Took the first step towards building my shop

[Frank S]

I hope your doing OK Frank. I've not seen an update in 11 days.

Thanks for checking on me. I've been doing boring things for the past several days like completely rebuilding the tilt steering column on a 91 F250 extended cab Diesel pickup I bought for $350.00 to get it ready to be inspected so I could put tags on it and other boring things like replacing the hub seals on a low bed semi trailer and tuning up a 15 year old 029 Sthil chain saw so it would start on 1 pull because it had been too windy to get on the roof to lay the last couple of sheets.
Got the pickup inspected and registered today the chain saw running 3 or 4 days ago, parts came in for the semi trailer and finished it yesterday rebuilt the carburetor on my ingersol rand club car carry all II cut a load of fire wood Monday. This afternoon the wind died so I finished the roof on the building
.
Might be a while before I get much more done to it can't decide if I want to start on the North wall or start making columns for the lean to extension. But in the mean time it is that time of year to clean out the chicken house and till up the garden.
There is never a dull moment around the Frank house

[metric_taper]

All is good, you have a completed roof. Days are getting longer. Task list gets longer......

[Frank S]

All is good, you have a completed roof. Days are getting longer. Task list gets longer......

Yep and along with a completed roof it opens up my willingness to work on some things that I would normally put off until I am fairly certain the weather won't dump something out of the sky when I am only half way through the project.
There again once I have the additional 33 by 61 feet of roof area of the lean to completed I can remove the gin pole rig and the fork carriage then put my loader bucket back on to hauled the 200 cubic yards of select fill and clay base I have partially excavated and stock piled to get the floor leveled up and packed But that also means Some of the projects if I start on them will have to be completed and out of the way.
Like I keep telling the wife we worked out of a container and a trailer with nothing but a canvas tent now for 6 years at least now we have more than 10 times the covered area than we had even if it take us another year to get the walls and doors and 3 years to get a slab every weld every screw every bolt and nut and hunk of metal is like adding embroidery pipping to a hat for decorations the HAT is there already. and it can be worn plain just as well as dressed to the 9's

[Toolmaker51]

We are on the same page. Few things worse than working with inadequate or detrimental lighting. I have 12' T-8 fluorescent fixtures and a good supply of tubes. Thank you Habitat for Humanity/ Restore! How I arrived at quantity bought? Took an old photography light meter to work, the mall, every shop visited for readings. Those with lighting good OR not enough for machine environments. Then I contacted manufacturer of said lights, they have a PC or CAD program that determines layouts based on room dimensions, intent of work going on, even orientation of the fixtures themselves.
After ceiling goes in, I'll mount direct to surface, preserving every possible inch of headroom, originally 15'8". Makes bulb replacement easier than when they hang by chain [though tubes are just 4']. Thought is to wire them 3-way in 3 separate banks, controlling them from either door [entry & roll-up].
Over the years, noticed certain jobs are not done under light other than incandescent, which are now LED. Typically jewelers, precision assemblers, some types of inspection, etc. Where I have that going on will get augmentation, by secondary LED lighting, suspended from above, and controlled there.

Since I'll live there eventually, [no...not a cot next to the lathe!] and nether wire or electricity will be less expensive than now, all this makes sense.

[Frank S]

We are on the same page. Few things worse than working with inadequate or detrimental lighting. I have 12' T-8 fluorescent fixtures and a good supply of tubes. Thank you Habitat for Humanity/ Restore! How I arrived at quantity bought? Took an old photography light meter to work, the mall, every shop visited for readings. Those with lighting good OR not enough for machine environments. Then I contacted manufacturer of said lights, they have a PC or CAD program that determines layouts based on room dimensions, intent of work going on, even orientation of the fixtures themselves.
After ceiling goes in, I'll mount direct to surface, preserving every possible inch of headroom, originally 15'8". Makes bulb replacement easier than when they hang by chain [though tubes are just 4']. Thought is to wire them 3-way in 3 separate banks, controlling them from either door [entry & roll-up].
Over the years, noticed certain jobs are not done under light other than incandescent, which are now LED. Typically jewelers, precision assemblers, some types of inspection, etc. Where I have that going on will get augmentation, by secondary LED lighting, suspended from above, and controlled there.

Since I'll live there eventually, [no...not a cot next to the lathe!] and nether wire or electricity will be less expensive than now, all this makes sense.

The nice thing about those fixtures you have is as time goes on you can eliminate the ballasts and install the 4 ft led tubes your ceiling at 15'8" is borderline between high bay and low bay Places like Walmart and stores of similar ceiling heights who use fluorescent lighting make my eyes bleed (that's what I call it), my eyes will start to have an itchy burning sensation almost from the moment I walk inside until I walk out. If I have to be in one of those places for an extended period of time say more than 15 or 20 minutes my eyes will be watering so bad and burning that I can hardly see.
And I know what it is they have too many fixtures installed per zone string so they are having a voltage drop in their circuits This is also due to the long distances from the panels to the end of the lighting strings even though they are in compliance to NEC codes I feel if a step up an wiring ga would reduce this effect.
My shop is no where near as large as many commercial buildings so voltage drop due to line length will be much less of a problem, However that being said for my zones which will be further away from the panel than the shorter ones I will be using a 10 ga feeder wire to the string then run 12 ga from there on and possibly 14 ga for the last fixture on the string but I will rung only 3 to 400 watts worth of fixtures per zone.
I am also thinking about going with wireless RF controlled switching with motion detectors for areas where persons may not regularly occupy, like in the storage vans and containers. Delayed ON switching for each zone is also a possibility to lower the inrush current load on the LED drivers. Smokestack heat sinks to wick away heat and block radiant heat from above may be an option as well cooler drivers on the LEDs will allow for more lumens and longer life
http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocum...369913_ENG.pdf

[Frank S]

For those of you who may be wondering why I seem to be constantly increasing the projected size of my shop before even considering putting the walls on it I direct you to a thread on another web side the first post of the thread has a link to a video of what ultimately I hope to be building
Another venture and KBS Coatings

[Frank S]

Around 8:30 this morning we finished up on the roof now all I have to do is to close up the weather observatory ports

[Toolmaker51]

Yes to all that Frank S about lighting including excess. I'm certain irritation is due resistance of code determined wire size and the flickering it causes. 60-something a second among several hundred fixtures? Sure thing. The lighting didn't bother me till now, because not working in a shop [commercial], where my exposure was constant.
LED conversion will occur. Each time I've been ready to invest, the tech improves and price drops, so for once delay isn't costly. Once drywall encloses overhead, I'll blow insulation and heat won't be an issue. At 4" in 12", the roof peak is almost 12'.

and the Lutron link is in my electrical bookmarks!

[jdurand]

My wife and I agree on bright lights, her new kitchen is getting three 18W LED ceiling lights. The workshop will get something like two 32 or 48 Watt lights.

[Toolmaker51]

I'm no soil engineer, or geologist; or decent gardener, lol.
Looks same as 'our' red dirt, comparing stockpile angle of repose. Identical to that around my building, elevation 849' [about 75' higher than Missouri River] and completely different than house at 997' [our famous black dirt]. Dense, dry, fine and packs like roadway. You can mold it cleanly enough to use as concrete forms. Astounding somehow, considereing our locales are 650 miles apart.
And to offshore forum members, that's a 9-1/2 hour flatland drive.