Lewis,
Thank you very much for sharing. I have been looking for a way to dress up some of my electric panels.
David B
Hi David - Glad to hear there's someone that can benefit from my creation. Make sure you make them so that you can dismantle it in the future. I made mine with 1/4-20 knock down fasteners and 1/4-20 inserts into cleats on the wall (you can see the cleats in the "before" picture). When (not if) I need to run more wires or conduit to the panel, it just pops off the wall.
Make sure to take a picture of your version and post 'er up when you have something.
Cheers,
Lewis
Lewis,
I saw the cleats and liked that idea as well. I will try to remember to take pics. Mine won't be as nice as yours because my shops are quite "rustic".
I am always adding some new wiring cause everything I do is in a constant state of flux so having a removable cover is a must.
Didn't know that a panel had to be vented. I'll have to research that.
David B
Awesome, thanks for posting!
Well suited for a man cave Lewis....
Looks great
Hi Lewis, actually your installation would be fine.
When I looked at the photo I thought that you had put the panel in an enclosure, in which case it would have needed some ventilation.
Regards, Rod.
You could say that it's in an enclosure of sorts - given that it's covered on all sides and the only breaches in it are the openings for the conduit to enter on each end. Your vent comment did get me thinking though and last night I went out and reached in and grabbed the wires that are feeding a 30 A / 240V heater that had been running a while in the shop (the insulated part of course ). They were slightly warm but nothing I would call hot enough to heat up a cavity. With a 20A run to a future cyclone, and one machine going full tilt at 10-15A I can see doubling the warmth but then again, it's so slight that it's not really a concern. For the time it will take to bang a few holes in the top and bottom where they can't be seen anyway, I'll probably do it next time I have the cabinet off the wall - if nothing else it will give me a warm fuzzy feeling....sort of like putting glue on pocket hole screw joints - not really needed but makes you feel good about things....
Cheers,
Lewis
I dont know; I had a guy who worked for me who left the back door open and a stray kitten wandered in to the back bedroom. When he went to pick it up the cat lunged at him, bit him on the wrist so bad that he almost bled to death, had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Lewis,
FYI - the conduit needs to be "supported" within 3 feet of entering the boxes. It looks to me like you might have more than 3 feet of unsupported conduit below the box. Next time you're in there, attach an appriapriate thickness strip of wood to the wall behind the conduit halfway down the wall and strap the conduit to the wood with the appropriately sized straps.
One other thing - where the conduit penetrates the floor, the openings need to be "fire-stopped". That means caulked with an approved flame retardent caulk. You can get it at the big box stores. Our local HD carries a brand called FireStop.
Hi Rob -
You're probably right on that 3' business under the box - I'll add a couple of straps the next time I am in there - which seems to be every 2 days lately.
On the floor - that's just a landing that's about 2 feet off the concrete floor so it's not really a sealed up place. In fact, you can crawl under the landing from the side (as I have done about 936 times when running wires and conduit...).
Thanks for the input.
Lewis
Hi Chris -
My wife liked it too and I think she used that "cute" word. That's key for me - next time I am pulling some purchase out the back of the car (or a rented truck) there should be less resistance....
The lexan decals we make at work are for undustrial remote controls - handheld things that are like a tv remote - only built with cast aluminum enclosures and rugged enough for the gorillas that drive bulk delivery trucks to use. They are pretty slick - the printing operation takes place from the rear so you have to literally scratch all the lexan away before you hit the legends etc. I had the graphic person whip up the high voltage decal from a picture and Adobe Illustrator.
Surface mounting - the walls and everything were done long ago and the electrical panel was surface mounted to the wall.
Cheers,
Lewis
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Women are like phones. They love to be held and talked to, but if you press the wrong buttons you'll get disconnected!
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Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other