Woodworking machines set on an angle & general shop space?

[Steve Mathews]

While installing a new overhead dust collection system I was forced to pay more attention to the location of my stationary woodworking machines. My shop also shares space with a Bridgeport mill, metal lathe and surface grinder, which oddly enough occupies less than a 10th of the total floor space. I realized today that while metal working machines can often times be positioned on an angle to save space, woodworking machines generally have to placed parallel or perpendicular to walls to work well with lumber. Or am I missing something?

[Jim Becker]

The answer is both subjective and objective. Walls do come into play for sure, especially in a smaller shop. But there's no rule that says your machines have to be parallel to the walls. If you're someone who often works with really long stock (most folks don't or don't need to...) then walls come into play less. I try to work with the shortest components I can so the only place that length comes into play is when I'm breaking a board down into component length pieces. How you arrange tools in a group to compliment workflow also comes into play. Even people with big shops can be well served by having lesser-used tools shuffled off to a "tool coral" to allow for more space during most operations with the more-used tools.

I will mention that there are some tools that are more demanding of space...a sliding table saw, for example, requires enough space parallel to the wagon so it can make a full length cut. My slider has an 8'6" capacity for such rips...and that requires 19' end-to-end. That's almost to a wall at the near end (start of cut) and almost to my workbench at the other end of the shop for the far end. (completion of cut) You will sometimes see folks angle tools like this to avoid things like support poles from interfering.

Folks with shops that have sloped floors also need to consider that some tools may not like being angled across the slope...up-down or side to side works, but angled can be an issue to level.

I do have my tools parallel to walls because that just happens to work the best for workflow and I also have that pesky sloped floor. But if my space were different, I'd not hesitate to use angles if that made sense.

[Darcy Warner]

All my smaller machines, TS, Shapers, Planer, Chain mortiser, couple 36" BS, both 5 head tenoners are grouped around columns set at angles to maximize in and outfeed.
Trying to keep at least 18' infeed an outfeed.

[Andrew Seemann]

My jointer is next to the wall, but at an angle so the infeed portion of the board clears the wood stove. My planer is part of an "island" with my 16" bandsaw, both are at angles for clearance reasons. Even the SCMS station against the wall is at a sightly out of parallel with the wall, so boards better clear the drill press on one side. The 14 inch bandsaw is angled for easy access. Now that I think about it, the only tool that is really square and parallel with the shop walls is the table saw, and that is because it has maximum clearance that way.

I say put your tools at what ever angle or orientation makes them work the best in your space.

[Bill Dufour]

My shaper is at about 45 degrees to the wall just left of the backdoor. I have to open the door to run stock more then 18" long. It angles to just clear the front of the planer. The jointer is more like 90 degrees to the wall but further away. Stock longer then about four feet I have to open the door. The. tablesaw is pretty much in the center but long stock can go under the jointer table. Longe rstock I have to open the other door with the dc right infront of it.
Bil lD.

[roger wiegand]

I was able to get to a better layout when I realized that I could position my J/P such that long boards would poke out a window on one side. It doesn't happen very often, but it's nice having the capacity without sacrificing the floor space. A lot of other machines (sanders, shaper, mortiser, band saw) are on mobile bases, just pulling them forward from the wall (sometimes at an angle) gives space for long boards. There's no reason you should be locked into a configuration with machines parallel to the walls; take advantage of the diagonal distance.

It's always a good idea to set a lathe on an angle, it increases the chances that ricochets off the wall will not come straight back at you.

[glenn bradley]

I can use my drill press at a 45 degree angle (tucked into a corner) probably 90-plus percent of the time. My jointer swings out when I need to joint longer stock. If you Google 'wood shop layout' and look at the images you will see several layouts suggested that have machines at an angle to provide better work flow. Don't restrict yourself. Make your shop work for you.

[John K Jordan]

While installing a new overhead dust collection system I was forced to pay more attention to the location of my stationary woodworking machines. My shop also shares space with a Bridgeport mill, metal lathe and surface grinder, which oddly enough occupies less than a 10th of the total floor space. I realized today that while metal working machines can often times be positioned on an angle to save space, woodworking machines generally have to placed parallel or perpendicular to walls to work well with lumber. Or am I missing something?

When planning machine placement I went old school - I made paper cutouts of each machine along with the max infeed and outfeed for each. I positioned these on a scale drawing of the shop space on a large piece of paper. Where space is tight I considered clearances where stock could go over another machine or work area if needed and which machines are mobile and easily moved.

The cutouts and drawings let me work through a variety of scenarios before the building walls and such were even up. For example, I during the process I realized I could adjust my building plans so two sets of double doors align with the table saw in the event I needed to rip long stock.

I rely on mobile machines in a couple of places. I positioned the drum sander at a corner next to an isle and when sanding can roll it into the isle for longer stock. This influenced the dust collection design.

In my little welding shop I often use 20' long stock, longer than any wood I'd use and the 12x12 room. I use a horizontal bandsaw to cut the long pieces into working lengths. I designed things so there is space for the bandsaw, on wheels, to sleep out of the way next to the double door to the outside. When cutting long stock I roll it out in front of the door and support the end of the steel outside.

All I'm saying is more time spent on planning can result in more efficient use of any space.

JKJ

[Andy D Jones]

In any rectangular shop, the longest dimensions are on the diagonals.

My machines roll around between storage and use anyway, and occasionally, when I have cut long boards on cold days, I oriented the table saw diagonally to keep the overhead door closed.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Bill Dufour]

Grizzly has a free download of machine cutouts and a draw your own shop space plan CAD program. It is supposed to be easy to learn/use. I have never looked at it so I can not recommend it one way or the other, but it is free. Just figure out which grizzly machines yours most resemble. I mean a tablesaw is a tablesaw as long as the size is the same.
Bill D.

https://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner

[mike stenson]

They really need to redo that. Flash is a mess, security wise.

[Roger Feeley]

My drum sander, jointer surfaces are set up like a Chinese puzzle box.
the jointer is higher than the bed of the performax sander so boards travel over the outfeed of the sander. The boards exit the jointer parallel to the leftmost edge of the table saw. The sander is also a bit lower than the table saw so wide boards exiting the table saw float over the infeed of the sander. The surfaces sits parallel with the jointer.

the point of all this confusion is that if you think three-dimensionally, you will realize that the infeed sand outfeeds of various machines ca successfully intersect. To be fair, I’m a one man operation so I don’t use more than one machine at a time.