Looking for Advice on Shop Layout/Dust Collection

[Josh Baldwin]

Hey everyone I'm new to the forums, but I've been reading 1000s of conversations over the last few months. I've only been woodworking for about 4 months and I'm loving it so far. I'm currently building a new house and have been acquiring additional tools over the last month or so for the new house. Right now it's all just in my shed, but I'll have a full 2 car garage space at the new house dedicated to the woodworking shop.

I'm hoping to get some advice on shop layout, dust collection setup, etc. Here's what I have so far:

Dewalt Table Saw - Swapping this with a 52" PCS Sawstop upon moving in to the new house
Dewalt 3hp Router - Currently built my own router cabinet/table on wheels, but may swap to sawstop setup if space gets tight
Craftsman 48" Jointer - Hand me down from family, runs, but haven't actually used it yet
Dewalt 735x Planer
Metabo 12" Sliding Miter Saw - This is built into a fenceless Miter Station with 4 feet of cabinets to the right and 7 feet to the left
WEN - Ceiling Air Filter
Festool Domino 500
Bosch Dust Extractor
Ridgid ShopVac
WEN Floorstanding Bandsaw - Got it super cheap but I know it's not the best
Ridgid Oscilating Spindle/Belt Sander
Bosch GET75N Rotex style 6" sander
Incra 5000 Miter Sled
Bunch of DeWalt power tools, router, drill, etc
I've also been compiling tons of smaller tools over the last few months, chisels, japanese pull saws, router bits, jigs, guides, etc.

Things I'm looking to buy right away and install day 1 of new home ownership on February 22nd:
Wen 15" Floorstanding Variable Speed Drill Press
Sawstop PCS 52" - kind of debating if the 52" is really necessary, but any input would be great
Makita Track Saw and TSO Square
ClearVue Cyclone CV1800LH - Debating upgrading to 16" Impeller, any thoughts would be great
Planning to use 6" PVC straight along the miter station, one pipe going down to the miter saw, another main going across the ceiling and then splitting off in a bunch of directions going down to each tool as close as I can before shrinking to 4" PVC in order to install 4" iVAC Blast Gates and then to 4" flex hose as short as possible to each machine. I'd love to use the 6" blast gates, but they're crazy expensive and I really want a fully automated system. Any advice you can give would be great regarding the dust collection. It's the part that I'm most worried about getting it right.
Eventually an AVID 4x8 CNC - This might be a few months down the road to make sure it will fit since it's freaking huge!

I've also attached a few images from my Fusion 360 Drawings to show the layout I was thinking about. I would love any helpful input and won't take offense to any criticisms. I'm just looking to ensure I'm doing everything as best I can and not making any huge mistakes.
Woodshop.jpgWoodshop Angled.jpg
Thanks to everyone in advance for taking a look at my setup and helping out! I may have forgotten a few things, but hopefully it's all there.

[Tom Bender]

We all have to live with the space we have. You have some aircraft carriers in there. What is it that you will be building that require so much big lumber?

There are lots of smaller items to fit in. Trash can, hand tools, power tools, hardware, clamps, compressor, offcuts, jigs and fixtures, lathe, accessories, in process stuff, shop vac, battery powered stuff and chargers.

Also, is this the only garage at your new house? If so you will have a lot of stuff that wants in, lawn mower, yard tools, bicycles, etc.

[ChrisA Edwards]

To me, the saw is in the wrong orientation. It looks like it will limit the length of rip for both indeed and outfeed.

I have mine setup with the outfeed at 9', past the blade, going towards the garage door. If I need longer, I open the door. This also requires similar length clearance on the indeed.


I think I would rotate the saw 90 degrees, push the right edge close to the left wall, move the CNC over to the right wall, probably put the DC in the front left or rear left corner. most likely the front left with 52" Sawstop.

To me the miter saw needs too much space for the amount of use it gets. Mine gets used mostly when I need to crosscut on lengths that I cannot do on the tablesaw, mostly cutting to rough length. So if I need to do a lot of crosscuts with it, I lift it onto a bench or onto my SawStop. I have a portable fence which comes out if doing a lot of cuts, otherwise, my miter saw lives on the floor and I often rough cut by sliding into the easiest position where I can just cut a board or two.

Other than my Sawstop, the majority of other tools are all on casters and are moved for use if necessary. I could see the CNC and SawStop being statically positioned in your shop.

[Josh Baldwin]

We all have to live with the space we have. You have some aircraft carriers in there. What is it that you will be building that require so much big lumber?

There are lots of smaller items to fit in. Trash can, hand tools, power tools, hardware, clamps, compressor, offcuts, jigs and fixtures, lathe, accessories, in process stuff, shop vac, battery powered stuff and chargers.

Also, is this the only garage at your new house? If so you will have a lot of stuff that wants in, lawn mower, yard tools, bicycles, etc.

Hey Tom thanks for the input! Haha the CNC is something we may get down the road. The goal is to use it to make all kinds of things to sell on etsy, but also I'd like to use it eventually to breakdown all of my sheet goods instead of the track saw/table saw. But that could be a while before we go that route.

That vast majority of the other items you listed fit inside the cabinets at the miter station and I'll also be putting up metal peg boards above that to hold the rest of the accessories.

Yes it's the only garage. I'll probably get a small shed for the other items out back. To be honest I don't have a lawn mower and never will, HATE yard work.

[Josh Baldwin]

To me, the saw is in the wrong orientation. It looks like it will limit the length of rip for both indeed and outfeed.

I have mine setup with the outfeed at 9', past the blade, going towards the garage door. If I need longer, I open the door. This also requires similar length clearance on the indeed.


I think I would rotate the saw 90 degrees, push the right edge close to the left wall, move the CNC over to the right wall, probably put the DC in the front left or rear left corner. most likely the front left with 52" Sawstop.

To me the miter saw needs too much space for the amount of use it gets. Mine gets used mostly when I need to crosscut on lengths that I cannot do on the tablesaw, mostly cutting to rough length. So if I need to do a lot of crosscuts with it, I lift it onto a bench or onto my SawStop. I have a portable fence which comes out if doing a lot of cuts, otherwise, my miter saw lives on the floor and I often rough cut by sliding into the easiest position where I can just cut a board or two.

Other than my Sawstop, the majority of other tools are all on casters and are moved for use if necessary. I could see the CNC and SawStop being statically positioned in your shop.

Hey Chris thanks for the feedback. Ok I'll play around with the table saw orientation and see what makes sense. That's a good point about facing the garage door and opening when needing longer rips.

I totally agree on the miter saw not getting a ton of use. But it really only takes up a foot or so, even though it probably looks like way more due to the cabinets. All those cabinets are where I store everything in the shop anyway. And with a fenceless stop block I can use that 7 foot table to the left or the 4 foot to the right to put things on as well. I'm going to be putting up metal peg boards as well above the cabinets.

Yea I think you're right about the CNC and Sawstop basically not moving, but everything else I've been building has wheels (other than those long cabinets).

I'm going to play around with the design today and try your suggestions, thanks again for the help!

[Ron Selzer]

I strongly recommend the Sawstop be on the ICS mobile platform with a fold down roller for out feed table. mine has been that way for five years now and can't believe how often it gets turned or otherwise moved.
Ron

[james manutes]

I need convincing you need a 4' x 8' CNC . Breaking down plywood with it ? I suppose if you have that sort of budget , why not ? I would start with a smaller CNC , and see if upgrades are needed .

[Josh Baldwin]

I need convincing you need a 4' x 8' CNC . Breaking down plywood with it ? I suppose if you have that sort of budget , why not ? I would start with a smaller CNC , and see if upgrades are needed .

Hey James. The biggest problem I have with the smaller CNCs like a 4x4 is that you only save about 25%. The cost of the whole setup is basically the same and then just a smaller table, etc.

But yea we definitely don't "need" one that size, I just love the idea of having perfectly square sheet cuts with perfect measurements without having to hassle with the track saw, edge guide, parallel guides, etc. But yea it could be 6 months or so before we ever go that route.

[Jim Becker]

Having bought a very nice 4x4, I do wish I would have spend the additional three grand for the 4x8...that's a very small incremental additional cost from what I paid and even though it would have been a squeeze since it would have meant 10' long total, but it would have been better suited for some work I had the opportunity to quote on. You can cut small things on a big machine, but it's a lot harder to cut big things on a small machines...

Josh, be careful of having anything "permanently parked" in the middle of a small space like that. You need to remain flexible with space utilization in a small shop situation.

[David M Peters]

If you're doing 6" PVC then get some of Clearvue's 6" gates - they're only $15 apiece and perfectly fit 2729 pipe. But with that said, I recently did my DC system in 6" and only used one 6" gate, because all my tools have 4" ports. For those gates I used Clearvue's 6x4 gated transitions.

[Andrew Seemann]

I'd recommend putting everything on wheels, since you will likely move things around trying to find out the best layout. You also may need to move things around to actually use all the tools, to allow enough infeed and outfeed clearance. My shop about twice the size, and I still have everything on casters except for one bench and the floor drill press.

[james manutes]

If you're doing 6" PVC then get some of Clearvue's 6" gates - they're only $15 apiece and perfectly fit 2729 pipe. But with that said, I recently did my DC system in 6" and only used one 6" gate, because all my tools have 4" ports. For those gates I used Clearvue's 6x4 gated transitions.

Same thing I dd .

[Josh Baldwin]

Having bought a very nice 4x4, I do wish I would have spend the additional three grand for the 4x8...that's a very small incremental additional cost from what I paid and even though it would have been a squeeze since it would have meant 10' long total, but it would have been better suited for some work I had the opportunity to quote on. You can cut small things on a big machine, but it's a lot harder to cut big things on a small machines...

Josh, be careful of having anything "permanently parked" in the middle of a small space like that. You need to remain flexible with space utilization in a small shop situation.

Hey Jim thanks for the encouragement towards the 4x8! That's exactly what I'm worried about. I'll spend $5500 on a 4x4 and regret it that I didn't spend $7500 on the 4x8. I'll have to look into it with Avid and see if it would be an easy upgrade or not. But if not I definitely don't want to have to sell the 4x4 one day and waste all that money. I'm looking to build a really nice shop and not be cheap, but I'm super cheap at my core.

I'm also definitely getting the mobile base for the SawStop and my large workbench is on flip down casters.

[Josh Baldwin]

If you're doing 6" PVC then get some of Clearvue's 6" gates - they're only $15 apiece and perfectly fit 2729 pipe. But with that said, I recently did my DC system in 6" and only used one 6" gate, because all my tools have 4" ports. For those gates I used Clearvue's 6x4 gated transitions.

Hey David thanks for the input. I would love to get something like that to save money, but I really want a fully automated system. I know myself well and I swear I'll forget often to open/close all the gates.

[Josh Baldwin]

I'd recommend putting everything on wheels, since you will likely move things around trying to find out the best layout. You also may need to move things around to actually use all the tools, to allow enough infeed and outfeed clearance. My shop about twice the size, and I still have everything on casters except for one bench and the floor drill press.

Hey Andrew thanks for the tip. I have pretty much everything on wheels other than the cabinets against the wall and the eventual drill press. If I go the CNC route that will also probably have to stay put unfortunately.