Shop Layout Design Feedback Please

[Anthony Whitesell]

Looking good. Just a couple of swap suggestions.

1. Tool Chest and Clamp Rack. Tool Chest look like it might be hard to get to on a regular basis. You won't have to get to the clamp rack as often.

2. Jointer and Bandsaw. It will give you more space to roll out the planer while maintaining your outfeed space. Secondly, thinking vertically, I think most work at the drill press will clear the jointer (go right over the top of it). So you won't have to move the jointer like you might the bandsaw. Finally, it would give you a fixed and a mobile piece of machine on each side of the shop.

While running your DC ducting. You may want to extend the main to on or both of the workbenches for any sanding that you do or for a portable bench top downdraft table later on.

[Kevin Groenke]

Hey Ryan,

That's a tight fit.

w/12' width I would be inclined to try to orient the tablesaw so that you're ripping in the long dimension of the room. This allows you to add an outfeed table which can double as layout/assembly space, storage can be added beneath the outfeed table.

I would also try the orient the planer, jointer and miter saw in the same orientation, this is where it gets really tight, that's quite a bit of equipment to fit in 12'-5". A purpose built workstation (with fence and measured, repeatable stops) for a miter saw makes it much more convenient to use, the same table might be able to service other equipment, the space beneath can be used to store hand tools, stock, welder?

IF the planer can fit behind the door, AND you won't be using it too frequently, it may be able to be connected via flex hose to a DC run at the end of the miter saw station.

A rolling clamp rack is nice in a big shop, but you might find that floor space is precious. If you find that you use clamps in the same place/s as you work you might consider hanging clamps on the wall near where you use them.

Is that grinder on a pedestal or can it live under a bench when not being used? Where the heck are you going to put the lathe, edge sander, drum sander, mortiser.... sorry.

It sure would be nice if you could swing those doors OUT.

g'luck
-kg

[Ryan Cassidy]

lol.. Well I wish I could convince the Wife that the rest of the basement should be workshop and my "shop" (attached drawings) should be living space :-)

I do have an 8x8 room or so that the door on the right connects to. I might be removing that door and leaving it open to gain extra space. Right now that room just stores paints, primers, scraps and stuff like that on shelving. That's another story & workday in itself though.

Thanks for taking the time to rework that drawing. I've made some small tweaks in both the layout and the DC routing that will benefit DC flow and my work flow. I guess when I get back to the shop I'm going to have to test this layout and see how it works in real life.

I'd like to change the position of the table saw, but it doesn't allow me enough room side to side. It's 59"x30" in dimension. So I'll try it in person and see if it hopefully works.

Thanks again everyone. Each idea is making this shop better. It's 100% better than what I had in my head a few days ago.

Cheers,
Ryan

[Ryan Cassidy]

I just wanted to post a follow up.....

I've rearranged all the tools (and acquired some new ones), Run my Dust Collection Lines, Got approval and moved the door and gained more room, added a few lights etc etc. Now I have to hang the ceiling and paint the floor, but in the meantime I'm busy producing some output to show the family the investment was worth it :-)

So this is how it's ended up. All and all, the workflow works good for me, but if I had more room.. well, isn't that always the want.

Thanks again for everyones help!!

Cheers,
Ryan

[Grant Morris]

I enjoy working on these kinds of problems so I spent a little time playing with your floorplan Ryan. You have a pretty narrow shop so I would probably deal with it by creating multi-purpose counter tops. In my pics I have created two fixed height counters that are on each side of one of the doors. The space between the counters could then be temporarily used (with the door closed) for your SCMS or Portable Planer etc by either creating with rolling cabinets for each one or by creating shelf brackets on each side of the counter and dropping a shelf between them. The two fixed counters then become infeed/outfeed tables for the tool in the middle.

To make even more use of the fixed height counters, I would probably set the height at around 40" (guesstimate) so that I could push large tools under them to get them out of the way and still leave useable counter space. By making the table saw mobile, and making a mobile workbench of the same height as the table saw (when in cutting position), you could use the workbench as a support table when cutting sheet goods on the table saw.

I have attached the Visio doc I created so that you can play around with the moveable shapes if you like. I have also created and attached two images of the doc that show the floorplan with the tools put away and with the table saw and workbench in sheet-cutting position.

I couldn't figure out all the tools you had so I made some assumptions that are probably pretty close. One goal was to try and place tools that require large infeed and outfeed space in positions that give you that and I think I did it quite well. Bear in mind that many of the other tools can now stowed under the counters to get them out of the way when not in use and you have a lot of useable counter space.

Hopefully the ideas can help you figure out ways to get the most useage out of your space. If nothing else its food for thought...

P.S I had to rename the Visio file to a .zip to attach it.

[Ryan Cassidy]

Cool. Thanks for the time and effort you put into this! I'll take a look at the today. Definitely some good ideas in there and nothing is set in stone yet at the shop.

Cheers,
Ryan

[Don Bullock]

Ryan, since you already have the space and the tools are mostly on wheels, try out your plans in "real life." It's not too difficult to move the machines and tables/benches around and see what works best for you. Doing that will help you to get a better "feel" for your shop. Yes, working with it on paper like you are doing now can be helpful, but seeing the tools in the space works much better. --- just my $0.02 ---

[Todd Crawford]

You guys are good at this. I'll be hitting you up for some input when I start laying everything out for mine next month!

[Ryan Cassidy]

Sorry, Maybe I should have clarified. The posted (about 4 posts above) is my current setup in the shop that is in use. So far so good on the workflow. I might in a few weeks when I get to some bigger projects try some different layouts if the bigger projects don't work well. So far so good with all the small ones though.

Cheers,
Rayn