Quick - TO THE MAN CAVE!
 

AKA my new workshop:

http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s.../WorkShop1.jpg
http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s.../WorkShop3.jpg

It's an 8' x 8' (2.4m x 2.4m) shed with a stable door (To allow me to get some air in there and keep the cats out. Paws + swarf = unhappy kitties). The interior is going to get insulated with foil backed solid board foam, and then a skin of OSB will go over that. Then I'll be building some benches for the machine tools, and getting a sparkie to come out and hook up some power.

Then move these in - an Axminster ZX25M Milling Machine (Second Hand):

http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s...ingMachine.jpg

And an Axminster SC4 lathe (also second hand):

http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s...hop/lathe1.jpg

Then I'm all set to make expensive brillo pads and odd shaped door-stops. :lol:

Jason, you lucky devil. How did you get permission to erect it that close to the house.

My orders were, yes, you can have your workshop but put it at the top of the garden.

Two positives really from your perspective, the second being no would be thief
would break in that close to your house.

Only real place it would go, Den. She said I could have the workshop, but wasn't keen on getting rid of the trees in the far corners of the garden. Fait accompli... ;)

I even went to the trouble of laying out how big it would be on the ground. She was ok with it. She was still ok once I'd built the base... But the first words out her mouth once it was up was "It's a lot bigger than I expected"

I just countered with, "I get that a lot, but what do you think about the shed" :lol:

I don't suppose anyone knows a decent sparkie / is a decent sparkie in the Northampton area? I need power out there, I don't think a couple of solar panels on the roof will cut it...

nice shed and nice machinery!

Don't know a sparkie up there, but you will probably need 4 or 6mm Steel Wire armoured cable directly from your fuse box, to a new consumer unit in the shed to keep it all safe and isolated!

Where did you get your Milling machine and lathe from - they are my next purchase - not that I know what to do with them, but as you say, you can never have enough brillo pads and door stops!

Nice shed! Is that about 10' square, or bigger?

Pity I'm not closer....

I am fortunate that my fiance is enthusiastic about my workshops. I had already put in a wood shop on the ground floor and a metal shop in the basement.
Over Christmas we converted a derelict boxroom into my design office. It needed new ceiling, four walls and floor replacing and the door moving. (I only got it done as I had a call from relatives in Australia, at the beginning of Dec, that they were visiting in Jan and wanted the extra bedroom. Six weeks work got it done and the bedroom is now an office.)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...ps5316cf8e.jpg
It is only 8'x9' floorspace but with 10' headroom!

My fiance learned to plaster to help me get it all done in time.

In return we are converting the adjacent 12'x13' guestroom onto her design studio and workshop.

Does your garage have a separate consumer unit? If it does it would be pretty simple (electrically) to run a feed from there. That's what I did.

Hope the floor is strong! I recently bought an Axminster (Jet) pillar drill. It was so heavy I had to cut a whole in my nice wooden floor and lay a concrete pad for the drill.

Woodsmith - 8' square - any larger and I think I'd be living in it... :)

Robin - the consumer unit for the whole house is in the garage. I was going to get whoever does the electrics,to run a feed from it to a separate small consumer unit in the garage.

I'm hoping that I can do a lot of the work myself, and then get the electrician to do the final hook up so I can get that all important part P certificate you need these days.

Seriously for a minute...
 

The equipment you are planning to install in "the shed" is not particularly heavy on electricity. A typical 1hp motor takes less than 1 kw - normally about 750 watts.

So - what I think I would do is to put a small consumer unit in the shed with probably just 2 circuits - lights and sockets. It would need an RCD of course. (BTW you are only supposed to use spurs in a shed - not ring mains)

Then - at a convenient place on the outside of the house (behind the shed?) fit one of those industrial style outlets - the blue ones with round pins - can't remember the name right now. They are the sort also used to make a temporary hook up to a campervan or caravan. You can get IP65 - waterproof versions. You could then just run a "temporary" flexy of suitable rating (15amp) to the shed.

I think it would be a lot cheaper to do it like that. And you could always unplug the shed and take it with you if you ever move - haha.

Cheers, Robin

8' square, about the same as my office.

The electricity demand won't be high, unless you are planning on having more then one machine on at a time. That does simplify things a bit.

Do make sure the security is good though. Sheds have been broken into for lesser valuables.

At least you can watch them dragging the milling machine out...

A cheap IP webcam is nice so you can check on the shed wherever you are in the world over the internet! You can also set them up to start recording when they sense movement.....

That will cheer you up... being able to replay when they smashed the door open

Security wise, I have a very heavy duty bolt / hasp thing that is fixed in with coach bolts. I'll be replacing the screws on the hinges with security ones, and the door is alarmed - tied in wirelessly with the house alarm which is monitored. If anyone does tear the door off to get in, plod will be on the scene in a bout 5 mins.

They may have managed to get the mill off the bench by then... ;)

Interesting idea re the power Robin - the only problem with it is that the garage, (where the power comes into the house and where the consumer unit is) is on the opposite side of the building to where the shed is situated. I'd still have to trail a cable across the garden to get to it.

Take a spur off the house, probably easier to use the upstairs circuit as your house looks like it has concrete ground floor. Must be a power point somewhere in that corner of the bedroom. Use the cavity to run down to a working height and use a camp site socket as Robin described.

I am no electrician but I wouldn't go that way, running a spur and using the machinery you have is not a good idea, you would be better running a new cable from your consumer unit in 4mm then onto armored cable out of the house to a fused garage switch box in the shed and run a ring in the shed for your power and another for your lighting.

I spent most of the day insulating the shed with celotex - brilliant stuff, so quick and easy. Also got some of the internal sheathing up as well, before calling it a day, and going in to watch the rugby. On balance, I should have continued in the shed...

I got them both from eBay - right place at the right time. They're both Axminster branded, but they're the same as many other lathes and mills in as much as they're made in china.

Consensus is that it's not that much of an issue these days, and the lathe in particular is known for being pretty damn accurate out the box, and this was in an engineers workshop prior to me getting it - so I assume they'll have looked after it and set it up right.

Pics of the insulation and internal sheathing going in:

http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s...lation%201.jpg

As I said before, Celotex is marvellous stuff. Measure, slice with a stanley knife and then snap along the cut.

http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s...lation%202.jpg

I've used 30mm thick boards in the walls, stood off from the exterior boarding by approx 15mm by some galvanised staples hammed into the uprights at regular intervals. Allows for an air gap between the exterior boards. Then it's just friction fit between the uprights, and any joins between boards done with aluminium foil.

http://greatoldone.squarespace.com/s...lation%203.jpg

I'm covering the walls in 9mm OSB boards - just screwed to the uprights. I'm doing the gable ends first so I can run the OSB up to the upper 'rafter' and screw it on there as well - then I'll insulate the roof with 25mm celotex (there's not as much room up there for any thicker plus an air gap), and then board over it as well.

and rentable value is...