Shop Layout Recommendations

[Carlo Petrilli]

I finally got around to starting my basement shop. We built a new home aprrox. 5 yrs ago and the basement was left unfinished, the only work completed up to 2 weeks ago was the outside walls were framed and insulated. I had all my tools spread out in an area about 1/3 of the basement for the past 5 years. My wife and I finally decided it was time to complete the basement so away I went and I started laying it out. We came to an agreement with what we both wanted in the basement. In the end my shop area will be approx. 22' x 16'. Below I have attached an image of the layout and was hoping to get some input from the forum member's experience with their layout. As I progress I will be posting pics and stories of my shop building experience.:confused:

Thanks,

Carlo

[George Summers]

Looks good for the tools that you have. But, whatever you do, do not create any permanacy with any of the machines. I have a 16 x 24 and thought I had it all organized for the last three years until this past month. You never know what will happen. Three weeks ago my dentist gave me a 6x48 belt/9" disc sander on a stand and a ½" wood shaper on a stand. This past weekend I came across a super deal on a full size lathe. I am in the midst of making Christmas presents and have lost all organization at the moment. I'm going to have to rethink positions of all my machines so I have room to move.

George

[Mark Singer]

I see a couple of problems...You need to walk around the tablesaw on the side where the planer is. The jointer and planer should switch locations....those are the major ones...the bandsaw should allow infeed and out feed ripping...

[James Biddle]

Carlo,
Looks good. You may want to consider leaving the left side of your TS open instead of the right side; much easier to process large pieces IMO. You could do that by just turning the TS 180, or by swapping it with the jointer. I would swap it to have the cut pieces close to the workbench, but that's just me. Turning the jointer around and butt it up to the TS and putting the planer against the right wall would give you better flow if space allows. Good luck.

[Jeff Fritzson]

The major pieces look like they fit really well. The comments above about the room around the table saw I think are very true as I had the same issues when I was laying out my shop. The other things I would consider is storage and tool mobility. If you can make the planer, router table and bandsaw mobile it would be easy to roll the planer out of the way when not in use to free up the TS and Jointer. If the router table can move to the left and you pull the BS away from the wall you now have ripping space on the BS. Where will you store your lumber?

Just some thoughts...
Jeff

[Tom Ruflin]

Carlo,

I have a basment shop that I have rearranged 4 times in 5 years. My biggest problem was creating enough floor space to put projects together. It depends on what you make, I was making kitchen cabinets and small tables etc. Most of my machines are mobile so I can get them out of the way. I also found bench space (lack of) to be an issue when working on projects with alot of pieces like chairs. I have 3 benches and am sometimes frustrated with pieces piling up in the shop. That's my 2 cents.

[Richard Wolf]

First, fight for more room. You have no room for expansion. As said above you also have little room for assembly. If you are locked into this set up, design your benches so you can store your jointer and planer under them. With a small shop, neatness is very important, try not to let things get out of hand, you may get overwelmed.

Richard

[Jim Becker]

"Tool coral"...make stuff mobile. And I agree with Mark that your Planer and Jointer are going to interfere with the use of your table saw. Better they are on the right side or wheeled away when not in use.

[Jim Dunn]

Your shop is about the same size as mine usually is:o This week I'm sharing it with of all things Christmas decorations:( Course the "shop boss" says I'll just have to wait till tomorrow to continue with my current project.:D Only if my dog sitting duties are done:eek:

[Michael Gabbay]

My shop is about the same size. I park my tools along the walls and pull them out when I use them. Only the TS is in a fixed position but still on wheels. I'd park the planer out of the way when you don't use it and give yourself room around your bench to work.

Mike

[Andy Fox]

Looks like a comfortable layout to me, except I think it would be hard to work with the planer, and maybe big pieces on the table saw.

If it were my shop, my preference would be to have the jointer against the wall to the right of the saw and leave 30" or so between them. And, put the planer either in front or behind the saw with its feed direction perpendicular to the saw's. Maybe even put the planer on wheels or on a cabinet with a flip-down top which can double as an outfeed table.

This will help with my own personal shop dilemma: Why did you put your shop in the basement instead of a garage?

Andy

[Carlo Petrilli]

I finally had a chance to get back to work on the shop layout. I made some of the suggested changes, a big thanks to everyone for your input. I have attached an updated pdf of the new arrangement. I made the workbench bigger and tucked the planer in the corner since it is on a mobile base. Actually I forgot to mention in my previous post that everything is on a mobile base except for the drill press. Also to answer the question on lumber storage, the garage will be used to store all my lumber needs. In response to Andy's question the reason I chose the basement is because of the lovely weather conditions in my area (Southwestern Ontario, Canada), I wanted a space that allowed me to work year round and since a seperate building wasn't an option the basement was my only choice. The garage will be used only for lumber storage and breaking down plywood when necessary. Again thanks to everyone for their input.

[Dan Lyman]

I like your space. I think it'll work out nicely. From the latest design, I'd place the jointer on the other end of the table saw and just slide the table saw 4 feet or so over to the bench. I think you'd get very tired of walking around the jointer to the ledt of the tablesaw.

[Jim Becker]

You "can" get away with the jointer on the left as long as the tallest exposure of it is at or below the top of your table saw. It's not an ideal place, however, as Dan points out. The compromise is to keep the jointer mobile so you can move it out of the way when you are working at the TS and really need convenient access to that side of the saw.

[Carlo Petrilli]

Again thank you for the input. The reason why I chose to place the saw against the wall had to do with not having to walk over the dust collection piping and electrical power cord. Additionally the power would be located on the adjacent wall which would keep me from having an outlet placed in the floor.