It has been 4 years since I designed and set up my shop. Initially I set it up with 2 ideas in mind: my wheelchair accessibility, and my power tools
Well, now that I have worked out there all this time, I have changed my way of thinking about shop design. While the accessibility part remains the same, I no longer focus solely on power tools because I have come to work so much with hand tools alone. Not to mention that, in those 4 years, I have accumulated more than just a few new tools
So, since I have several larger projects to build this year, I decided it was time for a remodel.
This is the new layout I decided on. I have plenty of room to move around in my chair and I really like the idea of having my bench right in the center of everything instead of up against a wall.
As you can tell by the dog-eared edges and coffee stains, I agonized over the design for quite a long time, swapping this here and that there. This is actually the 6th completely different layout that I designed. I would create one, then think about it for a few days to see what I liked and didn't like about it. Then I would start moving things again. Small changes were labeled with a letter, such as 3b, to indicate there was a small change. This is #6. I've thought about it now for a couple of weeks without really coming up with any major negatives. So I've started the remodel.
Shop Layout Draft #6a.jpg
The first change is this: It is my new plywood rack for the shop. My nephew Nick helped me build it and my brother was just here and helped get it into place so that I could install the hinges. It's based on the one that Marc Spagnuolo built for his own shop.
Plywood Rack 1.jpg
Full 4X8 sheets in the back, half sheets on the front left and 2 slots for cutoffs.
Plywood Rack 2.jpg
A pair of 5" wheels on this end so I can roll it out to get at the sheet stock. Then I just roll back against the shelving unit and out of the way so my wife can get her car inside.
Plywood Rack 3.jpg
The original design was all made using single thickness 3/4" plywood. I chose to double up the plywood on the back, bottom and rear end for 2 reasons. One is that 2 sheets of plywood laminated together is way stronger than a single layer. And two is that the plywood I could get at the home center was so warped that it would have been unusable if I hadn't laminated the sheets together with the concave sides facing each other. Lots of glue and screws later and they turned out dead flat and ready to be assembled.
Plywood Rack 4.jpg
Three ball bearing hinges attached with 2 1/2" #12 screws should be enough to hold up this end don't you think?
Plywood Rack 5.jpg
I'll keep posting photos as the changes happen.
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Originally Posted by Rick Potter
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