Where do I start? going from 225sq feet to about 2000 sq ft.

[george newbury]

Where are some good places to look for overall design of a workshop designed to bring in "raw lumber" and spit out a lot of sawdust, chips and maybe even a few bookcases, shelves?

I don't have a pic of my past/present workshop for carpentry/woodworking (think 10" 1960's Delta Rockwell table saw surrounded by shelves) which was about 15'x15'. I also had a 10'x15' shed for gardening and storage.

Now I've about 5,500 sq ft :)
I'm tentatively devoting most of it to other uses (sawmill, tractor, storage) but have one building about 30x60 I wanted to use to focus on woodworking. I started a thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?188355-Looking-for-advice-on-planer-and-a-jointer-new-to-forum looking for a planer. There I talk about my sawmill and some other tools.

After reading more on this site I realize I probably should also focus on the basic design of the shop before I get everything messed up.

The pictures show the outside of the full 5,500 sq ft and the inside of the shop on the right that I want as my woodworking shop. The inside pics were taken while cleaning up from the prior resident.

So any links to threads here for better pointers? Like don't put a Delta Tablesaw next to a Grizzly sander?

Note I do plan on sectioning off about a 20x15 area in the big workshop for a "paint booth", I'm thinking of getting 3 phase also.

[Van Huskey]

Build a peice of furniture in your mind and see what the flow of work is, then design the shop around that. I like the miter saw/ radial arm saw near lumber storage to make my rough length cuts, then I want to move to the jointer/planer area with the table saw next to do my milling. Then I want my sanding machines and joining machines (with the drill press) then my assembly and finishing areas toward the end of the great circle. I would suggest you wall off and insulate a "room" for your dust collector/cyclone, air compressor and other loud things like HVLP turbines and vacuum pumps if you have/use them. You will need to give the dust collection thought as you lay out your machines, the machines that need the highest volume of air should be close to the dust collector and all of them should be placed to take advantage of the shortest straightest runs.

On the Grizzly website their is a shop design program and though the machines are all current Grizzly machines you can find machines that fit your machines footprint pretty easily. Always keep in mind when you are designing it the infeed/outfeed requirements for each machine. Kepp in mind what works for me may not work for you but I see you have a pallet jack so moving the machines around before you decide on exactly where to place them will be easy!

[Mike Wilkins]

Your shop looks to be of metal siding construction. Before anything is done with machinery/layout/electrical/etc. you should consider getting some insulation in those walls. Much much easier to to it before setting up shop than later. Which is what I have to do now.
As for layout of machinery/lumber/etc; place the big boys next to the long walls for maximum infeed/outfeed space, which will dictate the location of the high
power outlets (240 volts or 3 ph). Other machines can be placed to compiment the big boys. Consider putting the duct collector and air compressor in an attached room on the outside of the shop, or in the adjacent building. You ears will appreciate this.
Congrats on the extra legroom; I am officially jealous.

[Jim Neeley]

+1 on not having your DC "in the main room", whether enclosed or outside.

An important decision for you to make, in my opinion, is whether to discharge the air from the DC inside or outside your shop. For me, this is mostly dependant upon the level of heating / cooling you plan for the shop.

Placing the DC outside and discharging the air outside will be the quietest but will essentially negate the effect of any heating or A/C equipment. At 2,000 square feet you've got a shop with space to die for. Nevertheless, if we assume the ceiling is 12 feet high and an 1,800cfm dust collector, you will need to allow for 1,800cfm of outside to "leak" into your shop to make up for the air you exhaust. This can be handled through some combination of natural leakage, doors and windows. Key though is that every 14 minutes you will dump the full volume of the shop's air outside. It would be uncommon (and expensive) to have a heating or HVAC system capable of conditioning that much air that quickly unless conditioning is not often required or used.

The effect would be that running the DC will quickly take your shop to whatever the outside weather conditions are, making your heat/AC work overtime to re-condition the room.

Just my thoughts... YMMV..

Jim

[Kevin Bourque]

Load all the tools into the shop and just move them around until it feels right.

[Alex Pierce]

The Grizzly website has a nice, free two-dimensional shop layout program on their site. It's pretty easy to use, you just type in the dimensions of your shop and then drag and drop tools from their catalog onto it. It's a nice way of organizing ideas before going ahead with moving things around.

[Jim Andrew]

Personally, I'd start out by setting up some lumber racks near the overhead door. If you have a forklift, you could drive them right in and up to the rack. Otherwise, maybe back the lumber in with your pickup. And your dust collector should be near that door as well, so you can take drums of sawdust out easily. If you have some windows, I would set your workbench up close to the windows so you can take advantage of natural light when you are assembling your projects.

[george newbury]

Thanks for the pointers guys. That Grizzly website to "build your own" is great.

Since I'm drooling for a couple of 3 phase pieces (jointer, planer) I called the electric company. They laughed. The nearest to me is about 1/2 mile away.

However, I was wondering about running my own 3 phase generator. I've got a 12KW Winco 12PTOC-3 that I can run off my tractor. It was primarily purchased as a standby for the house and occasional use in the field.

[Michael W. Clark]

Depending on your water situation, a sink in the finish room would be very handy. Along with a countertop that cleans easily or that you don't care about getting it messy. If you have water, a bathroom would also be great. If you put your spray turbine in with the DC, make sure it gets clean air for the intake or has some type of intake filters.

Good luck with the new space, I'm sure you'll have no trouble filling it.:)

[george newbury]

Depending on your water situation, a sink in the finish room would be very handy. Along with a countertop that cleans easily or that you don't care about getting it messy. If you have water, a bathroom would also be great. If you put your spray turbine in with the DC, make sure it gets clean air for the intake or has some type of intake filters.

Good luck with the new space, I'm sure you'll have no trouble filling it.:)

Thanks,
If you look at the set up of all the workshops the middle one, red w/ white doors, is 40x60. Of that 40x15 in the back is subdivided for a 1 bedroom apartment. It's got a full bath with shower, a "kitchenette" w/ sink, stove, oven, dishwasher space. And about a 15'x15' area for a "living room", almost exactly the size of my previous shop space.
There is also a "laundry" tub in the big shop.

[Van Huskey]

However, I was wondering about running my own 3 phase generator. I've got a 12KW Winco 12PTOC-3 that I can run off my tractor. It was primarily purchased as a standby for the house and occasional use in the field.

You will have to compare the run/maintenance costs of the genny vs a rotary phase converter. On the running costs a RPC will be less than 5 cents and hour unless you get a huge one compare that to fuel costs and the cost of the RPC starts to look pretty cheap. If you end up with only 2 or maybe 3 3ph machines all with 3hp or less then VFDs may be a more economical choice. You can also build your own RPC which if you get a good deal on a 3ph idler motor can be the cheapest way to go.

[Aaron Berk]

Your shop looks to be of metal siding construction. Before anything is done with machinery/layout/electrical/etc. you should consider getting some insulation in those walls. Much much easier to to it before setting up shop than later. Which is what I have to do now.
As for layout of machinery/lumber/etc; place the big boys next to the long walls for maximum infeed/outfeed space, which will dictate the location of the high
power outlets (240 volts or 3 ph). Other machines can be placed to compiment the big boys. Consider putting the duct collector and air compressor in an attached room on the outside of the shop, or in the adjacent building. You ears will appreciate this.
Congrats on the extra legroom; I am officially jealous.

Ding Ding Ding!
We have a Winner.....
Unless the cash flow is diverted elsewhere, I would finish off the space.
There is ALLOT to be said about having finished walls!