must-have workshop features

[drygulch]

My son and I have been renting a 6000SF converted mushroom barn since 2012. Very low rent. Electric bill is higher than the rent! Concrete block walls. It had already been converted (poorly) into something resembling a shop, and has evolved since. Son does resto-modding on commission - mostly Cummins-powered stuff. Check out his instagram page at metalbycharlie.

Anyway, the mods and upgrades over the years (driven by necessity) have included:
- dedicated paint booth (used, pre-fab style, negative pressure ventilation, filtered inlets)
- dedicated lathe room
- remote air, screw-type air compressor (quieter, more efficient)
- addition of three phase electrical service
- waste-oil heat

Things we wish we could change -
- location of waste oil storage to be pumpable to heater (or vice versa)
- sewer
- concrete is not great for walls - too much moisture transfer.
- needs to be bigger (vehicle storage).

We had to give up on the sewer - not worth the investment for a rental due to zoning/inspection hurdles. Right now, we just dump the hand sink to a leach tank and have a porta-potty onsite.

Space gets very hot in the summer (roof not insulated). A couple of 48-inch portable stirrer fans help.

Charlie is just finishing up a total custom flat-fender Power Wagon on commission ($6 figures). Scratch-built frame, Cummins 4-cylinder power. Lots of views online. The frame is all in CAD so it can be easily adjusted for different powertrain options and there are a couple more similar commissions in the works. "Think SEMA, boy."

Other customizers take the one-off, cut-and-paste approach to frame building. Most of their hours are spent on fitment, welding, and grinding. LOTS of grinding.

Charlie outsources the engine-machine work and spends a TON of money with the water-jet cutter guy.

-Paul

That old flatbed shop truck is just bad ass!

 

[William1]

I just built my shop. 30X 50. 14' ceiling, 12' x10' tall door. Steel beam (rated for 5 tons lifting) running the length with a trolley and a come-a-long on it. Concrete floor, polished (like a supermarket). Second floor, has a trap door to the first floor, another I beam (rated for three tons lifting) centered over the trap door with a two ton electric hoist.
Fiber optic connection to the house, separate wifi in the shop.
LED lighting, was very inexpensive at under $4.00 per fixture (bulb, box and shade) 30 on the first floor 20 on the second. All lighting is on WiFi switches and I can turn them off from the house, automated that no matter what, at 10PM, they are turned off.
20,000CFM exhaust fan.
120 Amp service
Fire detection system, based on heat not smoke, outside strobe and klaxon.
26Kw Kohler Genset on propane for back up.

Visually, it matches the house, same roof pitch, siding, architectural elements. I'm broke now.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Sounds great, apart from the last sentence. But don't worry, my account is also cleaned out in order to ship a whole garage and off grid electricity supply shed via 45' container to Ireland. With a realistic 20% inflation per year the money would have evaporated very quickly anyway

 

[BAP]

When we rebuilt and enlarged our shop on the farm 35 years ago, we put in a 14x20’ insulated overhead door with 16’ ceiling. The edge of the concrete at the door, we installed a piece of 3” angle iron, embedded in the concrete to maintain a good edge and door seal. The walls were sheathed in plywood painted white to make it easier to install hooks and hanging devices. The lights were installed on the walls at about 8’ of the floor and at an about 30 degree downward angle to make it easier to see under trucks and equipment. 1 row of lights was installed down the center of the ceiling. Complete overhead lighting is useless when working under equipment so the wall mounted lights added a lot of light at floor level. The ceiling was unpainted shiny metal roofing. Parts storage and the air compressor was in a separate room. Air was plumbed on the walls all the way around the interior with outlets throughout and including outside on either side of the door. Electrical was in conduit with many outlets. Water was installed in 1 corner with a sink and garden hose hookup. It was heated with a waste oil furnace to get rid of the 500-700 gallons of waste oil generated each year, with a wood stove as backup to keep the water from freezing.

 

[drygulch]

This thread makes me want to create another called "show off pictures of your shop" !

Thanks for all the input on this one. Def informative to hear what others have landed on.

Greg

 

[BT3101]

• Laptop of little value mounted on a swing arm over the end of the workbench. I'm always needing to look up something and prefer this form factor over a cell phone.

Greg

I've bought two of these Beelink mini PC setups. If you are just looking for a light duty web browser for the garage, they are great. All in you can still be around $400.

4 USB ports work great for wireless mouse, keyboard, monitor connection, and in my case, the fourth one goes to my CNC table controller.

Amazon.com: Suptek Monitor Mount Gas Spring Monitor Arm Desk Mount Fully Adjustable Fits 17 20 22 23 24 26 32 inch Monitors Weight Capacity up to 22 lbs : Electronics


Amazon.com: SANSUI Computer Monitor 24 inch Eye Care 1080P Display HDMI,VGA Ports with 178° Viewing Angle/Frame-Less/Tilt/VESA Compatible for Office and Home : Electronics

Just search "Beelink Mini" on Amazon as there are also more powerful offerings if you feel you need more computing power. But for Email, web browsing, videos, etc, even the low end ones a fine.

Amazon.com: Beelink Mini S12 Mini PC, 12th Intel Alder Lake- N95 (4C/4T, up to 3.4GHz), 8GB DDR4 256GB M.2 SSD, Mini Desktop Computer Support 4K@60Hz Dual Display/BT 5.2/WiFi 6/USB 3.2/Gigabit Ethernet : Electronics

 

[drygulch]

Seems like a nice solution. Personally, I don't typically need much more than a web browser.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[George in NH]

A rear garage door lined up with one of the front ones makes a nice straight shot through the garage/shop when needed. I added it when I built my 32x90 shop...thought it would be an extravagant luxury, but I figured "why not." Turns out I use it far more than I ever thought I would.