Possible new workshop - ideas thread

[rtyuiop]

Hi folks,

Thinking of building a shed to move my workshop out from a converted garage in the house. Dust extraction is a priority for me, so thought I would start this thread to jot down any ideas as they occur to me, and if anyone wants to chime in with input it's welcome!

Basic facts:

Shed will hopefully be approximately 6*9.
In suburban Brisbane, so noise reduction and air con are both desirable.
Mostly woodwork right now, and most of that is turning.
Current dusty is a 3 phase dual bag cyclone bought second hand outside the shop, with some very ugly 150mm ducting to the worst of the machines.
Current machinery - lathe, table saw, combo jointer/thicknesser, bandsaw, router table, edge sander, drill press.

Current planning:

Planning to get the shed company to build a small sub-shed outside the shed to act as a DC enclosure.
Main duct trunk will be 6" unless I can figure out a way to do 8" at a reasonable cost. Most likely PVC, but I'm reaching out to some suppliers in case anyone can do steel without it being absurdly expensive.
Considering running 50mm duct alongside the main trunk for a ducted shop vac setup.
Shed will be pretty damned expensive, so thinking I will use the current dusty for now, but plan the system to take a CV Max or equivalent in the future.
Lathe is the biggest problem for me, so thinking I will park it up closest to the dusty and see if I can run two outlets to it - one permanent one behind it, and one movable. Still not sure what the best way to do that will be.
Considering building a separate room inside the shed for finishing and hot work (thinking about learning some glass work/welding/etc). Not sure what I should run into that room...
At the moment thinking that I'll put an air conditioner down the other end to the enclosure for the dusty, so the output dust doesn't get sucked into the AC... I realise that sucking cool air out at one end and pumping it in at the other means I probably shouldn't run AC and dusty simultaneously for long periods!

More updates as I go...

Cheers,

Danny

[BobL]

Planning to get the shed company to build a small sub-shed outside the shed to act as a DC enclosure.
Main duct trunk will be 6" unless I can figure out a way to do 8" at a reasonable cost. Most likely PVC, but I'm reaching out to some suppliers in case anyone can do steel without it being absurdly expensive.

8" PVC ducting is not available - well not @ any sort of "mere mortal" price.
Metal ducting - in 8" it won't be as expensive as 8" PVC but make sure you are sitting down when you get the quote.

Considering running 50mm duct alongside the main trunk for a ducted shop vac setup.

It depends what you vac, how long you vac for, and how extensive your DC ducting system is. If you only vac to clean up and your DC ducting covers the whole shed you can enclose the vac in a mobile box and plug the outlet of the box to vent into fittings attached to the DC ducting - saves running two sets of ducts.
If you vac power tools you should probably use a ducted vac system because venting the vac with the DC means you have to have both the vac and the DC on for too long.
I extract most power tools with my DC. Power tools with built in fans work as well with 50 mm hose into a DC as a vac.

Considering building a separate room inside the shed for finishing and hot work (thinking about learning some glass work/welding/etc). Not sure what I should run into that room...

Instead of building a separate room I just lined one end of my shed suitable for hot work using miniorb.
Painted.jpg

At the moment thinking that I'll put an air conditioner down the other end to the enclosure for the dusty, so the output dust doesn't get sucked into the AC... I realise that sucking cool air out at one end and pumping it in at the other means I probably shouldn't run AC and dusty simultaneously for long periods!

I'd put the AC in the middle of the long (9m) wall she so it can more easily cool the whole shed

[woodPixel]

If I were to build, a sprung wooden floor would be a necessity. Im sick of standing on concrete.

Either wood or ply, or yellow/red/blue tongue would be OK. This way you could also run services under the floor too.

[BobL]

You can't put services under them but some decent orthotic inserts are a bit cheaper than a sprung floor.

Talking about workshop floors this one is pretty interesting
https://web.pa.msu.edu/services/mach.../shopfloor.htm

[QC Inspector]

Make the outside enclosure for the dust collector as tall as you can. A CV-Max is about 3 metres tall with a 200litre drum under it. More if you want to use a big wheely bin, assuming you can find one that won't collapse from the suction.

To avoid the loss of AC air you can, for certain machines, have a duct bring outside make-up air right beside where the DC pipe is. For example you have a 10 or 12 inch pipe from outside ending right above/beside the headstock of the lathe and the 8" bell mouth opening for the DC where it is needed to grab the dust when you turn. The most of the hot air gets pulled into the DC with the dust and you don't loose the cooler air in the rest of the shed.

Pete

[rtyuiop]

8" PVC ducting is not available - well not @ any sort of "mere mortal" price.
Metal ducting - in 8" it won't be as expensive as 8" PVC but make sure you are sitting down when you get the quote.

Yeah, I strongly suspect I will end up with 6" PVC, have too many other things to spend money on!

It depends what you vac, how long you vac for, and how extensive your DC ducting system is. If you only vac to clean up and your DC ducting covers the whole shed you can enclose the vac in a mobile box and plug the outlet of the box to vent into fittings attached to the DC ducting - saves running two sets of ducts.
If you vac power tools you should probably use a ducted vac system because venting the vac with the DC means you have to have both the vac and the DC on for too long.
I extract most power tools with my DC. Power tools with built in fans work as well with 50 mm hose into a DC as a vac.

I was thinking about it for power tools, so that is excellent to know - I'll run a DC drop to the workbench area anyway, and most of the power tool use that needs extraction will be around there (I think).

Instead of building a separate room I just lined one end of my shed suitable for hot work using miniorb.
Painted.jpg

That's pretty much what I was thinking! I may end up with a mezzanine for storage (depends how much it costs me) so I could probably close the area underneath that quite easily.

I'd put the AC in the middle of the long (9m) wall she so it can more easily cool the whole shed

Yeah, if I had more space along the long sides that's what I would do (dusty down the end on the 6m wall), but the long sides will be close to the boundary wall - as close as the council will let me get away with.

If I were to build, a sprung wooden floor would be a necessity. Im sick of standing on concrete.

Either wood or ply, or yellow/red/blue tongue would be OK. This way you could also run services under the floor too.

It sounds ridiculous, but I don't mind concrete (with some antifatigue mats occasionally) - at least that's one expense I don't need to worry about... Between electrics, air con, insulation, an enclosure for the dusty, maybe a mezanine, I think I'm overloading on optional extras!

Make the outside enclosure for the dust collector as tall as you can. A CV-Max is about 3 metres tall with a 200litre drum under it. More if you want to use a big wheely bin, assuming you can find one that won't collapse from the suction.

To avoid the loss of AC air you can, for certain machines, have a duct bring outside make-up air right beside where the DC pipe is. For example you have a 10 or 12 inch pipe from outside ending right above/beside the headstock of the lathe and the 8" bell mouth opening for the DC where it is needed to grab the dust when you turn. The most of the hot air gets pulled into the DC with the dust and you don't loose the cooler air in the rest of the shed.

Pete

Yeah, the dusty enclosure's going to be big. I guess the cost will only be marginally different (just a few extra metres of steel) to make it either 'just big enough', or 'over the top huge', so it may as well be huge!

Interesting idea for return air! Will have to think about that one.

Danny

[Chris Parks]

If it is to be lined run all electricals in trays and not behind wall linings. It is then always accessible and more runs can be added with no problems. Put a sub board in also and all lights on three pin outlets.

[Albert]

my shed is 9x6. the mains are 8" steel. cry once laugh forever.
my dusty is a 3 phase 4kw baghouse unit.

am yet to place the dusty outside but I am very tempted to get a briquette press. A Felder RL type extractor with briquette press 2nd hand say 5-7 years old is about 15,000 EURO, Hoecker Polytechnik, Nestro, Spanex.. all about the same, except Alko. Alko is über expensive.

[QC Inspector]

Check Alibaba for briquette/pellet machines. They have all kinds and capacities. Some just compress and pelletize and others make it into charcoal. Might leave you with money for more tools.

Pete

[rtyuiop]

If it is to be lined run all electricals in trays and not behind wall linings. It is then always accessible and more runs can be added with no problems. Put a sub board in also and all lights on three pin outlets.

Oh yes - everything I can think of a way to make it modular and accessible it'll be done that way, either in conduit with removable top (trunking they call it according to bunnies!), or coffenup's awesome wooden conduit setup.

Lighting will definitely be on three pin, too. I'm hoping to figure out a clever way to mount the DC piping and lighting to the ceiling so I can rearrange the lighting on demand without too much pain, but no real ideas so far, apart from the ceiling being lined (was going to do that for insulation anyway).

my shed is 9x6. the mains are 8" steel. cry once laugh forever.
my dusty is a 3 phase 4kw baghouse unit.

am yet to place the dusty outside but I am very tempted to get a briquette press. A Felder RL type extractor with briquette press 2nd hand say 5-7 years old is about 15,000 EURO, Hoecker Polytechnik, Nestro, Spanex.. all about the same, except Alko. Alko is über expensive.

That's beyond my means I think, unfortunately!

Danny

[Albert]

my shed is 9x6. the mains are 8" steel. cry once laugh forever.
my dusty is a 3 phase 4kw baghouse unit.

am yet to place the dusty outside but I am very tempted to get a briquette press. A Felder RL type extractor with briquette press 2nd hand say 5-7 years old is about 15,000 EURO, Hoecker Polytechnik, Nestro, Spanex.. all about the same, except Alko. Alko is über expensive.

come to think of it, my mains are 250mm. 10"

[Chris Parks]

By using 3 pin outlets extension cords and double adaptors can be used to change lighting requirements. This was the single best thing I did when I built my shed many many years ago and my sparky mate suggested it.

[dejure]

As to hard concrete floors, I cover mine with 1" x 4' x 6' ground rubber horse mats. What a HUGE difference! I can even drop a chisel and it will survive.