What should the ultimate rocket shop have?

A magazine???

David Erbas-White

A large vacuum-pump and a curing oven for composite parts. A CNC cutter and a computer for cutting large parts. :-)

Got one in the garage. Yes, I have an LEUP.

The Fire Marshall said he preferred the magazine in the garage instead of in another building.

Brian Elfert

Heat!!! Preferably not something with open flame or heating element.

Koen

Definitely a metal lathe - not sure if you'd get away with just a small hobby one though, but definitely a plus for fabbing your own custom bits. If you're planning on doing a fair bit of lathework, make sure you get an automatic cooling fluid pump system on the lathe - not that expensive, and it'll save hassle of having to apply fluid at a moment when you've probably just run out of available hands.

I'd also suggest a good amount of shelving & storage space too, and whatever you do, don't forget to leave aside an area where you can store your fleet away from working areas.

Plenty of power sockets, you'll find you always need one more than you have:-) Also, how about a PC of some description with Rocksim & a cad package on it?

Someplace to sit & drink coffee is a good idea also - you can always 'park' visitors there while you get on with work :-)

If you have room, how about a spraying booth & compressor too?

G.

I already mentioned the shop will have central heating and air conditioning.

Heating will probably be a 92% condensing gas furnace in a seperate room. What form of heating doesn't have open flame or heating element?

Brian Elfert

Heat pump (reversed A/C)

Heat pumps - of course you have to be somewhere where they can do some good if it is your only source of heat.

My new garage is underway. The floor just got poured today!! YEEHAW!

Facilities are just important as tools! I plan on investing in insulation everywhere. I recommend not skimping on the wiring, and having a few 220V outlets. A 100 amp service would be good. Good lighting is a must. Get good light fixtures, and ones that can handle cold weather. (if fluorescent) Epoxy floor paint is nice too. Having a phone and a beer fridge would be a bonus!

Beyond that, some sort of ventilation system/spray booth would be a plus for painting.

Don't heat pumps generally have an electric heating element for when the heat pump is not effective?

I don't know anyone here in Minnesota with a heat pump. The temps can stay below 32F for a month straight at times.

Brian Elfert

Brian Elfert wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

steam.(radiators) 8-)

seriously,there are gas-fired units made expressly for shop heating that have isolated burners and external air intakes. (they do not use shop air for combustion)

Also quartz radiant heating elements. There was an issue of Wood Magazine that went into this topic awhile back.

I seriously wonder if that is big enough. A table saw alone, along with its buffer space for handling a 4x8 sheet of wood can take up about 400' by itself.

I don't see a belt sander on the list.

A big metal lathe will set you back some serious $$$, but would be a useful tool.

Definitely a spray booth with exhaust, also for sanding to control the dust.

LOTS of storage cabinets for tools and stuff.

Seriously, hit your local library and find some books on shop layout and steal ideas from there. Dewey Decimal in the 684.xxx range.

Radiant floor heat.

Don't forget the big screen TV with DVD and satellite dish.

If your heat pump circulates underground water instead of using outside air, they can be very effective. Even in a climate like Chicago, if you dig down only 6 feet, you've got year round 55 degree temperatures. Far better than

90 degree outside air for cooling in the summer, and better than 0 degree air for heating in the winter.

I just heard that a proposed local hospital is going to do just that for their heating and cooling.

Good ideas. Can't ever have too much. Run multiple circuits. One of the things on my Round Tuit list is perimeter outlets on 2 seperate circuits: one always on (where I can plug in things like battery chargers and such), the other switched along with the lights for things I don't want to accidentally leave on (like the soldering iron or monokote iron). Plus dedicated outlets for all the big devices. My kitchen actually has 10 breakers to feed everything there. A big shop should be similar.

Good point. I didn't recall where Brian lived, but flourescents don't liek the cold. Unless you're going to heat the shop 24x365 you need lights that will work when its cold.

Another good idea. I did this on the basement floor when I built the house. The only drawback is that water spills naturally wick into concrete now puddle up and leave slippery spots. I really want to do the same thing to the garage, but that involves moving EVERYTHING out, etchig the floor, then painting, then replacing 15 years worth of junk. MUCH easier to do before you fill it up, like I did with the basement.

Fridge near the TV!

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L >>> To reply, there's no internet on Mars (yet)!

There are some fluorescent ballasts that are rated for cold weather. In my current garage, it never gets colder than 40 degrees, so fluorescents are fine. The key to getting good lights (if you want fluorescent) is to open them up before you buy and check and see if they have a nice, big, heavy ballast box in them. Those are the ones that work good. The cheap ones don't have a good ballast, so they buzz and are noisy, plus they don't work when it gets cold.

I have an Trane air-to-air heat pump in the house, and it works well. The furnace kicks in at about 25 degrees, because the it's no longer efficient to run it below those temps.

I could see folks in MN using ground source heat pumps, but probably not air-to-air ones like mine. Either way, a heat pump would be big $$$.

Electric, Propane, or pellets stove are your best bet.

The plan is to use a 92% efficiency furnace. This type of furnace has sealed combustion bringing in outside air through one pipe and exhausting through another.

Brian Elfert