I went back over to the Rocket Factory after work today and finished the cleanup project. All the tools are now on shelves, in bins, or at least sitting on tables, the sawhorses are neatly stacked against the wall, and the floor is clear. I spent at least twenty minutes just sweeping up sawdust. Then I finished up the electrical projects. There are a dozen new outlets, and a pair of fluorescent worklights illuminating the area under the loft. It looks great. I feel happy.
The electrical system turned out to be a bit weird. We have a breaker box with two circuits, but all of the outlets save one are on a single circuit, and the big halogen lights on the ceiling are wired into the main feed, not on any breaker! I put the new worklights onto the totally underutilized second circuit, and I think one of these days I will have to redo the primary lighting system so you can actually shut it off at the box…
Good heavens. Wiring the lighting directly into the main power with no breaker is certainly not to code.
Speaking of the code, as you’ve noted, it is very important that the task lighting be on a separate circuit from the outlets. You do not want to turn on a spinning hand-held power tool which trips the circuit and leaves you holding a spinning sharp tool in the dark.
Is the rocket factory wired for three phase power, or just conventional two phase power? You can occasionally find three-phase tools at the university of washington auctions.
Comment by Eric Lippert — June 5, 2007 @ 6:18 am
I’ve never worked with three-phase power before and don’t know how to recognize it. We don’t have 220-volt outlets, if that’s the same thing.
Comment by Mars Saxman — June 9, 2007 @ 12:24 pm