# New Shop, Just Moved In



## tomw (Dec 30, 2015)

Dear All,

Since late October I have been unable to do any machining. Woe is me. But, the reason is that I began putting in a new shop/garage annex in September. In late October I had to shut down my old shop (the garage) for renovations on that structure, and thus no more machine shop work for me.

Well, the project is done! So, I thought I might show you folks what I did. It's a small shop, but I have big hands.

The first step in this process was creating a space next to my garage for the new building. This was done by a friend of mine's company (Reclaimed Space). This involved digging into the hillside and making things flat. Gravel was then placed in the new flat space, and a limestone wall installed to keep the upper hill slope from moving.

Next was the building. The new building is a 10' x 20' Tough Shed, placed by the guys below about 18" from my garage. I ordered the 16" on center, heavy-duty floor.






The shed was installed in about 6 hours by the above guys. As you can see, I wanted lots of windows. Their is a window on the north side as well.



The Shed installed. You can see the stone wall clearly in this photo.



My brother and I installed the wiring. The blue tape marks where the sliding door goes. The sliding door allows access from the existing garage to the new building. A sliding door was chosen to reduce lost space.





This panel is fed from a sub-panel in the garage that is fed from the main panel at the house. The garage sub-panel is 80 amp, as is the above panel.



A note my brother made on the wall after I admonished him about how he was hooking up the receptacles.



Almost ready for insulation



The insulation is, obviously, installed. Also installed is the mini-split HVAC system; you can see the indoor component over Alex's shoulder. I put an inside unit in this structure and the garage.



The sheetrock, painting and light installation are done. The color is livable green. The lights are 4' LED shop lights. There are 9 in the building.



After I have somewhat moved in. Just in case folks are wondering, the machining machines are on the benches to the right of the photograph: a Sherline 4400 lathe and a Sherline 5400 mill.







I have much still to move in, and several stands to make. But, I am back doing machining stuff. The rest can wait.

Thank you for reading along.

Cheers and Happy New Year,

Tom



Ignore this photo. I can't figure out how to delete it.


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## brino (Dec 30, 2015)

tomw said:


> Since late October I have been unable to do any machining.


That sounds painful....ouch! I'd be having some kind of withdrawal symptoms.



tomw said:


> I am back doing machining stuff.


Congrats, That is a very bright and open space.
I really like that vice mounted on the extension of the bench. I have a sand-blasting cabinet wedge in beside my bench vice and it is very limiting!
Now go make chips! 



tomw said:


> Ignore this photo. I can't figure out how to delete it.


Okay, done!

-brino

Edit: I also find the white-board an indispensable workshop accessory.


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## FOMOGO (Dec 30, 2015)

Very nice space, always good to have a little more room. Mike


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## Chip Hacket (Dec 31, 2015)

Great shop!  You can't have to many lights.  All those windows is also a plus.  What's your 1st major project going to be? 


Chip


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## bpratl (Dec 31, 2015)

Great looking shop and good choice on the LED lighting....never enough lights. Bob


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## Sandia (Dec 31, 2015)

Good looking shop Tom. Very bright and well organized. Makes working out there a lot more fun as well.
Congratulations


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## Matabele (Dec 31, 2015)

Looks awesome! I'm thinking of a similar sized shop for myself, but using one of those metal garages and modifying it to suit. What did you use for insulation, and would you mind posting a link to the LED shop lights you used? They look ideal, tonnnes of white light!


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## zmotorsports (Dec 31, 2015)

Looks awesome.  Great job and well organized.

Mike.


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## tomw (Jan 1, 2016)

Thank you all. As y0u all know, doing a new shop is hard work. The hardest part, for me, was organizing all the crap from the previous space (aka my garage). After 20 years in that space, I had a lot of crap to sort into: 1) Discard, 2) Probably discard, 3) "Hmm, that might be useful for..." 4) "I can definitely use that for"..some future project that will never happen, and 5) stuff I need. 

I also ran into the problem of where does that "really" belong. And what cabinets, shelves, cubbyholes, or lost spaces should be used for that sort of stuff or another. 

I would love to hear how folks organize their crap. Where do you put stuff that you need. How do you store stuff, and where, that you frequently require. How and where do you put stuff that you need every other week, but might need more frequently. 

Basically, what sorts of needs led to the development of your shop organization that could help us new folks?

Matabele:
The lights I used were these ones.  I have no idea if they are available in CA. The insulation was R-19 fiberglass bat.

Thank you all for your nice comments. I really appreciate it.


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## mdav20 (Jan 1, 2016)

Very nice!


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## Matabele (Jan 2, 2016)

Thanks for the info Tom, appreciate it! I've been looking at this post for some storage inspiration : http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=464&page=28

Pinterest also has some cool ideas floating around in it. 

Please post an update when everything is in, looks good so far though!


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## tomw (Jan 3, 2016)

Matabele,

Thanks tons for that link. I really like the compact peg-board cabinet idea. I don't have a lot of wall space for easily accessible hanging stuff like wrenches, hand saws, large files, etc.

Happy new year to all!

Cheers,

Tom


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## eeler1 (Jan 3, 2016)

Well, that space is acceptable as the initial move-in, but future pics should show it stuffed to the gills, walls totally covered with stuff, trails from one end to the other and with little narrow  spur trails to machines, all bench space occupied by current, future or past projects, in-process, etc.   That way people will know you are bonafide.   Way too tidy in the current configuration.

Actually that's close to a dream shop.  I'll have to look into those sheds when I move back home. Congrats!!

I've used the peg board and it works pretty well.  But it limits you to the hangers, great for lots of stuff, not so good for others.   Nice to have a mix of that and shop built wall storage.


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## SteveM (Jan 9, 2016)

Very nice!


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## GK1918 (Jan 10, 2016)

Nice job,  at first I was not a believer in LED lights but they rule, also all machine lights are leds, no more
burned arms stay cool costs nothing to operate..


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## tomw (Jan 10, 2016)

GK,

That is a very nice looking shop! I really like my LED lights. The absence of the flourescent flicker is a great benefit. 

Cheers,

Tom


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## RIMSPOKE (Jan 17, 2016)

WONDERFUL WORKSPACE YOU HAVE THERE !  I LIKE THE ORGANIZATION AND BENCH SPACE . 
YOU MUST KNOW YOUR STUFF IF YOU HAVE A GERSTNER BOX . 

ONE THING CONCERNS ME .  IT LOOKS LIKE RAIN WATER RUNNING OFF THE ROOF OF THE GARAGE 
WILL SPLASH ONTO & RUN DOWN THE WALL OF THE SHOP LIKE A WATERFALL  .  

DO YOU PLAN TO PUT A GUTTER IN THERE ?


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## tomw (Jan 20, 2016)

RIM,

Thank you for your kudos. As far as knowing what I am doing...

Regarding rain water: the water is diverted from the garage roof onto to the shop roof and then into a gutter. There is a large bit of flashing that has been installed between the two buildings to (hopefully) ensure the water runs the right way. Of course, water finds a way to invade regardless of ones plans.

Cheers,

Tom


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## Slackerzinc (Jan 21, 2016)

This 10x20 is exactly the addition I plan on doing this summer! This post is a great visual for me. The only real differences are the ceiling height and amount of Windows.


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