Workshop Extension and Updates (1 Viewer)

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This week I picked up two Reynolds solar water panels - 4’ x 12’ each. When I put in the slab for the first floor of the original workshop I put the PEX tubing in it for heat. The idea had always been to set up a system with solar panels to keep the workshop warmer through the winter. Just with sun in the windows, the upstairs woodshop typically stays above 40℉ - although the recent single digit temperatures had it down around 20℉. Without windows, the lower level does get colder, but with some solar gain I think I can probably keep it up around 50 to 55℉ at least and by warming the thermal mass of the floor should be able to keep it more stable.

The stopping block had always been how to control things. What I needed was a system that compares the temperature of the floor to that of the solar panel and then circulates the coolant when it would add heat to the floor - obviously shutting things down for the months that would warm things too much. Basically: If Floor Temp < Solar Panel Temp AND < Maximum Desired Temp (say 70℉) THEN Power Pump to Circulate Fluid.

When I first started looking into it, discussions along those lines always ended up being cost prohibitive. In more recent years, the idea of running an older PC to control things started to seem doable, but still seemed cumbersome. Lately I’ve started reading up on Arduino and Raspberry Pi controllers and an Arduino seems to be the ticket.

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Spent the afternoon organizing the hardware store. For all the time and money spent running out for a few of these and a few of those, I think this will really save me money (and time) in the long run. This is about half of it.

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I picked it up at auction - mom & pop hardware store going out of business. I got a good deal because most people were likely thinking of the effort to get it home and where to set it up. It was two fullsize pickup loads and the cases are a bit on the flimsy side - ok for sitting there loaded up, but not something that you can pick up a full case and carry it around. So I had to pull out all the boxes and trays, stack them up, and carry them out separate from the case.

The store obviously wasn’t taking care of hardware for awhile. Some of the bins are empty, others have miscellaneous crap in them, but for the most part I have at least a small stock of things. I know another local store that carries Midwest Fasteners stock and I know the owner pretty well. I’m going to get with them about “freshening up” my inventory.
 
We got some cabinets up in the woodshop over the weekend to continue the work on getting things organized. A guy had bought dozens of these at a government auction and then was selling the excess. I like how the doors slide into the cabinet so they aren’t sticking out to hit your head on when they’re open. They also have fluorescent lights under them to add some more task lighting to the workbench. I have some similar ones downstairs as well.

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This weekend I got the cabinets up at the other end of the woodworking shop. Now I just have to get the stuff IN them so that I have room to work.

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Lately we've been working on the house and other things have been keeping us busy as well, but I've been getting the downstairs workshop ceiling in place. I really wish I had done that BEFORE I filled things up with equipment, supplies, and other things…

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[UPDATE] I started this post to document the construction of the addition to the original workshop, but have changed the title to include "and updates" as I've been documenting various updates to the original workshop as well. I originally built the workshop in the late '90s, but it hit some roadblocks due to a divorce and career changes. About 2010 I started making more effort to get back to working on and in the workshop and in 2012 started on the addition. Since then I've been making a point to be able to spend more time out there. Particularly since late 2015 when I started dating an artist who (nicely) demanded her own space for wood carving, clay sculpture, and other artwork.
 
Some examples of the artist's work, for those who are interested:
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This summer has been focused on other odds and ends when I have spare time, so the workshop hasn't received much attention. But when I put in the pallet racking last year, I had to jury-rig the compressor piping and I finally got around to getting that straightened out.

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Cut the pipe, thread the pipe, goop up the pipe, install the pipe, next pipe…
 
I recently picked up a set of metal barrister bookcases at a surplus auction. Today we got them set up in the woodshop. Nice to be able to close the doors and keep the sawdust off of everything inside. Bottom shelf is my collection of Fine Woodworking magazines - #1 to #140.

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Fortunately, we've been doing more IN the workshop than ON the workshop lately. However, this past weekend we had a break in the rainy summer and got some painting finished up on the workshop. I had changed the house colors, but hadn't started repainting the workshop until the addition was finished.
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With things painted, we got our bat house up.

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Fall weather is definitely with us. They're calling for snow tomorrow and overnight temperatures into the teens this week.

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Over the past year, I've been having some issues with the fluorescent lights I installed over twenty years ago. Not only were bulbs burning out, but the ballasts were starting to go as well. At the time they were installed, the F96T12HO fixtures with 110W Cool White 6500K T12 bulbs were a pretty decent deal - providing bright light and not affected by winter temperatures in an unheated garage. Since then T8s and T5s have replaced a lot of the T12 applications and LED lighting is becoming cost effective.

I looked at a number of options. There are quite a few options if I wanted to replace the whole fixture - ranging from about $40 (in most cases, the cost of two 4' fixtures to replace one 8' fixture) to $120 or more. To me, it seemed like a lot of extra work including possible rewiring to accommodate a new configuration. With that in mind, I looked at options to use the existing fixtures. New "plug-n-play" LED bulbs would require ballasts to be replaced, so the cost was about $37 for bulbs and ballast per fixture. New T12 bulbs and ballasts would be about $32-$35 per fixture. And "ballast bypass" LED bulbs was about right in the middle at $35. So there wasn't a clear cost savings with any of the options.

In the end, I decided to go with the ballast bypass option in a 90W Cool White 6500K LED bulb. Even non-PCB ballasts need to be properly disposed of, so there would be an eventual cost to dispose of the replacements and I figured it was better to not need them. I ended up spending a bit more because I added a circuit breaker to each fixture as the bulbs were using much less than the ballasts and concerns were raised about the tombstones not being able to handle the full 15A 120V line voltage if something went wrong.

Having a metal ceiling helped when you can't have the ceiling lights on because you're working on the ceiling lights. A couple HF Braun magnetic work lights worked nicely for the task. ;)

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Here you can see the circuit breaker wired into the incoming line.

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And with everything back in place you can see how much more yellow the fluorescent fixture to the left is compared to the new LED on the right despite both being 6500K. I will admit that after twenty years, the fluorescents obviously aren't as bright as they once were.

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A lot of reviews were saying how these were so much brighter than the fluorescents that people were only putting one LED bulb in a fixture to replace two bulb fluorescents. Despite it being brighter, it is not so bright that I'd consider removing a bulb.

Now I just have to go through and do all the other fixtures.
 
It's been awhile since I've provided any updates. We did get some painting done on the workshop last fall. The siding and trim had been painted, but we had to finish painting the actual window sashes and screens. The Lovely Lady helped with that one.

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Half the battle is having places to put things so that they don't end up on the floor, the workbench, or other available horizontal surfaces...

This old metal kitchen cabinet showed up at the curb one morning as I was driving to work on trash day and quickly found itself in the back of my truck.

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First order of business was cleaning fifty-plus years of grease and grime off of it.

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A little degreaser had that taken care of quickly.

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Then some light sanding to take care of some rust spots and peeling finish.

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A bit of primer for the case and shelves. The doors weren't in too bad of shape, so I decided to leave the enameled finish there.

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After the primer, I coated it with Rustoleum Hammered spray paint and got it mounted above the entrance door to the shop.

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I added a light under it as it blocked the ceiling light and created a dark area right at the door. I have three of these ceiling lights so I can have just enough light to see to get around without turning on the main LED lights.

It didn't take long to get it all filled up, but at least I can close it up and get things out of sight.

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Man, it's been awhile here... Last fall was spent working on getting my CDL along with the usual household and career stuff. Then the year ended with the lovely lady deciding that there were greener pastures elsewhere... That took the wind out of my sails... :frown:

But the new year brought a new tool purchase, so I've been working on putting together a stand for it:
  • Took a truck brake drum and welded a VW rotor to it. Then turned down a second VW rotor for the lug holes to line up.
  • Welded an upright to the second VW rotor and bolted the two rotors together.
  • Turned a fitting that would fit in the upright and welded it to the tube clamp.
  • Painted the drum and rotor and powdercoated the rotor and upright. Drilled through the upright and fitting so that a hitch pin would lock things in place.
  • Provides a nice solid base for a Tinman's Garage Planishing Hammer.
  • I put a disconnect on the airline at the hammer so that I could easily swap things out.
  • And, finally, a closeup on the tube clamp assembly.
Next step is working on a storage unit for the dies and hoops.

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