Coolmeadow Creations Shop Construction

Jim O'Dell

Member
Messages
2,783
Location
Between Aledo and Fort Worth, TX
OK! Here is my shop, or shop in progress, tour. Some of you have seen my Coolmeadow Creations thread on SMC where I have shown some of the rehab work I did on this building.
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The first picture is how it looked when we purchased the house, before the fence was even erected.
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The second picture is how it looks now from the front of the house, looking at the south wall of the shop.
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This is a closer view of the south wall/double doors. Doors were built on site, using the torsion box method. They swing outward so they don't interfere with machinery, or block the window on the left. Four strap hinges per door, custom bent :D to try to fit the door. They did sag a little at first, but have not worsened since then.
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This is a view into the shop with the doors open. It was very sunny today, so the interior doesn't show up very well, but believe me, it's there and it's cluttered!
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The 5th picture is just inside the door to the left, shows the window placement. There is a 220v receptacle here for plugging in the welder for use outside. I don't plan on using the welder inside the shop for fear of igniting wood dust. I have a metal welding table, 2 actually. One I inherited with the house, the other I inherited from my Dad last time he and Mom came to visit.
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This picture is of the west wall showing the box bay window. I will build in a shallow set of cabinets. There will be a shelf about 9" deep that the duct will go through to the bottom, and then the cabinet top will be about 13" out from there. There will be an opening in the middle that will accomodate multiple tools. Planer, sliding miter saw, RAS (if I can work out one problem) Kreg pocket hole station, scroll saw (that will be tilted for ease of use while sitting on a bar stool),down draft sanding station, oscillating sanding station, and some others I can't think of right now. I need to come up with some ideas on quick disconnect for the 6" PVC hook up that will be below the bench top. 4" quick disconnects are available for the upper intake. Note: I don't have that 6-6-4 wye yet, but it will either be installed right below the blast gate (upper wall mount for the down tube) or in the overhead line coming from the wye in the middle of the shop, right before it angles down. This will be more visible in the duct photo on post 3 of this tour. Heavy tools will be on stands with Herc-U-Lifts for mobility. I have 4 of them waiting for stands to mount on!! The windows were placed on each end to allow stock longer than 11 feet to stick through the windows.
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Picture 7 is of the north wall, west side. There is actually a window behind the insulation stacked on the floor. You can just see the Tyvek where it wraps around the header and staples in.
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Picture 8 is the middle and east end of the north wall, showing the Clear Vue cyclone, and the Welding table my dad brought me... yes more insulation under and to the right of it. Don't know where I put all the junk before the table appeared! :D

I'll continue this on the next post.
 
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(continued)
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Picture 9 is a view to the east into what will become the finishing room
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This picture is of the east wall of the finishing room. The window and door open to the back yard. The structure you see through the window is the neighbor’s detached garage, or storage building…not sure which.
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And this one is of the south wall of the finishing room. To the right of the window is where the future air compressor will reside. At that point I will build a closet for it. I wish now that I had made a bump out closet on the north side and placed the air compressor essentially outside. I guess I still could, but mating into the siding would be a major hassle.
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This picture is back to the shop, east wall.
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And this one is back to the south wall and door. Note: the door only opens from the inside. You have to have access to the house to get in without breaking a window.
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And for Stu, here is my breaker box. I have 8 220 circuits, and 6 110 circuits. My Flourescent lighting is on 2 separate circuits, then the wall plugs and task lights are on the other 4. No two adjacent 110 outlets are on the same circuit breaker. I have the future a/c unit, air comprssor,TS, cyclone, future jointer, welder, BS, and DP on separate 220 circuits, although I'll probably not rewire the DP for 220 operation.
Marty, I do believe this is the same box that you are using. 32 slot, 200 amp main. I still have 8 slots available for future growth. It’s hard to see, but in the first picture of the first post, to the left of the shop is a 12X14 shed (with 6’ ceilings. How do I know?? I’m 6’2”!!) I will eventually re-run the line from the shop over there and use the breaker box from the original owner of the shop to manage power there. I plan to make it my wood storage, although I do have a place set aside for some sheet goods in the shop. And I’ll make some shelves up high on the east and west walls for some dimensional stock. If I get into drying my own wood (could happen!) I could even plug in a de-humidifier in there. Anyway, 2 of the 8 available slots will be taken up with that sub panel.

I’ll continue the pics of the duct work on another post to keep them together.
 
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Ok, here is the ductwork. Mostly all finished, except for some 4” for future hookups on the TS guard which I will make one of these years, and the one over the box bay window that will go to Guard pick ups on various machines.
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In this shot, the right side of the duct is the inlet at the Clear Vue. The down tube on the left goes to the TS.
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This is a shot of the TS hook up. I got the flex hose on the pipe right before I quit working today. So it it is ready to go!


The pipe from the first picture continues to the left and goes to…….
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This wye. The right side goes to the BS and future jointer. I will probably also hook up the future mobile router table to this hook up. The left side goes to the box bay window multi-station.

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This is the BS/jointer/router table down pipe.
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And finally the Box bay window down tube.

As you can see, I still have a lot of work to do, and since I only get to work most of the weekends (not all) it has and will take some time to finish. I am contemplating what to use on the interior for wall covering. Sheetrock would be cheapest, but I hate the thought of dinging it every time I work on a stick of wood over 6’ long. :eek: I’d like to use real wood, and mount it on a diagonal. I said in another thread I might get a woodworker’s pack from Lumber Liquidators and learn to re-saw with it, and could make my own tongue and groove paneling out of it. We’ll see how it turns out.

OK. Now I realize I didn't put in my floor plan.
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The main shop is 20' wide X 24' deep. The finishing room is 12X14. Ceiling height is 7'7". I swear the builder was a little person.

Thanks for reading through this. I easily get long winded, just in case you haven’t noticed. :D Jim.
 
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Wow Jim, looks like a real project you have going there, should be one heck of a nice shop when you get done!

One thing, I sure wish you would include a few more pics, I mean, this is 2006 ya know, sheesh......... ;) :D

Really, just funning, amazing job on the shop, and a great job on documenting it and sharing it with us!

Cheers!
 
wow jim! heck of a well thought out and well written shop tour! you`ve been busy with pvc for quite a while. i`ll bet you can`t wait to start building "stuff" in your shop instead of building a shop? how come no dogs in the pics? the shop hound(s) are highly thought of in this neck of the woods:D ......tod
 
Jim,

Thanks for the well documented tour and all the pictures. It helps put into context a lot of the things you've shared with us in the past.

Yep, looks like the same Square-D 200 amp panel that I have a pair of.

Oh, and as for the walls, I don't know about where you're at, but here sheetrock is OVER TWICE the cost of OSB. I was planning on sheetrock, but simple economics has changed that plan.

Good luck getting that great shop completed. And keep the pictures coming...

- Marty -
 
Cap'n, there be whales....er, electricity, down here!!!

It's on!!!!!!:thumb::thumb:
And it's working!! :D I got a voice mail from LOML about 2:28 :rolleyes: that they came back, didn't think she/they needed me. Good thing as I couldn't leave work because my partner on the drive had gone to a meeting in Dallas this morning and failed to tell me anything about it! He showed up 6 minutes later, and I buttoned my work up, called my last customer, and hightailed it out of there. Had one 110 circuit that was dead. Traced it pretty quickly to the GFCI on that circuit that was wired wrong. :doh: It was the circuit that powered the trigger for the cyclone plus several other outlets, and maybe a light or two. I touched the cyclone switch on for about 1 1/2 seconds to make sure it fired up, forgot all about the papers under the chip drop (haven't finished my chip bin yet) and swoooooosh, scrunch, fffffllllllittttt. papers blew everywhere out the exhaust!! :eek: :eek: :bang::bang::bang:
Oh well, it worked! The Mini Max E16 fired up the first time too. Nice and smooth! Maybe a slight vibration, but might still pass the nickel test, but didn't have one on me. No smoke, Tommy Curtis from SMC that looked over the system for me said that woud be a good thing.

Felt so good about it, I stopped long enough to do poop patrol, per LOML request, and to change the oil in the lawnmower. Oh, and to come in and let the rest of the family know it's up and working!

I'll talk more later. Jim.
 
Thanks for sharing Jim. Glad you are all powered up. What is your next/first project?

To finish the shop.:DI still have a long way to go. I guess next on the punch list is to get the cyclone exhaust finished, then I need to finish the chip barrel. That way it can be used while working on other things. I need to rewire the TS to be able to plug in overhead...just need the wire for that, already have the plugs. Then I need to insulate and decide on what to use for the wall covering. The first project will probably be the router table, then an outfeed table/assembly table. First non shop project will probably be a wooden dog crate or five. :eek: I would like to make something that would match the styling of our bedroom furniture. Wire crates are so distasteful.:rolleyes: Beyond that, I have a kitchen to rebuild, and cabnetry and shelving in the great room on either side of the fireplace. The joy is in the journey. Thanks! Jim.
 
Have I said yet how wonderful it is to have power in the shop?? :D Got to spend about 3 1/2 hrs there this afternoon since the real job interfered with the first half of the day. Beautiful weather. Got the holes cut out for the cyclone exhaust, the built a spacer of sorts so that the exhaust plates have something flat to mount to. I have the hardiboard siding on the shop, and had to make some weird cuts to end up with a flat mounting area. Just thought of one problem I need to fix in the morning. :eek: Forgot to put a center piece for the plates to seal off against. Oh well, easy fix and doesn't affect anything I've already put up. Cut the vent tubes down so they will be the proper length, and siliconed them onto the plates. Will drill a couple holes and pop rivet them to make sure it stays in place. Then I need to mount the flex hose and hook them up.
Also brought a different plastic 55 gallon drum home. I had one already, but the top was kind of weird, and wasn't lending itself to a chip barrel very well. This one should work fine. Cut the top off, now need to get the wood top and sealing foam for it, and figure a way to lock the lid on. The top is not flat on this one, but the barrel is very smooth on the sides. I will have to bevel the wooden top to fit the bevel in the top. Will probably have to go with 2 thickness' of wood at the outside edge. Should I use 3/4" plywood for this? or MDF? Or will it matter?:)
I won't get a full day tomorrow in the shop either. We have a friend in need that I need to measure to build some panels for her garage door that is falling apart, and install a cover panel on her pull down attic stair unit.
Have a great 2nd half of the weekend! Jim.
 
Jim, I just realized that I have been ejoying seeing your shop progress but have not yet commented upon it (well not at Family Woodworking anyway). You have done a great job and its good that you are now starting to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labours. And, of course you aren't finished yet -no shop is ever finished. :D
 
Thanks Frank! Well, here's another little tidbit. Wish I'd had more time to work in the shop this weekend, but it wasn't meant to be. Worked 8 to 1 at the real job Sat. am, then spent 3 1/2 hrs in the shop. This morning I spent about an hour out there before leaving to go to a friend's house that needed some help cleaning things out, and doing some maintenance work. Got back a little after 3:00, then spent about 1 1/2 hours out there again. What I accomplished with this broken up shop time is: Holes cut out and the outside vent covers installed for the Clear Vue's exhaust. The first picture shows one of the vent covers with one vane removed so you see what's underneath.
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I won't bore you with the here's the hole cut out, here's the vent going in, etc. This picture is of the finished vents on the outside. I had to build a frame that they would sit flush on and still seal well on the siding. Once done, caulked, and dry, I painted it before installing the vents.
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The following picture is the inside shot where they come through.
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Then, a shot with the wye from the Clear Vue installed.
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Now all I need to do is to cut some flex hose to fit, custom make 4 more bridge clamps, and install them on the vents. I also need to secure the exhaust wye to the Clear Vue, and then mount the hose on to the wye's ends. At that point, I will have my TS working on the cyclone!
The final shot is to prove that I now have lights!!:D I'm surprised no one said no picture, didn't happen!:eek: But just in case a few of you were "thinking" that, here's the proof, although a bit blurry....ok, quite a bit blurry. I took 2 shots, neither came out well.
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Well, that's it for this weekend. I will probably work some during the evenings now that I can actually see at night, and get the exhaust finished up. Turkey Day will be here at our house this year. Mom and Dad will come down, but insist on going out to eat. Will have to see what's open. Hope everyone that is travelling this week have safe trips. Enjoy the time you have with your families!! Jim.
 
Jim,

Congrats on the progress. I can relate to the excitement of having lights and power. Here's to hoping you get some serious time in the shop once the turkey's been consumed...;)

- Marty -
 
Slowly BUT Surely it's coming together, Jim. Congrats on getting the power in and the DC nearly operational. While on that subject, I would like to suggest that while you are "Tricking Out" the chip barrel, go ahead and fix it so you can see the chip level without having to open the top to look in. This will most likely keep you from overfilling it at some time. What you need to do, is to cut a 1 1/2" to 2" wide strip out of the side of the barrel starting about 5 or 6" down from the top and going down about 12", then using some silicone and machine screws and nuts attach and seal a 3" wide strip of Lexan to the inside of the barrel over the strip you cut in the barrel. Next, salvage an Oven Light from a junk oven and install it in a cutout in the wood top you are going to make for the barrel and put a switch on it. Mount this light in the top so it will be above the viewing window in the barrel. With this method, you can flip on the light (or just leave it on when the DC is in use), and you will be able to see when the barrel is getting full. I would bevel the edges of the Lexan to keep sawdust from collecting around the edges of the viewing window. Wipe the lexan inside and outside occassionally with an antistatic or fabric softener sheet to keep it clear for viewing.
 
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fix it so you can see the chip level without having to open the top to look in. This will most likely keep you from overfilling it at some time. What you need to do, is to cut a 1 1/2" to 2" wide strip out of the side of the barrel starting about 5 or 6" down from the top and going down about 12", then using some silicone and machine screws and nuts attach and seal a 3" wide strip of Lexan to the inside of the barrel over the strip you cut in the barrel. Next, salvage an Oven Light from a junk oven and install it in a cutout in the wood top you are going to make for the barrel and put a switch on it. Mount this light in the top so it will be above the viewing window in the barrel. With this method, you can flip on the light (or just leave it on when the DC is in use), and you will be able to see when the barrel is getting full. I would bevel the edges of the Lexan to keep sawdust from collecting around the edges of the viewing window. Wipe the lexan inside and outside occassionally with an antistatic or fabric softener sheet to keep it clear for viewing.
That's an interesting suggestion Norman. I have jammed the barrel on my Onedia cyclone a couple of times. Do you thin that something like this could be made to work on the 35 gallon cardboard barrel from Oneida?
 
Thanks Norman. I had thought about doing that, but hadn't decided how to implement it yet. Your note shows me how!
Frank, I bet the same thing would work for a fiber barrel, but you may need to "sandwich" something on the outside for strength, like a little frame of some sort. Jim
 
jim, here`s my "site glasses"......only problem with this design is the idiot running the collector:eek: ......if he forgets to look at the dust level you`re shoveling mounds before you know it.........tod

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