegue with a loader and a extention helps alot!
> 
> View attachment 111693
> 
> The day after we put the beams up we made it a bit stronger by putting the wooden beams in, here you see me with cast on my right hand  Did something you guys should read twice I think  Feel kind of stupid, im no dodgy person or what so ever when it comes to tools and sharp thins, but this one struck my fast. I was measering some things by my self to check my drawings. I had my tape measer all the way out because I was measering a long distance, I was pulling it a bit so it would not sack so much, when suddenly the lip thing came of and the tape came in like a jet fighter and sliced clean in my pinky finger.
> After some stitches I went further, and a couple of days later my tendon snaped  I just cut the tendon half way thrue and later in the week it snapped.
> Realy bad luck, now I had 2 surgeries and a lot of fysio but the right pinky just works half now, we call it a reminder for building my garage.
> 
> Later this week more pictures!


I’ve not cringed that much for a while! Glad it’s getting better


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## Limburger

Yeah it happens


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## bjgodefr

Any updates?


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## Limburger

Yeah I discusted it with some mates and i'm not gonna change the electric for now. I am currently sorting out every nut and bold I have and putting it in the cabinet, also sorting the smaller things for the assortment boxes. I have some pics to share, currently the whole workbench is under a mountain of stuff to sort and give a place.

I collected all sorts of hardware true the time (10 years) and trown them in a box/bucket or other thing. When I had a full one I set it away and got another one, I had planned to sort it allong the way but that plan didn't came thrue. So I sat down and sorted for 4 evenings straight and finally got a view of how much I collected. I also had quiet a large assortment of nuts bolts etc. I hate to search for a nut or some hardware that's why I want a big range of hardware to just grab.

Lots of piles like these.






Nuts, lock nuts, big rings, lock rings, normal rings from M4 to M16. Also have a big range of stainles.





Labelled everything.





Range of assortment boxes already filled.





Today I painted some things to fit in the garage.


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## MARK.B.

That is a fine looking shop you have created you're attention to detail is clear at every stage and shows in the finished works. Those doors are something else altogether and i mean that in a good way


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## mikej460

Very smart organisers - I did something similar with Stanley Fatmax Pro organisers but I do prefer yours!


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## Molynoox

this is a super impressive build! you have amazing skills and work ethic, I love your attention to detail and your quest for perfection. Great work!
Martin


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## Limburger

Thx all, very nice to get these reactions. I try my best, have some more small updates coming this week


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## Limburger

Some small things i've done in the last days. Made a stand for my second (smaller) drillpress, I like to make them a bit off the floor so its easy to clean underneath it:

Made a frame and cut a 6mm plate to size:











After a while a managed to get a clean and empty bench, very happy with the result.











Needed a place to store my oil trays and drip trays, good thing I got two the same cabinets from a mate a while ago, he opted for the idea to ditch the shelving and make a sloped backwards floor inside so the oil always moves away from the front. I made a hole with a crane in the bottom so I could store a drum underneath for waste oil. The oil drum will be put on a small frame with casters to easily role it out.


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## bjgodefr

we're missing the last two pics!


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## Limburger

bjgodefr said:


> we're missing the last two pics!



They work to me?

More people have this issue?


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## Inspector

They were there for me earlier. Now a little blue box with a question mark in it. If I right click it to open in a new tab or window it takes me to a Google account sign in page.

Pete


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## Limburger

Reuploaded them


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## Fergie 307

You can get round dollies with castors for gas bottles, might be ideal for your oil drum.


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## Limburger

Fergie 307 said:


> You can get round dollies with castors for gas bottles, might be ideal for your oil drum.



Yeah that was the plan indeed. Thx


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## Junah

Limburger said:


> Yeah that was the plan indeed. Thx





https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-round-dolly-trolley/p/806851518800101


Don't know if they are available by you.


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