Over or under?

[Bryan Solomon]

I am in the process of building a new shop. I am still going through the local planning and zoning commission for approval but the proposed size is 27' deep x 30' wide. I basically have my shop layout established on paper, but I know those things always change once you get into it, and even again later on. My question for the forum...what do you think is better: running your power overhead with ceiling mounted cord reels, or running conduit in the slab that will be poured in place with floor receptacles? Obviously the latter takes more planning and has less flexibility options, but just throwing this question out there to see what kind of response I get. The same question goes for dust collection as well. Run overhead, or in the slab with schedule 40 PVC?

Note: my interior ceiling heights will be 15'.

[roger wiegand]

Some of each? Overhead on the periphery of the room for power, DC, compressed air, and an "island" or three in the middle of the room. perhaps recessed into the floor with a cover if you end up not using a position. Think about how you will feel trying to unclog a snag in your DC with it buried in concrete. (I'm not saying don't do it, just consider) Not having posts and obstructions in the middle of the room is a tremendous advantage, having the improved flexibility near the walls is also an advantage. I'm just about to do the second major rearrangement of my shop in eight years to accommodate a new tool. It would be really hard with my options set in concrete, as it were.

I put a wood floor on top of my slab, so it is relatively easy to snake wires to any new location under the floor between the sleepers. I have an unfortunate DC pipe running across the floor to my table saw; it's placed as conveniently as possible and I've learned to step over it. Not elegant at all.

[ChrisA Edwards]

My neighbor, about 5 houses down from me, built a Powermatic Palace, a couple of years ago.

He built a standalone shop, about 40' x 30', with 50% being two story. He ran all his power and PVC duct through the slab and finally up to the second floor which is where his DC is. That was the only part I didn't like about what he did, it was nice getting the floor space back on the ground level, for the DC, but I wouldn't want to be carrying heavy bags of sawdust down stairs.

Although it takes some planning for duct placement, it keeps his shop super tidy.

[Ron Selzer]

under to table saw, jointer and planer all located in middle island(s)
in walls around the perimeter for drill press(s), bad saw, shaper, mortise machine, grinder(s), sanders, lathe, etc
over for workbenches, assembly tables and general purpose
Ron

[Bryan Solomon]

My neighbor, about 5 houses down from me, built a Powermatic Palace, a couple of years ago.

He built a standalone shop, about 40' x 30', with 50% being two story. He ran all his power and PVC duct through the slab and finally up to the second floor which is where his DC is. That was the only part I didn't like about what he did, it was nice getting the floor space back on the ground level, for the DC, but I wouldn't want to be carrying heavy bags of sawdust down stairs.

Although it takes some planning for duct placement, it keeps his shop super tidy.

I was considering doing the same thing as well. On the 30' side, I will have 2 single car garage doors on the front of the building, with a couple windows and a 3'0" door for main entry. Instead of having the dead space above the tracks for the garage doors, I am planning on a loft above that would measure about 25' across, and 10' back from the front of the building. The tracks for the garage door would essentially be fastened to the underside of the floor joists for the loft.

I had previous discussions with Oneida about having the cyclone in the loft and a pipe running down through the loft to the collection bin that would be located on the ground floor on wheels. Once it is full, I open the garage door and roll it outside to empty it. The dust collector would sit in loft above to gain floor space.

[Dwayne Watt]

Not so sure I would do 15' ceilings unless you have specific plans/needs for that much interior height. If you run your collection ducts along the ceiling and provide drops, it will require a lot of fan power to move through that much ductwork. If your main duct is not at ceiling height you forego the head room built into the shop. If not already done so, it would be wise to have some serious design work performed on your proposed ducting layouts. That will save you a lot of heartache down the road. A well designed duct system using the properly sized materials is a wonderful thing!

Electrically, I am not a fan of floor mounted outlets but you could lay out a trace or two or three in the concrete that facilitates conduit installation and provides some placement flexibility for pedestals to plug in your centrally located workstation machines. The trace channels would be covered with steel plate (maybe wood) fastened in place. Pedestals make it reasonable to disconnect power (either by disconnect switches or simple unplugging of power cord) when servicing your machines. Cords dangling 10-12' from the ceiling just become nuisances in my opinion.
Another option might be simply floor mounted conduit trays into which you run your extension wiring to wall outlets. These look like road speed bumps but are possibly an option that allow for some flexibility in the future.

[Bruce King]

Outlets on the floor have a conduit protruding up during the slab work that greatly affects the quality and level of the slab. Kids have been known to fill these pipes with everything from concrete to rocks.

[Jim Becker]

I would likely use both methods, depending on the specific shop and tool arrangement. For overhead to stationary tools, however, it would not be "cord reels"...it would be drops with proper strain relief and twist lock connectors at a height that if the tool was moved, the dangling part wouldn't whack me in the head. I am honestly a little dubious about permanent power drops in a concrete floor. Why? Because I know from experience over the past two plus decades that shop arrangements change over time as do tools and their electrical requirements.

[Michael W. Clark]

If you do a trench with cover like Dwayne and Roger mention, you have flexibility and can get to the duct to clear plugs.

You can also place columns strategically so you can bring utilities down them and store commonly used items on or near them.

[Doug Dawson]

Outlets on the floor have a conduit protruding up during the slab work that greatly affects the quality and level of the slab. Kids have been known to fill these pipes with everything from concrete to rocks.

And adults have been known to spill their beverage into them. Oops! :^)

[Jaromir Svoboda]

I have PVC conduit in concrete for planer and table saw with router table. Also all my dust collection pipe is under ground.

[David M Peters]

With 9' 3" ceilings I went overhead for dust and electrical. It's worked great and made the slab as cheap and simple as possible to pour. Also, given that dust collectors have the intake at the top of the machine, having ducts along the ceilings keeps the runs shorter.