Shop Layout

[JosephThomas]

Moved to a larger shop space, trying to draw out some ideas for shop layout. It's a great nice big space from what I'm used to, super excited...however, I'm renting this house so the odds say we're only likely to stay 2-3 years, so keep that in mind with any suggestions.    Also, my wife enters the garage to do laundry, so it's in my best interests to keep a clear path from the laundry back to the house  

Also, all this stuff is in a fixed position, and can't/won't be moved. --> Water heater, water purifier, laundry, sink.  Also not going to move the door locations obviously   Owner also has a moderately sized "bench" up against the right wall that I'm not likely to mess with.

Images are just crap edited on the fly to give a general idea...

 

 

And here's my stuff kinda of hap-hazardly tossed in there...

 

Tstaks == these are like systainers for those not familiar (better according to @shaneymack ).  Most of them fit below bench height and give me a little workspace on top.  I like them here because the first couple are dedicated to normal DIY stuff for the house so it's nice to have them close to that door.

Other cabinets are just some other cheap cabinets, I may replace them with better storage eventually.

Current bench is a little shorter than what's shown but I'd like to have next year.  I like this placement of the bench for a few reasons, so I'm trying to come up with a layout that lets me keep it right there.

Back wall is just for clamps and lumber storage and plenty of it. I can probably fit most of the horizontal lumber storage above 48" (but I have extra racks to put below if needed), so I could probably roll a machine under there for storage.

I plan to just setup a miter station next to that fixed wall "bench" on the right wall to utilize that as the left wing of the MS station, and some utility space when not in use.

Table saw is roughly in the middle...I don't open the door when machiens are running so I'm trying to keep it where I can have 8' in front and behind of the blade.  

Planer, Bandsaw, drumsander, and DC are kinda just floating around...not sure what's best.  I don't have a jointer (sold before I moved). Will probably get a 6" again soon, so I need to have a spot for that too.

Seems like there is plenty of space to work with, just looking for some ideas before I waste too much time moving all the heavy stuff around. Any ideas appreciated. Thx.

[Chestnut]

Humm i see that you need to buy a jointer and then idk finish that table you started?

The 1 piece of advice i can offer is try and shake the square and parallel mentality. I have stuff on angles in my shop and i like it a lot helps open things up and allows for more infeed and outfeed space often.

[MattSC]

@Chestnut makes sense but I have a hard time going with the diagonal approach. I'm ok with other peoples shop being like that but for my shop it bugs me too much. Thats just me.  To the OP I dont know how cluttered your workspace gets but you may want to rotate your bench 90 degrees and move it to the right more to give a buffer for the path to the laudry area (if dust gets too bad you may need / want to curtain the laundry area off).

[Jfitz]

Nice space.  Although......who puts the laundry near the outside door of the garage?  Oh - I see you're in San Diego.  I guess no worries about the cold and freezing pipes   Too bad it couldn't be moved near the door to the house, so you wouldn't have to maneuver through the shop space to get to the machines.

I have a few thoughts on the space, but I guess I keep coming back to asking what type of work do you do, and how much do you use specific tools?  It looks like the drum sander gets a 'prime' location and the planer is banished to the far corner.  Do you use the drum sander that much?

 

[Chet]

JT is you DC mobile, is that why it is in the center?  If you don't want anything behind the Table saw, I would give some thought to putting your jointer (when you get it) to the right side of you table saw.  Surface and joint one edge and your right at the table saw to clean up the other edge.  If you could put your planer where the DC is you have a nice triangle for your milling.  And your drum sander is right there also.

[Chestnut]

I'd be willing to bet money the planer is on a wheely cart while the drum sander is not.

[Tom King]

I'd nestle the jointer right against the right hand side of the table saw, and it won't take much more room, but be in a good place to lay pieces on the table saw as they come off the jointer.  Move both more towards the mitersaw table.

A sink is a great thing to have.   I'd make a rack that sits across the top of it for sharpening.

[mat60]

I agree the best place for the jointer is next to the table saw. I always had mine on the left side but the one I have now is two tall.

[Chestnut]

I think the consensus is that JT is buying a jointer.

[Coop]

12 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Humm i see that you need to buy a jointer and then idk finish that table you started?

The 1 piece of advice i can offer is try and shake the square and parallel mentality. I have stuff on angles in my shop and i like it a lot helps open things up and allows for more infeed and outfeed space often.

Nut, you’re a friggin genius! I would say you’re beautiful but my closet days are not over with! Anyway, my bs is fashioned to where I have no butt or elbow room when using it . I rolled it around some 30* and hell, why didn’t I think of that. 

[JosephThomas]

Thx all for the ideas!

For future reference this stuff is all on wheels: Table saw, outfeed table, planer, drum sander, dust collection, and the future jointer I don't have yet will eventually be on wheels too. I have found this to be a luxury I am willing to spend money on.

 

13 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Humm i see that you need to buy a jointer and then idk finish that table you started?

The 1 piece of advice i can offer is try and shake the square and parallel mentality. I have stuff on angles in my shop and i like it a lot helps open things up and allows for more infeed and outfeed space often.

Yeah I'm buying a jointer, just wanted to move and get settled first.  Table parts are packed away, I'll find them eventually then I can do finally glue-up and finish work.

I like stuff at right angles, were gonna have to disagree on that one

9 hours ago, MattSC said:

@Chestnut makes sense but I have a hard time going with the diagonal approach. I'm ok with other peoples shop being like that but for my shop it bugs me too much. Thats just me.  To the OP I dont know how cluttered your workspace gets but you may want to rotate your bench 90 degrees and move it to the right more to give a buffer for the path to the laudry area (if dust gets too bad you may need / want to curtain the laundry area off).

I considered rotating the bench, but that side is the back of the bench, so it should leave a clear walkway all the time. I liked the idea of having it there to keep other shop stuff from moving into the walkway "accidentally" if that makes sense.   Dust tends to be ok, and I'll even vacuum or dust off the laundry machines once a week to keep the wife happy.

8 hours ago, Jfitz said:

Nice space.  Although......who puts the laundry near the outside door of the garage?  Oh - I see you're in San Diego.  I guess no worries about the cold and freezing pipes   Too bad it couldn't be moved near the door to the house, so you wouldn't have to maneuver through the shop space to get to the machines.

I have a few thoughts on the space, but I guess I keep coming back to asking what type of work do you do, and how much do you use specific tools?  It looks like the drum sander gets a 'prime' location and the planer is banished to the far corner.  Do you use the drum sander that much?

 

Yeah, I've lived places where the laundry is actually just sitting outside ...it's nuts here.  If I owned the place I would def. be moving it like you said.  

As for what I do, I just like making medium sized furniture for our house.  I'm working on an outdoor coffee table right now....a few projects in the queue over the next few years:  queen bed frame, bookshelves, a couple floating shelves, entertainment center, a small hall tree bench for by the front door, dresser for my boy's clothes, and eventually I'd like to make a bigger workbench.  I'll likely make a handful of cutting boards and stuff like that to give as gifts to family as well. This is the only real reason I own the drum sander, I don't use it nearly as often as the other tools, I just dropped it in there. Notes about  what is on wheels are listed at the top of my post.

8 hours ago, Chet said:

JT is you DC mobile, is that why it is in the center?  If you don't want anything behind the Table saw, I would give some thought to putting your jointer (when you get it) to the right side of you table saw.  Surface and joint one edge and your right at the table saw to clean up the other edge.  If you could put your planer where the DC is you have a nice triangle for your milling.  And your drum sander is right there also.

Yeah it's mobile, I have one of those 10' long hoses I just plug into whichever machines I'm working on. It's in the middle because I didn't really like it up against any of the walls...seemed to interfere with maximizing the lumber storage ont he back wall or the miter saw ont eh right wall. So I just dropped it in the middle for now, looking for a good idea.   

Good points on the jointer, I will def. try it on the right of the table saw before anywhere else.  I wouldn't mind putting the drum sander off in a corner somewhere, I just don't want it's normal resting spot to interfere with long boards moving thru one of the commonly used machines (table saw, planer, jointer, or even the miter saw).

4 hours ago, Tom King said:

I'd nestle the jointer right against the right hand side of the table saw, and it won't take much more room, but be in a good place to lay pieces on the table saw as they come off the jointer.  Move both more towards the mitersaw table.

A sink is a great thing to have.   I'd make a rack that sits across the top of it for sharpening.

Agreed again on the jointer.  How close would you move that group of machines towards the miter saw ? Within 2 feet? I have becomes used to only having about 8" gaps between stuff in the tiny space I had, so I'm clueless on how a normal area should be spaced.  I agree on the sink. I have a little sharpening area that rests on top of the drying machine, but an in-sink setup would be nice.

 

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

I think the consensus is that JT is buying a jointer.

Mail me the money bro, I'll buy it tonight.

[..Kev]

Should have paid closer attention to this thread JT..  I could have stopped by on Sunday..  Sorry!

[JosephThomas]

1 hour ago, TIODS said:

Should have paid closer attention to this thread JT..  I could have stopped by on Sunday..  Sorry!

Ha! I'm definitely not ready for guests, even helpful ones  

[JosephThomas]

Another question I have is ho to use any of the space in front of the main garage door. I know I want table saw/outfeed in that general spot int he middle, so I don't anything by the door that obstructs it's use...maybe I could leave the drum sander or planer on their rolling carts up against the door and roll them back a bit when in use?  What does everyone else put near their doors, anything? Seems like such waste space.

[..Kev]

7 hours ago, JosephThomas said:

Another question I have is ho to use any of the space in front of the main garage door. I know I want table saw/outfeed in that general spot int he middle, so I don't anything by the door that obstructs it's use...maybe I could leave the drum sander or planer on their rolling carts up against the door and roll them back a bit when in use?  What does everyone else put near their doors, anything? Seems like such waste space.

My planer lives in front of my roll up door.  That's also the infeed side of my table saw so, the planer cart just sits off to one side a little.  The planer cart is on wheels and gets moved for use anyway.  I also grabbed a measurement from the blade on my table saw to the door to make sure that I had just over (by about an inch and a half) 8' of infeed room.  That covers 99% of what I do and I can open the door on the rare occasion I need more. 

[Chestnut]

In your climate i'd situate things so the roll up door can be used for extra capacity when needed. That doesn't really work here. Seems like when it's no -20F it's 100F.

[Tom King]

I have had them as close as 2 feet, and maybe even a little closer.  If you cut pieces to rough length on the miter saw, then straighten, and rip, it's nice not have to take a step, but to just turn around, to lay the rough cut piece over on the side table of the table saw, and then when they are all stacked there to straighten, and then lay back in another stack on the side table to be ripped.

Saving steps saves time.  With everything on wheels, it will be easy enough to play with it to decide who much space is enough.   

I have a new setup every year or two, and it's always different.  Once I had to put stuff on diagonals, and the jointer and table saw up on blocks.  At that place, I had to open windows to run long pieces through the table saw, or over the jointer.

[..Kev]

9 minutes ago, Tom King said:

  At that place, I had to open windows to run long pieces through the table saw, or over the jointer.

Now that would be a site to see!  That's awesome!

[Don Z.]

6 hours ago, Chestnut said:

In your climate i'd situate things so the roll up door can be used for extra capacity when needed. That doesn't really work here. Seems like when it's no -20F it's 100F.

+1.  When I was living in San Diego (actually, Carlsbad), I had the table saw outfieed table right up against the door.  Nine times out of ten, the piece I was working on would stop on the outfieed table.  Every now and then, I had a piece too long for that, and I just opened the door.  Then, I had infinite space.  Did the same thing in Texas.  It really opened up the center of the room.   

[JosephThomas]

Thanks guys, good thoughts.