SMALL shop layout

[Mike Steinhilper]

I've been looking at some shop layouts, and I have yet to see one as small as mine. My garage is 18x18. I have about 18x10 to work with. Has anyone seen or have a shop this small? Can it work? I've got a Ridgid 3650 TS, planer, Ridgid 6" jointer, small Bosch benchtop router table. A miter saw that will probably have to go. I am still assembling my TS and the shop is chaos. It's getting discouraging. I've made this investment in my tools, now it looks like I will not be able to fit everything! Any help appreciated.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Don't get discouraged. Breath, Mike, breath. You can make that space work. First, if you have a copy of MS Visio, draw up your space in there. If not, go here: http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx. It's a workshop planner. Put together a strawman and let us see it. Make sure you identify windows, doors, cars, & anything that will help us help you. One piece of advice I know you'll get is to put everything on wheels. Mobility is crucial for a small shop.

You'll get lots of good advice here. We just need a little more info.

[michael tessler]

Having your equipment mobile is an absolute neccessity. My work area is 9.5 feet wide by about 20 feet. Not all of the area is usable, since there is still a ton of stuff to sell in a future garage sale. The garage ceiling is also not very tall......less than 8 foot, with a/c ducts protruding from the ceiling.

I don't find a small shop difficult from a machine perspective, rather from a workbench/assembly bench standpoint. I wish I had more room, to build an assembly bench. Outfeed tables for my TS would also be nice, but ones that fold down should be a future project.

My best work area.......I lay a 3/4" partial sheet of plywood on my TS.

Mike

[Jim O'Dell]

My guess is that you will need to make everything mobile. You've got a good start with mobility on the 3650. I have the Herc-U-Lift on my Ridgid 3612, and is is superior to anything else I have seen for mobility. I'd see about making the jointer mobile also. See if the Home Depot in your area still has some of the Herc-U-Lift Plus available. They are being closed out at $14.00 and some have found them as late as a couple weeks ago. Depends on the area. Also make a mobile multi-use bench that you can use as an outfeed table, assembly table, and maybe build in a shelf on one end that you can put the miter saw on and use the bench as an extension on one side. It could even be a flip down shelf to save room when not in use.
There are a lot of people who have shops that size. Hopefully someone can point you to a link that one of the magizine sites has for a shop in a one car garage. It should have some good ideas for you. Good luck and don't forget to update us on how you progress. Don't get discouraged! There is a way around using a small space for a shop. Jim.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Have you looked at these layouts:

http://www.woodmagazine.com/wood/category.jhtml?categoryid=/templatedata/wood/category/data/Wood_Magazine_Shop_Tours.xml

There are a few in there that are close to the size of yours.

[Sam Quigg]

"SMALL"???????????????????????????

18'x10' = "SMALL"??????????????????

Ye gods and ye little fishes, mine is only 10' x 8'; two saws, planer, thicknesser, two drills, four routers (table coming) one lathe (and second coming), numerous hand-held electron killers and a full box of Neandertal items. Two bikes and assorted patio furniture make cases for political asylum quite regularly too.

When-oh-when will people realise:

"it ain't what you got, it's how you use 'em"

the old photographers mantra applies to woodworkers too.

[Dave Kettler]

shopspace?? try this idea.....workbenchmagazine.com...in upper rite hand corner search bar...: october 2006. The first thread is a shop with 5 stations in it . All in a 50square foot space.

[Mike Steinhilper]

I knew I could count on y'all! Thanks for all the advice. Keep it coming. That Grizzly layout tool is very helpful because you can move your tools to both the stored locations and the working locations. I definitely need to check on the Herculifts. We've got two older home depots in town and two brand new ones. I am assuming the new HDs would not stock it anymore?

[Rick de Roque]

My shop is about the same size as yours. Here is a picture if that will help. Some of the tools are: 20" Planer, 8" jointer, 18" band saw, 3 hp cabinet saw, router table, DC etc. It can be done with planning.


Rick

[Mike Steinhilper]

Rick, that's great. I really like the outfeed extension/workbench.

[Al Killian]

I dont have a shop your size. You might want to consider using a a flip top stand that can hold to items. I seen on that had a planer on one side and a scrollsaw on the other with ext.beds that lock up to make it easeir to plane long boards. Good luck with it and let us know what you end up with.

[JayStPeter]

My old shop was 1/2 of a small 2-car garage that I had to share with my motorcycle. Mobile bases were key and you have to think vertical. I built a shelf for my miter saw that was just below shoulder level. That allowed me to be able to cut long pieces accurately while still stashing other equipment along the wall below. Planer was below my TS extension, though I had just started to hang it from the ceiling a foot above my TS extension when we decided to move. I built cabinets everywhere (including the other side of the garage) to store WWing stuff and other stuff that just had to be in the garage. Some operations, like cutting down plywood with a circular saw, were done in the shop annex (ie. driveway).

[Larry Fox]

Ok Rick - your organization and use of your space is amazing. Well done. I have twice as much space and I don't use it 1/10th as effeciently as you do. I am now offially ashamed of myself.

[Dan Invan]

I agree, Rick has done a superior job. I have a 9 x 18 space in the basement with similar tools (only 6" jointer), and I see several things I can do better. He is using the wall space way better than I am. It is obvious that I am going to have to sacrifice some art(!) and haphazard tool hanging on my walls in the interests of efficiency. Also I have way too much lumber stored in my shop, but I have not solved this problem as my wife has indicated that moving it to the spare bedroom is a non-starter.

I gained a bit of space by placing the dust collector outside the house, and the neighbors have not complained about the noise yet after 3 years! I try not to run it after 9 PM though. It being outside also helps reduce the amount of fine dust particles in the shop's air. I think Rick has done the right thing with what appears to be 6" plumbing for his DC, my 4" plumbing frequently clogs from the planer and jointer. In fact I'd say other than the hassle of changing jointer blades, keeping the DC in tiptop shape is my biggest maintenance nuisnace.

I have the planer and the drill press on wheels, everything else stays where it is. I can slide the tablesaw and bandsaw a foot or two if needed.

I never do large casework and hate using the router, so the combo router table and tablesaw outfeed is a bit of a waste of space. I often covet that area but am reluctant as of yet to take the hacksaw to the tablesaw rail! I guess as one's work evolves you have to expect changes in tools that will affect your layout.

Dan

[Pete Brown]

I've been looking at some shop layouts, and I have yet to see one as small as mine. My garage is 18x18. I have about 18x10 to work with. Has anyone seen or have a shop this small? Can it work? I've got a Ridgid 3650 TS, planer, Ridgid 6" jointer, small Bosch benchtop router table. A miter saw that will probably have to go. I am still assembling my TS and the shop is chaos. It's getting discouraging. I've made this investment in my tools, now it looks like I will not be able to fit everything! Any help appreciated.

My shop is 11x15 (see attached - the layout isn't quite the same, but it is almost identical when it comes to major tools)

I have the Ridgid jointer on wheels and use the door to allow working longer wood. My table saw and bandsaw are limited to 6' long pieces and I have to pre-process sheet goods using my festool saw on sawhorses outside the shop.

The arm of my incra fence sticks out through a boxed-in hole in the wall.

My miter saw is used typically on my patio or on my covered deck. With my house renovation, it has been on my covered deck for a year or so.

My wood storage is all inside my house for now.

I plan to build a larger shop "some day" :) Frankly, such a small shop is really really frustrating, but I make do.

Pete

55389 55390

[Joe Meazle]

I am just down the road from Rick. I have small digs too but no pics to post, sorry. I have a similar complement of tools in about the same square footage. Between Rick and me, I am not who consumes the greatest percentage of shop space when they walk in the shop. Lets just say we are both good eaters.

I do have some tips. I have preformax 22/44 that lives on a hydrolic lift table under my mitersaw bench (my 8" jointer lives ther too). My 15" planer is also mounted to a hydrolic lift table it lives under the left extenion table of my TS. I can plane upto 2 1/2" thickness and 6 1/2' length withount moving the planer. For bigger stuff I pull it out and ope the 8' sliding door. The lift tables make great tool stands store away well and don't cost much more than a good mobile base.
Joe

[Mike Steinhilper]

I see some of you are using cabinets with casters. I build what I thought was gonna be a great shop dolly a few years ago. I put my miter saw on it. But I CANNOT get it solid. No matter how hard I lock those wheels. How are you keep your stuff from wobbling? I end up moving the dolly out from its space, moving the miter saw to my bench, then putting it all back when finished. Kind of defeats the purpose of having mobility.

[tom ryan]

Matthew Teague had an article in Fine Woodworking a few years ago about his shop, which was half the size of yours -- 9 x 18. He had an amazing layout -- there wasn't much missing or much you couldn't do. The article was reprinted in the "Best of" series, in the volume on Small Woodworking shops.

[Roy Clarke]

I see some of you are using cabinets with casters. I build what I thought was gonna be a great shop dolly a few years ago. I put my miter saw on it. But I CANNOT get it solid. No matter how hard I lock those wheels. How are you keep your stuff from wobbling? I end up moving the dolly out from its space, moving the miter saw to my bench, then putting it all back when finished. Kind of defeats the purpose of having mobility.

You could use some screw-down jacking legs, so when it's in position, you lift it on the legs.