Opinions on small basement shop space

[Dave Avery]

All,

We recently moved to a new home with less than wonderful shop options. The 2 car garage needs to store 2 cars so that is out.

There is 15 1/2 X 18 full basement with nothing in it but a central vac unit. The full basement space has an adjacent crawl space that's about 18" high that could be used for slide-in lumber storage.

I own a Sawstop PCS with 52" fence, Jet JJP-12 jointer planer, Grizzly G5013X2 BS, workbench, Festool MFT and other assorted Festool equipment, Penn State portable DC, Dewalt chop saw on a stand, bench dog CI router table, and various vacuum press equipment.

The question is - before I schlepp all that equipment down narrow and steep stairs into the basement - how frustrated am I going to be in such a small space? For reference, I had the run of a full size basement in the prior house.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

[Scott Gibbons]

The shop I am working on finishing is not much larger. I think my space is 22 x 12. I can put some pics if you would like although it is not done.

[George Bregar]

grizzly.com has a workshop planner...drop your stuff in the space you have and see what you think

[Scott Gibbons]

The trick I have found is to keep everything as mobile as possible and use wall space when you can. I found a site with plastic pegboard that is very strong. It is made out of a nylon type material not brittle at all. Here are some pics. Basically my shop is just over 1/3 of our 3 car garage. I insulated the wall and installed an electric 17,000 btu heater.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=290&pictureid=2830

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=290&pictureid=2832

[Kent A Bathurst]

Graph paper, and to-scale little cutouts of the equipment. Include minimum "walkaround" space on the cutouts.

Or - I measured odd-shaped basement during inspection walk-through, and had it detailed on AutoCAD 6 weeks before we moved.:)

[John Jendro]

My shop is 12 x 20. I have a 30 inch fence on my saw and it can get a little tight at times. Your 52 inch fence is the one thing I think you might have a problem with.

John

[Jim Becker]

Dave, I agree that mobility is going to be the key to your "happiness" in this situation, for sure. And try to make any work surfaces complimentary in height for flexibility. Pick a corner for a "tool corral" so anything not in use can be completely moved out of the way.

Oh, I'd keep your MFT up in the garage...you can always make that space your "auxiliary shop", leveraging the Festool system to assist in that endeavor.

[Callan Campbell]

I work in a similar sized basement space. I gave up buying a newer table saw with a 52" rail system beacause the newest table saws were all about 85" width, instead of the smaller footprint my Unisaw 52" system has. I agree with others, mobile bases really help, plan your space and layout of everything you want to move in and to build around. Does the basement have clear floor space or steel support columns to support a main house beam running in the middle[my issue]?
I also made my workbench height adjustable to act as a outfeed table for my table saw. I use a winch mounted to the bottom of the top to lower it down against the motorcycle fork springs that are pushing the top back up. I lock the frame in with 4 large bolts that act as pins, tapping them into drilled holes for either full "up" height like when routing or bench work or in the down height to match that of my table saw.
I studied the Adjust-a-bench system first, then came up with the adaption of my existing workbench to accomplish the same results, but with only 2 height selections. My rambling point is to get creative with your small space if you're going for it, it's the only way to keep from running into the machines constantly that you're working with. I should probably take pictures of my workbench and post them, it would make more sense.

[Scott Gibbons]

I work in a similar sized basement space. I gave up buying a newer table saw with a 52" rail system beacause the newest table saws were all about 85" width, instead of the smaller footprint my Unisaw 52" system has. I agree with others, mobile bases really help, plan your space and layout of everything you want to move in and to build around. Does the basement have clear floor space or steel support columns to support a main house beam running in the middle[my issue]?
I also made my workbench height adjustable to act as a outfeed table for my table saw. I use a winch mounted to the bottom of the top to lower it down against the motorcycle fork springs that are pushing the top back up. I lock the frame in with 4 large bolts that act as pins, tapping them into drilled holes for either full "up" height like when routing or bench work or in the down height to match that of my table saw.
I studied the Adjust-a-bench system first, then came up with the adaption of my existing workbench to accomplish the same results, but with only 2 height selections. My rambling point is to get creative with your small space if you're going for it, it's the only way to keep from running into the machines constantly that you're working with. I should probably take pictures of my workbench and post them, it would make more sense.

I would not mind seeing pics of your bench, that is my next project.

[Brian Effinger]

Two important questions are:
1. how much head room do you have?
2. Are there any obstructions (like metal columns) in the middle of the room?

If you have decent headroom and there are no posts, then I think you'd be pretty happy. My shop is 15' x 26' which is basically half of the basement. It would be perfect if the ceilings weren't under 7' and there weren't 3 posts in the middle. But I make do with what I have, and you may have to do the same. The key is, as others have said, keep things mobile. My tablesaw is basically stationary between 2 posts, but it is on a mobile base if I have to move it a little. My DP, bandsaw, planer & jointer are all mobile.

[Callan Campbell]

I would not mind seeing pics of your bench, that is my next project.
OK, I will post pictures of the "Frankenbench" as I call it. Not pretty, but it works for my current space now.

[Dave Avery]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. To answer a couple of questions, 8+ foot ceilings, no metal obstructions. I don't really have much choice in the short term so I'm probably going to move the equipment downstairs.

I like the idea of keeping the MFT elsewhere. I'm also considering changing the 52" fence for a 30" as most of the ripping I do is relatively narrow stock and I have the Festool equipment to size large panels.

Scott - where did you get the pegboard? I was thinking of using slatwall but your pegboard option looks intresting.

Eventually I plan to build a shop in a separate building, but that will have to wait for a while.

Thanks again for your thoughts. BEst. Dave.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Dave, I have a 12' X 18' shop in the basement, as well as hallway that has the jointer/planer in it.

I had a cabinet saw with 32" rip capacity made to fit the shop, and I don't use large sheet good panels either.

I condensed the shop equipment by combining the planer and jointer, and now the saw and shaper.

My shop has a 30" X 86" bench, a wood lathe, a 17" band saw, an Oneida cyclone, a floor standing drill press, a Hammer A3-31 and soon a Hammer B3 winner.

The key is organization, storage and mobility of machinery.

I don't have a problem building bookcases, chairs, tables, china cabinets etc, I simply have to assemble them one at a time.

Having a small shop requires more planning and organization, which in itself can be useful.

Have fun with the new shop.

Regards, Rod.

[Steve Orbine]

I'd be very careful about storing lumber in crawl space. Could be a moisture issue, depending where you live and the construction of the space.

[Neil Brooks]

I've got about 18' x 30' w/9' ceilings.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATEhI8_IUYmJZGhra3hwZnFfM2hxanR0cWRr&hl=en

If I had everything on wheels, I think it would be a no-brainer. Even with things pretty much stationary, I'm doing fine. Since the drawing was done, I've added a compressor (next to the DC), and a spindle sander (along the wall with the mortiser and chop saw.

Sheet goods are standing next to the mechanical stuff. Cutoffs and dimensional are in a corner by the electrical panel.

HTH,
Neil

[Art Mulder]

The adjacent crawlspace could be very useful, depending on just how it is situated relating to the shop. I'm imagining installing some really long roll-out shelves, that would let you store an immense amount of stuff deep in the crawlspace, and yet still easily accessible -- like mounted on those 4ft slides Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&p=50505&cat=3,43614,43620&ap=1) sells, or maybe those things I've seen for rolling stuff in and out of pickup truck boxes.

[Jerome Hanby]

What kind of projects are you going to build? My knees and back ache just thinking about hauling all the lumber down to build something large (desk, dresser, ...) then having to haul the finished product out.

[Callan Campbell]

What kind of projects are you going to build? My knees and back ache just thinking about hauling all the lumber down to build something large (desk, dresser, ...) then having to haul the finished product out.
Ah yes, the plight of the basement shop dweller. We're Sherpas, we are, we carry it all in and out. Sometimes, we buy too big of a machine and take it apart to many pieces just to get it into the darn shop. Not that I've ever done anything like that...:D