Right now, my most serious debate is what type of major power tools I want to get.  Do I get less expensive stuff like Grizzly or spend the money for something like Powermatic?

A few months ago, I needed a bandsaw to cut long, curved joists for a bridge I was building.  I went to Lowes and picked up a Delta bandsaw for about $400.  It would be an understatement to say that I was unimpressed and I returned it.  I then went the other way and shelled out a little over $1,000 for a Powermatic.  While the PM was better, I was disappointed in the missing paint, misaligned wheels, and poor instructions.

Right now, I’m thinking that Grizzly may represent the best bang for the buck, a good quality tool at a decent price.  The Delta was so cheap as to be unusable and Powermatic just didn’t deliver enough to be worth triple the price.

Well, we survived Tropical Storm Fay relatively unscathed.  We’re in a somewhat low-lying area and hurricanes that dump massive amounts of rain can flood the local area, on average we can expect some water in the shop once a decade.  Thankfully, we only got about an inch of water in the shop this time and nothing was damaged, but it illustrates a unique problem I have to deal with in shop design.  My plan is to arrange things such that 18″ of water in the shop will do little to no damage.

The lower portion of the walls will have separate, easily replaceable pieces of insulation and the wall surface (acc tile) will be simple to pop off and replace.  Benches, etc, will have some kind of waterproof lower legs.  My biggest issue will be coming up with a system to quickly lift all the heavy machinery onto blocks, I’m looking at getting/building a small gantry crane, Northern Tools has a nice one for a few hundred bucks that may work quite nicely.  However, if possible, I’d like to use the engine hoist I have already.

I’ve finished the insulation on the south wall of the shop, which is probably going to be the easiest.  Once I tore out the set of shelves that were there, all I had was 44′ of 10′ tall wall.

I’ve also started on the ceiling insulation, which is a real pain.

I got tired of going up and down the ladder, so I build myself a rolling platform to work from, I can pile up some ceiling batts and then pull on the trusses to roll from place to place.  I have to be careful, though, because it rolls so easily that if I walk normally I just stay in place and the platform moves under me.  I guess that says something about my mass …

I also installed a window AC unit.   Frigidaire is bringing out their new models, so I got this 25,000 BTU unit for half price.  The frame and side fillers for putting it in a window were really cheesy.  Also, since I have double-hung windows with muntins, the half-closed lower pane would cause the muntins to not line up with the upper pane and looked weird.  So I just removed the lower pane and framed in around the unit, covering it with vinyl on the outside.

I’ve been mulling over what to do about dust collection.

My initial plan was to use a portable dust collector, at least in the beginning, and just wheel it from machine to machine. The more I thought about this, the less I liked it. All the connecting and disconnecting, not to mention plugging/unplugging the power cord (or dragging an extension cord all over the place).

So I started looking at a central cyclone system.  I’ve narrowed it down to an Oneida 2HP Dust Gorilla, the ClearVue 5HP cyclone, and a 3HP Grizzly unit.

Performance-wise and price-wise, they’re substantially similar.  The spread of cost is only a couple hundred between all three.

In general, it seems the Oneida performs better on short-run systems where the static pressure is low.  However, once you get above 8 inches or so, the performance drops off dramatically, to the point where by 11 inches they’re at zero CFM.  This concerns me because I’m looking at pretty long duct runs, as long as 50 feet, which should put my SP at 9-10 inches.  The Oneida Pro systems would handle it with ease, but they’re out of my budget.

Also, I think the yellow color of the DG is so very ugly.  But I’ve never seen anyone say that Oneida systems are anything but high-quality.

The ClearVue is really cool.  I like the ability to see inside the cyclone while it works and the performance is quite good.  The performance curve is flatter than the Oneida, starting off about the same but without the tremendous drop-off at higher static pressures.  I guess that this is due to the 5hp motor and perhaps a larger impeller?

The ClearVue has several downsides, however.  I have reservations about the use of the clear plastic, not so much in the cyclone itself but the stress on the connections, some parts are put together with screws.  I can imagine stress cracks developing at these points one day.  Same thing with the MDF parts, most of the support structure is MDF and I worry about how this will stand up to the vibration over time.  The cheesy-looking website, lack of details on the site, and the fact that there’s no warranty don’t inspire confidence.  I really don’t know if they’ll be here in a few years to replace broken parts.

The assembly of the ClearVue also looks awfully involved.  Basically, the entire system ships completely disassembled, you have to put it all together right down to having to caulk seams.  Definitely check out the assembly manual before buying.

The Grizzly is the most interesting.  According to the performance curves published on Oneida’s own site, the Dust Gorilla only slightly outperforms the Grizzly at low SPs.  But the DG drop-off brings it down to the same as the Grizzly by 9″ after which the Grizzly holds a edge of several hundred CFM by 11″.

Overall, it seems the Dust Gorilla is the “safe” choice.  I’d be sacrificing performance for a definite quality product from a long-time company that only does dust collection and perhaps I can design a duct system that won’t push it to its limits.  The ClearVue is by far the performance per dollar winner and takes first place for coolness, but I’d say it’s the riskiest choice.

Which leaves me leaning toward the Grizzly system, it seems to deliver good performance at the higher SPs I’m expecting.  It appears to be sturdy and Grizzly has a reputation for outstanding customer service.  If only it was clear …

In the hysteria of getting the building ready when my dad got sick, we never properly installed electric service.  I just ran some wire from a breaker in the house exterior panel to a really old panel box that Dad had dug up somewhere.

Well, that wasn’t gonna cut it.  For one thing, the line was just #6 copper, which is limited to 50 amps.  I’m looking at 13 amps for a tablesaw, 20 amps for a dust collector, and 15 amps of lights, putting me right up at the limit before considering A/C, compressor, radio, etc.   Also, the panel he had was pretty small.  So it was time to upsize my incoming power.

If you haven’t noticed, the price of copper has skyrocketed lately.  6/2 wire was about $1.50 per foot at Home Depot and they didn’t even carry anything larger.  But a really helpful guy at HD suggested using #2 aluminum Service Entrance cable, which is rated to 90 amps when running to a subpanel.  I was a little nervous about that, as I had never worked with aluminum wire before.  He explained that it was no big deal, you just had to be careful not to gouge the aluminum conductors when removing the insulation and you had to seal the aluminum with a product call NOALOX, which I assume stands for NO ALuminum OXidation.

It’s not really a “cable” per se, just four individual wires.  Two hots, a neutral, and a ground.  If you’ve never wired a subpanel before, be aware that you must run four wires from a subpanel.  You can’t tie neutral and ground together like you can in the main panel.  Also, that means you have to run it through conduit, I used 1.5″ PVC.

At $1.75 per foot, it was only slightly more expensive than #6 copper with twice the ampacity.

Here’s my shiny new panel box all wired up:

I temporarily hung the new T-8 fixture in the shop last night.  What a tremendous difference!  The light output is much higher than the old T-12s and it’s a much more pleasant, slightly warmish white.  No flickering, no humming, no green tones.  Comes on instantly, too.

However, is it worth it?  Offhand, I’d have to say so.  In the long run, I’ll recover the cost of the lights in lower electric costs.  And in the short (immediate) term, the light quality is worlds better than any T-12 I’ve seen.

If you’re not familiar with the term Color Rendering Index (CRI), it’s a measurement of how “correctly” colors look under a light.  If you’ve worked in photography, you’re familiar with the term “white balance” which is very similar.  In other words, when a red ball is placed under a light, does it look red?  If it’s perfect (as defined by the standard) it’s a CRI of 100.  The worse it is, the lower the CRI.  Anything under 80 is not good, colors that looked great in the shop may look really odd under normal home lights.  You could use standard incandescent bulbs to get a higher CRI, but they generate a lot of heat and use a lot of power.

The color temperature of a bulb refers to the type of light it produces.  The temp is measured in degrees on the Kelvin scale, where the degrees are like Celcius but zero is absolute zero (-273.15° C).  A 3000° K light is the color of an iron bar if it was heated to 3000° K.  80° F is almost exactly 300° K.

A standard incandescent bulb is around 2500°, a “cool white” florescent is about 4000°, and direct sunlight varies from about 3000° to about 8000° depending on the angle of the sun and your altitude.  Note that color temperature is NOT related to the intensity of the light, but the ratio of the colors in the light.  For example, overcast sunlight has a lot of red light filtered out and has a color temp of about 10,000° but its nowhere as intense as clear sunshine.  Some bulbs are advertised as “sunlight” bulbs with a color temp approaching 7000°, but I find them extremely bluish on the verge of purple and very unpleasant.

The bulbs I used, GE Ecolux Sunshine, have a color temperature of 5000 degrees Kelvin and a CRI of 86, the highest I’ve seen other than very expensive specialty bulbs.  The downside is the rather low 20,000 hour life.  Home Depot has a line of bulbs (I don’t recall the brand, I’ll post it later) with a temp of 5100K, CRI of 85, but with a 30,000 hour life. On my next swing though HD I’ll pick up another fixture and some of those bulbs to compare.

My original lighting plan called for 16 4-lamp fixtures.  However, the light output from the T-8 is so bright, I may install just 8 in a checkboard pattern and fill in the rest if/where I think I need it.  Or just spot-supplement with task lights.

I opened up the new light I got from Lowe’s.  Well, all I got to do was open the end flap, that’s when I noticed it said “2-lamp”.  I had the wrong light!  I figured that I had gotten confused and grabbed from the wrong bin, even though I had matched the product number from the sample hanging up.  8-foot T-8 lamps are really hard to find, so it had to go back.  Which really stinks because Lowe’s is an hour round trip, which is like $300 in gas.

I found the receipt so that I could return it and noticed the receipt said “4-lamp”.  When I returned it to Lowe’s, sure enough, he scanned it and it said “4-lamp”.  So I checked the light section, they have a 4-lamp sample hanging up, the bin says “4-lamp”, the product number matches the boxes, but those boxes are all 2-lamp models.  So it’s Lowe’s that’s confused!

So I ended up getting the light from Home Depot.  They’re $5 more, but they’re actual 4-lamp fixtures instead of Lowe’s imaginary 4-lamp.

Lesson learned: Check the box carefully to make sure of what you’re getting at Lowe’s!

I’ll also need to get some lights.  Right now, I have a batch of super-cheap fluorescent units at one end of the shop and in the garage, I think I paid about $6 each.  They’re kinda flickery with an odd color cast, so I’d rather not use that kind in the new shop.

From all my reading, it seems that the new T-8 bulbs are the way to go.  Clean, flicker-free light and lower power use.  The only negatives I’ve seen are one comment that the ballasts don’t last as long as the old T-12s and that the fixtures are so expensive.

They are kinda pricey.  While I got my old units a couple years ago for $6, the cheapest 4-foot 2-bulb T-8 fixtures I’ve found are $23.  Lowes has an 8-foot 4-bulb unit (using 4-foot bulbs) for $39, so that’s a little cheaper.  Best I can tell, I need 60-70 32-watt bulbs for my 1300 sf, so I’m looking at 16 fixtures and 64 bulbs (~$3.50) for a total of a little over $900.  Ouch.

The other big issue is the color temperature.  I’ve found bulbs with color temps from 3000K up to 6500K.  I know from past experience that I don’t like the high-temp bulbs, they’re just way too bluish.  I wish they made fluorescent lights that looked like incandescents (around 2500K) but they just don’t exist (don’t tell me about low-temp CFLs, I’ve tried them and they are NOT the same).

I bought one of the Lowes units last night with some 5000K “daylight” bulbs, I’m going to hang it and see how I like the light.

I finally found some info on the insulation properties of the acoustic ceiling tile. The R-value from the tile is about 3, so combined with 3.5″ R-13 insulation is about R-16. The more expensive 6″ insulation (when compressed into the 5.5″ cavities of my 2×6 walls) is only R-18. We’re right on the border between two zones where recommended wall insulation is R13 & R-19, so I’m thinking of using the 3.5″ insulation and saving that 15 cents/sf. On the other hand, that’s only about $200, so maybe not.  But $200 would buy some nice toys …

I’m mulling over how I want to finish the interior walls and ceiling of the shop.

Originally, my plan was to just leave the insulation exposed.  It’s really cheap (free) and I figure the exposed insulation would make a good sound absorber.

But I think a couple thousand square feet of dark brown paper would be rather dreary looking.  Not to mention that paper is flammable.  So I’ve been exploring wall coverings.

The obvious choice is drywall.  Somewhat white, durable, and cheap at about 20 cents per square foot.  But drywall is really heavy, I would dread carrying 80 sheets of drywall from the trailer into the shop.  Not to mention hanging it.  Renting a panel lift runs $30 a day from Home Depot, so that would get expensive and buying one would be about $400.  I could always get it used, I suppose.

The other drawback (in my mind) is that drywall is a really good sound reflector.  If you’ve ever walked though a house before the carpet, drapes, and furniture go in, you know what I mean.  Loud machinery and reflective surfaces doesn’t sound pleasant.

Then I got the bright idea to use rigid foam insulation.  Still fairly cheap at 23 cents/sf and really really white.  Plus it’s really really light and easy to work with.  And it’s really really flammable.  Oh, never mind …

I looked at white tileboard, which runs about 30 cents/sf, but we’re back to that sound reflection again.  It’s also so thin/flimsy I think it would look rather cheezy.

The idea I really like, although expensive at 45 cents/sf, is using the panels from a suspended ceiling.  Fire resistant, lightweight, white, rigid, sound absorbent, easy to cut, it’s got it all.  It’s also insulative, so I could perhaps cut back on the wall insulation from R19 to R13, which saves 15 cents/sf.  Factor in the cost of the panel lift and there’s little if any real extra cost over drywall.