New Woodshop Plans

[Todd Crow]

I have been planning for this shop for a few years mow, and this year I am going to start on the landscaping to fill in the area for the building. I want to leave the ground settle for a year before I begin laying the concrete.

It will be an addition onto the back of my current garage.

I know bigger is always better, but I do not have extra space on the lot, and bigger means more $. I have tried to make the shop efficient and reduce the wasted space.

I would appreciate any comments/suggestions you all may have.

Thanks
Todd


http://www.crowsnest.us/images/Pengilly_Shop_Remodel_V2.jpg

I am considering putting radiant floor heating in the shop.

Here is a link to my current shop (http://www.crowsnest.us/woodshop/current_shop.htm)

[Al Killian]

You might want to think about putting the RAS into the CS bench to save space. Many pepole do this as it makes for a more efficent space, plus it will put them both closer to the TS. Then you could move the BS over in place of the CS wich will give more room when working with larger stock. You could also put the plywood under the lumber rack to save more room. The drum sander might need more room( in/out feed).

It would help to know if you are planning to do many larg projects or plan to stick with smaller pieces. Im sure more will chime in with more/better ideas.

[Cary Swoveland]

Todd,

26' square is a nice size. In fact, it's the size of my shop. The only difference is that I have an 8' square room in one corner. I use that as a finishing room. In retrospect, I'm not sure having the room was a good idea. All the spraying I do is HVLP with water-based finishes, and that's quite tidy. If you are going to spray, however, you should consider where you'll be doing that.

I like your layout, but have a couple of suggestions. Firstly, if you have room in your garage, you might consider storing most of your lumber and sheet goods there. That would free up space in the shop, and make it easier to keep the materials (and hence the shop) clean.

Secondly, give some thought to your dust collection system, as that may have an important bearing on where you want to put machines. What I did--which has worked out very well--is to run pipe along two adjacent walls, with a single branch that goes under the floor and then comes up at a single convenient location in the middle of the shop, to serve my table saw, jointer and planer. (The pipe is all galvanized sheet metal, except the section under the floor, which is PVC.) This layout makes the dust collection efficient, and avoids the need to run pipe across the ceiling and have drops into the interior of the shop. I ran power under the floor as well, of course.

Here's a suggestion for how you might set up the dust collection in your shop. Firstly, I see you have the cyclone in the garage, which is a good idea. (Maybe enclose it to make it quieter.) I expect you'll have a 7" or 8" pipe from the cyclone, going through the shop wall, probably 7' from the floor. Try to run that pipe at least 5' feet or so before you have an elbow, wye or reducer. I expect within 10' or so you'll be down to a 6" diameter main pipe. I'd run a 6" main down the east wall (regarding up as north in your drawing), turn the corner and then run down the north wall, ending at the west wall. Perhaps 5' from the cyclone you could take a 6" branch down, to run under the floor and come up in the vicinity of your table saw and jointer. (More on that below.)

Now think of ways of putting all your machines (other than the table saw, jointer and planer) along the north and east walls (where you have dust collection), and use the west and south walls for your small workbench, storage of materials, portable power tools, hand tools, finishing supplies, hardware, etc.

It makes good sense to have your main workbench, table saw and chop saw close to one another, and your table saw, jointer and planer close together as well. One possibility would be switch the locations of the freestanding workbench and table saw, turning the latter 180 degrees, and moving the chop saw to where you now have lumber storage. By having the business side of the jointer facing the north wall, and rearranging the positions of the jointer and planer, you could have the 6" dust collection pipe (and power feeds) come up from the floor at a location that would serve all three machines without you tripping over pipes and cords.

The normal way to run the dust collection piping is to run the main pipe high on the wall, or across the ceiling, and have a T-drop for each machine. I chose a different way of doing it. About 5' from your south wall, I have a 45 degree elbow, and then a 7'->6" reducer, to bring the 6" main down the wall diagonally and through the floor (to come back up to serve my table saw, jointer and planer). Before this main reaches the floor--about three feet off the floor--I have a 6"x6"x6" wye, so that my 6" main that runs along the east and north walls about 3' above the floor. That allows me to have a wye/blastgage/flex hose off the main for each machine. This arrangement uses less pipe, and the gentle 45 degree bends generate much less static pressure than do Tees.

One last thing about the dust collection: to the extent practicable, use 5" blast gates and flex hoses as much as possible. If a machine has just a 4" dust port, use a 5"->4" reducer at the machine. That makes it a lot easier to rearrange machines, and generally makes dust collection more effective.

No matter what you decide for your layout, you can be sure that it will change, as you gain experience with it. Also, you may find that locations for machines are fine 90% of the time, but occasionally you may have to temporily move equipment in order to handle long boards, etc. It therefore makes a lot of sense to put machines that you will be moving a lot on mobile bases. You ought to think about doing that initially for the heavier machines. For lighter machines you can wait and see how often and how far you have to move them, and how hard they are to move without a mobile base.

Cary

[Don Bullock]

Todd, I'm still just in to the point where I'm dreaming of a shop where I can put my tools whithout moving them all the time. Your current shop looks great to me.

Cary, who's very experienced at setting up a shop your size. I'm assuming that your current shop is in the garage that you are adding the new shop on. I'd like to add that if possible (perhaps you actually plan to park cars in your current shop) you could leave your current wood storage. It looks like you have it set up well and you don't have to have it in the shop area. I've seen many shop plans where the wood storage is outside the actual shop area. Cary also had a good point with the radial arm saw and miter saw sharing the same extension table setup. I have seen pictures of a few shops where this has been done very well. It saves space and provided needed extension support to the radial arm saw that most people don't have.

I appreciate seeing your plan. It helps me add information to my dreams.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with the comment about merging the RAS into the Miter/spindle sander station...very complimentary: a la Norm, even! Less-used tools might best be handled by a "tool coral" to keep them out of the way until needed. Roll them out. Hook them up to a "communal" drop and use. Put away after use. That also increases space for things like assembly and finishing. You do not need to have all your tools hooked up and ready to use all the time unless you are running a production shop or have multiple woodworkers, umm...working...simultaneously.

On the duct work, efficiency should be an important part of the plan. Running along the perimeter increases the length of the duct work and reduces performance. Given the intended location of your cyclone, a diagonal main run from the cyclone in a direction roughly toward where you have your shaper illustrated would allow you more or less direct drops for the "big guns" with easy branching to other locations. Although I can understand Cary's recommendation of below grade DC service to the TS, J/P, it limits your flexibility in the future when (not if) you need/want to move things around to accommodate a special project or new tool.

[Chris Fetting]

Todd,

I too have been dreaming of building a dedicated shop. I have setup shop twice, both times in my garage. The one thing you are missing is a layout and assembly table. No matter how hard I try I never get to use all my space efficiently because I always have my project in the way. If you can swing it make a space for an assembly table near the workbench.

I am jealous though. Good luck.:)

[Brian Dormer]

Looks like a nice space -

Consider how lumber is going to move in the space. Your lumber rack is lower right and the CMS is upper left - so to trim a board, it has to go all the way across the shop (dodging the DC ducts in the process). I can't really tell how big the doors are - but also thing about bringing the lumber in and getting completed projects out. Think Workflow!

If you have a floor to ceiling lumber rack, you can leave 18" or so "empty" in the middle and run worksurface all the way down the right wall. You need lots of linear space around the CMS. Drill press works well as a "bookend" to the CMS worksurface, as boards you are cuttting will pass over/under the DP table.

Plywood (Sheet goods) storage to TS location looks really good, just make sure you have room to bring the sheets in and get them turned/flopped into the right orientation.

Lasty - I like the woodstove! A quick and effiecent way to dispose of mistakes. :-)

Remember the guy who built a boat, then discovered the boat was 6 inches wider than the doorway.

[Cary Swoveland]

...Less-used tools might best be handled by a "tool coral" to keep them out of the way until needed....
Great idea, even better if you have a border collie.


...Running along the perimeter increases the length of the duct work and reduces performance...

As long as the main is fairly big--say 6" in diameter--straight runs don't generate much static pressure per-foot. The bends, reductions in size and flex hoses are the bad guys.

Cary

[Jim Becker]

As long as the main is fairly big--say 6" in diameter--straight runs don't generate much static pressure per-foot. The bends, reductions in size and flex hoses are the bad guys.

Page 4 of this document (http://www.oneida-air.com/design/ductguide.pdf) from Oneida Air Systems presents the reasons that a perimeter design is the least desirable.

[John Bailey]

Lasty - I like the woodstove! A quick and effiecent way to dispose of mistakes. :-)



I also like the idea of the wood stove. Make sure you check with your insurance. Even though it may be in a separate building, I've heard of it voiding your house insurance with some companies. Also, not sure if it's a good idea to have the wood stove so close to lumber storage. It can dry things out pretty quickly, especially in the winter.

John