Turning my shed in to a workshop - part 2

[JimT]

Firstly thanks to wizer, Mike Garnham, Tony Spear, Boz62, joiner_sim and PAC1 for your wise words on part 1 (https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33799).

Distilling your advice (and some from another forum) I decided to finish the walls as follows: From outside to in they will be external cladding, 20mm void, 50mm rigid board insulation and faced with 11mm OSB.

I'll be painting the walls gloss White and, although opinions were mixed as to the floor, I've decided to paint the floor as well because the dust is doing my head in! I've heeded the warnings about slippy floors - the paint is of the 'anti-slip' variety.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, the next thing is to run power cables (which will be in housing on the inside i.e. not in the walls) and this is where I need some help - where do I put the sockets? This will be determined by where the machinery goes but I haven't got any yet!

The shed is 25' 6" by 11' 4" so definitely in the 'long and thin' category. Double doors are at one end and I think, unless you lot reckon otherwise, I'm going to place a 6' by 2' bench that I'm going to build at the far end. Wood storage I hope to have somewhere in the roof. This leaves me with the 2 long sides to use for the power tools.

Taking a wild guess as to what machinery I might end up with, it could be a chop saw, planer/thicknesser, table saw, morticer, pillar drill and dust extraction. The thing is I haven't got a clue as to the best way to place them. I hadn't thought this would be a problem but when I allow for good clearance on the in-feed and out-feed areas it is suddenly not so easy. I had thought my shed was pretty big but when I try and plan this out on paper it looks annoyingly small! I had hoped to keep all the machinery along the walls and have the entire middle area open but I'm beginning to think this might not be possible.

So, any thoughts as to the placement of these power tools?

Thanks in advance.

Jim

 

[wizer]

Jim with regards to power points, the simple answer is Put Them Everywhere! Drop a double socket down every couple of feet.

Placing machinery is personal and will depend on what work your going to do. If you haven't even decided on what you're buying yet, then don't worry too much about getting power exactly where you need it, just flood the place with sockets. Obviously you want more near where your workbench is going.

Oh and unless you post some pics you won't be welcome 'round these parts (that's sarcasm btw)

 

[OPJ]

Ideally, you want to have your have anything that requires you to feed timber over/under it running parallel to the longer walls (planer, thicknesser, table saw/bandsaw). This includes your workbench.

You could also consider placing items such as your pillar drill, mortiser and stationary sanders on movable cabinets. You could store them along the narrow walls and wheel them out when you need the extra clearance space. Building them all so that the beds/tables are all the same height would be good for supporting long lengths. :wink:

Which extractor are you looking to buy? If you bought a wheel-mounted machine then this could probably be used in the same way... Even better, you could store it in a shed on the outside of your 'shop and run a 'plumbed-in' system of pipes around the inner walls... Otherwise, you could have a wall-mounted unit inside the 'shop, which should save a bit on floor space.

 

[MikeG.]

Jim,

up to you, but I would have a good think about whether you really want the table saw. They eat space.......not the actual saw, but the working area around them.

As for power points, I may be unusual, but I have mine up high (7' or so) all around the workshop, but focussed on the bench. Having them that high means the cables don't drape over benches etc. This means that I can leave power tools permanently plugged in, and thus not have to fiddle around with cables and plugs every time I want to use one.

If you are at the wiring stage, have a think about your extraction switching. In my workshop I have a pull cord dangling from the ceiling that switches my extraction on and off.....but someone here has an even better scheme: the same thing mounted on an end wall, and the cord strung through eyes along the length of the ceiling. This means that you would always be within easy reach of the switch for the extraction system.

Don't forget the photos!!

Mike

 

[chris_d]

I'm currently automating my extraction, I decided to use a whistle activated key ring to switch a relay on the mains input to the extractor. This may seem a bit OTT but remotes and/or pull-cords aren't particularly convenient when you have a large lump of oak in your hands. If I get it working then I might even post a how-to guide.

Alternatively, you could put all your machinery on a dedicated circuit with a current sensor at the source and then use the sensor output to automatically start the extractor (which would need to be on a separate circuit) and include a run-on delay before stopping it when the current draw from the machinery subsides.

Food for thought,
Chris

 

[Night Train]

For power I would suggest running a large pvc trunking near the top edge of the walls, all the way round the workshop.
Where ever you need a socket you can drill a 20mm hole in the bottom edge of the trunking and pull cables down to the socket. The cables can then be run in 20mm conduit down to the socket box. Make sure that you run a ring main.

If you require an additional socket later on you can then brake the ring at the nearest existing socket and pull one leg of the ring out and fead it into the new socket and then add a new piece of cable from the new socket to the old one to remake the ring.

This way you can get away with only putting in a few now and then add the rest later when you know where you want them.

If you use a trunking that is divided inside so there is two sections then you can either run two ring mains, segregated so you know which is which, or you you can use the other section of the trunking to run 20A and/or 32A radial circuits to specific machines. If your machines are in the centre of the room then you can run 20mm conduit from the top edge of the trunking across the ceiling and then have a drop down to the machine.

For power to the bench what I did was to fix a four way extension lead to the end of the bench (must add one to the other end) so that there was only one plug to plug the whole bench in to the mains. This limits the bench to 13 amps but it is highly unlikely that working on your own you would have any more then that at the bench at a time.
Also, my bench is mobile in the workshop on heavy duty castors and this keeps the power where I want it.

 

[Oldman]

I am just at the wiring stage of my 20x12 workshop too, lighting is more or less complete now but as for power points I have gone for a mix of Mikes hi level and Night Trains trunking ideas.

I have bought 40x16 mini trunking to be run at high level around the walls from the consumer unit, this size allows for up to four 2.5mm cables without exceeding the space factor requirements. Drilling holes out of the back of the trunking at a downwards angle allows for drops to double 13A sockets mounted at high level on the walls.
I will also be taking spurs from some of the hi level sockets and running them up the roof timbers to give sockets mid way across the workshop floor as drop downs for movable machinery.
I have already designated a 10ft area of wall as storage and will put shelving there so although there is no need for sockets in that area the cables will pass by at the back of the shelves and the trunking will protect any surface cables from being damaged by items pushed back on say the top shelf.
Good luck with the project.

 

[johnf]

Put some power sockets on the ceiling great above the bench with a trailing lead hanging down also good for air cleaners realy cheap at the start messy later

 

[Night Train]

Put some power sockets on the ceiling great above the bench with a trailing lead hanging down also good for air cleaners realy cheap at the start messy later

I used to have sockets on the ceiling over the bench when my workshop was in my basement.
The problem I would was that I had to unplug everything each time as the hanging lead would just get in the way. That is why I switched to a four way extension lead block at the end of the bench. If I am using a selection of tools for a job the leads don't end up in my face all the time.