Show us your shops!

[BaitMaster]

Conduit (EMT) has a few benefits:

1) Its visible. Any damage done is plainly apparent and there is no mystery hidden in a wall.
2) If you upsize the conduit (cheap if running conduit anyway) you can pull more circuits in later and add plugs/equipment as you need it.
3) Its basically rodent / damaging pest proof. A properly installed conduit system will never suffer pest or rodent damage.
4) Its durable. It takes a lot to damage conduit.

And a few downsides:

1) Its significantly more expensive when compared to running NMD in the walls before drywall/tin. Depending on the setup, probably 1.5x the price for the same number of devices. This includes labor and materials. Its slower to install, and the parts cost more.
2) Its visible. Some people(s wives) don't like the look of visible conduit as it definitely has a "commercial" appearance.
3) Most people are not comfortable DIY'ing conduit. There is more code to be aware of and the skill is definitely something that doesn't come naturally.


If I were wiring a shop for myself I would do it. But I'm a licensed sparky who is well practiced and my labor is free for me. It really depends on who you are and what you want. Alot of farm/industrial shops do it because of the benefits. Rodents wrecking wires in walls absolutely does happen and it really really sucks. It is super nice to be able to slap another couple wires in an existing pipe when the customer buys a new air compressor. That saves money / time in the long run.

 

[Mcgyver]

I went conduit, all over the place ....110 1P, 220 1P, 220 3P, 600 3P. I had brick walls and it is a lot easier going over top of existing walls/ceilings. It felt like the right way to go.

 

[canuck750]

I installed the first overhead crane trolly in my nearly finished shop / garage.
This is in the shop upper floor that one day will be finished as a two bedroom apartment. The upper loft is partially open to the main level where my machinery and workspace is. The barn door crane rail and crane is to lift motorcycles and other large items up to the loft.
I bought the 120 volt 400 lb/800lb hoist from Vevor and it arrived in three days. I added a 24” long piece of 1-3/4” square tube that is suspended from the barn door trolly carriages (2). The Vevor hoist comes with two brackets that wrap around the square tube.
My roof trusses were designed for minimum 600 lb point load. The limit on the barn door trolleys is also 600 lbs. I don’t plan on lifting more than 500 lbs.
I am adding an eye loop to the end of the yellow square tube that will let me grab the trolley with a long steel rod / hook to push and pull the trolley out over the open to below.
The Vevor hoist is so cheap I am buying another for the crane rail that runs above the vehicle stalls in the garage area.
I am so looking forward to finally finishing the shop / garage and getting all my tools and motorcycles moved over for winter.

 

[LenVW]

I just checked ‘Google’ and . . .

Standard Factors of Safety by Equipment Type :

• Wire Rope Slings: Typically 5:1 (or up to 6:1 depending on application)

** You may want to double check your lifting capacities **

 

[Chicken lights]

I just checked ‘Google’ and . . .

Standard Factors of Safety by Equipment Type :

• Wire Rope Slings: Typically 5:1 (or up to 6:1 depending on application)

** You may want to double check your lifting capacities **

Except a wire rope sling is generally used as a static load. A winch is generally dynamic

In other words, a crane main line is usually a larger diameter than any of the accessory rigging

 

[canuck750]

I question why Princess Auto and Vevor would list these winches at 409/800 lbs capacity if the wire was not up to spec for the listed rating.
In my existing shop I have a very heavy overhead crane made from 24” deep wide flange rails and 8”deep cross beam. The winch is a Princess Auto 800/1600 and I have lifted 1200 pounds without drama. The cable on the 400/800 doesn’t look different than the heavier winch I have.

 

[Lucky7]

Trust, but load test?

And not while underneath.

PA engine hoist failed that for me years ago and was returned. No were near rated capacity…

Not an engineer, but understand wire is more difficult to inspect than chain. If you want to see an inadvertent test, suggest watching Brian Block’s radial drill lifting youtube.

 

[architect]

I installed the first overhead crane trolly in my nearly finished shop / garage.
This is in the shop upper floor that one day will be finished as a two bedroom apartment. The upper loft is partially open to the main level where my machinery and workspace is. The barn door crane rail and crane is to lift motorcycles and other large items up to the loft.
I bought the 120 volt 400 lb/800lb hoist from Vevor and it arrived in three days. I added a 24” long piece of 1-3/4” square tube that is suspended from the barn door trolly carriages (2). The Vevor hoist comes with two brackets that wrap around the square tube.
My roof trusses were designed for minimum 600 lb point load. The limit on the barn door trolleys is also 600 lbs. I don’t plan on lifting more than 500 lbs.
I am adding an eye loop to the end of the yellow square tube that will let me grab the trolley with a long steel rod / hook to push and pull the trolley out over the open to below.
The Vevor hoist is so cheap I am buying another for the crane rail that runs above the vehicle stalls in the garage area.
I am so looking forward to finally finishing the shop / garage and getting all my tools and motorcycles moved over for winter.

Awesome planning to do something similar in my upcoming workshop too. I'll putting some LVL beams in there so maybe I'll attach a tubing onto it to create a sort of track for a hoist.

 

[canuck750]

You won’t be disappointed!
Attaching to LVL beams would be simpler than reinforcing the web and TJI joists I am contending with. I had my truss and joist supplier carry out the engineering for the loads I want to lift, attachment locations etc.
A couple buddies have installed these barn door overhead cranes before. I was going to install wide flange beams but on second thought I don’t need the heavy lifting capacity that my current place conveniently has.
Getting things in and out of the pickup without breaking my back is the main concern and getting motorcycles up to the second floor. Only small bikes will go upstairs, probably 500cc and smaller, up to 400lbs. My bigger bikes will stay downstairs.

 

[Mcgyver]

I question why Princess Auto and Vevor would list these winches at 409/800 lbs capacity if the wire was not up to spec for the listed rating.

I've got one and it seems ok .... but I think you'd be challenged to find someone at Vevor or Princes auto who has done or could do the calculations. They have no QC and just take the manufacturers word for it. imo there no reason to think something like load rating is accurate just because it is for sale there.

this is old news, but still a major factor ..... It is a different manufacturing culture there (been there done that). Here the customer is king, there the manufacturer is. Here a contract manufactures would not change the design /cutting corners without customer consultation, there it is constant and what matters is not getting caught. This is the root cause of the China/quality issue .... in traditional North American supply chains, a manufacturer has QC and the retailer relied on this. With Low cost manufacturer -> low price retailing, there isn't that function of if there is at the manufacturer, it cannot be trusted. A great book on this is "Poorly Made in China - written by an America who's lived there for decades as consultant to NA firms buying products from Chinese manufactures... explains this dynamic better than i can.

We are seeing products where they are stakeholders in the brand and quality is amazing, e.g. DGI, Bambu , however in contract supply to low cost retailers where it is price price price, I'd bet it is still the wild east as bad as it ever was.

We stand behind our hoists but never under them 🙂

 

[architect]

I was thinking of lifting entire sportbikes (~500lb) up with these cheapo hoists but maybe that's a bad idea? I'll restrict it to engines and parts then. Has anyone tried mounting them on track system?