How did you arrange your lathe in your shop?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Basement shop with a full compliment of stationary power tools - so room is always an issue. The lathe is parallel and about 2' away from a wall - just enough room so I can walk in back of it for cleaning. The wall allows me to hang fixtures, lights, etc - all within easy reach.

[Reed Gray]

I have a 24 by 36 shop. I made an 8 by 12 ft. room for the lathe in the front corner of my shop. I can see out the window to see any one coming to the shop. Since I have a sliding headstock, the headstock end goes into a corner (no outboard turning. It is about 2 feet out into the room away from the wall, and I have a 30 inch bench on the opposite wall which has my grinder and tools. I built a short ceiling in my turning room at 8 feet, which left 18 inches or so open on top of it for lumber storage. If I had my lathe in the middle of a 400 sq ft shop, I could fill the entire shop with shavings. Having it in an enclosed room keeps the dust in, (what little escaper from my sanding hood), and contains the mess some what, though when the shavings do pile up, I have to step over them to get out the door. If I had it out in the main shop, I would have a rolling cart for my tools, and maybe another one for the grinder.

My table saw can not be moved with a big outfeed and side table, but my mini lathe is set up on it, and it can be easily moved. My other flat work tools are all mobile.

robo hippy

[Michael Mills]

My lathe lives in a corner, the only place for it. My table saw is on casters so that I can move it to the center as needed.
I had thought about the shower curtains but haven’t done that yet. Maybe, Rigid Foam Sheathing mounted with eye bolts/hooks to the ceiling or conduit. Very light weight and easy to remove and stack against a wall if they get in the way of other projects.
The main light is overhead. However I have a 38" gooseneck attached to the wall for the inside of bowls and finishing work. The gooseneck could also be mounted on a tool cart.
Mike

[Matt Ranum]

My shop is 24x24 and its configured in basically 3 rows. When you walk in the door which is in the corner, you have on your right the drill press, RAS, shaper, shopsmith #2 which is usually used as a sander/horozontal drill, bandsaw & air compressor.

Running down the center, facing as you walk in and to the right, planer with a 6' outfeed, jointer, and my tablesaw/ router table station which is on wheels and is moved often. Also makes a nice assembly area.

Then on the far wall, facing as you walk in is lumber rack, shopsmith #1( the good one) used mainly as a lathe then a "L" shaped counter/cabinet set that wraps around the corner. My bench sits just in front counter/cabinet. The grinder is right next to the lathe now on the counter/cabinet

So far I like this arrangement, I had the lathe in front of the window and was always worried about sending something through it but always ended up with the sun blinding me in the afternoons.