Cables, wires, hoses, damnit, how do u drop from the ceiling?????

[bigsub]

stainless mig gun
steel mig gun
aluminum gun
tig tourch
Ground
Plasma cutter and ground
oxy/cetylene
12v
120v
Air
Water
vacuum
exhaust
worklight

I was just thinking about how much easier it would be to sweep the shop, how much time i'd save untangling and putting up crap and trying to roll things around and how much longer my cables would last if i would drop them from the ceiling instead of having them running all over the place. But if i just do a straight drop then my work area is limited. I can't put everything on reels. What are some good ways of doing it? The biggest limitation seems to be the 15 ft mig guns. I think i'm going to make a swinging arm to attach everything to like this. Maybe 10ft tall and 3 ft off the ground that way i can still walk under it when its stretching over to one of the work areas. Got any better ideas?:flipoff2: I don't think theres any hidden secrets to the geometry of one of those. Hey then i can put my laptop on it so i can webwheel while i'm welding. This might get kinky

[rfr002]

No real geometry tricks but I think most of those type arms have some form of spring assist/tensioning to keep them in place.

[bigsub]

No, i've got one of the monitor ones and theres no springs or struts of any kind. Your thinking of the drafting lamp style, and thats what i though would be better because then you can adjust the height, but like you said you have to have the correct springs on it to compensate or the weight, etc. These don't need it because whatever it supports just moves parallel to the ground. I can sit on the monitor stand i have and it doesn't care.
Kinda disappointed nobody else has posted, i guess you gorillas are all just trampling all over your cables.

[DSW]

I have worked for a short bit in a shop with an overhead mig gun settup. I think the gun was 25'+ in length to go up to the arm and then down. Ok for production work but not cost effective for a home shop.

There are a number of retractors that are out there that hook to tools and so on. The problem is price. http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/GSDRVSM?PACACHE=000000052801872
scroll down a bit to see the tool balancers.
Springs work for limited distances, but you won't be able to go very far.

You can also use line with pulleys with counter weights to hold things up but I don't find it worth it.

For air hoses and cords I like to use buckets. Cut a hole near the bottom side that you can get the plug thru and leave say 3' sticking out thru the hole so you can plug the cord in. Now coil the cord or hose in the bucket. when you go to remove the cord it will spool out without tangleing usually. Then coil it up when you are done. I do this with air lines and my primary power cords. Use a size bucket that fits the amount of cord. I also have one that I put a piece of 8" pipe in the center of the bucket. The cord wraps around the insideof the pipe, the air hose on the outside. Putting a heavy weight on the bottom say 2" of concrete or an old barbell weight keeps you from tipping the bucket over if you pull out more hose, however it makes it a lot heavier so is only good for more permanent use in one spot.

I have built a few shop made reels out of old tire rims but I find them to be too much of a PITA mostly. I do use 1/2 rims wall mounted for hose hangers for things like my garden hose and my torch hoses.

[Static-XJ]

For mig guns, there are boom mounted feeders available. And booms for mounting most regular wire feeders.
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/wire_feeders/s_d_70_series_swingarc/
http://www.weldcoa.com/products/b_booms.html

I've used the Miller Swingarc boom's, and they are very nice setups. I've also used an older Miller setup that hangs the whole feeder off the boom.

I would also definitely recommend against getting a longer gun. You need a pretty stiff wire to feed consistently through 20' of gun. We've got a couple at work, they sit unused 90% of the time. Only time they see action is when there are welds to make where the machine can't get close enough (inside of a part where a standard length gun won't reach and a powersupply and feeder won't fit through the access hole) or on parts farther off the ground that others guns will reach.

[bigsub]

Where do you work in the springs?