What do you use to hold your plans while you work?

[Ken Platt]

Folks - I've finally had it with having multiple pieces of paper with drawings and open ww magazines strewn across my work area each with something to do with the current project. I'd like to make something to hold it all so I can see them but they aren't loose and getting lost or in the way.

So, I thought I'd see if folks would share how they organize the plans of their current project. Pix would be very appreciated.

What I have in my head at the moment is a sort of small, desktop size, easel sort of thing, with a 24' x 24" piece of 1/4" ply set at a good viewing angle (maybe 30 degrees off vertical?). I'd paint the ply with magnetic paint, and then could use a bunch of little rare-earth magnets to hold the individual pieces of paper. A little tray in front at the bottom of the play to keep a magazine upright, with room for pencils. It needs a easily grabbed handle to I can move it when it's in the way.

Anyone got anything more clever? Variations on that theme? I'm making a credenza-ish entertainment center, and have at least 5 different drawings as well as a couple of FWW mags that each illustrate a different part, as well as the to-do list, and it's just too much to keep spreading it out, picking it up, etc.

Thanks -

Ken

[Cody Colston]

First, you will probably hear from the majority that they don't work from plans. I do.

I put any plans that are more than one page into a 3-ring binder so that the pages will stay opened to the page I'm viewing and also make it easy to flip to another page. An easel-type holder like you are contemplating would be cool but it would also be another thing to take up space. I usually just place my binder on the table saw extension table and work from it there.

I say go with your idea. If it doesn't work out, it's not a big expenditure in time and stock to make it. In your shop, you have to use the methods that work best for you. That's always an evolving process.

[Eric D Matson]

I always seemed to set stuff on my plans and get a hole in them here and a tear in them here. I looked at my hanging broom storage one day and decided to hang my plans on the wall. I have some spring clips hanging on an open wall and hang my prints from them when I am working on something. I find it works fairly well.

[keith micinski]

What are these "Plans" you speak of and how exactly do they work?

[Matt Meiser]

I don't work from detailed plans but I'll often have a drawing with critical dimensions. Those kind of float around. But I do have a whiteboard in my shop that I use to work out details--maybe a sketech, maybe a list of dimensions, whatever. Consider a magnetic whiteboard. We bought a 24x36 one for our kitchen and installed it on the back of the pantry door. It takes the place of the magnets on the fridge as well as usual whiteboard use.

[Dominic Carpenter]

I usually hang plans from a shelf using clamps. Anything that is from a magazine or 8 1/2 x11 sheet I store them in a 3" three ring binder as Cody mentioned. I don't have extra wall space in my shop, so the edge of the shelf is as close as I can get. It really works well, nothing fancy. Easy to see and I don't have to move it around.

[william watts]

I use pencil sketch's with the dimensions and pin them on a cork bulletin board.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Same as Matt here. I stick cutlists to the fridge behind the tablesaw too.

[Thomas S Stockton]

mine are all over the shop in piles while I'm working on something, at the end of the job I collect everything up and stuff it in a manila envelope and write what it is in big letters and file it away. I find having the saved information in one place is really useful.
Tom

[Jeff Erbele]

My plans are in my head. The rest is a matter of calculations and documenting the results as a reference while creating them. Those notes & calculations are on a scratch pad on a clip-board, and in memory of a scientific, solar powered, T.I. calculator from my late 1970's education era. The broader field of Mathematics changed little since and my trusty calculator was as important as a dial caliper, hammer and screw driver in my corporate, industrial career.
....well, some plans are also on the computer, but work in progress is on paper, on the bench.

[Brian W Smith]

Plans usually stay in office,cutlists and one-off's(quicky 3D drawings) are treated somewhat like you see in a short order restaurant.Although,we don't use their fancy carousel'd springy things,haha.

Those blackish/blueish spring clamps get swiped from wifeypoo....these are near bench hanging on nails.....eye level.

The other place is on the sheet metal cover of our BS.I use Mag Float aquarium magnets.

[Richard Wagner]

Plans are just another tool that seem to float around the shop. They are something that I am always looking for even though I just had them.

[Jim Matthews]

First, you will probably hear from the majority that they don't work from plans. I do.

Dunno about being in the majority, but if you're only making one...
The North Bennet street school stresses full size drawing for three months at the beginning of studies.

The recommend method is to put front and side views on a sheet of thin plywood.
That way, you can lay pieces on the template to check for size.

If you wanted more than one, you've got a standard at the ready.

Working by hand means there's no "set up" - mark a line, cut to the line.

[Brian Tymchak]

Currently I put plans on grid paper and collect the various drawings on a clipboard that I keep on a side bench as I work. I have an 8' white board in my shop that I put up years ago when I moved into the house, I thought that would be handy. But with limited space, I decided I needed the space in front of it for the lathe. I also now need the wall space to store turning blanks and other things.

So, as soon as I get my MS bench done, I'm going to rip that 8' white board into 3 sections and build easels from them. As someone mentioned that may present a space problem too, but I like the idea of sitting on a tall stool and doodling out the project in mind.

[Mark Wooden]

I usually work with designers and architects that have AutoCAD or something compatible with it so I generate a dimensioned drawing and print it on 8-1/2" x 11" (or 14" legal) sheets, and when necessary print out certain details full scale on the same size sheet. I keep them on a couple of clipboards that I hang around the shop where they are handy (And off the bench where they get lost;)). I found that drilling a hole in the middle of a side handy for hanging them with drawing right way up.

I stopped doing full scale layout once I learned to use CAD, it's faster for me and more accurate. And I can throw all the paper away at the end of the job.

[Keith Hankins]

Folks - I've finally had it with having multiple pieces of paper with drawings and open ww magazines strewn across my work area each with something to do with the current project. I'd like to make something to hold it all so I can see them but they aren't loose and getting lost or in the way.

So, I thought I'd see if folks would share how they organize the plans of their current project. Pix would be very appreciated.

What I have in my head at the moment is a sort of small, desktop size, easel sort of thing, with a 24' x 24" piece of 1/4" ply set at a good viewing angle (maybe 30 degrees off vertical?). I'd paint the ply with magnetic paint, and then could use a bunch of little rare-earth magnets to hold the individual pieces of paper. A little tray in front at the bottom of the play to keep a magazine upright, with room for pencils. It needs a easily grabbed handle to I can move it when it's in the way.

Anyone got anything more clever? Variations on that theme? I'm making a credenza-ish entertainment center, and have at least 5 different drawings as well as a couple of FWW mags that each illustrate a different part, as well as the to-do list, and it's just too much to keep spreading it out, picking it up, etc.

Thanks -

Ken

Well I have three important pieces I use to support my projects. I work mostly with sketcup, so I have plans and printed cutsheets or suggestions as I call them. Some are just full blown plans. I have a big white board that I use as a giant story stick with dry-ease markers to draw up quick current needs with referenced measurments, or thats where I can deal with oops and any required design changes. I keep a printed copy of plans attached to the white board with a black binder clip and string so I can quickly pick it up for reference and then just drop it and its out of the way but not lost. Finally I have my laptop in the shop with me for any other needs. to be honest my whiteboard is my go to tool and any story sticks i might make.

[Brian Tax]

Saw a tip some where to tape the plans to a roll up shade.

[Peter Quinn]

I use a rare earth magnet on a J box next to my work bench at home, occasionally I'll tape larger plans to the shop door just a few steps further away. Before I get down to work ill do layouts, story poles, templates, cut
lists etc as needed, I'll blow up isometrics as needed to highlight complex areas or transitions. The full plans get glanced at occasionally to organize something large or keep my head straight, but I have no need to have them at hand constantly during work in progress. Everything gets broken into little sub routines. At work I used to have a cork board , push pins and some of those little black spring clips. One clip on each corner holds a 24x36 page very well. A magnet board would be even better.

[Jim Rimmer]

I like your idea. Wouldn't work for me due to space limitations. I've got clamshell cabinets for hanging tools and I tape my plans to the front of them.

I agree with Cody, though. Go for it. It sounds like minimal time and material investment so if it doesn't work not a big loss and if it does work...

[Wade Lippman]

What are these "Plans" you speak of and how exactly do they work?

A few years back my niece said she was taking a shop course and wanted to help with a tree house I was working on. I said that was great, until she asked to see the plans. Un, plans? I only roughly know what I am building; the design will depend on how it goes with respect to the tree and the wood I have available. She was very confused, as they taught her the most important thing was the plans. (It turned out to be two stories, though I never even considered that until I was half way through)

[Ed Griner]

I have,since I started woodworking use a music stand with small clamps or clothes pins. Works great! Does a pretty good job with sheet music too!

[Larry Frank]

I draw plans for any furniture or rolling cabinet that I am making. Sometimes, I will put them in plastic sheet protectors in a 3 ring notebook. On others where I am making changes, I clip them onto a piece of 1/4" MDF.

I also do sketches for cutting diagrams so that I can better utilize the wood. Plywood and such is getting expensive or I am getting cheap.

Things that I really like such as a piece of furniture, I will scan the drawings after I am done to PDF.

[Ethan Melad]

glad you made this thread. I'm in the middle of doing a couple bathrooms that include cabinets, shelving, millwork, and a bench. got a stack of 18x24 prints falling all over the place. I'm going to do what i should've done a month ago: pin them to the wall. this gives a large, easy viewing area, no leafing through pages, easy markups if needed.

[Rod Sheridan]

I make drawings for all the furniture I make, it increases the time spent in the shop actually working as opposed to trying to figure out what size to cut next.

I also make a cutlist that includes finished dimensions and rough dimensions so I can cut a bunch of rough lumber prior to surfacing.

I keep the plans on a clip board, and as I said it increases my shop time................Rod.

[Shawn Pixley]

I don't usually work from full plans. But I use blue painters tape to fasten it and some measurements / dimensions to the upper cabinet fronts. Works for me.

[Joe Scarfo]

I tend to draw rough working plans on 8 1/2 x 11 paper... scan them and then email to myself...

When I need to refer to the plans, I open the PDF on my iPad and le poof... easily portable sets of plans...

I used to have a large home made easel which was seriously cool.. I had chalk board on one side, dry marker board on the other side, butcher block paper dispenser across the top and would tape my plans to the dry marker side.... That is until mom helped the kids commandeer it for themselves..

I also bought a batch of the Rockler Woodworking brass router paper weights.. now those are seriously cool chach ka's just to have hanging around. They were great for store bought plans on the work bench when I had the big garage doors open for ventilation... that was fine as the workbench was a massive 5' x 8' bench so there was plenty of room

Good Luck with your choice...

[Henry Kramer]

Sometimes Joe's method of the scan and the iPad but I'm not always crazy about getting the iPad loaded with dust so I also use 8 1/2 x 11 plain or graph paper, put it (or them) in clear plastic sleeves that are used for 3 ring binders and stick them to one of my metal cabinets with rare earth magnets.

[Mike Olson]

I also work off plans drawn on 8.5 x 11 paper or graph paper. I keep them on a clipboard. I "try" to keep a plastic film clipped on top of the papers, but that usually only lasts 1/2 way through the project as I usually make adjustments and notes and the film gets in the way.