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ktmoutfront

ktmoutfront

We live in the stupidest times.
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In my shop. Doing stuff.
For those who do not know, Eileen and I are leaving Colorado to retire in eastern Tennessee. We have a contract on a house on 4 acres. Best part is, it has a 40 feet by 60 feet by 16 feet block building on the land. Has separate water, electrical and sewer. Zoned commercial.

There is an office and restroom in it. So I could live in it, but Eileen says no.

Here's is the deal. I have $10k earmarked for upgrades. Looking for suggestions on equipment.

Really want a screw drive compressor. Nice and quite and more air than I will ever need. Air lines ran everywhere.

10k 2 post lift.

Sealed/coated floors.

LED lights.

What am I missing? What of these things I have listed have you used and recommend?
 
I don't see any windows, what about ventilation? Not sure about NE Tn but it might get pretty warm in the summer, humidity will make the dead air miserable.
 
You should reconsider the HVAC. It gets real hot and humid for a lot of months here. Itll be cheaper and easier to do it while its empty. You could put a really nice system in there for less than 10k and be comfortable year round. No use having a shop if you can't use it due to weather.
I put ac in my shop, during summer months the neighboring shops are dragging ass by lunch. My guys are still rockin. Until tweakers stole our copper line, but that's another story. You are retiring. Enjoy your life, enjoy time in your shop. Best of luck however you decide to go
 
I agree with the doing the hvac now. Way easier to do while the shop is empty. Then do the floors. Then start moving in.
 
I always wished I'd had the dough to put a real bathroom or at least a toilet & sink in my garage,it sucks having to hike to the house when nature calls,or go in the house with grubby greasy hands..

The winters here pretty much required plumbing to be deeply buried and drains often freeze up,so water in an unheated garage isn't practical a good 5 months of the year..you can get by with a garden hose to wash up,in the warmer months. but having a bathroom is a nice luxury..

I agree with the post stating now while the building is empty is the time to do any upgrades or repairs..if I had the cash to buy a lift when I was building my garage it would have been one of the first priorities--I wanted one but didn't even have enough cash left to put a real electrical service in there by the time I got it built..trying to erect a lift in there now would require moving just about all the contents of the garage ,a lifetime accumulation..

I wish too I had kept the building taller,it originally was designed to be 18 feet at the peak but to make it not look bigger than the house,I had the company cut the side panels shorter so it had a 13 foot peak..

If I had it the original height,I could have made a loft,second floor,or a mezziane around 3 sides and gained a lot of storage space,a place to put the compressor,tools like a table saw or drill press,etc..

Just having a gable fan seems to cool my quonset pretty good,you do have to leave the walk in door open at the opposite end of the building to let fresh air in though,I haven't put a lovered vent in the front end wall ,but should,every mosquito in the county gets sucked in by the gable fan and attracted by the lights..screen door is another thing it could use..
 
This thing has a full open attic. Easy to add a unit down the road. The first picture is the attic area.
 
What about planning for 2 separate AC systems? Put 1 in now and another later, possibly cooling different rooms. When I set up in a 12,000 ft^2 space (20ft ceiling), I had a 4-ton AC unit from the old place sitting around. The HVAC guys told me not to bother and it would take at least 20 ton, but the place was insulated pretty well. We ducted that little unit right on top of the areas people were working the most and because it was always pulling humidity, the place was tolerable. Sure it would get up to 80 degrees on 100 degree days, but a dry 80 near the end of the shift is was better than sweating all day. We had vent fans to open at night and draw fresh air in when the nights were cool, then shut it down when guys came in at 5:30am. Later I added a 10-ton set up with normal ducting and it was almost like a normal air conditioned building after that. Keeping an early shift really helps, too, when you're undercooled.
 
Stoked for you brother. Enjoy retirement. I Absolutely love it!
 
Congrats!! Looks like a sweet place for sure! Lots of potential.

To your moving air comment, are the fans that are in the gable capable of moving air through the place enough to keep the humidity at bay?

Steel storage, plate, pipe etc on the wall?? What about benches or rolling tables etc for various fab or repair tasks?
Wood area, steel fab area. Hydraulics or engine related clean area??

One thing I have noticed is in a big shop your constantly walking to the tools.. maybe invest in some carts or something to make that easier??
Are you gonna work out of this?? Maybe WiFi access points to allow for constant communication with CK5 lol.. web cams are useful if you want to analyze how productive your space is.. you can leave them off when not in that mode.
 
Congrats!! Looks like a sweet place for sure! Lots of potential. THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE COMMENTS.
To your moving air comment, are the fans that are in the gable capable of moving air through the place enough to keep the humidity at bay? NO WAY TO KEEP HUMIDITY OUT. IF YOU ARE PULLING AIR OUT, MOISTURE COMES IN WITH THE NEW AIR. BUT THE HEAT AND STALE WILL GO AWAY SOME.

Steel storage, plate, pipe etc on the wall?? What about benches or rolling tables etc for various fab or repair tasks? EVERYTHING I HAVE IS ON WHEELS
Wood area, steel fab area. Hydraulics or engine related clean area?? METAL FAB AREA WILL BE SHIELDED TO KEEP THE CRAP OFF OF EVERYTHING ELSE. I HATE WOOD WORKING.

One thing I have noticed is in a big shop your constantly walking to the tools.. maybe invest in some carts or something to make that easier?? AGAIN, EVERYTHING IS ON WHEELS.
Are you gonna work out of this?? YES. FOOD TRUCK FAB SHOP. Maybe WiFi access points to allow for constant communication with CK5 lol.. WILL NOT HAVE THE TIME IN THE BEGINNING. WEB ACCESS IS MANDATORY FOR PARTS ORDERING. web cams are useful if you want to analyze how productive your space is.. you can leave them off when not in that mode. WEB BASED SECURITY IS TO BE INSTALLED FIRST.
 
I run an FS Curtis NX series screw compressor that has been flawless for 3 years so far. It gets full day use with my machines running, which is what a screw needs. The smaller ones eat up most of your 10k budget, but if you can find one used it may work out. The electronic controls are very nice and variable speed is pretty trick!

Attached to the NX I run a Beko drypoint dryer. This will be pretty much mandatory in TN I would bet.

I have two air routes in my shop with different pressures. Not sure if you need that but its something to think about. Nice not ever having to change your regulators.

The above was pretty much my dream compressed air setup and has worked excellent for 3 years so far. I had too many problems before and air problems killing lights-out sucks! Its my third compressed air system in my shop. If you can swing it and you have 3 phase you will not regret dropping the cash.


The other thing you talked about was led high bay lights. I just bought my first one as my T5 ballasts are dying on me after 6 years. I put one up, and so far its a pretty nice amount of light. Time will tell of course, but right now it seems promising. The up front cost kind of sucks but this year alone I've replaced 5 out of 18 ballasts. Seems they all started going bad at the same time. At this rate, in another 8 months I'll have replaced most of them with led due to ballast death
 
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