Setting up a woodworking shop

I am planning on setting up a woodworking shop in my garage. I plan on installing a sub panel in the garage to do the wiring to the outlets from there.

There is 65ft from the main electrical box to the location where the sub panel will be. The types of tools that I will be using in the workshop are as follows.

Table Saw - 24amps
Belt Sander - 9amps
Router - 12 amps
planer - 15 amps
jointer - 14 amps
circular saw 13amps
miter saw - 15 amps.

All tools are running on 120 volts although the purchase of a new table saw may go to 220 at 12amps. At most I will probably only run 2 tools at one time maybe 3 depending on if I have help in my woodworking. I will leave all the lighting and the garage door opener on the current wiring.

The question I have is what size wire should I run between the main panel and sub panel?

Originally I was going to go with 4 gauge wire with a double 100amp breaker at the main box, not sure if the 100amp is too big of a circuit breaker for this wire. I felt that I probably did not need to run this much wire to the garage for the tools I am going to be using. I then thought I would run 6-gauge 600-volt wire with a double 60-amp circuit breaker. This would all go to either a 100amp or 70amp sub panel.

Can anyone give me a recommendation? Hopefully I have given enough information.

 

A 24-amp table saw? On 120 volts? What is it?

So let's take the three biggest tools and assume that all three are running at once. That's be the 24-amp table saw, the 15-amp planer and the 15-amp miter saw. That's 54 amps.

Now you said that you'd leave the GDO and lights on the existing wiring. That's fine if the garage is attached, but not fine if the garage is detached.

So for the loads you've mentioned, a 30-amp feeder on 10/3 cable will be enough (no matter whether you get the 120-volt saw or the 240-volt saw). Go as high as you want above this if you plan to add a lot in the future (air conditioning? heat? kilns? welding? dust-collection system?). But 30 is enough for what you mentioned so far. Don't go crazy planning for stuff you'll never have. Unless you plan a big welder, 60-amps on 6/3 would probably be enough for anything else you might get. According to the NEC, 100-amps would require #2 copper in a cable assembly or #3 as individual conductors in conduit, but some cities might allow smaller wire so you'd have to check locally.

 

of this project, I'd consider a couple more 220V outlets. We have a small workshop and we'd now like to run an air compressor and a dust collection system.....but we don't have any at all...so guess what my "honey do" list now includes???? You guessed it, arranging for some 220V outlets in there.

Air compressor= spraying finishes, brad nailers, various sanders, etc.
Dust collector=self explantory.

My 1.5 cents worth, I hope it helped!!

 

Hi Lakdk,
- If you want to breath while you're in there, you'll probably have to have a dust collector going at the same time as those tools. I imagine that'll add at least 10-12 amps to the list

 

I have decided to run 6/3 wire to my attached garage. The sub-panel I have has the 2 connections for the hot wires and the one for the neutral/ground wires. My understanding was that I would connect the neutral and ground wires to this in the sub-panel and the service panel. Someone mentioned that I really only need to run the 3 wires since the ground and neutral are connected to the same place in the service and sub panels.

There is only one bar for connecting the neutral and ground wires in the service panel as well. The service panel was installed when the house was built so I expect it is properly grounded.

What is the correct way?

Also, the place I purchased the sub-panel only had 70 and 100 amp sub-panels and I am connecting the feed wire to a double 60amp breaker in the service panel. Is it ok to use either sub panel as long as I mark it indicating what the feed wire is and also don't go over what I wired for?

 

You cannot use the main panel as an example to wire your subpanel. The rules are different. You must purchase and install a grounding bar kit, you must not bond the neutral bar to the panel with the bonding screw or strap provided, and you must keep the neutral wires and grounding wires separate.

You can use any subpanel rated for 60 amps (the size of your feeder) or above. So either the 70 or the 100 (or even something larger) is fine.

 

If this is a detached garage, you will also need to drive 1 or 2 ground rods and tie those to the grounding bus in your subpanel. Check with your AHJ (authority having jurisdiction, aka building inspector) on the local rules. You'll want to pull a permit for this and have it inspected.

As a woodworker myself, if you get really serious about your hobby - you'll be upgrading to higher HP, 240v machinery. You could easily end up with a 5HP (30 amp) table saw, a 2-3HP (15 amp) dust collector and real 2-3HP (15 amp) compressor all requiring 240v circuits and having the potential to run at the same time. Add in A/C and/or dehumidification in the summer or electric heat in the winter and a 60 amp panel could be underpowered. Personally, if you're going to the trouble to run a subpanel for a woodworking shop, I'd put in larger than a 60 amp panel. In my old workshop I had a 60 amp panel; in the new one I've got a 100 amp panel.

 

It is not a detached garage, so grounding rods neither should nor may be used. And because it is an attached garage, he can add another circuit from the main panel later if it becomes necessary.

 

Yep - lakdk even pretty clearly stated it was an attached garage and I just blew right over that.

 

A dust collector should have its own circuit ideally and the better ones (cyclones over 2 HP) all require 240 volts. Just a thought as you plan..

 

Can I ask what type of saw you have that draws 24 amps? That's alot of amps...even if it's a 240v saw.

 

I know Ryobi bt3100 table saws call for 20amp... never saw needing 24amp.

 

"The BT3100 is powered by a 15-amp (120 volt) motor that spins the 10" blade at 4800 RPM." All table saws I know of the 120v family max out at 15amps. Even a Delta Unisaw with a 3hp motor at 230v...is only 10amps.