[Jewelry making - Article 00047] - Re: [Orchid] Bench and Shop layout

[Ian W. Wright]

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>     One of MY own pet peeves in this jewellery trade building here in
>     Toronto is electricity outlet location. No matter what machines
>     you are requiring, please make sure that you have enough outlets.
>     Can the main fuse box be upgraded to withstand the higher demand of
>     electricity...? 

    In a small workshop you can get away without increasing the size of
    the power supply if you use 'fused spurs'. It is important to have
    sufficient outlets at conveniently safe distances from your machines
    (i.e. close enough to not need long trailing cables) but, if you
    think about it, one person can only use a couple of machines at any
    one time so the power supply only really has to deal with this. If
    you carefully consider what machines you are likely to want to use
    together - say the kiln, worklight and handpiece - vibro-polisher
    and buffing spindle etc., you will find that there are some functions
    you are unlikely to want to use together (or simply can't because you
    don't have enough arms!!). These items can be electrically grouped
    together and fed off one fuse - or sub-fused circuit. Of course, the
    important thing with this is to keep a note at the fuseboard which
    sockets are so grouped and also, if you are wise, you will indicate
    on the socket itself where it is fed from so that, if you need to
    isolate it, you can be sure which fuse to pull. I tend to use the
    four or six way extension socket blocks for smaller equipment - the
    type which are designed to plug into a socket as a trailing lead, but
    I fix them to the wall so that I have a bank of sockets which are
    protected by the fuse in the plug head which goes to an adjacent
    'normal' socket. In this way, even though there are maybe six
    sockets, I can't take more than 13 amps in total from them without
    their own fuse popping. Another thing which is worth considering in
    most electrical installations is future maintenance. A lot of smaller
    houses these days have all their sockets fed from a single ring main
    or, at best, one ring main for each floor. This is simple and cheap
    to install but, if you need to work on it in future with the power
    off, you can't use power tools!! However, if in each area, you have
    sockets fed from different fuses, you can still get power for your
    tools from one set of outlets while the power is off on the others.
    When I used to work on big building installations, I always designed
    'service sockets' into or adjacent to the control panels and it is
    amazing how many engineers would comment on how unusual it was, not
    to have to run extension leads through the building for their test
    equipment and tools. 

Best wishes,
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield   UK


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