I am about to start setting up a small shop in my one car semi attached garage at my new house and need to wire up some outlets as it currently only has one outlet and a single overhead light bulb both of which are on the same circuit as part of the house. Here what I need to run:
Hobart Handler 140 welder (110v)
older small Craftsman air compressor (110v)
fridge
6" bench grinder
asst hand grinders and drills
radio
cordless battery chargers
2- 4' shop lights
I do have space in my panel for new breakers but it is in the basement of the house about a 70' run for the wiring. I am thinking I will do a dedicated 20amp outlet fed by 10 ga or 12 ga right from the panel which will serve the welder and air compressor, not running at the same time (i'm leaning towards 10ga). I was also thinking a series of 3 or 4 dual 15amp outlet boxes fed by their own 14 ga line from the panel. I am the only one that will be working in the shop and I'm lucky if I get a few hours a week out there as I have a 2.5 year old and a 4 month old so I think this would work ok for me. Any input or ideas for me? Also what would be the best way to run the wiring in the garage itself? The walls are old plaster and I dont feel like ripping it all down (I have enough work to do in the house) so rather than trying to run it inside the walls I was thinking maybe PVC with boxes or EMT run on the wall itself or go into the crawlspace above the garage and drop down a few outlets where needed and maybe feed one of those 3 outlet extension cords on a hanging reel?

I'd vote running from the main panel to a sub panel for the garage and then splitting off from there. Running heavier cable can be a pain, but less trouble / less cost than running a dozen separate circuits that distance. Plus, if you trip a breaker then you don't have to run the whole way down to the basement. Surface mounted wiremold or conduits sounds like the way to go rather than trying to hide it in the walls.

I'd vote running from the main panel to a sub panel for the garage and then splitting off from there. Running heavier cable can be a pain, but less trouble / less cost than running a dozen separate circuits that distance. Plus, if you trip a breaker then you don't have to run the whole way down to the basement. Surface mounted wiremold or conduits sounds like the way to go rather than trying to hide it in the walls.

x2. By the time you run all the separate circuits, you will come close to the cost of the wire to run a sub panel. If you plan on staying in the garage for any length of time you will eventually want 240 volt. It will run you a little more $ overall for a sub panel, but I think its worth it.

I'm in a simlar situation as you. What I decided to do was to run a 60A, 220V circuit from the main panel of the house to a subpanel in the garage. The sub panel would then split it into 2 seperate circuits to run my compressor and a future welder. Seems like the more logical way to go than running a bunch of seperate circuits from the house to the garage.

I think you're on the right trak with surface mounting the stuff on the walls or coming from the attic space.

Good Luck.

Mike

put you a 100 or 70 amp sub in the garage!