Progress Thread The "grátis" 1966 Coupe - final sheet metal repairs

Man...I want a black 96-98 Cobra so bad....along with a notchback foxbody 4-eye....one day when I dont have another half dozen project pending.

02 281 GT said:

They probably are. I get what you're saying, but I think something similar to what you're doing would be overkill in this garage. I'll go all out on the electrical whenever I am able to build a shop of my own. I don't want to be sinking a lot of time and money on setting the garage up in this house when all I really need are the welder/air compressor circuits.

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So when you run the 220v for the compressor why not install it in a small sub panel then run the two circuits from it, 1 for the compressor the other for the welder and you'll have a few spare for... you know you'll end up getting something else at some point. Just saying - LOL

You can never have enough electric

Honestly, I only have the one 220 outlet in my garage(each 220 outlet of course requires its own circuit) and just swap compressor and welder as needed....I have yet to run into a situation I am using both at the same time...but it would be nice to have the option....just too lazy to run another circuit for the moment...would have to crawl into the garage attic to run the wiring....not a fun task

Assuming the wire for the 220v circuit you presently have is not of a size that would support a sub panel you might be able to use it to pull a large enough wire to present location. I'm not sure if wire is in a conduit or if it is stapled to rafters. If stapled then I hear you as far as getting into a small attic space above the garage.

Well, I have a sub-panel in the garage to start with...its to that panel I added the 220v feed from the main box....however, I have to be careful, that feed is good for only a certain amperage, so for the moment it is better for me just to swap out depending on what I am using...the alternative being running another feed...and I don't want to do that....the main box is in the tightest part of the crawlspace...its pretty horrible running a feed from there....alternatively I could just get a 2nd service installed...but that is expensive.

If the 220 feed wire large enough you could increase breaker size in main panel to increase capacity at sub. Not positive but I think 10g could handle 2 220v circuits. Surf net to see.

I lived in a rent house with a single car garage and had one 110V outlet at the front of the garage. Unfortunately the panel was in a closet in the middle of the back of the house which was about 1300 sqft. I had a 5hp 60gal single stage oilless compressor as well as a Lincoln AC crackerbox. The door into the house went thru the "utility room" into the kitchen. I say utility room, it was a 9x3 room, you walked between the dryer on the exterior wall and the washer on the inside wall, the water heater was in a cabinet above the washer. Thankfully the side door on the garage was about 24" from the front of the garage, that is where the air compressor was mounted.

To get power, I mounted a surface box with a plug on it next to the trim on the door into the garage, I used a dryer plug to power the box, the dryer plugged into this plug. I used some 10/3 or 8/3 with ground (it's been 25 years, I asked an electrical engineer what I needed) to run back to the exterior wall under the cabinet over the dryer, then thru the wall out into the garage, then back over to another surface mounted box with an outlet next to the trim on the door going into the house that backed up to the previous box.

So basically I made a hard mounted extension cord with two female plugs. The Lincoln was on a wood furniture dolly that I could wheel over next to the compressor. Typically the compressor was plugged into the outlet, but the compressor had a switch on it. So if I was going out into the garage and was going to use the compressor or welder, I'd unplug the dryer as I went out the door, this let my wife know not to use the dryer. She would leave the laundry basket in the floor so when I came into the house I knew to turn the dryer on as I plugged it back in. I'd unplug the compressor to plug in the welder.

Coordination and Team work, awesome!