Shop Layout

[Robert Ducharme]

I have just joined SMC and am attempting to become a more serious woodworker. I have just built a workshop and am currently laying out where the tools go and purchasing tools I do not yet have.

I just purchased an Oneida 3hp DC and will be starting work with them on the venting so I need to get an idea if there are any gotcha's in my current layout. I am pretty flexible and willing to adjust the layout for ease of work. Tool locations will start becoming fixed in about 4 weeks after I have finished painting that half of the workshop with epoxy floor paint.

I have included a floor plan but no pictures (too large to post according to the picture manager). I will need to figure out how to reduce the number of bits.

I am also looking for recommendations in bandsaws, planers, and lathes. I am willing to try to recondition older equipment (currently I have only purchased new). Some examples on this site have persuaded me to attempt this activity.

[Glenn Kiso]

Man, I wish I had all that space, 5000 sq ft. in fact, I think your shop is larger than my entire plot of land that my tiny house sits on...

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Wow, 50x100...three times the size of my house and 10+ times the size of my 2-car garage shop. Speechless :eek:. Heck, the finishing room would make me a good shop!!

Have fun with your new shop arrangement. My only advice is that yoiu should remain iopen to change, as you start working in it, you'll no doubt want to tweak it a bit. I've moved everything except my TS more than once.

[Lynn Sonier]

Do you use a golf cart to get from one tool to another?

[John Miliunas]

"Holy amphitheater, Batman!" Whew...Ever consider changing your name to "Noah"? That place is big enough to build an Ark! Very nice. I take it you may be a gearhead, as well? I noted the lift, what looks like a metal machine shop area and your paint booth is big enough for vehicles. Anyhow, welcome aboard! Enjoy, learn, contribute and hang out! Great place to be. Oh, and everyone really enjoys pictures around here, so get geared up for that, too! :cool:

[Jim Becker]

That's going to be a great shop! (Welcome to SMC)

Do consider putting your cyclone (and compressor) in a separate closet for noise reduction. Trust me...you'll be glad you did! You also will want your cyclone at one end of the shop to allow for a single main duct run to service the shop if at all possible. Oneida has a nice ductwork guide available on their site which illustrates some sample designs that work best.

[Todd Burch]

I would put the collector closer to the exit door, so when you are emptying the bin, you don't have as far to travel, and any dust generated won't be in the middle of your primary work area. Also, with the collector being on the right-end wall, you can run a single main tube horizonally across your shop, with wyes going up and down (as viewing the drawing above). With your current drawing, you'll have to run a wye to go both left and right. And, I'm not sure the 3HP is big enough if you want to go all the way to the lathe in your office. Todd.

[JayStPeter]

Wow, awesome. Like the others, my new shop will be around the size of your paint booth. I think if I had all that room, I would still group my big noise/dust makers in one area near the DC. I would surround that with handtool and assembly areas.

Looks like you'll be set to fabricate a hotrod and build furniture. That's my dream.

Also, why did this get moved from the power tool forum. It seems to deal mostly with powertools and dust collection.

Jay

[Ted Shrader]

Robert -

First, welcome to the Creek. There are a lot of talented people here with lots of good advice . . . . . and a great place to hang out.

Wow! You can get a work out just going from one end to the other. It must be really nice to have room to move around without moving the tools around.

Welcome,
Ted

[Robert Ducharme]

Not certain why it was moved to this forum. I guess I need to ask specific questions about specific power tools in the other forums.

The idea of putting the DC at the end makes a lot of sense and I will ask Oneida if that would be better. I only need to go 50 feet because the tools in the office are for working with models (boats/planes) and I do not expect to put them (or the metal working tools) on that DC. Oneida is working up the ducting at this time and I will see what they recommend.

And an answer to another question: yes I do work with cars. I am currently finishing up an '87 Jeep CJ-7 that I took down to the frame and installed a corvette engine with kevlar body (as well as other toys). When that is finished I will be restoring a '35 Ford Touring car (flathead).

Pictures later. It is still a mess from working on the drywall and floor painting.

[Robert Ducharme]

Finally, I figured out how to do the pictures small enough.

The first is looking down from the storage area over the office to the woodworking area. Everything is removed and the floors etched for the epoxy paint in 2 weeks.

The second is looking at the storage area above the paint / finish room.

The third is looking back towards the office area and bathroom.

The fourth is the paint/finish room.

The final is part of the office / small modeling room.

All pictures taken in just the lights in the building and not using flash. The metallic halide lights are great. Also can be seen in the pictures are the radiant heating tubes. You also might notice the car lift is handy for getting additional wood off the floor while painting.

The oneida DC should be received next week and will be put on the far wall shown in the first picture. Maybe someday I will get to do some other activities than build my workshop.

[Mark Singer]

that is quite a space!!!! Make sure the equipment is organized to handle the lumber as it comes in (size it, breakdown) to finer tasks as it moves through.
looks terrific

[Aaron Koehl]

Man! What's the ballpark price tag on this in CO?

_Aaron_

[Jim Becker]

This space brings tears to my eyes... :p

[Robert Ducharme]

Since I built it myself (and am still building as you can see from the unfinsihed drywall) it cost about 80K.

After painting the floor, I will mud and paint the walls. After that I will hang the DC pipes, drop electrical in the center, add air stations, and move the equipment into place.

I can then finish the office cabinets and start on the main bay cabinets and storage areas.

Lot of work left.

[Scott Coffelt]

I know have major shop envy. I would kill for half that space. You are truly a lucky man.

I too recommend another placement for your DC. I would put in a corner, also since it looks that you are closing off the air compressor, you may want to think about a small closet for the DC as well. By placing in a corner you can make a stright run with wyes off of the main run, along with having a good straight piece first. You want to avoid coming right out and going to a wye if you can avoid it. My shop was too small to accomplish this and it will reduce your efficiency. Heck I have a 5hp leeson in a sub 400sgft shop, so it has plenty of suck.

Since you bought an Onieda system, you should contact them and ask if they will design for free. They usually credit you the $50 if you purchase from them.

[Tyler Howell]

Wow. You win.:(

Keep the pictures coming Robert. We learn from the experience of others. Great Shop.

[John Miliunas]

Wow. You win.:(

Keep the pictures coming Robert. We learn from the experience of others. Great Shop.

Hey Robert, maybe you could learn me something regarding your shop. I see that you have some nice overhead lighting in your finishing room. That's great, but doesn't a guy really need some side lighting, as well, so that you can look at your finish from an angle? Leastwise, that's what I have been told. My finishing room is currently doing service as an "overflow" (junk) room,(and NOT nearly as big as yours!) but I intend on clearing it out this Spring and using it for what it was intended. It only has four incandescent ceiling fixtures in it right now, so I'm really open to suggestions for proper lighting. I intend to do both, staining and squirting in the room. :cool:

[Jim Becker]

It only has four incandescent ceiling fixtures in it right now, so I'm really open to suggestions for proper lighting. I intend to do both, staining and squirting in the room.

Be sure you pay attention to the color/temp of your lighting...invest the money in the right fixtures and bulbs to give you LOT's of light as well as light that is neutral to avoid color issues.

[Robert Ducharme]

Concerning the painting / finishing room.

Yes, although they are not on yet, there are florescent lights every three feet on each side. The tubes I will get are supposed to be natural. I still need to put in the exhaust fans, filters, and doors after I mud and paint the walls. You might be able to see the plates on the walls for these fixtures.

To avoid heating the entire building during the winter, the room also has 2 IR heaters on the ceiling so it can be kept warm during the curing process.

[John Miliunas]

Hrmph! Yup, first class, no bout a adout it! To quote Tyler: "Wow. You win!" You're going to have one, grad "A", kick-butt shop there! Enjoy! :cool:

[Tyler Howell]

Speaking of progress John, what's the update on OUR molding cutter???:D

[Fred Voorhees]

Can you say "jealousy" I KNOW I CAN! Man dude, what a fabulous space for a shop. Gobs of luck to you. Nice space!

Fred Voorhees

[Jim Williams]

Man, I'm drooling about the size of your shop! I'm envious for sure but did notice one little thing I'd consider. I don't know if your plan is to scale or not but I'm assuming it is not. Therefore this statement might not apply to your shop but I couldn't help notice the radial arm saw is sitting next to a storage area on one side with a lathe on the other. My thought was how will you use the radial saw on longer pieces of wood? With all of that space, I'd move it to another wall and then build combo storage shelves and supports for both ends of the saw to maximize the use of the saw and shop. Just my .02 worth! Nice shop and I'm still shocked at the size... Wowser!

[Tom Hintz]

Robert,
You realize that if you get machines too close together and have a conflict in a space that big we all get to come over and slap you on top of the head, maybe twice.
Probably the most common mistake I hear of, primarily with beginners but also veterans, is not anticipating the room needed to move large pieces of stock through a machine safely. It would seem that your available space would make this a moot point, but I'll bet it could happen more easily than you might think.
I always picture a 4 X 8 foot piece of sheet goods before and after the blade or cutter, adding at least a foot to allow for positioning it before it gets to the blade.
Do that with each machine and you should have no problems other than figuring traffic patterns to reduce the number of steps needed to accomplish common tasks.
If you jack that place up and bring it over here I'll gladly "test" the space for you for, oh, maybe ten years or so should handle it...

[Robert Ducharme]

Great,

The feedback about layout was what I was looking for when I posted to this group. I am including a later floor plan where I hopefully have accounted for this.

- The plan is to scale and I did move the radial saw.

- I allowed at least 10' between each major work area.

- I also am planning on the cabinet to the left of the miter saw acting as a table for the saw as well as the downdraft table.

- The small workbench and assembly bench are moveable as well as most of the major equipment (although disconnecting the DC will be a pain. So if I do run into some contention, I can make adjustments.

Some good news is that I finished expoying the floor today and expect to mud the walls next weekend. Painting, hopefully a week after.

[Rob Russell]

If your latest drawing is toscale, it seems to me that you're limited in the length of stock you can run across your jointer and through your planer. What would happen if you're trying to mill 12' trim stock - is there adequate room before you hit the bandsaw cluster?

[Robert Ducharme]

Rob,

That is true that I might be short space for 12' material through those areas which is why the drum sander and jointer are slightly offset from the other two work areas. This still leaves the planer in line with the big saw and bandsaw. To alleviate the problem, I was going to ensure the planer height matched the tablesaw height (therefore giving me a little more support on the infeed. I also moved the tablesaw to the right several feet.

For the outfeed of the planar pointing at the bandsaw, if I use those long pieces, may need to move the bandsaw temporarily or also look at outfeed height. On my master drawing, I just moved the bandsaw/drill press area to the left by 3 feet giving me sufficient room for up to 14' pieces. If I need more, I will move equipment.

Considering what I am using the area to the left of that for, I could stretch this work area out another 10' with no problem (other than the cost of the additional DC ducting).

Thanks for the feedback.

[Rob Russell]

Something else strikes me ...

You're going to be rebuilding a car in there while doing woodworking. I'd think you want some way to keep the wood dust away from the car lift area. Is it worth putting up some sort of really tall, industrial size curtain that you can pull around the car. The DC system won't capture everything your machinery produces.

Just a thought ...