Rookie Shop Layout

[Charlie Watson]

Some of you may have seen my post in Woodworking and Power Tools looking for equipment recommendations. If you didn't I'll start by saying I'm newly retired, a wood working rookie and looking to build a shop in my 2 car garage. I think the Lathe will come in "phase II" but I'm still sorting that out. I took a shot at a layout, am I close guy's? any input would be great. I originally had the lathe in front of the window but I pictured a piece of stock flying off the lathe which would be quite a shock but putting it through the window might give me a heart attack! (maybe that never happens!), anyway, what do you think?

woodshop1.jpg

[Larry Frank]

I think that a shop layout is one of the more difficult shop projects. It really depends on what you are going to make. My shop is 15 x 35 and I have cabinets along one of the long walls. I finally decided to put almost all my tools on heavy duty casters so that they can move around. Most of my tools are along the walls until I need them and then may pull them out. The cabinet saw is on very good casters and can move it. This leaves the center of the shop so that I can rearrange it to what fits my current project.

I do not cut any 4 x 8 sheets of plywood in my shop. This is for a couple of reasons but mainly, I can not handle them safely. I cut them down in my garage using a track circular saw...I have the Festool.

Probably one of the biggest things to take care of is the electrical. I put in electrical on all the walls of my shop with 5 different 220 circuits and a lot of 110 circuits. I wish that I had done more with the ceiling and put in outlets in it with some of them switched but could not do that.

You may want to get your machines and put them in the best arrangement that you can and see how that works knowing that you will probably move them around as you do more projects.

[Andy Fox]

I prefer the workbench to be on the infeed side of the tablesaw for measuring and laying out cuts. It would also be nice to have the bench near that big window for natural light.

[Charlie Watson]

Good suggestions! Thanks guys

[Dan Henry]

Move the grinder closer to the lathe and it is better if the head stock is close to a wall rather than the tail stock and leave enough room for the knock out bar it going in and of the lathe.

Dan

[Dick Mahany]

My shop is a 3 car California garage, about 32 x 20 usable. The one thing I have found out, is no matter how much time I spend laying it out, it always needs refinement. In addition, I need to park a few vehicles in the same space.


Lesson learned............FLEXIBILITY..............one never knows how your needs will change and develop over time !

[Don Bullock]

You have some great suggestions so far. All I'll add is that I found while planning out where things should go is important, until I actually moved the machines, etc. into the room did I actually come up with places for everything. If fact, since all my machines are mobile their location may change as I continue to work in the shop. The only thing that prevents me from moving some machines is the placement of outlets (both 110 and 220) and dust collection. Planning for them, especially electrical outlets, is the most important part of planning in my opinion. It's hard to place a machine somewhere where there is no power and dust collection. You don't want to be tripping on electrical cords and DC pipes or hoses.

[Rick Potter]

Charlie,

My only suggestion is to put everything on wheels, because I would bet money you will move it. Seriously.

Rick Potter

[John Coloccia]

I think you're missing a finish area. Definitely give that some thought unless you decide that you will never do anything but oil finishes.

[Larry Browning]

Is the only door that small door on the left side of your drawing? That is going to be a big problem moving things in and out. Plus I have found that having your wood storage close to the door helps. you don't want to be carrying new wood all the way to the other side of the shop, banging into things, not to mention the extra footsteps for every load.
In general, try to imagine the process you go through as you build a typical project and arrange your shop to assist in that. For example, put your miter saw fairly close to your wood storage, or at least have a staging area close to the saw so you don't have to make so many trips to the other side of the shop.
But, as others have said, shop layout can be a frustrating task, and you will almost certainly end up with want to change it around later, so try not to make anything to where you cannot move it around later.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I prefer the workbench to be on the infeed side of the tablesaw for measuring and laying out cuts.

Bingo. Leave 3' - 4' between bench and TS, and set the bench height the same as the TS table surface, and you have an infeed support for ply sheets, long lumber, etc.

[Michael N Taylor]

You might want to think about the jointer planner to make sure you have enough room on both sides to run the longest stock you think you will ever run or put them on wheels so they can be rolled to another location. I have only rearranged my shop 3 ties since retireing!

[Ben Hatcher]

Remember when laying out a shop on paper that it is a 3D space. There are empty spaces under the miter saw, table saw outfeed, etc. that work very well for storage.

I'd suggest moving the dust collector to the wall with the miter saw so that it is closer to the big polluters. This will also make accessing your lumber storage area a little easier.

[Alan Melbourne]

i have a small shop.
everything is on wheels (except the drill press)
i regularly rearange the shop. i get an idea and think that should be overthere ect. the only way to really see is to actually do it.

dont be afraid to rearange .
about 3 months ago i rearanged the shop and gained a lot of space (i took off the right hand wing on my table saw because i never used it). that allowed the saw to go somewhere else
i thought i had finally found the perfect layout . but last week i got an idea.
now i have even more space.
i am now planing to build 4 shop carts to hold my tools.

dont be afraid to change the layout.
if it doesnt wok just put it back


also when i did the wiring i put sockets everywhere.
i can plug any tool in anywhere i want wwithout any major problems.
dc isnt a handy but i woulnt be too far away either.
sockets are like clamps , you can never have too many. i dont use half of them but every time i rearange i use diferent ones.
i saved money by doing the first fix myself so i could add in extra sockets

[Charlie Watson]

I like the modular concept, I'm always tinkering and I'm sure will want to move things around