Your RC Work Space or Work Shop

[MailManX]

Well, OK. Arguably, this is not a requirement for getting started with Tekno or any other RC, but it sure helps! I'll tell you about mine, then I'd love to hear about yours!

I used to build/repair cars on the kitchen table with a protective silicone baking mat on the table. It was great - I could interface with my family while I worked on my cars! My wife was very tolerant of it until I started leaving unfinished builds/repairs on the table for a few days until I could complete them. One day, she ordered me (lovingly) to "Build a damn shop!" Maybe she thought it was a threat, but I took it as a challenge. I LOVE building things - not just RC cars. Thankfully, I had a spare bit of property just below the house that would be perfect for a shop.

I came up with a design that I wanted and did all the work myself. I really enjoyed it! It took me nearly a year because I did it in my spare time as I was able to afford it. It was far more expensive than my wife (or I) ever dreamed. That's because I ended up way overbuilding it - something that engineers are prone to do. It makes us happy. I built it to code. Even better than code in some ways. I designed the exterior to look like our main house so it would fit in nicely on the property. It is Tyvec-wrapped, heavily insulated, well-lighted and air-tight. There is just short of 1-gazillion outlets (on each wall ). It even has HVAC and high-speed internet! After all, you know that I just HAVE to be able to view tutorials on Youtube real-time as I work on projects!

Because I designed the shop specifically for my RC hobby, I am especially proud of a dedicated, safe Li-Po battery charging station that involves a cinderblock structure built on a stainless steel table. I have 1-gallon baggies of sand to cover any cinder block cell that has a battery being actively charged. If the battery catches on fire, it will melt the bag and cover the battery with sand. There is a smoke detector mounted on the wall above to bring me out of any reverie that I may be in at the time. Also, in case of accidental discharge of magic smoke, I have a 10-inch diameter, high-CFM fan on the wall above the charging area that I can flip on to remove the magic from the shop. For battery storage, I am using a wine cooler to keep my batteries in a constant, cool environment. I did make one huge mistake, though. If I had it to do over again... I would make the shop AT LEAST twice as big! The one I built is 16' X 12' and it's filling up too fast! I suppose it would help if I was only into RC cars. Unfortunately, I like all things RC, so I have planes (and more planes), quads, heli's, a couple of boats and even a motorcycle. I am now pondering whether I should build a storage shed next to the shop!

Although I miss interaction with the family while I'm in the shop, it sure is nice to leave a project spread out on the workbench and not worry about it upsetting the wife or getting pawed through by the kids, or the cat (where the heck did that screw just go?)! I just finished the exterior last month and have starting to move in. Holy smoke! That's how I discovered that I should have built it bigger. Everything that I want to put into the shop will not fit into the shop! Argh!

Please show me pictures and tell me stories about your shops or workspaces. Is your workspace shared or dedicated? Is it in the house, in the garage, maybe the out-house (there are probably some wives who would appreciate that)? Do you have plans for a new or different work space? Let us in on it!

 

[WoodiE]

In my attached garage I have a work bench that I've setup to tinker with my RC's. Nothing super crazy, but it works.

 

[MailManX]

That's awesome! I hope to be that organized one day. At the moment, I feel a bit intimidated by the pile of stuff in my shop.

I built my shop over a slope in the yard that wasn't useful for much of anything else. Digging the holes for the posts is the ONLY thing that I paid someone else to do. My 60-year old legs and back weren't up to that. Besides, the earth here is mostly rocks. The guy who dug them out for me got down in there with a large rotary hammer drill which did a good job of breaking up the dirt and rocks. Once in a while he'd hit a fairly large rock. He'd dig around those to loosen them, then lift them out separately. A couple of those were a serious struggle!

Each hole is 3-feet deep and 2-feet square. Each hole gobbled up about 1/3 of a cubic yard which I mixed on-site with an electric mixer that I bought years ago from Harbor Freight. That sure was a great purchase! That mixer has been loaned out multiple times and is beat to hell, but it still runs great. I chose to use bags of high-strength concrete which I had delivered and placed nearby on pallets. While mixing, I supplemented the concrete with an extra scoop of portland cement. My mixer could handle 3 bags at a time. Depending on the hole, I'd use anywhere from 6 to 9 bags. After all, this is Californica - land of wiggly earth. I wanted some serious strength for the base of my shop. Fortunately, where I live, we have granite everywhere, so I don't have to worry about liquefaction during an earthquake.

Here is a year of my life boiled down to a few pictures:

Getting the foundation completely square was important to me. Thanks to my old pal, Mr. Pythagorus, it wasn't too hard to do:

Once I had placed all 9 posts, I cut them off level and placed three 16-foot 4x4's across. The yellow lines in the picture below show the 3 16-footers. All of the others are filler for structural support. I used construction glue and lag bolts at every intersection. I also made use of several galvanized brackets and straps.

I built the subfloor frame "floating" on top of the foundation structure. Once it was fully assembled, I squared it up to the foundation and then secured it with glue, straps and 3-inch exterior grade screws.

The temporary walkway "scaffolding" around the shop allowed me to complete the exterior without having to do everything from an extension ladder. When the exterior was complete, I removed the walkway.

The odd color of the plywood is a liberal treatment of copper-green wood preservative. I never expect this subfloor to get wet, but better safe than sorry.

I built the roof trusses using a temporary "jig" laid out on the shop floor. When each truss was complete, I set it aside. Later, I lifted them up onto the completed wall frames.

All of this assembly is glued and screwed 100-percent. There are no nails in this structure. Even though I later sheath the exterior 100-percent with OSB, I added these diagonal braces to the studs to help stop any twisting in an earthquake.

I have reached the maximum of 10 attachments, so I'll continue this on the next post below.

 

[MailManX]

The roof is a double thickness of wood. The sub-layer is OSB with radiant barrier facing inward per specification. A layer of 1/2" plywood was placed over that in the opposite direction. I covered all of it with Owens Corning Weather shield.

My son came over and laid the shingles so that I would not have to toddle around on the roof. I really appreciated that!

Inside, I created a sandwich structure on the floor. The original sub-floor was 3/4" plywood. Over that, I glued 1-inch of rigid foam insulation, then floated 1/2" plywood over that in the opposite direction. The "floating" upper floor was secured by screwing through the foam into the wood below. It was a bit of a challenge to get the tension just right on all of the "floating" floor panels.

I ran all the wiring in walls and ceiling before placing the insulation.

I chose to use 1/2" plywood rather than drywall on the interior. I know that is not applicable for fire-code, but I did it so I could hang planes on the walls and ceiling at any location without having to worry about wall anchors.

I originally intended to lay vinyl plank flooring. However, to save money, I used three coats of porch/floor paint. I can always cover it later if I choose to.

Something I did not previously mention is that I tried to create an air-tight living structure. As the exterior and interior wall panels went up, each one was glued, screwed and sealed. Every joint was caulked. The window and door frames were sealed during installation. Even the wiring boxes were caulked around and the wire pass-through holes in back were filled with silicone. To make this design work right, the attic is properly vented so that it can breath separately from the interior.

That is the max for my 10 pictures on this post. It is late for me tonight, so I'll continue tomorrow.

 

[MailManX]

Here are a few more pictures from where I left off yesterday.

These were my inspectors. They are my three granddaughters who are standing on the deck of our house overlooking the shop construction. My wife and I are raising the two on the outsides (Abby and Faith) along with their older brother. It's one of the biggest honors and blessings in my life to be their papa. They give me purpose and make me want to be a better man.

Here is my crew foreman, my 13-year old grandson. He enjoyed helping me and learned a lot doing so. Here, he is drilling a hole in the ceiling for a 5-inch can light. He and I are into the RC hobby together. He will have space in the shop.

The exterior was nearing completion at this point.

This shows the true benefit of the temporary walkway. It made working on the exterior both easier and safer.

Just for the fun of it, here is what that bit of property looked like before I cleared it off for the shop.

Exterior finally complete. Ready to remove temp walkway.

Walkway removed. Eventually, I will put a skirt around it, but that can come later.

Getting late again. More tomorrow. I'll get to the interior then.

 

[MailManX]

My shop interior is not totally finished yet. Here are a few sequential pictures of working out the details:

My eyes are not as young as they once were, so having good light is important for me to do detailed work. Therefore, I installed twelve 5-inch can lights. My wife originally tried to tell me that 4 was enough. Now she sees the light. Each of the cans holds a 60w-Equivalent A19 LED bulb in 5000K color.

I sure wish the floor paint would have stayed this glossy after it dried!

I never planned to move into the shop until it was complete. When wives are involved, husband's plans can be unexpectedly changed. She wanted my stuff out of the closet in the house. I just hauled it all to the shop and made piles knowing I'd have to move it a couple more times to finish the interior.

I wanted two workbenches, one for me and one for my grandson. Mine will be larger than his. In this picture, I have started the L-shaped corner unit for me. I wanted the workbenches to be extremly sturdy, but I did not want any vertical legs because they get in the way of a rolling chair. I decided on triangle supports made of 2x4's:

I glued and clamped the L-shaped formica top the day before. Now it's dry and ready to install with construction glue and a few strategic screws:

My workbench is all done:

It is perfectly level in every direction which is important when building kit or scratch-built airplanes:

I had to cover my new workbench with all the stuff from the other corner so I could build my grandson's workbench:

Working on my grandson's workbench:

With both workbenches in place, I can now get on with the process of sorting everything to make sense of it all. I chose not to build drawers and cabinets under the workbenches because I prefer working with tubs that can easily be stacked or moved.

Now I guess I need to build a storage facility for my workshop. These are helicopters, quads and airplanes that are still in the garage because there is no room to store them in the shop. I did not plan ahead very well:

 

[Rafio]

That's awesome ! Very nice, perfect for our hobby.
Congrats for all this work and thank you for sharing that.

I'm still working in the kitchen but it's difficult for my wife

 

[Mongoose]

Good grief, you guys are on another level! They look awesome!

 

[gearhead455]

Holy crap lol!

 

[MailManX]

Holy crap lol!

I have a passion for building things with my own hands. It would have been cheaper to buy a pre-fab and plop it down, but I hate those things. I could have hired a contractor to build it as I did, but he invariably would not have built it exactly the way I want. Besides, if he did - I could not have afforded his price. Way too much labor involved. Ultimately, I got what I wanted along with the pleasure of doing it. Now I can enjoy the results for many years to come.

 

[TooTall]

Wow @MailManX that looks superb, like you I just got banished from the table/island in the house, but unlike you, I won't get a sweet building like that I'll be lucky to get a folding table and a couple short bar stools !!

TT

 

[monkeyboy_uk]

MailManX that makes my 6x4 shed seem slightly inedequate.

 

[Pauly]

Damn! That is awesome MailManX!! I use a good portion of my basement but still don't have enough space.....Or I have too much stuff

 

[nulli]

What a lovely manhole!

 

[MailManX]

Damn! That is awesome MailManX!! I use a good portion of my basement but still don't have enough space.....Or I have too much stuff

Thank you sir! I have the same problem, too little space vs too much stuff. I can't come to terms with having too much stuff, whether true or not (it's true). Therefore, I don't have enough space. That's frustrating since I just finished the shop. Maybe the family can move into the new space and the house can become the shop. Then I "might" have enough room.

 

[soze]

Geez, I'm jealous of some of you guys that have room for a workstation. All I have is my tiny computer desk.

 

[MailManX]

Geez, I'm jealous of some of you guys that have room for a workstation. All I have is my tiny computer desk.

When I first got into this addictive hobby, I was working on the road and spent 2-years working out of hotels. Thankfully, I was always in the same room for a week at a time, so I could leave parts out and about. I left the privacy sign on the door so the maid would not come in and mess with it. I was even known to spray paint car bodies on the hotel bed without getting any ON the bed (I kept a large drape-sheet in my RC travel kit). We all make do with what we have just from the sheer joy of doing it!

 

[soze]

I was even known to spray paint car bodies on the hotel bed without getting any ON the bed (I kept a large drape-sheet in my RC travel kit).

Lol, that would be a no-go for me. Was almost forced to drop the hobby because of residual fumes. One of the reasons that I want to pick up airbrushing so that I can start using water based paints.

The 2 things I'm no longer allowed to do.... bring a recently painted R/C body with residual fumes into the house.... bring R/C tires with rubber fumes into the house.

 

[MailManX]

2 things I'm no longer allowed to do.... bring a recently painted R/C body with residual fumes into the house.... bring R/C tires with rubber fumes into the house.

I didn't know if anyone would believe that I actually painted parts on a hotel bed. Here is proof! I did this as part of a project I did 4 years ago to determine which surface protection method I liked the best.

Here is the link to the full test in case anyone needs bedtime reading material:
https://www.rctech.net/forum/painti...tection-bashers-long-article-many-photos.html

 

[WoodiE]

Um wow... you setup a paint shop in a hotel room. I'm sure that smelled great! haha