Shop update Summer '10

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scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
It's been a while since I posted an update regarding the new shop. 2010 sure has flown past; it's hard to believe that it's almost Labor day.

Progress continues on the shop. I recently completed the last of the 480V wiring, and am now pretty much complete with the electrical work.

Thanks for fellow North Carolina Woodworker member Phil Soper, I scored some free sheetrock for the generator room, and installed it along with some sound deadening board on the two interior shop walls. These walls have spray foam insulation in them, and between all of the layers little sound enters the shop when the generator is running.

Last week I moved my air compressor over from the mechanical shop, and installed it in the generator room. During construction I buried a 1" air line between the two buildings so that I can back feed one from the other. By moving the compressor, it is now in a more climate controlled environment and also in a room where the noise is contained. I added an automatic condensate drain system to it when I moved it:


compressor4.jpg


This is the view of the generator room from the main shop, showing the compressor in place.

compressor22.jpg




I also fabricated a mount for the large dust collection system, and mounted and wired the 25hp motor to it. The first time that I fired up the blower... well, let's just say that EVERYBODY was backing away the faster that it spun up! That darn thing takes about 20 seconds to spin up, and it sounds like a jet engine. We blocked off 2/3 of the inlet, and still recorded over 100mph of wind speed coming out of the discharge! In the photo below, I am using all of my strength to try to block off the discharge opening while the blower is running. This is as close as I could get! (and before anybody says anything... yes, I will be fabricating a guard to go over the belts...)

blower_running.jpg



Subsequent to getting the blower operational, we finished painting the doors and trim work, as well as the new walls inside the generator room.

The current project is fabricating the dust collection system. A couple of years ago I was able to score some large used dust collection tubing simply by being willing to remove it and haul it away. Here are some of the pieces laid out on the shop floor awaiting modification:

parts_and_pieces.jpg


Since I did not obtain any 90 degree elbows for the largest sections (20" diameter), fellow North Carolina Woodworker member Doug Wilberg came over last Friday afternoon, and between the two of us we figured out how to use a couple of lasers to lay out the cuts. I started by marking my cut angles (22.5 degrees) on the floor, using one of the control joints as a reference point, and then Doug and I aligned the lasers with the lines. This in turn allowed us to have simultaneous reference lines on both sides of the tubing. In the photo below, you can see the red laser lines on the floor and on the tubing, and in the background you can see one of the lasers set up on the miter saw:

laser_layout.jpg


After laying out the cuts, we used a die grinder with a cutoff wheel, along with an air hacksaw to cut through the tubing. We then aligned it and tacked it together, forming the first bend. Here is a photo of Doug doing the tack welds on the first elbow:

Doug_welding.jpg


Once the bottom elbow was complete, I repeated the process to make the upper elbow (this one is 18" diameter). Here is a photo of the elbow laid out on my welding table, with the middle section aligned and tacked to the flange section. On the floor in the middle background is the other piece of the elbow that I'm working on, and on the floor to the left is the lower section of the main riser that Doug tacked up:

making_a_bend.jpg



Here is the completed upper elbow assembly:

upper_bend.jpg



Next, the upper and lower elbow assemblies were laid out end to end, and I cut and spliced them in the middle, to form the entire main riser.

Cutting_to_size.jpg





In addition to having the 'joy' of welding up galvanized sheet metal forming the elbows (the fumes are not only poisonous, even a whiff of them will cause a slamming headache), the project also involved fabricating and welding a flange onto the main blower inlet, so that the newly fabricated riser would bolt up. Since the blower inlet is cast iron, the welding involved pre-heating, welding about 2" at a time using nickel welding rod, and the using a needle scaler to peen the weld for about 3 minutes in order to prevent it from cracking. It took the better part of a day just to make and weld up this flange:


buffy_flange.jpg


In the end though, it was worth it! Here are a couple of photos of the completed riser installed on the blower. When you compare the blower and tubing to the doorway on the left, you get a good reference of the scale of this project. The shop has two different dust collection systems. My "small" system is 3 hp Oneida Super Dust Gorilla that has my personal woodworking equipment hooked up to it, along with the WBS and resaw. The 7" tubing coming off the middle of the riser on the big system is intended to be connected to the Oneida trunk lines via a couple of slide valves, which will allow me the option of bypassing the Oneida and using the big system for everything.

main_trunk2.jpg



main_trunk3.jpg


All in all, things are steadily moving forward. My goal is to have all of the main lines installed for the big system by the end of this weekend.

More to come!

Scott
 

MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
Unbelievable! You need to be careful where you park your vehicles with a blower like that. Too close to the door and they could get sucked right in. :rotflm:

Sure would love to see your shop in person some day.
 

dino drosas

Dino
Corporate Member
Scott , You sure have come a long way. Looks great so far. With all that work, I don't see that you would have time for anything else. When you complete the shop, I would really like to come and see it. Dino
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
*BONK* *BONK* Heeeelllpppp! I'm stuck inside that large green impeller thing and I can't get out! The suction is too strong! BTW, if you're wondering where the chrome off your bumper went, I found it.....
 

eyekode

New User
Salem
That setup would make Bill Pentz proud :). Wait a second, 20" diameter main? You could fit one of Bill's cyclone IN your piping!

I bet if that thing were hooked up to my cabinet saw it would turn it inside out!

You work at an awesome scale Scott :).
 

froglips

New User
Jim Campbell
Dang, dang and dang!

That is wicked cool!

I think you might just be able to have effective dust collection when you turn pens :)

Jim
 

JimmyC

New User
Jimmy
The shop looks great Scott, but the A/C looks out of place next to the rest of the behemoth equipment.:rotflm:
 

bwat

New User
Bill
All I can say is, W O W! Hard for me to comprehend the project scale! I think my entire shop would be inhaled by this system!
 

RandyJ

New User
Randy
Are you sure you're not from Texas???

You sure do things BIG!

Looking good Steve.:thumbs_up
 

CaptnA

Andy
Corporate Member
You don't do anything halfway, thats for sure!
Impressive. One of these days, I hope to be able to make it your way and gawk!
My 'metal working' skills are challenged by a bolt, a star washer, and a lock nut.
Glad you found some able help - one of our own no less!
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Very impressive! I thought the 7" trunk line for my DC was big, but it's not even in the same league w/ that monster. W/ all the work you're still doing on the shop, are you getting any woodworking done? :eusa_danc

Bill
 

PurpleThumb

New User
Jerry
Looking great Scott, I hope I get to come by again, sometime. My daughter did Graduate the day after my visit but she is working in Chapel Hill.
 

ErnieM

Ernie
Corporate Member
The shop looks great. Too bad you never learned to think BIG! You've inspired me to update my own dust collection system - I'm heading to the Borg to plunk down a deposit on a new broom.:rotflm:

Ernie
 

scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
Are you sure you're not from Texas???

You sure do things BIG!

Looking good Steve.:thumbs_up


Actually, I AM from Texas.... I wonder if that was an influence on me?....

Dino, you are welcome at any time. I would really like to tour your shop too; perhaps when the weather gets cooler and I'm further along on mine.

All - thanks for the comments. Today I've been working on getting the 18" main trunk line through the wall and a 18" to 16" wye fabricated. Towards that end, I have to brag on Stan Harder at Harderwoods.com. He is the fellow that wrote the program for calculating the cut angles and printing templates to use for making your own wye's, etc on a dust collection system.

At 11pm on Sunday night I used his program for the first time, only to discover that the online version would not print out a template (the error code indicated that the template was too large... gee I wonder why?:gar-La;) I sent him an e-mail explaining the problem, and got a response within 10 minutes. He went in and changed the program so that it would work for my need! And this was the "free internet version" too. What a great guy.

Fellow woodworkers are some of the nicest folks that you meet, arent' they?
 
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