New shop layout - feedback

[mark mcfarlane]

I couldn't figure out how to work with a small shop, so I closed on a new house yesterday with an empty lot next door. Pics are of the planned shop/garage/carport addition on the empty lot.

Purple is wood storage (standup plywood, pls some vertical wood storage near garage door and overhead shelves,...,
blue 'square pipes' along floor are dust collection,
green 'rug looking thing' under the table saw (actually will lily be a combo machine) is the work area for 8*4 sheets goods, 8' before and after the blade, 8 feet left, 5 feet right.

Where the red cart is parked (marked 'boat garage') could be a larger assembly room / finishing room, when needed. That's the wife's SUV. I have no plans for the boat, but there is a lake a few blocks away, so the red car - golf cart - machine room could be used for storing a good sized boat. The carport has room for a large truck. Garage doors are planned for 9' wide * 8' tall. All door 36".

There's lots of space along the back wall (by the bandsaw) for roll-around tables with various tools on them,... I'm also toying with a separate J/P instead of a 4-5-way multifunction combo, but space-wise I think it may be most comfortable as laid out,...

I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,323085323086

[mark mcfarlane]

And a few more views from 'inside'

There is no drum/widebelt sander, someday could be on a cart near the DC (machine room). Router table on a cart, 'somewhere',... The brick wall was discussed on a previous thread last week.

[Jim Dwight]

You have a lot more space than I have (14x24) so a slider is a good way to go, I hear. I've never used one. In my little shop, a track saw and small table saw work a lot better. I used to have extension rails on my table saw with a big base and could do 60 inch rips. But I like the tracksaw, little table saw combination much better. The layout seems fine but it's hard for me to wrap my head around that much space. One thing I'm doing you might want to consider is to have your CMS mounted on a shorter cabinet so you can add a Ron Paulk style top 7 inches high. It required me to raise up the RAS and CMS some to do this but that isn't hard (ripped down 2x4 worked fine). The Paulk workbench top is two layers for tool storage under the working surface. My workbenches get covered with tools so I am looking forward to store things right at hand but not on the worksurface. It has lots of holes for clamping and a track for flip stops. I haven't built this yet but will. I also plan a rolling workbench that will be for general use but also with the tracksaw. My tools are all about 1/4 lower than my table saw so wood can pass over them and they can support on the infeed or outfeed side too.

[mark mcfarlane]

And street and backyard views,...

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks Jim. The cabinet designs are just placeholders. Good idea for tool storage under the CMS. I'll probably have a bunch of home-brew short systainer-port style rolling cabinets under the CMS. I actually hate to use up so much space for the CMS,... but I can see where to could be really convenient to have an extremely accurate CMS & fence system with stops and markings,...

For my main workbench I'm thinking of a 4' * 8' MFT-type adjustable height top over permanent storage underneath, with temp tool storage in between (ala Paulk). Maybe using Noden adjust-a-batch legs: http://www.adjustabench.com/gallery_new.asp

[Drew Sanderson]

Off topic, but what are you drawing / rendering with?

[mark mcfarlane]

Off topic, but what are you drawing / rendering with?

Hi Drew, Off topic is better than no response... I thought someone would at least comment on my dust collection running along the floor, or the direction of the bandsaw teeth... I guess I provided 'too much'.

Home Design Studio Complete, Mac version. http://www.punchsoftware.com/p-101-home-design-studio-complete-for-mac-v175.aspx . After a few years of occasional use I can whip out a home design pretty fast, but there are some flakey features, like generating roofs with soffits, that don't work reliably.

I'm thinking I'd like separate jointer, planer, and saw but space is tight (could loose the SCMS). Also I'm not finding many options for mid-level separate jointer and planer in 12" except Grizzly, which is still possible. Everyone else does 12" combo machines, or you get into 16" (Hammer, Felder) and a tad more money. I'm also really liking the concept of the Tersa knife system (3 minute blade changes, old knives on hand for crap-wood projects,...), which further limits options,... But this isn't a tool discussion, its a shop discussion.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Mark, does you man door line up with your table saw? It's nice to be able to shoot longer boards out the door on various machines. Some of that depends on the projects you do though. I have all my machines but table saw on mobile base so that allows me to move them if need be.

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks Jesse. The table saw is perpendicular to the main door, but it has 9' of permanently open space on the infeed, outfeed, and left of blade sides and about 5' to the right of the blade. The green 'rug looking thing' in the second picture shows the 8' clearance around three sides of the saw. After rolling some mobile tables I should be able to rip 12' without moving the saw.

Mobile bases are a great idea, thanks.

[Drew Sanderson]

Thanks for the info on the software....

Perhaps a better arrangement of the ts, planer, and jointer? Seems placing them not parallel / perpendicular to the walls would give you more options. I personally would not do a combo machine. When looking at jointer width, next one I get is 8". That will do most things, and the rest, in the rare case, I could do with a hand plane. Doesn't have to be perfect surface, just flat enough for the planer.

[glenn bradley]

I have ducting across the floor as you show. I have the tablesaw as close to that wall as the right-side extension will allow. This area is a no-man's-land as far as foot traffic and this works out well. I consider the left of the blade my "long stock" space. I don't use the tablesaw much for preparing stock. It is more for making parts. For this approach I have the saw positioned with my back to the large door when standing in the operator position. I leave about 60" of room between the leading edge of the blade when fully raised and the door. This allows me to cut almost anything and I can open the door for the occasional long rips.

[mark mcfarlane]

I have ducting across the floor as you show.... I'm thinking of running the duct in a 'trench' in the foundation, but I suspect I'd need to hire an engineer to spec that out,.... I saw at least one example on SMC where someone did that, a trench in the slab for both electrical and DC, with a 2*12 as the cover. That could be used to give me a run from one side of the room to the other, and pickup tools in the middle of the room.

[mark mcfarlane]

I have ducting across the floor as you show. I have the tablesaw as close to that wall as the right-side extension will allow. This area is a no-man's-land as far as foot traffic and this works out well. I consider the left of the blade my "long stock" space. I don't use the tablesaw much for preparing stock. It is more for making parts. For this approach I have the saw positioned with my back to the large door when standing in the operator position. I leave about 60" of room between the leading edge of the blade when fully raised and the door. This allows me to cut almost anything and I can open the door for the occasional long rips. If I go for a combo machine, then the space to the right of the blade is the J/P. If I do a separate J/P, well, it would probably still want to occupy that same space, to the right of the blade (viewing from the infeed side).