Here is the new shop i am moving in yesterday and trying to set up today. We have a long way to go as far as proper fabric racks, front office build out, cutting/clean room set up, etc.
http://s329.photobucket.com/albums/l371/VisionSuperbikes/?action=view¤t=shop001.jpg
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l371/VisionSuperbikes/shop002.jpg?t=1216842747
looks like a good spot. is it only the main bay or is the office hidden from view?
Office must be just out of view, it is up front, nice office area. Just don’t have any furniture yet. One office room we are going to use as a clean room.
looks like my shop lol
what is the square ft? Also if you dont mind telling what are you paying? I am just tring to see if I got a good deal
I have about 1200 sqft right now and I am paying $500 a month
$500 for 1200sqft is good in my opinion. I pay $1000 for 1500sqft. which is a good price for the valley here. prices are usually .75 to $1 per sq ft. here.
yeah I thought I got a good deal on the place but also it is an old building with crappy insulation. I plan on building my own building here soon so it is exactly what I want and need
Wow! You really must be in a small town. I rent out one of my smaller places for $3200/mo and it’s about 1900 sq ft. All depends on access, parking, amenities and building condition.
Congrats on the new place. It’s always a big step forward, and a good feeling. Just make sure to have adequate ventilation, proper hookups, and plenty of lighting. Keep the clean area truly clean, and try to isolate mold prep and spraying areas.
thanks 
We plan on building a room for lay ups with vacuum plumbed in, next to it will be our spray booth room with filters, where we can clear coat parts, and also do the mold lay ups in there. each room will be 14’x12’. and we have a clean room also, just turned one of the office rooms into a clean room where we will store all the carbon fiber and have cut table there.
Guy I share the space with wants a chopper gun and i told him HELL NO your not getting a chopper gun in this shop.
Why not? I am thinking of maybe getting one, but don’t really know anything about them. I searched on here, but couldn’t find much really so any info is muchly appreciated.
I’ll start another thread…
Location, location location!!!
I can imagine the fiberglass flying EVERYWHERE. I still have bad memories of our downdraft table area, and the sparkly dust in the morning sun!
it’s like cat hair in a wood floored house…but worse.
If you work in a closed shop, and there’s a small opening where the sunlight comes in, then try cutting a fiberglass close to that source light. You’ll see all those glass dust all around you. Multiply that by 1000 times, and that’s what you get with a chopper gun.
If you work with it day in and day out, you might get used to it, but im almost sure that everything you touch will leave some sort of glass dust on it. I know ppl who work in boat industry, who have to sleep on the couch just becoz, the wife cant stand getting itchy from the glass that they bring home. Yes, even if you scrub your body down, you will still have glass stuck to you.
I dont even mix my work clothes with my regular clothes when i do laundry (okay, this is obvious i know). And in my opinion, if you’re working in a that small place like that, you probably dont need a chop gun. And im pretty sure the saving you make in using the gun will be lost in cleaning and getting the proper ventilation set-up.
Thanks for the pointers guys, I’ll probably leave it for now.
Sorry for the thread diversion FR.
ooh yeah…I feel ya on that one.
Well, I don’t get to sleep on the couch, but she yells at me all the time when she gets glass in her. hell, I’m used to it.
I itch every day by the time the day is done. I will soon be buying work only clothes and washing them seperate from the others.
I need to get some of those white jacket/cover things that scientists wear lol. That and some white or tan pants for work.
Glass just gets everywhere, and i don’t even have a chopper gun.
i throw a set of overalls (coveralls) on when i do laminating and or trimming/sanding etc. they are magic - throw them in the wash (separately) and you don’t itch that night.
Ventilation is probably more important than anything, i have a 3m x 3m ‘clean room’ (which is actually a marquee haha) and i have a extraction system with filters (just breather material) and works a treat.
Get yourself some of those disposable plastic jump suits with the hoods. MAGIC - nothing gets inside them and the glass struggles to penetrate the material too. i only use them for spraying.
those jumps suits wont stop the glass. If you’re doing small DIY projects, it will somewhat help, but then again, if you were doing something small, a regular work clothes would work just fine.
The other thing about using those jumps suits (regardless of material type), can get very hot if you’re working in a non control environment. And assuming that most of you are working out of your garage, it can be very hot very quick in the summer.
Not really my shop area since I’ve posted pics elsewhere, but in the process of moving my training area to be able to do some new stuff. 1200sq ft for training and experiments. Some of the office and storage area to the left.
Still dirty and need to move the materials. Just a few plugs and part sample in there right now. Will post pics when all set up.
Last pic is another training area for prepreg work.
is this for training employees or are you conducting training classes people pay to join?
Both. Companies hire me to set up programs to train their techs.
My classes cover everything related to composites, but for companies I tailor it for the specific processes and materials they’re using.