Machine Placement Question

[Doug Kerley]

Hello All,

I am new to the post and and very grateful for its existance. I have done a lot of research on this site and have found it to be indepensible. Thank you.

I am in the process of upgrading my old equipment and adding some new equimpent in my new shop and have a question regarding machine placement. The plan is to create a machine island in the middle of the shop. It will consist of a SAWSTOP table saw w/Jessem slider, an 18 inch General International Bandsaw and a 3 HP Delta Shaper.

I have not used a shaper before and am planning the purchase to replace my substandard router table set-up that I built into my old tablesaw (Yes, I have read the router vs. shaper threads). Since I have no experience with the shaper, and have not been able to see one in the metal, and after viewing only pictures of the machine, my first question is how much clearance does one need around the whole shaper? I am planning a minimum of 8' both before and after the spindle in line with the fence - perpendicular to the mitre slot. The back of the machine is proposed to butt up close to a vertical dust collection pipe that supports the 3 machines DC requirements. How much room do you usually need behind the machine if you are using the mitre gage? I can't think of any operations that would use more than the table depth. Please correct this assumption.

The 3 machine set-up proposal is as pictured. The table heights will all be the same. The whole idea is to be able to machine at least an 8' piece of wood at all of the machines and to use the table saw as support for the band saw. The dust collection and power runs down between the center of the 3 machines.

Any suggestions that you have concerning this proposal would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Doug Kerley
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

[Richard Keller]

Should work. Delta has their miter slot turned 90 to most mfrs (not sure why) but as you have stated, most work with the miter is short. If the piece is wide though, you may run into problems, but you can always slide the machine out a foot or two, worst comes to worst.

I fought bolting my table saw down (highly recommended) for a long time. It hadn't moved for eight years (and it was on a mobile base!) when I did it, and it's been two years. Still havn't had the "just incase" :)

Richard.

[Roy Wall]

Doug,

That is exactly how I position my Band Saw and TS. It has worked great for long arcs cut on the BS and across the ext. table of the TS. I have a 6" dc drop between the to and it branches out underneath the machines. It works very well.

[Jim Becker]

Althought the picture is small, it appears to be a functional workstation setup to me.

[Bob Michaels]

I like the island layout, it would certainly work for me. Best of luck.

[Jay Brewer]

Hi Doug, looks like a good layout, I personaly like having the most used tools out in the open ready to use. Im not sure about the Delta, but alot of shapers need to have the back accesably to make speed and spindle changes, not sure if the right side of the table saw will get in the way or not.

[glenn bradley]

My reaction before getting to the picture was "BS near the TS? It'll be in the way. After seeing the pic I think you are in good shape as others have mentioned.

[Doug Kerley]

I would like to thank everyone for their comments. It sure is nice to get additional opinions especially before positioning @1800 lbs of non-mobile machinery and plumbing the DC.

I will post pics soon.

Cheers

Doug Kerley:)