Workshop Layout

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438
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Well, this isn't exactly a shop tour, more like a "What do you think?", so that's why I posted here. If it has to be moved I understand. :thumb:

Now that I own all the major equipment I want (minus dust collection), I have been hunched over graph paper rigorously playing with workshop floor plans. I finally got the idea of putting my huge lathe in the middle, instead of against a wall, and all of a sudden the flow and organization started to fall into place.

I am asking opinions as to the strengths and weaknesses of what I have so far. I have yet to install the majority of the electrical, lighting, insulation, etc... And I don't want to move the monster lathe and add support to the roof rafters unless I am sure this is the way I want to go!!

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My thinking behind the layout:

I do a lot of turning, and am currently trying to do as much with that as I can. (Furniture parts, decorative, columns, balusters, etc...) I also love furniture making, and have a notebook of original designs waiting to be built. Hopefully that will grow into a business as well. So, the shop is meant to be able to function as both a furniture shop and turning shop.

The left half is basically all furniture, designed to maintain proximity between machines most frequently used, plus the workbench. There is 3" of pathway in almost all the areas on the furniture making side. The tablesaw, jointer, and planer all have a full 8' both infeed and outfeed. The RAS has 7' to the left, 12' to the right (in case I ever need to make a 12' column). Router table can be easily moved if necessary.

The right half is where the turning is done, with the machines most frequently used all together. With a reasonable space between equipment, I feel I can comfortable turn and transport even the largest pieces. Both the bandsaw and drill press have 8' of infeed and outfeed, though with the DP it pretty much doesn't need it. The dotted lines near the door are the overhead pulleys driving the lathe. They will be able to rotate 180 degrees, along with the headstock, so as to accommodate large outboard turning. The dotted lines extending across the RAS table will be a removable wooden bed extension, allowing me to turn a 12' column if necessary.

Most of the wood storage will be over and under the RAS, and there seems to be plenty of space in 3 of the corners to accommodate carts, fixtures, storage, etc.. not to mention all the wall space.

So, what do y'all think? Do you see problem areas? Thanks!

Hutch
 

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Matt
The only thing I see puzzling is the location of the jointer. Seems like against the wall in the upper right of the picture, next to the bandsaw would be logical. And, I don't understand why the planer is set at an angle. Wars the beer refrigerator? :D
BTW, have you tried the free shop layout software from Grizzly? Just go to their home page, it's right there. Easy to use.
I had to look up your post about the big lathe. Pretty impressive monster. Bet ye can make some nice pens on it. :rofl:
 
Matt I am so glad you posted this at this time. I am having similar difficulties in regards to layout or lack thereof. I will watch with interest the comments you get from the guys that have experienced more than me. :thumb:
Frank the only problem i see with the jointer in the location you suggested was what happens when the length of lumber is too long for the total length of the space.
When Larry came to visit and saw my shop I was on about the location of the jointer, it seemed fine to me, then i wanted to flatten some medium length lumber Larry had brought me and opps it was not possible without repositioning the whole machine. Since then i have been ever so grateful i have my machines on mobile bases. But settling on a layout in a small shop needs one to experience a bunch of permutations first i think. :huh:

Boy i have learnt a great deal from this forum. So many things i would have done differently or bought differently.:):thumb:
 
Thanks for the reply!

Well, here's a little more about my personal preferences. It will probably shed some light on things.

1) I really don't like tools on mobile bases. At least not the ones I have used. Especially for face jointing rough stock. I really like the idea of them being mobile, but I would probably prefer a mobile base of my own design which would be more stable.

2) Full 8' infeed and outfeed. Again, no moving necessary for almost all jointing tasks. (I say 'almost' in case I make huge columns.)

3) It's hard to tell from the diagram, but there is only about 3.5 ft of infeed and outfeed space if it were to go in the upper corner. Again, going back to the desire to not pull it out for use. :rolleyes:

4.) Though the path between the jointer's diagrammed location and the RAS is a little tunnel-like, it's still fairly wide allowing for comfortable movement.

As for the planer, it could certainly be different. It's merely cocked so I can use the full 15" without having to remove the jointer fence. If I built up the stand, I could straighten it out and consolidate the space. Also, it's the kind whose table moves up and down, not whose motor/head move, which is less than ideal when trying to clear other tools. :)

There certainly is a little wasted space in the middle, and I just may try to raise the planer and push everything together. The jointer beds would be sticking out into the new wider walkways, which may not prove of any consequence, but I will have to play around with that a bit more I think. Who knows, I may be able to find a better place for the jointer yet.

Actually, if it weren't for constricting the walkways even further, I could swap the jointer and planer locations. Or, if the controls weren't obstructed, I could put all three parallel to each other; jointer, planer, lathe. I dunno quite yet. :huh:

Hutch

P.S. DOH! I almost forgot the fridge! It will be on a rolling cart with a long extension cord so I can drag it around to whatever machine I am working at. :D
 
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Another thing....

Oh, another comment: It seems that a lot of a person's satisfaction with their shop comes from getting used to it. I remember when I first walked in to my high school shop, I thought "Who the heck placed these tools!!" But after a while I realized it worked out just fine, mainly cuz I HAD to live with it.

Obviously, I would prefer to get it as well laid out as possible, but I figure I will have to make some concessions and live with it.

Hutch

P.S. Just played around a little more with tool location. This one has a lot more open feel. I have gained space on the outboard end of the big lathe, three walkways have widened, and I have access to both sides of the workbench. Downside, the planer is a little awkwardly placed, and I lose and end vise on the workbench.
 

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hutch ,,out in left field here,,, but what about using the ras as your RTside out feed fr the TSaw and there fore freeing up alot of space behind the Tsaw and the bench could go out there behind or you could move everything back some giving yu more room for the bench and still use a fold down outfeed.. tryun to incorpaorate the two saws givun yu the same height and more space as well.. the new style yu show has a pocket by the bench outfeed combo and from expeiernce yu will tire of that. the best bench is one you can get all sides of.
 
Good Stuff!

Actually, I hadn't thought of putting the RAS there. Nice goin! I definitely will fiddle around with that idea. I have been trying to think of creative ways to combine machine spaces, and I had not even begun to consider that one!

As for the workbench, I agree wholeheartedly. In my first floor plans the bench had easy access on all sides, which is my ideal setup. But as I continued playing around, I couldn't get the other tools to organize and flow very well. So now I will focus on freeing up the workbench!!

Hutch
 
Larry you da man. Thinking outside the box again.:thumb::clap::clap:

What about doing a sketchup model of it Matt.? That would allow you to almost walk through it. Sorry I wish I could help in that dept.
 
Ah yes, the infamous Sketchup

Well, I downloaded the software quite some time ago, but have never taken the time to learn it. I think it could really pay off for something like this!

Hutch

P.S. So far I have been unable to successfully integrate the RAS along the wall with the TS. The spaces that remain are all suddenly just a little small! But I will keep working on it. It may be able to work yet!
 
Matt, I just really don't see the value of the RAS. Is there a use that the table saw or a miter saw (pulled out and placed on the workbench) can not provide? They take up a lot of room to just cross cut material. Most of the time I just use a hand saw, but I realize that may not practical if you are crosscutting a lot of material to size. Point is, if you got rid of it, you would have plenty of room. The trap I see most of us woodworkers get to is filling our workspace with tools and not having any room for the project. I am as guilty as everyone, but am working to resolve that. My advice is lose the RAS and buy back some real estate to work.
 
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hey matt give us some dimensions of your shop space that yuy have avaible..thee are many out here that can play with sketchup..its one sweet program and yu should give it another try.. its not that hard to learn for what your doing now. and the abilty to walk threw it and over it and around it is really worth while. but yu still can have after thoughts once yu settle on your design.
 
Matt, as you may know, I've had to really work at getting my small space down in the Dungeon to "work" for me, so I do have some idea of what you are talking about :D

First off, put your workbench in the center of your shop, work everything else around that. There is a reason they call it a "WORKbench" it is because you WORK at it. Having access too all five sides of your workbench is critical to making it the most important tool in your shop, besides the one between your ears.

Everything else can and most likely will end up shuffling around a bit.

For me, I'd rather have both lathes along one wall, or put them back to back, keeps the mess in one place :D

If possible, your planer and jointer should learn to play well together, and back to back usually works well, but you have to have space on the side of both, as you need to stand beside the jointer as you use it, and like Frank said, you need to step to the outfeed side to catch the stock from the planer, and running around stuff to get to the outfeed side gets old fast.

Dimensions of the shop space would help, even just rough dimensions, as well as a picture of the space, if you have it.

Cheers!

Oh yeah, I for got one, bandsaws and drill presses play well together back to back!

Cheers!
 
The king of crunched space has spoken!!! (Stu) :rofl::rofl:
Why do we want to put that workbench against a wall all of the time? :huh::huh:
The comments Stu, about the planer/joiner, bandsaw and drill press, will have to keep in mind. :type::type::type:
Good luck Hutch and will be checking in from time to time as this is the year for my shop build. Had both tractors go down last week, one with a tire, one lost the hydraulic pump and it is the only loader tractor and my bales of hay weigh over 600 pounds each! So, first things first!
 
HEHE! The infamous RAS....

Well, the whole RAS thing was an idea I had early last summer. I thought it would be a good starter tool as it can both rip and crosscut, and I have done both with no hitches on a previous RAS. Within a couple months a jointer, planer, and tablesaw all came up for sale a good prices, and the RAS purchase seemed like a waste. But this particular machine can crosscut 24" and rip 36", and I have decided to keep it cuz I am trying to get an architectural turning shop off the ground. It could come in handy for large diameter square blanks, as it can chop 5" in one pass! ( So I could trim a column 10" in diameter if I had to.)

Anywho, I have been playing with the RAS as an outfeed idea. I have decided that the big lathe is mobile enough if I ever get around to doing large scale outboard turning. I don't really mind a planer on a mobile base, and I figure I don't really need 8" on both sides of the bandsaw.

So here's the latest plan. Talk about a lot more space!!

Hutch

P.S. The reason I was trying to permanently places tools is that I have a good size workspace. Yet I have so many large tools that something's gonna have to be mobile. It's 19.5 feet side by 21 feet long.

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The workbench is 5.5'x2' not including vises.

Walkway distances:
3.5' between the Rollstone and the jointer base
4.25' between the RAS and front wall
4.5' between the TS and the right wall
3.5' between the router table and workbench
3' behind the workbench
 

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Router Table Question

Ok, I have a couple questions about y'all's personal experiences using router tables. I have used them quite a bit myself, but I like bouncing things off people.

With this last floor plan, do you think the tablesaw fence rail might cause a problem when using the router table? Also, in the past I have not needed much distance between the front of the router table and the cutter. How much table in front of the cutter do you think I should have? Also, without being in a separated table, I couldn't rotate the router table 180 degrees. Is losing this ability going to hinder me if I'm mostly using it for furniture applications?

Thanks!

Hutch
 
Matt, I have one question. You say "architectural turnings", So where are you going to put your Legacy mill router? :D

I've been looking at a redo of my shop and also planning on building a workbench soon. One thing I'm trying to figure out is space saving usage and making most work surfaces the same height. It's a great thing to tap into the minds here. I hate committing myself to one way and seeing a much better way to do something later.

Another thing I noticed is the lack of apparent widows in your drawing. There is no good substitute for natural lighting to see how finishes/stains go down on wood, or to see minor imperfections in a persons sanding technique. Most artists I know insist on natural lighting. Just a thought.
 
Legacy?

HEHE, the ornamental mills/CNC lathes will have to wait. :) If the business grows to that point, I will probably have to move into a larger space anyway! Here's hoping....

Anywho, the windows aren't shown, but there will be six that are about 3'x2'. I agree about the natural light, and it's worth the extra expense!
 
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