EB5AGV's Shack 2.0 Project: Second Part

I hope you enjoy the project evolution. Of course I encourage you to share with me any ideas you could have about this project. Thanks!

73 JOSE EB5AGV

Painting

Electrical installation

Painting again!!!

Electrical installation - II

Workbench setup

Populating the radio station

Electrical installation - III

Populating the repair workbench

Updated pictures of the repair workbench

Here you have some pictures of the painting process... not a very funny thing to do but, well, it is necessary :-)

Painting corners:

First paint layer:

And now, after three layers:

First micro-shack. EB5AGV again ON-AIR :-)!

These are the pictures of the process.

First, all material is ready on the floor:

I neeed to clean all the electrical boxes and flush-cut the tubing:

After some cabling work, I had ceiling lights working!

So now it was time for the 12 x 3 wall power sockets. It took some hours to finish them:

I have put electrical blinds:

For long-term maintenance, it is better to label the cables. These are a couple electrical junction boxes and the current cabling, which includes a by-pass of the old shack installation (which run just below where the old window was). Now all is connected back and working!

I will continue with workbench-level Legrand DLP contour perimeter trunking...

Yes, this is not a typo. After all the painting work, I discovered that paint was of very low quality, not washable and, in fact, water removed it :-(

So, after some hesitation, I decided to repaint at least walls. I gave them two extra layers of TKROM Fortuna M-60 paint, a very good quality paint. So all electrical material went out (at least their covers), covered everything not paintable with tape and went back to paint:

This time, result was again white... BUT durable!

So, a couple days later, I was able to continue with the interrupted electrical installation. I put the Legrand DLP on the wall:

This is the workbench level one:

And this is the lower level one (this will be used mainly for antenna cabling)

This is the main antenna cable entry point:

And this is the pass to the inner shack:

First step was to cut the 20 x 3m metal bars, following my design:

Then I laid out main workbench on the floor. It will be 270 x 120cm:

And then build the thing:

And add on top the (heavy!) wood surface:

The metal frame construction has a big advantage, as you can still acccess the trunking on the walls. Of course, once I begin to fill the lower shelves, it will be harder. But I plan to install needed wiring and then fill the shelves.

I built also a secondary bench, 330 x 80cm:

This is what happens when you try to save time... I had drilled all the wall with an old shelf guide I had... to find that current model had another support scheme. So I needed to add more holes in my new wall:

Luckily, all holes were covered with the guides:

Shelves under construction:

And shelves done!

First thing I installed was my stereo system, mainly comprised of a YAMAHA MX-50 power amplifier and a YAMAHA C-45 pre-amplifier, along an ONKYO T-4670 tuner and a MARANTZ CD-63 CD player. Speakers are RA Labs Mini-Reference. I will add later a DAB tuner and a DVD-player.

I am still waiting for the Legrand DLP acessories so I can't finish the electrical installation yet.

This is a very preliminary setup of my PC in the second bench. Of course, it is just a temporary setup.

As you can see on the floor, I have already passed antenna cabling inside the shack but they are still unconnected and waiting to be routed conveniently using the DLP system.

This is another shelf I built later, in the opposite area to the main workbench. Below it, I will build a mechanical workbench, which will be used for mechanical works.

I have done a change in my initial plans regarding the radio station. I planned to install it in the inner room but have found that the new one was a better place to have it, at least its newer-rigs section, so here it is.

First, I built some over the bench shelves:

And. after some work, here you have a first setup:

I have to trim antenna cables and put them on the Legrand DLP trunking system, but right now the EB5AGV Radio Station is again operative :-)

Finally, I got the rest of electrical materials needed to end the installation so I was able to finish the repair area.

These were the looks just before starting the wire trunking works:

First, I put the supports to check the distribution for the sockets:

After a couple hours working on cabling, I have them ready to fit on the trunking system:

This is a sample of the cabling done:

And then the sockets were put on the trunking:

Later, the covers were put on the sockets:

And finally, trunking covers and socket covers were installed:

And that is all :-)!

So, after the electrical installation was done, it was time to populate the workbench.

This was the old workbench:

And this is the new in process...

First, I put the computer (for size comparison, display is 23"):

Then the soldering station:

Now some test equipment:

And more...

Of course, I will add/remove some items but, finally, I have a working setup :-)

Here you have some April 2010 pictures, showing some additions and slight modifications:

And here you have some August 2010 pictures. I have finally put the definitive lighting: