Introducing myself; Shop Design

["George Graham" <georgergraham@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Bill,
welcome to the group!

The size of my shop has always been as big as I can afford. It seems like
there is never enough room. I'm in a space now that is 28 by 40 feet . Now,
it is almost empty and seems huge, but when I put in shelves and a work
bench, a small enclosed room for granite work, a dust collector, a
compressor, and space just for raw material, and finished work, it will be
crowded.

I need to have part of the shop partitioned off so there is a clean place to
put stuff that I don't want to be covered with dust,  Finished work, books,
food, clothes, etc. Having a concrete floor is important to me. It makes
cleanup and moving stone around a lot easier.

I am on the ground floor and have a big door that will allow me to drive in,
unfortunately it is my only source of natural light. I've got 6 foot
florescent lights, and if one is turned off I can get good shadows to see.
I'll be playing around with ideas for better light.

The location was actually one of the biggest issues for me. I had to be in a
place where I wasn't breaking zoning laws regarding noise and dust, and had
easy access for trucks to be loaded and unloaded, and close to home. I found
just what I was looking for in an old industrial complex. If I need a bigger
space for a huge project, the landlord has about a million square feet of
unused space to pick from.

Using a 6" steel beam for a chain fall is plenty strong if its supported
properly. If you have a 20 foot long piece and only support it at the ends,
it may sag in the middle if you hang a heavy load from it.  I don't know the
specifics on the load a steel beam  will carry, but I'll bet you have
already considered that.

Let us know how your studio comes together.
George Graham