Downsizing my shop

[Jamie Lynch]

Last fall I made a last minute decision to return to school to pursue my bachelors degree. Of course going to school full time while working 55+hrs per week gives very little time for the shop, which has remained mostly dormant since September. Baby #2 is due out in October, and I am taking a promotion at work that will increase my drive time by at least an hour per day.
I value the time with my family more than anything and SWMBO and I are thinking about moving out of the country into the city, closer to work and less lawn to mow. It will be a big change and I will have to downsize my shop from a 1200 square foot metal building down to part of a 2 or 3 car garage.
The move will be sometime in the next year or so, after the baby has been born and I have gotten settled into my new position. Since we've been talking about it we'd like to plan as much as we can to make the transition relatively painless.

Heres my question to ya'll: if you had to downsize to a 1 car garage shop, what tools would you keep and what would you get rid of? Would you keep your table saw with 50" unifence or just get a track saw and use a bandsaw for ripping? Should I drink the green cool aid and go for an all festool shop? Ditch the 20" planer and opt for a benchtop?

Any ideas from people who have made similar moves would be great! Most of my work is small to medium furniture for the house, nothing comercial and I don't have any plans to go pro or make anything in large quantities.

[Von Bickley]

I have had 2 shops, and both shops were designed around a table saw. The table saw is the heart of my shop. Everybody has different needs for a shop, but I love a table saw.

[Mike Henderson]

I'm in a two car garage. I have a table saw with a reasonable side extension with the router built into the extension, a miter saw, 8" jointer, 20" bandsaw, DeWalt 735 planer, Jet 1236 lathe, floor standing drill press, 26" scroll saw, Ridgid oscillating sander and a 16" drum sander.

If I had to get rid of anything, it would be the lathe, the oscillating sander and the 16" drum sander. The table saw and miter saw are used a lot.

You also have to think about where to store hand tools and lumber. I have some cabinets for the hand tools and the lumber is on a rack above the garage door.

Mike

[Mike Heidrick]

I would keep the tablesaw, put a router in the extension table, keep a benchtop planer - saw one that flipped up from the back of the tablesaw ext table that looked space saving. Joint on the router table. Get a small dust collector to service those machines. A jigsaw can cut a lot of curves inside and out so may not need a bandsaw.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Jamie, congrats on number two; we were up to 5 until I realized what was causing it.
Keep the unisaw and planer. I have a Festool track saw and use it, but would let it go long before the table saw. A large planer is just so much nicer and versitile. Agree with Mike on the sanders. I also i
am in a two "car" garage . . . . That hasn't seen a car in a decade.

[eugene thomas]

Maybe go the combo tool route. Festool is great I own a few but not sure would want to go only green.

[Allan Speers]

"Would you keep your table saw with 50" unifence or just get a track saw and use a bandsaw for ripping? "

You already know the answer to that one! Personally, I don't even OWN a tablesaw any longer, (I got a larger BS for this reason) but you'd probably want to still use a tablesaw, just have a much smaller footprint one, once you get a good tracksaw system.

I'd also lose the jointer, and build a good planer-sled. You can hang the sled on a wall. Sure, it takes more time to use one, but it gets the job done. Downsizing is downsizing. Alt: Get a combo machine, if you can afford a good one.

If you REALLY need room, you could also get a tracksaw that offers an optional router attachment, then (gasp!) get rid of your router table. (I have never needed one) The small stuff that can't be done with a track-router can easily be done with hand tools, unless you are a production shop.

Finally: Dust collection: (Assuming you have a cyclone tower) Since you will be in a garage, consider getting rid of those huge filters, and venting the mostly-clean air out into the yard. If you DON'T have a cyclone tower, you can retrofit one onto most DC's with a little ingenuity, and this only takes up vertical space, which is likely not being used anyway.

[Wade Lippman]

Working 55 hours a week and going to college full time while raising a family?! Good luck with that.
I would forget about furniture and get a lathe. In the 2 hours of free time you will have a month, you can still do some good work.

[paul cottingham]

No tablesaw, get a tracksaw, and use a bandsaw as well. You won't miss the tablesaw.

[Mike Olson]

most here will probably groan, but I say keep the tools and ditch any dust collection system.
I work out of half a 2 car garage and I share my side with the kids stuff. That Dust collection system takes up a shocking amount of room that will be needed for other things.
I do have the 54" table saw and with my setup it works out fine. When I have to watch the kids playing in the front yard, it's the perfect time for a little shop work, or sweeping out the sawdust.

[Steve Peterson]

most here will probably groan, but I say keep the tools and ditch any dust collection system.
I work out of half a 2 car garage and I share my side with the kids stuff. That Dust collection system takes up a shocking amount of room that will be needed for other things.
I do have the 54" table saw and with my setup it works out fine. When I have to watch the kids playing in the front yard, it's the perfect time for a little shop work, or sweeping out the sawdust.

I am groaning. I have a ClearVue that only takes up around 48" by 30" including the closet around it. The ducts are up high or behind cabinets, so they aren't really in the way. Maybe it helps that I have a slightly deeper and taller garage than some. I won't give up the good dust collection.

Steve

[Mike Wilkins]

Consider getting combo machines; combo tablesaw/shaper with a short fence (maybe 48" slider) and combo jointer/planer in the 12" range. You can work around these 2 labor and time saving machines with smaller bandsaws and handheld sanding machines. I would compliment these with an assortment of good quality hand tools such as hand planes, chisels, scrapers. And don't forget the most important item for your sanity; a good sound system. With some good jazz and a project in front of me, time gets lost and so do I.

[Allan Speers]

most here will probably groan, but I say keep the tools and ditch any dust collection system....



HUGE groan.

A cyclone tower, without any filters, takes up very little space, and it can conveniently be put into a corner. Skimping on one's health is just insane.

- But again, working in a garage gives you the option of venting outside, so as long as you have a cyclone tower, you don't need filters.

[Jim Dwight]

I am in my second oversized one car garage sized shop. The previous one was only twenty feed deep but varied from about 12 feet to 20 feet on the opposite wall. The current one is a simple 14x24. We've only been in this house since October 2013 and the house needs work. So that has occupied my time. The shop garage was not added until 2014. It isn't finished. Wiring is done and some of the insulation and walls are up. Ceiling was done by a contractor because there is a finished bedroom above.

So my experience is much more with my prior shop. I had and have a little Ryobi BT3100 table saw. Late in the prior shop I added a DeWalt track saw and reduced the Ryobi from about 70 inch rip to 24. For furniture, the capacity is not very important, however. I built 8 bedroom sets in that little shop, a couple breakfast tables with 4 chairs apiece and a lot of other stuff. So you can definite get work done in a smaller space. I have said several times but will say so again, a smaller table saw and a track saw is a better combination for a smallish shop. Finding a way to feed a sheet through the saw in a small space is difficult. Laying the sheet goods on a support and cutting it up with a track saw is much easier.

Besides a table saw, I use a Ryobi AP-10 planner (the original lunch bucket planner with 10 inch capacity), an old INCA 8 5/8 wide jointer (used rarely), a router table (home made lift included), a 12 inch CMS, a radial arm saw, a floor standing drill press, and a benchtop mortiser. I have a 1hp DC but it isn't great and I am planning to get rid of it and just use my shop vacuum/dust deputy combination. It is working pretty well so far. I need the vacuum anyway and can free up some space by getting rid of the DC.

I used to have a home-made bandsaw but rarely used it and got rid of it with the move. I also have the normal big pile of hand power tools, clamps, etc...

My biggest comment is just that for what you describe, a one car garage sized shop is adequate. You will find it tight at times, especially if you are used to more space, but you adapt to the tools you have and can still get a lot done.

I also built an entire kitchen 3 houses ago when all I had was the part time use of the 2 car garage. My late wife hated the mess but I could still make things. Several of my bedroom sets were made in this shop or even earlier. I made one in a second bedroom of our first apartment.

If you want to make some sawdust, you can certainly adapt to a one car garage.

[Val Kosmider]

I'm in a two car garage. I have a table saw with a reasonable side extension with the router built into the extension, a miter saw, 8" jointer, 20" bandsaw, DeWalt 735 planer, Jet 1236 lathe, floor standing drill press, 26" scroll saw, Ridgid oscillating sander and a 16" drum sander.

If I had to get rid of anything, it would be the lathe, the oscillating sander and the 16" drum sander. The table saw and miter saw are used a lot.

You also have to think about where to store hand tools and lumber. I have some cabinets for the hand tools and the lumber is on a rack above the garage door.

Mike

Pretty much nails it from my experience.

I worked in a tiny...TINY... shop for a few years. maybe ten by twelve...... The tool I used most was the table saw. AND, most importantly, when you have a smaller space, that table saw doubles as a bench. You probably don't want to do much pounding on it, but as a place to lay things out, for sanding, for finishing and other 'light' work it is a very valuable space. I did not have a bench in my tiny shop, so the TABLE saw was my bench.

[Jamie Lynch]

Thanks for all the ideas. I think step one for me is to get rid of all the stuff in my shop that is unused, broken, never going to be finished, unsafe, redundant, inefficient and just plain useless. After that I am thinking about purchasing an MFT3 and TS75. I have time to get used to working without a tablesaw before having to actually sell it to make room. The unisaw will remain for the time being, but it will be put on time out (I hope it understands its nothing personal).