New Workshop

Hi Guys,

Just moved house and one of the main selling points for me was that it has a decent sized workshop.

I thought I would throw a quick sketchup out there for critique, showing the workbench I am planning and machine location. Other bits I will be adding but not yet on are small spray booth somewhere in the right hand area along with a decent sized table for sheet material handling.

The workbench itself is currently using 40x40x3mm box section steel and the long part is 7.6 metres long but can be shorter or a little longer dependant on what the standard size for box section is. I may redesign the section the CNC machine sits on to include diagonal bracing and possibly directly attach the machine to the frame for additional rigidity.

The space under the work bench(es) will be sectioned off and turned into storage for tools etc, so diagonal bracing may not be required?

I am thinking MDF for the worktop, but may go for some cheap kitchen top or possibly other options. The main workbench will also be housing my bench drill and a mini lathe of some description.

Power will be two feeds - one at 32/40amps for the machines and another at 15amps for normal stuff, all run around the space in wall trunking of some description.

If anybody fancies a job helping me weld the steel, let me know - as I'm completely green to welding - I'm located now in the hills outside of Bewdley, Worcs.

Cheers


Chris

Nearly forgot if anyone can advise - the walls of "workshop" are stone/mortar and the interior walls are as expected "rough as a badgers a*se" - They are too uneven to batten and board, so I'm thinking the best method wil be to use plasterboard "adhesive" and plaster board, with an injection of expending foam to fill in the cavities behind (wiring is all going into trunking so not an issue). The bit I'm not sure about is the walls have zero damp proofing (old barn/stable), so do I need some kind of membrane or air gap behind to conrol damp penetration or some other method? Plasterboard these days can come with barriers or premeability built in from what I have seen.....

Cheers



Chris

I would go for kitchen worktops. MDf has a nasty habit of absorbing most liquids and destroying itself. Kitchen worktops are easy to clean and will stand up to most liquids in the shop.

Can't see any room for the Jag!! G

Using adhesive straight on to a rough stone wall, I think will give you a lot of damp problems.

Smart U Video 414 Metal Stud Framing - YouTube

If you have the space you could use 50mm or 75mm metal studding and then plasterboard that would give you the air gap required and control any damp issues.
You would then end up with a true and flat wall. With 75mm stud you also would have the space for insulation.

Thanks Guys,

Kitchen worktop it is and also will look at stud wall technique as I have some room for that.

The Jag is in the garage although some pieces for that will be worked on in the workshop - one CNC job is to replace the centre console with a touchscreen affair for sat nav/music etc whilst retaining all the XK's buttons for various existing functions.

Cheers


Chris

Just moved house and one of the main selling points for me was that it has a decent sized workshop. The main selling point I would think lol. Why is it Women always look at kitchens & bathrooms when they know full well they will get you to rip it all out & fit a new one anyway lol

As well as the walls you need to consider the roof & what if anything your going to do about that, if you intend to do anything to try & keep it a bit warmer or intend to install any type of heating then this is the sort of thing I would be looking at doing before I started to plan where everything was going. Get the basic shell sorted first & then take it from there.

Hi Martin,

Thanks - I should have mentioned that there is a converted upper storey above the workshop, which already has double glazing, insulation etc. When and if the weather clears up I'll have a poke about the exterior walls, as thinking about it there must have been some damp proofing done at the time of the conversion - I'm guessing a stone walled property would have to have had the "injection" type damp course if it has one. The workshop itself is nice and dry if a little musty smelling, but that may have been due to lack of heating/occupation before I bought it (I think the whole property was vacant for over a year). Certainly the roof/ceiling timbers in the workshop look OK with no dry/wet rot or worm evidence and the wall's interiors are dry.

Cheers


Chris

Tip #1.

Trade suppliers & DIY shops will often let you have damaged/scratched/seconds kitchen worktops for a fraction of the usual price. My local Wickes let me have a 3m length with a few surface scratches for £10.

All you have to do is ask !

That's even better Chris, ;east you shouldn't have to worry about it for a considerable time. Is there any form of heating in the upper part of the building? If it's been left empty for that length of time & there is no evidence of damp on the workshop walls then there is a good bet that some sort of damp proof course has been fitted. If the original conversion was for any form of dwelling then it would have been required from what I understand. Don't know if commercial type buildings or offices are the same though.
Is that 2 walls that stick out into the floor space & where is the access to the upper floor.

Wouldn't go with MDF or Worktop I'd use exterior Plywood it's stronger and more durable.

Ah I had dismissed plywood initially, as I thought it might "blow" during a spillage of anything more than water, but I do have a pile of the stuff to get for boarding out the loft in the main house (I don't like using chipboard for that) and additional order volume should cut down the cost per unit.

@Martin - yes it is heated by storage heaters at the moment, but I'm getting a wood burner installed in the main part of the barn to augment that and I have a pile of logs/crappy lumber to fuel it (the upper storey is accessed from the main part of the barn, which is on the wall furthest away in the sketchup shot via a staircase, with the office in my build log on the other end of that main part).

The two walls you see in the pic are where the staircase goes from the main part of the barn to the upper storey, but only on one side and the full height half of that "room" will be where the server rack/IT stuff will go. That area will have a door (or two) on it to isolate my servers from the workshop environment - hope that makes sense.

I'm taking the 4U CNC controller box out of the rack and locating it closer to the CNC machine.

I'm awaiting some CAT6 cabling atm, to hardwire the barn/office/workshop and the main house - something I highly recommend if anyone is going into new premises and has the budget, which is another reason for using trunking as I put this in the old workshop I had and I like the modularity of it. I also have my eye on the LAN enabled PLCM-E3 controller board on Zapp, as being able to send jobs to the machine from any LAN port is appealing, but I've yet to see anyone who has used or reviewed one.

I'll start posting photos when I have something more to show...

Cheers


Chris

You are using the ply indoors and I assume not intending to tile it or plaster it afterwards, so all you really need to seal it is plain old PVA. Cheap and easy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Washout

I also have my eye on the LAN enabled PLCM-E3 controller board on Zapp, as being able to send jobs to the machine from any LAN port is appealing, but I've yet to see anyone who has used or reviewed one.

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I've had one for months, pretty much since when they first appeared and it's a good board (also got some of there drives). The parent Russian company Pure logic is very good has well for dealing with any software issues.
The first version of the software had some issue's with certain screen sets and homing/probing but they dealt with that sharply enough despite little to No help from Artsoft which is more than can be said for Warp9 and the smooth stepper brigade.!!

Edit: Exterior ply won't explode inside unless you drowned it.!!