I just bought my first house and cannot begin to express how excited I am about setting up my first shop in the garage. I will be buying a tablesaw, jointer, planer, drill press, sanders, routers, etc……
So, I will need to add a subpanel to power it all. Anyone have any advice on the subject? ideas as to what adiing a subpanel costs?
I’m also open to all ideas for tools, shop setup, etc. I plan on buying tools that will last, not necessarily the most expensive, but good quality.
thanks !
Replies
...well congratulatons.....yippee
and Welcome
there was a recent discussion about a sub panel , if you try the Advanced search feature and type in this number...63566.1
it will take you there, it is titled "electrical wireng a shed"
also , I know you are happy , but I think you might get a better response to your questions if you re-post this in a different folder instead of this one...this folder usually has talks about get-togethers, and parties and such things. You might want to consider posting this in General Discussion.
Again , glad to meet ya'
maddog3
Ill tell ya what .
You throw us a party with beer and we will try to figgure this out . <G>
Tim
....yeah, why didn't I thnk of that ???"
If you are the only one working in the shop, you don't necessarily have to have all the machines on different circuits. Put your lights on a separate circuit to eliminate the dimming caused by motor startup and put things like your stereo, TV, coffee pot and microwave on separate circuits, but you should only need two or three circuits for machines of you work alone.
If you haven't drawn blood today, you haven't done anything.
As soon as I finish my shop all my buddy started coming over to work on their stuff, so they always a welder, grinder, drill press going. Run as many circuits as you can. but many, many, many receptacles in.
Congratulations This response may be off topic a bit but I'd take some time to think about what type of work you'll be doing in the shop before you start buying alot of power tools. For instance furniture-making as a hobby will have quite a bit different shop requirements than production furniture making.
That way, you'll be able to save some $ for those really must-have purchases and, it'll give you weeks or months (or years in my case) to pour over those tool catalogs, so you don't go out and buy something that you may later regret. (I won't tell you haw I know that, but I can give anybody reading this a heck of a deal on a PC detail sander)
Also don't forget that before about fifty or sixty years ago, there was some awesome work done with hand tools alone. Many times (again especially in a non-production setting) it's quicker to trim with a handsaw or block plane, or spokeshave, or whatever than it is to unravel the extension cord.
There are a few good books out there from Taunton and others that will give you good ideas (The Workshop Book, The Workbench Book, etc.) about how best to proceed for your space, budget, abilities, and scope of work. Good luck and keep us posted.
I have a basement hobby shop for furniture building with all of the machines (and more, such as a compressor) that you mentioned. Since I work alone, I found I need only two 20A circuits, dedicated to the machines and with a lot of outlets, as others have posted. Works fine and it's a lot cheaper that adding a subpanel.
I set up a shop last winter (to mill new house trim, etc) and had a 100 amp subpanel installed in a basement (shop is about 38' x 15') with:
BTW, I have two 4 ft T-8 double bulb light fixtures set about 6 ' apart x 6 lengths = 12 fixtures for generous light; most fixtures only have 1 bulb though (other opening is empty). I enjoy having the light; our builder asked if we we developing an operating room!!
Be advised that the electronic ballasts don't hum - but do interfere with the stereo and TV upstairs. These may not be a concern for a garage shop, but thought I'd mention.