Jim Bradley's Shop Layout

Hi All,
This is Part One of a possible series on my hobby woodworking shop. Hopefully a couple people will be prevented from some of my stupids and hopefully people can show me how to improve.

The main purpose of this post is to see if I can get a floor plan to work in a "post." I am not a computer person, so I plug along and keep trying to learn. I drive my son, Glenn, out of his gourd with my computer questions.
My shop is in So. Calif. about 5 miles in from the coast. We live in a planned sub-division (or some other statusy sounding name for a tract house). The house was to have a 3-car garage. Since we were the first to purchase and the house was still in the framing mode, we were able to make many changes. One of the changes was to have a wall instead of one of the three garage doors. The total inside dimensions are 24' x 29'6".

The portion of the garage that is mine is 16' x 16' with an 8' x 10' el. When working I can easily expand to the South by leaving a car outside. This space is great for temporary things like cutting 4' x 8' x 2/4" Baltic Birch (a sheet of that weighs almost as much as I do so putting it up on a tablesaw is not an option).

Two cabinets (each 2' x 4' x 73" tall) form a wall which separates my shop from Myrna's area (washer, dryer, freezer, etc.).

The great majority of the time I get a breeze through the shop from West (through a people door) to East (through one or two car doors). The bottom of the rafters is 9'6" above the floor. The Northern 10' goes all of the way up to the roof (about 17' on the West and 10' on the East).

In 2007 I added the "Outhouse." It is outside of the North wall of the shop and was built to house the Dust Collector and Air Compressor and shelves for some miscellaneous storage.

Now let's see if I can get the floorplan in here.

Enjoy,
Jim
 
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Looks like you got the attachment to work just fine. See , an old dog can learn new tricks.

Nice-looking setup you have there, Jim. :thumb:

By the way, I'm assuming you're staying out of the fires in your neck of the woods?
Last I heard, my niece in San Marcos didn't have to evacuate, but she and her husband are surrounded by mandatory evacuation areas. I hope all stays calm in your neighborhood.
 
When I had my "shop" in a basement (before moving into a house with attached garage / shop space) my wife would always complain about me making stinky smells while she was trying to do laundry. Also, if your dryer is a gas dryer, keep caution in mind when using volatile finishing agents.

After a recent minor (no Vaughn, not "miner") shop rearrangement (I really need to add some pics to my shop tour thread) I have put the drill press next to the bandsaw - this way I can use the DP table as an outfeed support for the bandsaw.

Most importantly, your shop needs to work for you, not any of the rest of us.
 
Hi Vaughn,

Thanks for asking. The only problem we had/have is stinky air and my white car turned black. I swept up a small bucket of black sand from the driveway and front walk. I hosed the patio in back so don't know the volume there.

Oh yes, The only time in my life (I think) that I left a car out and a window open was the day of the worst ash. Boy, did I make an ash of myself.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Jim,

Looks good to me. There's only one problem. There's some wierdly shaped object in the left hand side of your shop. Looks almost like a car or something. But why would anyone have a car in a shop? ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Pretty good looking set up with the usual suspects. If you don't already have all the machinery -- have you considered a Euro-Combination machine? You could eliminate the jointer, planer, miter saw and router table. It would take up the same space as the table saw, freeing up the spaces where those other tools were for more work surfaces and storage space, and eliminating the need to wheel some of those other tools into position and set them up for use, not to mention the time to put them away again when done. It is a concept I latched onto many moons ago, and it made me such a "believer," if you will, that it led to me working for one of the companies that makes them.
 
Bill,

I assume you know the definition of a garage??? It is a building housing $400 worth of junk while $60,000 worth of cars sit out in the weather.

Well the "junk" is certainly worth more than $400 so a compromise was reached. Space I use for important woodworking tasks does (or is supposed to) have a car in it most nights. Unfortunately I live in a typical residential area. There is no place to expand the "garage" except up and its hard to get a car up there.

The lot is neat in that I have 190 feet of back yard with lots of beautiful trees. Of course the lot is on a 45 degree angle downward back there so it is useless for building, though beautiful for looking at out of windows. The canyon is natural and the nearest neighbor that direction is a couple hundred yards away and no one can build there. I guess no shop expansion is the price I pay for beauty.

By the way, the second car lost the toss and sits out 365 days a year, except leap year.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Hi Sam,

One of my excellent employees left me (my office that is) to marry a guy named Blasco.

Anyway, back to serious stuff. I already own all of the tools. Everything is on wheels except the drill press and the table saw. The table saw is so tricked out that I would be afraid to move it.

The only time I have to move a tool is when I want to use the thickness planer. The sanding station is on wheels, but it is a rare occasion when I need to move it. The miter saw has been in the same location for at least a year without being moved. Yes I do open the garage door for long stuff---however, that is OK here in So. Calif. It has been so long that I forgot---I did rotate the miter saw 90 degrees about a year ago. It sits just far enough in front of the TS that there is no conflict. The new router table (North wall) may need to be moved occasionally. It is all ready to go as soon as the router is permanantly attached. It has not been used yet so I just do not know.

Anyway it adds up to, I have too many tools to even think of starting over with a combination machine. That was sure a long answer to a short question.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
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