20 Foot Shipping Container Metal Shop

I haven't had time to read all of the post to date but thought I would offer some advice. First, you should install some type of air exchange. Some insulations have off gasses, you may want to check into the one you are using. Second, if you intend to work in this container in the winter you need some fresh air coming in. I would also install some type of automatic lighting in the event of a power outage. Without windows it would be black as pitch without lights. You could become confused and walk in to something. Even generators have problems. One other thing make sure that the box can not be locked with you inside. I know that this sound strange, but you can not be too safe.

Paul

fastback said:

I haven't had time to read all of the post to date but thought I would offer some advice. First, you should install some type of air exchange. Some insulations have off gasses, you may want to check into the one you are using. Second, if you intend to work in this container in the winter you need some fresh air coming in. I would also install some type of automatic lighting in the event of a power outage. Without windows it would be black as pitch without lights. You could become confused and walk in to something. Even generators have problems. One other thing make sure that the box can not be locked with you inside. I know that this sound strange, but you can not be too safe.

Paul

Click to expand...

I will have sensor lights that are battery and use LED's so when the container is opened they will automatically turn on above the light switch. I believe the insulation is stable as it is a styrofoam based and the MSDS states that after 1 - 2 weeks of expansion it releases pentane so slowly that only if heated above 70 degrees C does it pose any explosives risk and it appears that the health risk for gas release of my particular insulation is extremely low:

http://www.sundolitt.dk/download.aspx?object_id=7BAA7A369AA44950AB7974503F06D958.pdf

That said, I am looking into installing a small ventilator to add to the vents already present on the container of which there are 8 in total.

The ability to get locked in has concerned me so I will be fitting a deadbolt on the inside so that when engaged, the doors won't be able to be locked from the outside. Thanks for the comments though as they are all valid and I had to consider these carefully before I went with my particular space solution and materials selection.

Paul.

In Afghanistan two of us shared a shipping container as an office. We had a false front just inside the double doors. It had a regular door, windows, and a heat pump. At the end of the day we could close and lock the outer doors. I suppose we could have done the same at both ends but there were just too many cobras out back.

I have started insulating the ceiling yesterday and today I will be finishing it off. I am hoping to have all the sheeting done today and will start putting up tool boards, shelves and electrical. I will be wall mounting the compressor and also the rpc, transformer and circuit breaker. There are also retractable compressor hoses and electrical extensions to put up.

I am still uncertain regarding how many lights to install. I have 3 at the moment but am considering one more. The only problem is that I have a single 16 amp 230 volt supply so I don't want to overrun the supply with utilities like lighting and heat / cooling. Pictures to follow of the shop set up in it's current state.

Paul.

I have now finished the ceiling and touching up the paint work where I have scraped the walls or welding slag has marred the paint. I am in the process of installing the electrical and have so far installed the lights.



I chose natural flouro tubes as they make the colours seem more natural and reduce eye strain. I can always change them to brighter tubes later if they prove to be too dim. The electrical system will be outside the walls as this is the normal practice in Norway and conduit is not a requirement unless the system is internal.



The plan is to have the single phase inlet which goes to a double power point and to the lights. A heater will be connected to the power point and the RPC will also connect to the power point. From the RPC I will then run power to a mobile electrical cabinet which has 4 circuits with circuit breakers - 1 3 phase and 3 single phase circuits. The fused circuits will run all the power points while the heat, light and RPC will be fused from the house's breaker. I have done this as the mobile cabinet requires 3 phase input and I don't want to have the RPC spinning in order to have heat and light in the workshop.

Going has been a bit slow due to the bad weather but I am on the home stretch now. I am also finished with my holidays now so everything I do has to be done in the evenings after work

Paul.

A quick update- I am currently looking at replacing my old air compressor with a dental unit. I know they are smaller and usually only have a max pressure of 110 psi with constant 80 psi but for their size and low sound, I think a dental type would be ideal in my shop. I am also heading out to pik up the electrical cabinet tonight so I can get the power points up. The RPC should be arriving tomorrow so things are getting close to being completed now.

Paul.

The RPC arrived and I have had a chance to test it. It is working well however my power budget is pretty tight. I currently have-

1. 3000 Watt RPC
2. 500 Watt heater
3. 224 Watts for lighting

This gives me a total of 3724 Watts on a 16 amp, 230 volt single phase circuit. This gives me a peak draw of 16.2 amps. This means I really have to manage the inrush current to my various machines, specifically the lathe and mill which are both 2.2 kW machines. I have also made the decision to sell my old faithful compressor and go with a "silent" dental compressor. It is a Dürr unit like this one:



It is a 3 cylinder, 3 phase unit with maximum pressure of 10 bar but only produces about 72 decibels of noise.

The compressor is 1.5 kW so it is unlikely I would want the compressor and mill / lathe running at the same time. I'll keep plugging away. More pictures to follow when I get the wiring completed.

Paul.

I have been working on the wiring but it's looking like a dog's breakfast. I have a friend who is an electrician and he offered to help me get it sorted out. I think I will take him up on the offer.

I picked up the dental compressor today. It works however there have been some dimbulbs fiddling with it. The water seperator and condensator has been bypassed meaning that instead of blowing dry air, the air is humid. I will be fixing the seperator unit and re-attaching it. Anyway, pictures or it didn't happen:





I did test out the compressor and it works and is extremely quiet. It was also bigger than I expected and is far heavier than my old compressor was owing to the 3 cylinders. More pictures to follow as I set up all the tool boards in the garage.

Paul.

I just found and read your thread. I wish you the best of luck with all aspects, and I know you're fully committed to your approach(es). However, I'll offer a couple of comments as food for thought for yourself and other readers.

Your placement of the metal cutting band saw near the rear limits the length of cut stock severely (less than 5 feet?). Can you swap locations with the workbench?
Apparently, you have more faith in the adhesive/paint system, holding the studs to the walls, than I do. I expected that the studs would be mechanically restrained from moving away from vertical, in addition to the adhesive. Maybe the magnitude of my imagined loads on the paneling and horizontals are far greater than you plan. I hope that paint is well is well stuck to the interior walls, or did you remove to bare metal at adhesive locations?

extropic said:

I just found and read your thread. I wish you the best of luck with all aspects, and I know you're fully committed to your approach(es). However, I'll offer a couple of comments as food for thought for yourself and other readers.

Your placement of the metal cutting band saw near the rear limits the length of cut stock severely (less than 5 feet?). Can you swap locations with the workbench?
Apparently, you have more faith in the adhesive/paint system, holding the studs to the walls, than I do. I expected that the studs would be mechanically restrained from moving away from vertical, in addition to the adhesive. Maybe the magnitude of my imagined loads on the paneling and horizontals are far greater than you plan. I hope that paint is well is well stuck to the interior walls, or did you remove to bare metal at adhesive locations?

Click to expand...

I glued some studs up, then proceeded to hang from them in an attempt to pull them off the walls. Add to that, the horizontal blue pieces are also glued to the walls. There is also styrofoam, plywood and the blue horizontal pieces supporting the walls against shear. The only way to pull the studs off the walls is pulling perpendicular to the walls which isn't going to happen. In fact, there will only be toolboards mounted on the walls.
I thought about grinding off the paint until I tested the studs and couldn't pull them off the walls. This was a testament to the adherence of the paint and the super expensive glue I used.

Also, the latest rendition of the workshop is plan is below:


With this plan, the bandsaw can be rolled out providing clearance for longer pieces as the long pieces will fit down the middle "coridor".