Shop addition: New Grinder

I'm a real estate developer and builder, and have been for years, so it was the 15 amp circuit that jumped out at me. Heat generating appliances draw a lot of power, and as others have said, your 15amp outlet may limit you quite a bit.

Is your load center (breaker box) in the garage where you will be doing the work? If so, take a look and see if you have any unused spaces. If not, you can add a piggy back breaker or two to free up some space. With one piggy back breaker you can add a dedicated 20 amp 110 circuit. If you add it close to the breaker box the cost will be minimal. If you add a couple of piggy back breakers you can add a 220V circuit, and again, put it close to the breaker box. At most it might mean cutting some drywall underneath your breaker box, and it may be possible to fish the wire without having to do any cutting, though especially for a 220v outlet box it would be preferable to either mount it directly to a stud and recess mount it, or mount it solidly over a stud and surface mount it.

I am guessing that since you make knives you are probably pretty handy. This is probably something that you can do on your own and I would be more than happy to talk with you on the phone and walk you through it. If you aren't comfortable working with electricity I can walk you through the steps to have everything ready for an electrician to show up and do it quickly so that it doesn't cost much. If you're interested just PM me or send an email and I'll send you my phone number. There is no sense settling for something that may be less than ideal for you when with very little extra expense you can probably get just what you want. Unfortunately some trades folks will really try to rip someone's head off on projects like this. If you let me know what your breaker box is I can get you a materials list for exactly what you need.
 
Jason Magruder said:
I made a really fat extension cord for 220v and plugged mine into the dryer outlet. My wife hates me, but other than that it works great!
If you're going with 110v I would recommend getting the smallest oven you can get away with.
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every house has a double bar power source that your breakers run off of, each side is 110 V AC. the dryer gets 220 by pulling from both sides. usually there will be two diff breakers for the garage find out which outlet runs off of which breaker by pluging everything in and shutting off the breaker you think it is and see what turns off. make sure that this power source does not run to the garage door! when you pin point the outlet take the nuetral from that breaker take another breaker put it right next to the original breaker and hook the nuetral wire up to that breaker this will give you 220 to that outlet. i am an electrician so if you need any help with this let me know and i can put up picture directions for you. this will get ride of the extention cord problem it is also easy to switch back.

this same procces is how they get 220 to the dryer and other house hold appliances. they just use a double breaker but you do not need to.

please please please make sure you shut off the house power before working on the breaker box every house should have a main shut off!!!!!! dont be that idiot how trys this with out shutting off power there is enough amps coming from your house power to kill you!
 
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While pondering the acquisition of a grinder, it occurred to me that one key limiting factor for me is use of the SteelCase desk as a work surface. It's the wrong height, too small, and the drawers have limited utility. On the plus side, it is heavy and doesn't tend to move easily. If I'm going to get a real grinder I need a better work surface.

While strolling through Sears I saw a Craftsman work bench that would do nicely... if you invest $800. At Harbor Freight I saw something that looks to be sturdy enough... if you think outside the box. They have a heavy duty scaffold that is about 6 feet long with adjustable platform. Definitely a no-frills setup compared to the Craftsman bench, but would achieve the desired results, and has the addded advantages of being much less expensive AND it's mounted on casters. With the standard 20% additional discount I could take it home today for $160.

I have visions of a Steelcase desk being advertised in a curb call ad on Craigs list soon. :)
 
Why not make a simple bench out of 2X4s? Much less expensive and fully customizable.

shop_2010_01.jpg
 
Patrice is that your Shop? looks like a great set up... my grinder is also on a homemade bench built with 2x4's attached to the wall.

Greg, I would go with the grinder first if it were me but it is not, to each his own. I did the same thing Jason did with the 15-20amp extension cord so I could run 220, I didn't want to trip breakers and speed up the HT time. If you sick with the 110 smaller is much better. 14" should be ok but I wouldn't go any bigger.
 
I agree with pat, if you are thinking a better bench, you can build for cheap.


In terms of a good top, you can often get used solid core door for cheap
wood, or steel in places like this.

http://www.re-store.org/index.php


I pick stuff and take it home from the dump when they aren't looking too.
 
I've tried building furniture before. I have to admit... I suck at it. The best thing I ever made along those lines was a potting bench for my wife's gardening. The only reason that bench doesn't wobble is because she uses it outdoors, and the feet have sunk into the ground. :)
 
Greg

Go with the oven. You can also use it to cook pizzas when you banish yourself to your garage. Ummm, I mean SHOP.

- Paul Meske
 
I've talked to the wife about the scaffold idea, and she didn't object. I'll probably buy it this week, while it's still on sale.

Once that's done I'll reorganize the garage, freeing up some of the space previously used less efficiently as a result of the desk.

Getting excited now...
 
This has turned out to be a very cool thread with lots of interesting ideas. Thanks, Greg, and good luck, whichever way you go :thumbup:
 
On the advice of many, I decided to forego the HT oven for now, and move forward on the grinder. I really didn't want to spend upwards of $1700 for the grinder, so I ordered the Grinder In A Box kit (complete with both platens, just because I don't know which will be more useful). I also got some supplies so I can pack away some of the useless stuff taking up space in my work area. I decided that I needed something like this to while away the hours during the holidays because my office will be closed for the better part of two weeks.

I checked at Harbor Freight and the sale price on the scaffold is good until 12/31, so that fits nicely in my timeline for the project, should I decide to do that. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. I can fashion some hooks on which to hang the belts that will easily attach to the cross bars on the sides of the scaffold. I even thought of a way to build a sturdy shelf that spans the scaffold and could be used to hold supplies or equipment not currently in use.

I'll post pictures if/when that scaffold is in place.
 
I know that you said you were going to forgo the heat treat oven but if you ever get the itch to build one check out this pdf:
http://www.weaponeer.net/forum/uploads/gundoctor/files/2008-05-09_231710_heat_treat_furnace.pdf

Also as it has been stated, 240V is not hard to wire in your shop. I recently rewired my entire shop and put in a new service entrance to have 200Amp 240v service. I did all the work my self and putting in a 240v run to a receptacle is not any harder than running a 120v receptacle. I have 240v receptacles all over the shop for my equipment 16 120v receptacles on each wall as well. This is assuming that someone did not just run a 60amp breaker off of your house panel to a sub panel for the garage. This is what was done with my garage before I converted it into a shop and redid the power.

Good luck with the belt grinder. I am building one from scratch right now. I am even turning my own wheels. Kind of a fun project.

Take care,
Greebe
 
Regarding the wheels, I'm definitely planning to order some that are appropriate (i.e. correct type of bearings, correct wheel materials). I don't have the ability to make my own. I'll also be buying an appropriate motor, preferably with variable speed.
 
Work has begun. Today I bought two large heavy duty storage bins that I just finished loading with stuff that was taking up space in the garage, to no useful purpose. One bin for garage sale fodder (power tools I never use, like angle grinder, reciprocating saw, scroll saw, etc), and the other for stuff I won't use but don't want to discard (spare parts for my MR2, cables, collectibles, and such). I also packed away the radios in my radio display case so it can be taken down if/when I get the scaffold in there.

My wife opined that I'd have trouble getting rid of the Steelcase desk. I told her my plan to put a free sign on it and run a curb call ad in Craigslist. She had no further comment.

Anyway, it's starting to get real.
 
tryppyr said:
My wife opined that I'd have trouble getting rid of the Steelcase desk. I told her my plan to put a free sign on it and run a curb call ad in Craigslist. She had no further comment.

Anyway, it's starting to get real.
Click to expand...

Funny, I'd always thought they'd make great work desk. I finally found one at a garage sale about a year and half ago and bought it. Now I'm thinking about doing the same thing as you, getting rid of it in exchange for a more efficient work space.
 
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