First Look At New Space For FranLab 3.0!!!

Re: the garage with the 747 simulator. Seems like the simplest solution is to get get the garage its own service (entrance, meter, disconnects and 200 amp load center). residential 3-phase from the pole is usually impossible without a new distribution leg that has 3-phase. Residential feeders are almost always one leg of 3-phase distribution (voltage varies but somewhere from 4.2kV to 12.5kV phase to neutral) through a transformer with a 120-0-120 center-tapped secondary. So you have two-phase already. make as many loads 240v as possible, esp HVAC, big power supplies, hydraulic power packs, etc. That will help a lot in general, jot to mention cost savings for copper!

Mike O'Dell

Damn.. Nothing like a blank canvas huh? Hope it all works out and 2022 prove to be better than 2021 was.

veritanuda

Hi Fran! I watched your video on leaky batteries, so I rummaged around the house and 4 of 6 remotes had Duracell batteries. Every remote containing this brand leaked a lot!

Rick Laviolette

Reminds me... I've been wanting to pull my C64 out and play with it again :-) New space looking great, hope the move goes smoothly!

Daniel Welsh

It looks Amazingly amazing :D

Michael Turner-Craig

The new space looks great. 🙂

Joacim Wennerberg

Wow. This. Wish I had thought of it! (And now I wish my ceilings were higher than 2.4384 meters.) Fran should at least mount a few high shelves close to the ceiling and put gargoyles on them.

BobC

Lots of space! I too would want to know where the main support beams are and how the floors are constructed. Your vertical space is awesome! Hopefully the strongest points of the floor are against the walls you intent to put tall shelving against. How is the electrical situation? Do you have enough outlets and enough of them dedicated to specific 20 amp breakers in a load center somewhere? All your equipment, running at the same time, may trip breakers and that's really annoying when power cuts out while in the middle of a PC video editing session. Unless you have UPS backups on your computers. I live in a cookie cutter family home with three bedrooms and a basement. From the outside, you can't tell there is anything different than any other house on the block. Unless the garage door is left open and the huge 747 cockpit stands out. The house was built for a typical family with typical appliances and outlets are plentiful. I ran into a problem with the 200 amp maximum current draw which the existing wiring from the house to the pole is limited to. When I built the fighter simulator 20 years ago, the power supplies and power converters added up quickly and I maxed out all of the unused original breaker locations. With the whole simulator running it drew at least 80 amps. When the 747 cockpit was delivered, I had to dig a trench between the house and garage to route four 20 amp circuit wiring through the conduit into the garage. But the 747 is going to consume a tremendous amount of current due to its size and all the internal lighting and forced air flow through the original cockpit's ducts and plenums that snake everywhere. I had to install a second load center and wire it up to the main bus in the original load center. Everything was done with oversized twisted shielded pair aircraft cabling which is insulated with Teflon throughout. It's far beyond code, but they'd shut me down if they ever forced some sort of home inspection on me. I really need more current than a normal house can provide. I just don't think I can get a 3 phase transformer drop in a residential area without paying the utility for it and alerting the home inspectors. I'll have to be careful about the central air conditioner running the same time the simulator and lab equipment is powered. So, look over your electrical situation carefully as you may have to route cables behind the shelves to get enough power to your lab and music facilities. It's going to be great to see what you do with all that space! I'm really looking forward to your final setup!

Matt Wietlispach

When my son went away to college, it was standard practice to build a temporary loft in the dorm rooms. The structure could butt against the walls for support, but I don't think any permanent attachment was allowed. The caveat was at the end of the year they all had to come out and were sometimes sold to the next occupant. Often access was by ladder. With all of that vertical space have you considered anything like that?

Michael S Wilhelm

Glad that the new space will work for you. If this is indeed bigger, your previous unit must have been infinitesimal! It's really good to see tha there was some forward momentum from the last gofundme.

Leslie Deana

That looks great! I find the room with the high sealing interesting! Its so often that things fit in every aspect BUT hight! It looks as if a cinema screen could fit ;-) Fran Lab has an amazing ability to turn every thing thrown at it into a quantum leap! I am deeply impressed!

Consider something like a Murphy-style bed, with a folding table stored under it. When the bed is up, the folding table may be setup as a daytime work surface. A similar option would be to have a plywood "cover" for a regular bed that hinges up against the wall at night. Just don't use your bed as a work surface! I've had projects where I spent several nights in my sleeping bag because I had no place to put the stuff occupying my bed. No, no, no, no, NO!

BobC

Looking forward to seeing more music and 3D building. Go Franlab 3.0! :)

Stefano Landi

More music - YES!

David Peaker

It looks amazing!! Very nice space! The light is great. I know you'll make it work for you.

Fran, what you have is nice,but you really need a 2000 square foot wear house and fix it the way you really want it for all your projects 😉

A blank canvas ready for the Fran treatment. Glad it's going okay.

John Russell

Is it large and well enough laid out with electrical supply, I hope?

Roy Skinner