Steve's workshop - Painting the outside walls

[n0legs]

Just as long as you come and bow at the altar.
S

I read that three times to make sure it wasn't the other way round. I didn't think the church couldn't be so open minded :shock:

Good work Steve, keep it up

 

[RogerS]

I forgot to say, I think I have cocked up on the ceiling electrics. I do think it is a good idea to have some power up there, but I should have put the switches in the wall, not just use switched sockets on the ceiling. It means I'm going to have to poke about with a stick to switch stuff on and off!
silly person.
S

Is there a chance of adding a 13A Pull Switch next to the socket to isolate it, effectively switching it. If you don't like the idea of a toggle, just out of reach, then a rigid loop could be added to use with a shepherds crook , or similar.
xy

Or those remotes from Maplin.

 

[nanscombe]

How about using short single switched extension leads?

You could switch the item off or simply unplug it.

 

[StevieB]

I forgot to say, I think I have cocked up on the ceiling electrics. I do think it is a good idea to have some power up there, but I should have put the switches in the wall, not just use switched sockets on the ceiling. It means I'm going to have to poke about with a stick to switch stuff on and off!
silly person.
S

Steve - remote switched sockets are your answer here, something like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/home-easy-rem ... -kit/55334

You would still need to get up to the ceiling to change the plugged in appliance, but if you are running static machines from the ceiling sockets then this is not an issue.

Steve

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes, I think that is a good solution. I do own a set, I used to switch on my DX that way. I don't know if I still have them, I've not seen them, but I do still have a box or two that I've not yet opened, so we'll see.

 

[Racers]

You can get shower pull switches rated at about 45A, might be another way round the problem.

Pete

 

[xy mosian]

I've just noticed the ceiling mounted sockets are 'flat' to the ceiling. Surely this will mean the weight of the cable will be trying to tear the plug from the socket. Would it be better to mount the sockets on a short vertical surface? A more natural use for the standard 13A plug. It would also benefit if using plug-in remote switches.
xy

 

[Steve Maskery]

Pete:
That had crossed my mind, but I think that the remote controlled switches are a good solution.

xy:
I'd not thought of that, although I don't think it would be a problem Anything that I plug into it will have its weight supported by the Unistrut, not by the cable. Thanks for pointing it out though, it is something to be considered.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Today we have put up the rest of the Unistrut, the other three lights and the two remaining ceiling sockets.

We started with the Unistrut. We've cocked up a bit here. I have seven 3m lengths. I should have cut one into three and then worked out how to put two lengths and a piece up to the ceiling. Instead we put two lengths up, one at each end, and then a filler piece between them. But that filler piece is more than 1m so I have a piece left of about 18" or so and a gap in the center of about 1.3m. So if anyone has a bit of Unistrut that you don't want, send it along to me, will you please?

We were feeling a bit impatient on the lighting front, so we checked that the end of the cable on light no. 4 (which wasn't connected at that point) was not going to short, we jury-rigged it up with plug so that we could switch them on.

So we did.

Nothing. Well, nothing for a couple of seconds. Then the three lights lit up. Sort of. "Ta-dah!", says I. "Are they on?", says Ray. It was certainly disappointing. It was dull and the tubes themselves didn't seem uniformly bright, the centres of the tubes were decidedly dark. I though that 12 tubes would be fine for that space, but we talked about the possibility of extending the lighting circuit and putting up three more units down the centre of the room. And swapping all the 58W tubes for 70W tubes. We were not happy.

But we had work to do, so we unplugged the lights, switched the site lights back on and fixed up the remaining three batten lights.

So we switched them all on again and we were a bit surprised. The three first ones were decidedly brighter now than they were earlier. The tubes themselves were brighter and the dark centres were not so noticeable. Over the next 20 minutes or so the tubes gradually got brighter. I went to make a cuppa and when I came down again it was a really excellent light. Bright, very even, with little in the way of the way in shadows and a good colour, to boot. A very nice working environment. Phew!

I've positioned the lights at 25% and 75% of the way across the room. I'm beginning to wish I'd done it at 30% and 70%, they seem a bit far apart. But it's a minor point and I think I shall be able to film with little or even no auxilliary lighting. Maybe just a spot for shadows that I do want. Anyway, I think it's going to be a smashing environment.

To give you an idea, this photo of Ray finishing off the taping and filling was taken without flash in our new illuminated workspace.

Ray likes it. "It's a pleasure to work in this, I shan't want to go home!". Fine by me!

I'm assured that the sparky will come "one day next week" so we should have a reasonably sound supply soon. We haven't dug the trench yet, and probably won't until the spring, now, but we think we can tap off the supply to the log cabin as a temporary measure.

So next we intend to clear the timber from the front, hang the door, board up the window, make a temporary pair of double doors and generally get the place fully weathertight. Although it doesn't rain in, it is quite damp in there. We can tell from the state of the cardboard packaging. It is still open to the outside air, and I've never lived anywhere as foggy as Kirkby. It's never cleared today and last week we had two days straight of it.

 

[paulm]

It's really coming to life Steve, you're getting there !

Cheers, Paul

 

[Graham Orm]

Steve I've just picked up an identical light to those you have from Gumtree for my own shop. I too was disappointed with the performance and tried taking out the silver squared stuff in the middle, this made a big difference.

 

[xy mosian]

Hi Steve I didn't think you would be having tools etc., hanging from the sockets, only the heavy cable itself. However if the unsupported cable length is to be short(ish) I don't think there will be a problem. After all some mid cable support could be added to the unistrut if it looked to be necessary.

Cracking work, keep it up.

xy

 

[Steve Maskery]

Well yes, you can, but it makes it very harsh. That Cat2 louvre is designed to improve the glare. I'm not very good with bright light, it's why I always wear sunglasses, so I don't actually want very bright light. It's a careful balance of having enough lighting without it being dazzling.

S

 

[OLD]

Shed security .YouTube video ultimate handyman shed security .he uses unistrut thought you might be interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnx64xT ... PcaG_K5WHw

 

[Wizard9999]

Steve

The lights look really good. What are they and where did you get them?

Terry.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Steve

The lights look really good. What are they and where did you get them?

Terry.

I got them from Yesss Electrical. They were about 60 quid each IIRC. You don't get much for your money TBH. I forget the make, I'll have to go down and have a look in daylight. I still have the boxes.

The tubes are Phillips, 58W 6500K.
S

 

[yetloh]

It looks like a huge and highly desirable space, Steve. I'm very envious.

Will you know when it's finished or can we expect many more years happily following this thread?

Jim

 

[Steve Maskery]

The electrician came today. The first thing that we found is that I'd stripped back the armoured cable too much, so we had to rip out the insulation that was to the left of the door, so we could pull it through another few inches.

Ray and I had finished that bit of PB to the left of the door and I continued with the bits between the windows.

This is the very last piece of plasterboard - yippee!

Ray is coming again on Thursday so I'm going to try to get the floor insulation for then. We can get one layer of flooring down (the excess OSB, or at least, most of it) and I can get my tablesaw in. It will be very useful in fitting the trim

But right now we have an operational ring main (we've tapped in to the cabin supply as a temporary measure) so we are no longer running everything off extension leads.

 

[woodshavings]

.........and I can get my tablesaw in.....

Well done Steve - that's got to be a great motivator!!

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
John

 

[Steve Maskery]

Steve

The lights look really good. What are they and where did you get them?

Terry.

I've been meaning to reply to this for days, sorry, I kept forgetting.
They are NVC NWY258/HF Luminaire HF T8 2x58W, £40 each
Tubes Phillips 63219740 TLDSuper80 58W1500mm840, £2.24 each
Both prices plus VAT, but even so, not quite as pricey as I had remembered.

S