If you were building the dream shop

Speaking of concrete and shops...For you fellows with in-floor radiant heat with the PEX type tubing, do any of you have an auto lift or anything else drilled and bolted into the floor? If so what preparations did you make beforehand? I live in NC and am considering this type of heating, along with a gas pack for quick heat-up, but I like to bolt some of my workshop tools down. I know I could map the PEX zones, but there may be other ideas. I'm off work 3 days a week, so I would use the radiant heat for extended shop projects, and the gas pack for short stays. Any other ideas on this? Also, another of the best things I have ever spent time and money on was a hoist monorail across the ceiling of my present shop. In this shop, there is a door on each side so that I can do a drive through with a trailer load of goods, and unload onto dollys with a chain hoist. It also runs across my in-floor bike lift to allow me to pull bike front ends, and across my welding table to allow me to handle heavy weldments. Car engines are pulled in the drive through area. Larger weldments are built in this zone to allow flipping over with the hoist. The 32 foot long 6" I beam is supported on each end by a 4" pipe post, with 1/2" B7 rods tapped into 1"tall 1-1/2" diameter hot rolled adaptor sockets welded to the top of the beam every 2 feet, protruding up through the trusses. A 2X4 clamping plate is running along the top of the bottom chord of the trusses, at the triangulation point, using flat bar washers, lockwashers, and nuts through drilled holes to clamp the beam to the trusses, making it "somewhat" mutually supporting. It was tested by measuring to the floor, then picking up the front end of a

66 Impala in mid-air, then checking deflection in the middle. It's been in service for 23 years, and has made me thousands of dollars in being able to handle machines to resell by myself. Heavier items like mills and such are unloaded by using a pair of adjustable stiff knees, one on each side of the trailer to localize the support, then I just drive out from under it. There are 3 trolleys with various hoists on them. My soon -to-be new shop will not be without something similar.

RJ

"Toolbert" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.teranews.com...

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Transitions

Any photos? I'd like to see some. Thanks.

-- Mark

Perfect solution so the garage floor can be flat with the driveway: Slot trench drain with cast-in-place concrete body and cast iron grates. Stops the water coming under the door, allows the area to be dead flat, and should be plenty strong enough for any steel casters or other point loads you can throw at it.

If we ever get around to installing french drains from the side street (low point on property) to the front yard I'll put in a trench drain in front of the garage door as we pass by. Right now, we have no place to send the water. Heck, I might just make the trench an open section of the drain system - 20' less drain pipe to clog...

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I have radiant heat in my new shop and having a lift in mind already, embedded a frame in the floor at pour time. This made it easy to route around it for the tubing and gives me something very solid to bolt to when I get to installing the lift. For now I am still finishing the rest of the shop, so the lift can wait. I plugged the holes with styrofoam. Removing it will be a matter of a little gasoline and the stuff will melt right away.

JW

All the racer supply places still sell halon fire systems, and hand-held units, today. There is a new product out that is water-based and almost as equipment-friendly. Much cheaper, but may not be suitable for hand-helds.

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 06:58:52 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

|On 11 Jan 2004 09:48:36 -0800, jim rozen |wrote: |>In article , Bruce L. Bergman |>says... | |>> Oh, and a VERY important note: Go get that Halon extinguisher you, |>>um, "inherited"... serviced by a professional shop at least every 6 |>>years, even if you've never used it - they have found that the O-ring |>>seals on the discharge nozzle crack from age and leak out the charge, |>>so you need to get them replaced before your precious (and expensive) |>>gas escapes. "Save the Ozone Layer" and all that bilge... ;-) |>

|>OK, but I suspect that if I take it in for service, they cannot |>legally remove the halon and re-install it. So I've been simply |>weighing the extinguisher annually. Here I assume the pressure |>gage on the unit is worse than useless, as the vapor pressure at |>room temperature will be constant as long as there is any liquid |>in the tank. | | Balderdash! I The one I have in the office was just hydrotested and |refilled 4/17/2003, and they didn't ask any questions at all... I |even bought a new Halon for the Corvair a few years back, it was about |$50 but they sold it to me. They are discouraging Halon use, and |taxing it, but it isn't illegal yet... | | If you don't believe me, call a local shop and ask them |"hypothetically" if they can service it for you. The only thing that |would stop them is if the previous owner engraved their name on it. | | And Halon 1211 units have nitrogen for delivery pressurization over |the liquid Halon contents that has a low vapor pressure, so the tare |weight and cylinder pressure are both important. | |>When it no longer meets the spec, I will replace it with either co2 |>or dry powder. | | You never mentioned a brand or model number... The only thing I |could see stopping them servicing it is if it is one of the |Plastic-head "Disposable" units the size of an aerosol can and sold as |a "kitchen extinguisher" that was made to be one time use only. In |that case, if it's 1201 inside they can capture the Halon in their big |tank and recycle it, and give you a credit for the contents. Unless |you get the fire really early, and inside a confined space like an |oven, one pound or less of Halon won't go very far. | | The important part is to find an extinguisher service facility in |your area that is set up to work with Halon, they will usually also |have their own hydrotest cell so they can do it all there. | | A lot of small shops and mobile services don't have the gear, they |farm it out and mark up the prices to cover the shipping. | | If you are in Los Angeles, call Pioneer Fire Protection in Van Nuys, |they do it all in-house and will take good care of your service needs. |818/785-8571 I take quite a few odd units found at garage sales for |them to refill, including CO2-cartridge style, Purple-K, Army WWII |Surplus 2.5# CO2 - but that doesn't get me an exemption from any of |the safety rules. I've had to scrap a few units for dumb stuff like |the serial number on the belly band was illegible. | | -->-- |-- |Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop |Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700 |5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545 |Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

Rex in Fort Worth

OK, that's something I did not understand, but do now. I was unaware that there was a nitrogen propellant.

It's made by Amerex corp, and is a five pound halon

1211 unit. It's rated 10BC btw.

I will perform the 'hypothetical' service call shortly! Thanks - Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Thanks for the story - so many of us were there...

Martin