How to plan a shop

[Bob Savage]

I thought it might be fun, and of course very helpful to me, to run through the exercise of tooling up for a little CNC based shop in my garage and of course, getting input from those here who have "been there, done that."

My garage is a 2 car and will be emptied (I’m putting a large shed in the backyard this weekend) so that the garage will be dedicated only to the workshop, and a washer/dryer (this poses an obstacle due to dust). I had an electrician friend install a sub-panel and run 110 and 220 to various work areas in the garage, as well as install overhead fluorescent lighting.

To help eliminate the sound to the outside and inside the house, I’m going to insulate and drywall the portions of the garage that aren’t done (ceiling and misc walls), but first, I’ll caulk all of the little air holes because this is where high end noise can escape. This brings me to the question of ventilation, heating and air conditioning. Any advice? I really can’t install a unit that requires me to poke a hole through the stucco on the outside, but there are two vents about 5”x12” that I could hook up to ducting to pull fresh air and eliminate stale air.

The goal is to build a shop suitable for cutting signs, guitar amplifier speaker and head cabinets, misc items for around the house, picture frames, fun gifts and assorted fun projects. I'm not planning on cutting any metal, it will all be woods, plastics, HDU, etc.

Items I have or will have soon:

CAMaster CR-408 Cobra X3
Vectric Aspire
Penn State Tempest 2 HP Cyclone dust collector (still need to plan the ducting to work areas, etc.)
1 TB external hard disk for project and CNC PC backups
Logitech Webcam Pro 900 (for those times I'm in a pinch and need Jim and Joey’s help! :D )
Acrylic Flame Polisher (bought when I thought I was getting a laser, should still come in handy)
Old-school Craftsman table saw (dad rebuilt it and gave to me, belt driven...)
Belt driven compressor (35-40 gallon)
A load of misc hand tools, drill moters, pneumatic tools, etc.
4x8 table for assembly, painting, etc.

Items on my need this month list:

2 - Sawhorses
Various clamps for material hold-down and cabinet clamping
A few decent sq uares
Belt/Disk sander
Various router bits, including cheapos that won’t make my cry when they break as I’m learning

Items I’ll need when or shortly after I’m setup and ready to roll

Spoil board
Loads of cheap substrates to wreck on the CNC
Jointer for Dove Tails (plan on doing some hardwood speaker cabs, without vinyl covering)
Painting tools
Air brush?

It seems like I’m leaving some things out, but that’s a good start.

So, what else do you recommend as immediate must have items?

Oh, and on the topic of securing work on the table, what's this setup? I like it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jh5K338Tp0

I would particularly appreciate in put on the various clamp types I should pickup...

[Bob Savage]

O.K., so maybe this isn't so fun...

I'm sure I'll run into more needs as I go, but am I close on my tool list?

How about wood joining, what type of glues are there?
I'll put a floor plan together later to see if you guys have any advice on that.

[Michael Schwartz]

this is kind of fun if you just want to do a casual layout, outside of cad software.

http://grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx


Here is my advice.


Make sure you have plenty of work surfaces that are NOT either a machine, or shared with one as an outfeed. This is a problem in my current shop space I am working on addressing. Tablesaw Outfeed/Workbench does not work in production environment.

In my current shop space, machine room is 25x25 + finishing area, bathroom, and office/bench (neanderthal) room I have a 4x8 sized work table that doubles as TS outfeed, but when I re-arrange my shop I will likely build two 4'x4' rolling assembly tables, as well as a dedicated downdraft table for sanding/routing, as my sanders, and routers like to live on my TS out feed.

I will build a much smaller out feed setup for the table saw as I will predominantly process sheet goods with the Shopbot.

A low assembly table is good idea. This can be as simple as a pair of short sawhorses and a sheet of plywood or old door, or a torsion box on a mobile base. Low assembly tables are great for assembling many cabinet/furniture sized pieces.

Make sure you have enough outlets, and dedicated circuits for tools. Sharing tools with lighting is not a very good idea. Make sure you have enough 220v outlets to add or re-arrange equipment which you will.


As far as machinery goes I would recommend in addition to your table-saw.

Planer, at least get a contractor machine if you don't have the space or budget for a larger unit. I have a DW735 for this exact reason and I love it. A thickness planer is a MUST have.

8" Jointer, There are allot of good deals out there on used jointers. I got my 8" powermatic in great condition for about 800$, and I think it is better then the new one they produce that sells for 2x as much.

SCMS, A good sliding compound miter saw is a must have in every way.

Bandsaw, Kind of secondary depending on what your doing but I use mine all the time.

Router Table, Build a good one with a heavy sturdy top the size of a shaper, with a tall fence. Picture a commercially made table and double the size. I built mine for about 150 bucks from MDF, some Poplar, and scrap countertop laminate, and then put a Jessem lift in it.

Good random orbit sander, I use a fesstool but there are alternatives that work well.

Routers, Routers, and More Routers! I know your getting the CNC but you are still going to want a a good fixed base, plunge router, as well as a laminate trimmer such as the Bosch Colt. If you build a router table and can afford to, dedicate a router to that. Same thing goes with any jig or fixture, that makes you allot of money, just dedicate a router to it and leave it setup

Of course many more things, my coffee is getting cold, mabe others have some input.

[Michael Schwartz]

One more quick post on this.

Think workflow as well.

Your likely going to bring sheet goods in directly to the CNC.

Hardwoods are going to come in and be broken down to oversize parts with a chop saw, skill saw, and or rough ripped on the bandsaw. Then your likely going to go to the jointer, and flatten one face, and square and straighten an edge.

Next step is normally the thickness planer, to plane the opposing face parallel, and to thickness, and then on to the table-saw to rip to final width, and so on and so forth.

By planning out a script of what you would do with a part and in what order you would use machinery you can get a good feel for where to put it.

[Bob Savage]

Awesome input, and that planning tool looks very cool. I'll be using that later today.

Michael, do you have any advice on ventilation? I was actually thinking that since there's access to my attic from the garage via a cut through some drywall, I could run ducting from the garage and send it out a nearby attic vent to the outside. I'm just not sure what type of fan mechanism I would/should use for that.

Thanks for all the input, I particularly like the workflow model!

[james mcgrew]

somewhere in this cnc forum is a thread started by james jaragosky on this when he got his machine.

jim

[Bob Savage]

somewhere in this cnc forum is a thread started by james jaragosky on this when he got his machine.

jim


HA! I should have known. I'll look it up.

[Bob Savage]

Here's rev 1 of the shop layout. Any thoughts?

Also, I have power in the middle of the garage attached to the beams, where the garage door opener is. I plan on running power straight down from the ceiling to the bench router.

Just realized I don't have a jointer in there. I'll figure that out later. It's time to put some shelving in the new shed.

[Michael Schwartz]

Awesome input, and that planning tool looks very cool. I'll be using that later today.

Michael, do you have any advice on ventilation? I was actually thinking that since there's access to my attic from the garage via a cut through some drywall, I could run ducting from the garage and send it out a nearby attic vent to the outside. I'm just not sure what type of fan mechanism I would/should use for that.

Thanks for all the input, I particularly like the workflow model!

With my space being leased, I have not considered anything fancy for ventilation. I just open up the front and back door and use a box fan to help with cross ventilation. I can open up the garage door if I really need to.

[Bob Savage]

With my space being leased, I have not considered anything fancy for ventilation. I just open up the front and back door and use a box fan to help with cross ventilation. I can open up the garage door if I really need to.

Gotcha. My goal is to keep this workshop as quiet on the outside as possible, so my neighbors aren't annoyed, so I'm looking to seal it tight as best as possible.

I'm sure Grainger has some fans that would do the job. Time to spend yet more money...

[Michael Schwartz]

Got me thinking when you posted your shop layout.

Here is my current layout, and future layout to prepare for the shopbot All dimensions are rough.

[james mcgrew]

bob i like to have my operation computer, bit loading and xyz corner in the same place, i have had my tables with this "working end" against a wall and the "loading end and/or side exposed. i currently have my two tables set with "working ends" facing walls, now that i have sold one of those and have a new 4x4 on the way i may change that.

jim

[Bob Savage]

Got me thinking when you posted your shop layout.

Here is my current layout, and future layout to prepare for the shopbot All dimensions are rough.

Nice shop! Looking forward to seeing some pics once you've got the Shopbot in.


bob i like to have my operation computer, bit loading and xyz corner in the same place, i have had my tables with this "working end" against a wall and the "loading end and/or side exposed. i currently have my two tables set with "working ends" facing walls, now that i have sold one of those and have a new 4x4 on the way i may change that.

jim

So for a newbie, is that back corner where your PC located the bit loading xyz corner, or can that corner be set to any corner you choose? If it can be set to any corner, is there a logical corner that most guys use? Because of the way the software works, I was thinking "the" corner would be the bottom (relative, I know), left of the table. It looks like you're at the bottom right side?

[james mcgrew]

bottom left with the z head on that side of the gantry

[Bob Savage]

bottom left with the z head on that side of the gantry

I think I get it, but just to be sure, your PC is at 0" on the Y side, but at 96" Z, so to speak?

[Bob Savage]

By the way, that close up of the X3 is a thing of beauty. That thick aluminum assembly is making me drool... can't wait to get mine!

[Michael Schwartz]

Jim is that solid chunk of LVL or something you have your dust hoses cantilevered off of?

[james mcgrew]

it is a pivot arm on a hinge, we call it tony the tower

plywood

[Bob Savage]

it is a pivot arm on a hinge, we call it tony the tower

plywood

I'm just surprised that Tony the Tower isn't a 3D carving... at least a face up at the top, watching over the shop. :D