Sounds good, Leigh. All the workbenches in my present shop are at 34"
finished height so that if I am working with long materials, I can just lay
it across the nearest bench that works. I also have a forklift, but over the
years, I have used the monorail hoist more than just about anything else in
the shop, except maybe for the beadblaster. The rail is the way to go for a
one man operation. It keeps you from having to beg for unwilling help in
handling things, yet retain hands-on control of the item. I plan to put some
pics up of the rail as soon as I can.

RJ

"Leigh Knudson" wrote in message
om...
I am in the process of building a new home shop and read all of this
with enthusiasm. I opted for forced air heating in the shop as it is
quick to heat up and turn off while the radiant heat is a slow up and
down process. I will not be working in the shop everyday so intend to
leave the heat off the bulk of the time. I am installing a demand
water heater for the same reason. It will only need energy when I
want hot water. The rest of the time it will be dormant. My entire
shop has been made fork lift accessable so I don't need other types of
lifts though I have installed a trap door to give access to the 6" x
14" header that is centered on one bay. An important thing to
remember in laying out your machines is to put low things like work
benches and horizontal bandsaws, and small lathes in the center of the
shop. Put the tall stuff around the outside and the shop will look
bigger and be more airy to work in. My work area has been designated
an ancillary unit (read mother-in-law unit)on the plans and approved
drawings. The city wouldn't let me build a big workshop. Because this
is actually be constructed as a dwelling I have more then 10% of the
floor area in windows (building code) and I have to put the 110V
receptacles down near the baseboards. 220V single and three phase
will be run later in a waist high band of conduit. That goes in after
final inspection. I did put a pull down ladder/stairway into the loft
and decked a four wide band near high gable with 1" plywood for
industrial steel shelving for storage. Leigh@MarMachine