New Shop Building Project...

[Jim_in_PA]

I_make_my_own stopped over today to help me pull the Ethernet cable between the house and the new shop building in the extra conduit the electrician put in the trench for me. He's recently retired, so I need to keep him busy. LOL

But now I have reliable connectivity in the new building...

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Woo hoo...milestone for the new shop building. Both the electrical and final inspections passed. That means I can get cracking on the real fun stuff. Forum member I_make_my_own will be back tomorrow to help with starting on the circuit wiring. He was here this morning for the inspector fun and then helped me pour the pad in front of the person-door. That turned out very nicely and will look better tomorrow after the forms come off. It got worked a little more after this photo to deal with a few little things I was not totally happy with.

 

[Davecam48]

Woo hoo...milestone for the new shop building. Both the electrical and final inspections passed. That means I can get cracking on the real fun stuff. Forum member I_make_my_own will be back tomorrow to help with starting on the circuit wiring. He was here this morning for the inspector fun and then helped me pour the pad in front of the person-door. That turned out very nicely and will look better tomorrow after the forms come off. It got worked a little more after this photo to deal with a few little things I was not totally happy with.

View attachment 1044891

Don't forget a nice rubber mat on that to remove the gravel before you step inside Jim! DC

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Little things yesterday on the new shop project...stripping the forms from the concrete pad outside the person-door, backfilling and cleaning up with clean stone, installation of the outside light.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Electrical is all complete other than final installation of receptacles, etc., after the interior finishes are up. That includes speaker wiring and the line over to the shed. Temporary lighting power line came down today, too, so it's no longer in the "view" from the house to the shop.

The mini split arrives tomorrow, so that's the next step. Once that's complete, it's time for drywall and some sound attenuation stuff. I may actually be able to move in to the new shop in a month or so if I'm really lucky.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Well, the last big piece of the new shop puzzle arrived today...the "make heat or make not-heat" thingie. I'll be getting this installed over the next x number of days and then can move on to drywall and the final steps before I can move in and get cracking on projects including some git-fiddle type things.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I got started on the mini split install today in the new shop building...inside unit is up and the drain is hard piped for better long term reliability as well as the length needing to be longer than was provided due to my install height. I should have the pad for the outside condenser tomorrow and can get that end done accordingly. The line set is staying inside the wall so that's about the most challenging part of this installation since I've blocked out in that area for storage and supporting vertical weight. The unit itself is pretty easy to do thanks to how Mr Cool packages things. No vacuum draw needed, etc.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Yesterday and today I was actually working on something in the temporary gara-shop...finishing up the other three speaker "enclosures" that will enable me to use four flat panel speakers I acquired in the mid-1990s from a former employer in my new shop building. I made the first one a couple months ago, but being in a small lull while waiting for a part to arrive for my mini split install, it was time to finish up this speaker nonsense so I can get them hung and crossed off my list. They will be powered by the AV receiver we had in the media room at our old property and be accompanied by the big sub that was also in that space. I'm honestly going to run the system in mono since there's little benefit in a stereo field or 7.1 in my workshop space with machines running, etc. At any rate...these are ready to hang after I get quick connect lugs crimped on to allow for easy install and easy repair if necessary in the future.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Got the speakers hung in the new shop building today...another thing crossed off my list.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

"It's alive!!!!!!!" Next up will be drywall.

 

[eallen]

Yesterday and today I was actually working on something in the temporary gara-shop...finishing up the other three speaker "enclosures" that will enable me to use four flat panel speakers I acquired in the mid-1990s from a former employer in my new shop building. I made the first one a couple months ago, but being in a small lull while waiting for a part to arrive for my mini split install, it was time to finish up this speaker nonsense so I can get them hung and crossed off my list. They will be powered by the AV receiver we had in the media room at our old property and be accompanied by the big sub that was also in that space. I'm honestly going to run the system in mono since there's little benefit in a stereo field or 7.1 in my workshop space with machines running, etc. At any rate...these are ready to hang after I get quick connect lugs crimped on to allow for easy install and easy repair if necessary in the future.

View attachment 1050741

I'm sorry, I couldn't see the speakers as a result of drool over the tools!

 

[RodeoTex]

This looks so great. I'm envious.
That looks like a huge space, is that mini split going to be enough?

 

[Jim_in_PA]

This looks so great. I'm envious.
That looks like a huge space, is that mini split going to be enough?

Right now it does feel like a huge space, but that will change once the gear moves in. Keep in mind that I have different "areas" planned; machining, hand work/assembly and finishing so there needs to be open area for the latter two things.

The 24K BTU unit is rated for up to 1000 sq ft, so yes, it's large enough but certainly "close" because of the open ceiling area. If I didn't have the closed cell spray foam, I'm pretty darn sure I'd need the 36K BTU next level up. It did not take much time to get the space up to 68ºF. Last night, I lowered the setting to 66ºF and it's still says it's 68ºF out there on the app. One thing I may do is add a small circulation fan to get more air to the front of the building. It was necessary to install the unit on the back wall for reasons I'm not going to go into, so providing a little help to keep things even over the 36' to the front wall will probably be worth considering.

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Officially, I'm ready for drywall. I may or may not pick that up today so I can start on the process this coming week.

 

[Davecam48]

A massive task beautifully executed Jim!!! You are a very skillful bloke!!!

DC

 

[Jim_in_PA]

First sheet of drywall went up...the "difficult" one with the electrical panel and a bunch of other perforations that had to be laid out by hand and also involved a little fitting in the corner due to some variances caused by the guy who put up the internal girts...wonder who that was? It was the first corner and, well...the other three are much better. At any rate, the rest of the 30 sheets will be a little easier as I'll be able to use a rotary tool and some handy box-marking thingies to deal with the outlet cutouts.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Made good progress on the sheetrock today...while thoroughly enjoying tunes all day from WXPN.org (which I support) via an Echo Dot. That little thing sounded pretty darn amazing in the big space so I'm anticipating the big system is going to sound grand. TDPRI Forum member I_make_my_own is coming over tomorrow to help with the rest of the sheet rock work, so I expect that by the end of the day, it will be pretty near to be done.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Oh, look...it's our TDPRI friend I_make_my_own helping with the drywall today. Some chuckles came with the measuring because he's German and writes some characters slightly differently and didn't grow up with inches as a focus. (I work in metric in the shop, but for construction, well...kinda got to do the inch thing) At any rate, we finished the job off in a few hours and I really appreciated his help. An extra set of hands really made things more efficient.

Only a few small things to do on the front wall around the roll up door and I can move on to the fun of tape and mud. That will not be too bad, here, however, because I used the vertical install position and only a very few short butt joints come into play to feather. The factory relieved edges are amazingly easy to do the deed.

 

[jkingma]

Jim, your shop is really coming along nicely. Even though I have a nice big shop I'm still envious of what you've put together. When I moved from my old shop to my new one i wish I had taken the time to plan things out a bit better. Proper planning sure paid off big time for you.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Thanks, John. I agree with you that planning is a good thing. I fortunately (or sadly) had a lot of time for that since we moved in April of 21 and the building project couldn't get started until earlier this year after we finally got the old property sold (it took a while for reasons I'll not go into) and obviously, the project schedule was "long". I went under contract in early March and the building went up in mid-September.

I really did work on considering what worked well at the old shop and what needed to be addressed better here. The new space, while larger because I could do that, is completely open and not broken up by immovable things...like the staircase that was smack in the middle of the back wall at the old place. More ceiling height didn't change the cost very much at all and with nominal 10' (more since the ceiling is open) I can use vertical lumber storage which saves a lot of space. Moving to the Harvey G700 dust collection system meant I could "stack" it with the compressor (the reason for that little platform on the back wall) and also save space. It's also quieter so I chose not to build a dedicated, sound reduced closet for it like I had taking up space in the old shop because of the roar (literally) of the big cyclone.

There is still work that will come that requires the tools to be in the space so I can really determine what's going to work for my typical workflow. I have an idea about what's likely going to work, but only the position of the CNC machine is "fixed". (because of electrical and network provisions) Part of the final tool and workflow arrangement revolves around maintaining open space for flexible assembly and finishing.

It's a journey and I'm sure this workshop will be like all others...it will continually change. LOL

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Pretty much ready for spraying paint in the new shop building project...nice milestone!