narrow workshop ideas help

[Bill Lolo]

hey first post here i figure ill start out with some fun stuff

i have a long narrow wood shop and its on the second floor of the garage

it measures 12x36 at one end in the corner is the entrance to the stair case i cant make the room any bigger because the top of the picture the wall is load bearing

i am very limited on space and layout so its hard to move things over and over

i want to buy the incra table saw fence and router combo but i wonder if its what i want

in the picture the table saw is almost against the wall and on the opposite end the extension is the router lift as an extension to the table saws table

i see that the incra offers the router to be on either end and maybe it would be better that way

im also thinking that the 32" fence is better i can get anything i want to rough size with the panel saw and chop saw (not pictured because its a fold up i usually put it at the right side of the picture and fold it up when not needed


woodshop.jpg

[Mike Cutler]

Bill
My shop is 9'x19', it has two table saws, two bandsaws, a 6" Jointer, 15" planer, a dedicated mortise station, 2 small air compressors, a newly acquired Delta 3hp shaper, and a rolling Husky toolbox. Most of my solid lumber is in the same space.
I think I tried every way I could to incorporate a router into the table saws, but eventually gave up and built a dedicated router bench that is in my main garage.With the addition of the Shaper, I believe I can now do the work of the mounted router in the shop proper.
All of my machine table surfaces, at least as many as possible, are at the same height which minimizes moving machines.
The DC is outside the shop.

[Brian W Smith]

Probably shouldn't respond....oh well.

We're blessed here with more space than anyone really needs(told ya).Having said that,there's a cpl things that have been borne out.One is pure laziness...and the result "may" be of use to you.Basically,I'm too lazy to walk the 75+ feet to reach this or that machine....so we'll setup two(or more)stations.So you need to think how you're going to use a particular machine...and then think how you can save those precious few steps getting there.For instance,if I was using your garage in any way for auto repair.....that grinder station would be as close to the garage as possible(that may not be exactly the situation,hope you get the idea though).Another is dumping a DC....put it near an exit.

The other thing......it happens when you have more space than "sense".When first starting out(clear pallet)folks tend to just "throw" stuff in place.....yes,I know this IS why you posted...but,until you've actually "lived" in a shop,and more importantly,shoe horned equipment in,do you start to realize how important sq INCHES are,vs sq feet.Hard to describe.....but we find that when having a gun held up to our head,WRT "space"(keep piling more equip in your shop)we really start to develop the space.Otherwise it just dosen't show up on the radar.Here's one secret....go vertical as much as possible.Eye level for the most used...high/low stowage for secondary "stuff".And as Mike posted above.....if you aren't giving some very serious thought to table height(my inference)then you aren't thinking "sq inches"....you're just throwin stuff in.

Hopefully you'll get some more responses,like always.....my views are pretty hard to figure out?Best of luck,BW

[Mike Cutler]

Brian

Yep, getting machines at the same height is pretty critical to maximize space.
My table saws are pushed together, and sit at a 90 degree angle. Basically one is the out feed table when ripping, and they then switch roles and the saw set up to rip with, becomes the support for crosscut.
The jointer sits at the same height as the table saws, and the saws become out feed support for the jointer. The boards can pile up on the saws, and then I put them through the planer which is next to the table saws. I've done some pretty big boards on a little 6" Jet Jointer.
I plan to incorporate the Shaper, in with the table saws, which will give me a lot of surface table for support.

My shop is actually two separate 9'x19' spaces that form an "L". The back half though is an addition to the garage with only work benches in it. The floor is nowhere near strong enough to set a machine on in that back space.

[Mark Kornell]

Bill,

I worked from a 11' x 50' shop for a couple of years. Of that, 10' was dedicated to a spray booth, so the net space was 11' x 40'. My organizational philosophy was to run the "skinny" tools down one side, leaving the other side for the TS, drum sander, storage and workbench.

Here's a pic from the spray booth door, looking to the back of the space. You can't see the bench area, it is 90° to the right of the camera location.
04 - Full Length.jpg

Note that the TS has 52" rails, but the last 5" are tucked into the stud cavity.

I modelled this in Sketchup so I could work out my DC layout, but this is probably a better overview:
Workshop - Narrow Shop.jpg

I found the jointer/planer setup quite a space saver, not to mention very handy for staging stock.
13 - Jointer Planer.jpg

This worked so well I've kept the arrangement in my new 30'x35' shop.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Brian W Smith]

Heck Mark,that post gave me some ideas...cool deal.

[Bill Lolo]

some of this makes more sense that i would have thought

the DC is im assuming dust collection and yea mine is in the furthest back corner i need to change that for sure i love the idea of spiral pipe but pitting it over my head is tough as my ceiling height is maybe 8' so i have 2 small units one directly on the table saw one on everything else

i got some thinking to do for sure

thanks for the ideas

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I had a shop set up similar to Marks, and it worked well. In fact, I remember it the most fondly of the 5 I've had. Get the saw over to the wall, and keep things mobile. The thing I liked about a long narrow space most was the ability to use one of the ends as the assembly area. Seems like in a square building, the tools get scattered evenly at the expense of assembly space. Easier to leave one of the ends 30 feet away clear to use.

[Steve Peterson]

I also had a shop similar to Mark's. The table saw (PM66 with 50" fence) was placed along a wall. I built a 4'x7' table behind the saw to serve as a workspace and an outfeed table. My jointer and planer feed into the outfeed table from the other side. I would occasionally have to adjust the height, because if the outfeed table is slightly lower than the table saw, then the table saw is too high when jointing long boards.

My shop was 13' wide, so I had a 3' wide workbench on the long wall. This workbench had a miter saw, router table, RAS, and band saw. There was about 3' of walkway between the workbench and tablesaw. A 32" fence would still leave room for a workbench along the wall. I rarely used the full capacity of the 50" table, other than it provided a surface to stack things.

Another thing to consider is that you should try to keep at least 8-10' of open space behind the table saw, jointer, and planer. This lets you rip and prepare long stock. My table saw was along the back wall and I had to open the garage door for anything longer than 4'. It worked for me because I had no neighbors nearby.

Steve

[Michael Gibbons]

My basement shop is 13' x 32'. I'm currently in the process of building a 20' foot bank of cabinets along one wall to store all manner of tools and whatnot. I also have a 14" bandsaw which is mobile, stationary drill press, lathe, router table, planer, jointer. The cabinets will double duty as a bench for a Tormek grinder, 8" dry grinder, 12" disc sander and a 12" miter saw with a 6ft biesmeyer support table on each side.