I've got my planer, router table and miter saw aligned along a wall. The planer and router table are on wheels so I can roll them out to have room to run long stock through them. The miter saw is on a Dewalt miter saw stand and has plenty of room for most things I cut on it without moving it. My band saw sits on the far left end of those three tools and is also on a mobile base. Here's what it looks like. Those three tools currently occupy about 12' of floor space and I would like to cut that down to 8 by having them share the bench top.
I'm thinking of ditching the individual stands and bases and making a 8' long work surface with space for the planer, router insert and miter saw. It'd have to have openings of different levels so the deck of the planer and miter saw would line up with the router insert. I'd make it 37" high so its the same height as the band saw and I could literally slide a piece of wood all the way from the band saw to the miter saw.
Has anyone done that? What pratfalls do you see? The 13" planer limits me to that width piece of wood, for all three tools, but the band saw only has a 16" capacity and the miter saw cuts 8" so I don't think that is going to be an issue. I can line up the miter saw fence with the back edge of the opening of the planer. The router fence will have to move some front to back but only the width of a my largest router bit so I don't think that is a problem.