Hybrid Workshop Size?

[Stew Denton]

Joe, based on the lay out work I have done so far using models and scale drawings, I am very impressed with how well you have made your space work. I appreciate all of the good storage ideas too.

One question, what is an SCM, a sharpening station?

Thanks and regards,

Stew

[Scott Winners]

The paper cut out model to scale is brilliant. I have done the entire living area of our home, with furniture pieces, so my wife can commit to a thing before I move the couch the first time. Same in the garage/shop for me.

One thing you might add is a scale model of the typical parts for whatever thing it is you want to make - and where are those going to go in the shop while you are making the last pieces?

In my current iteration I have room for both my bench and an assembly table and I really like having an assembly table. Alas, I will eventually have to give back some floor space. I just finished painting the entire garage, so I have heaps of items on the south and east wall of the garage, but room for a temporary assembly table in the NW corner.

I am also about to bump the "sharpening station thread" with my own findings added to some good stuff already posted.

[Clifford McGuire]

Jealous of those with the big shops.

But I've had a hybrid shop(s) over the past 25 years, none more than 450 sq ft. Sometimes it would be tight when I was working on a big project. But I've always been able to make do. It does help that they've been dedicated and not shared with cars/lawn equipment, etc.

[Joe A Faulkner]

SCM - Sliding Compound Miter. The station is fairly crude cabinet that provides storage for hand power tools, nail guns, files …The dust hood is just a plywood box with a 6” dust port in the back. These are old pics. I have since put a face frame on it and added some cubbies on top to hold more stuff - masking tape, moisture meter, square. Since this is not up against a wall, the back of the dust hood was free for F clamp storage.

[Thomas Wilson]

About the paper cutouts, I used ductwork cutouts to design my system dust collection layout. I did both vertical and horizontal plane layouts. The cutouts showed me whether an idea worked or not. I was packing my branches closer together than most commercial shops to create a tool cluster. In several instances, the fittings were too big to make the connections I wanted and the cutouts helped me visualize the problem within a inch or so. I still had to do some math and design some custom fittings before I ordered parts. A CAD expert could have drawn it within a fraction of an inch and avoided the math. I am not that kind of expert.

I used mostly Sketch-Up for layout of tools with models of major tools from the Sketch-up Warehouse. Sketch-up can be frustrating and time consuming for someone who does not know it pretty well or have ready access to an expert. Eventually, I got a good picture of the shop layout that is substantially the way it wound up, mainly because I refused to quit working on it. I don’t know if I would use Sketch-up again. Might go with paper cutouts.

[steven c newman]

A friend of mine is trying to frame up her Shop.....a 24' x 24' with a poured concrete floor...and trying to swing 24' trusses up, by herself...

[Christopher Charles]

Hi Stew,

Great to hear you’re about to get a shop. I’m on my fifth or sixth shop, now in a double car garage. A couple thoughts:

-for the last two, I designed them with sketch up. In the last shop, I printed out a version on paper and that was easier in the end. In both cases, the exercise was merely a starting point for knowing that all the machines could fit with reasonable clearances around them. But it took literally years of fiddling to get to the current configuration and I’m probably not done!

-the most important thing I’ve done to improve the shop has been to build a separate shed for the majority of my wood storage AND a bunch of the “stuff” that one finds in a garage.

-the biggest improvement I could make would be to separate the shop from a garage because it remains a constant challenge to keep “stuff” from accumulating in the open spaces and flat surfaces as we go through daily life. Separating storage/garage space from WW space might be more important than the absolute amount of space once over 300-400 sq ft. And becomes even more important in shops smaller than 300 sf.

-go read through Derek’s website on his shop layout if you haven’t. I have a slightly different layout but followed many of the same principles.

Will enjoy watching your progress!

best,
Chris

[Charles Guest]

While he obviously didn't have machine tools, Duncan Phyfe's first shop was purported to have been about the size of a modern two-car garage, and he had employees at that time as well.

[Scott Winners]

As Christopher Charles has already explicated elegantly, the paper cutout idea is intuitive and easy to use.

I sincerely hope in our next home I will not be competing for shop space/vs garage/ vs long term storage space with my spouse. This one is, as happily married space sharing folks already know, an elephant with big tusks and a short temper.

One step I have taken with say jointer, tool chests and work bench is to draw them on paper with the drawers open and my feet in front of the open drawers to more accurately understand the space required.

In 600sqft with spouse vehicle in, and my shave horse sold online, there simply isn't room for a chip collector. At 24x60 inches my snowthrower is bigger than my 24x48 workbench, and I keep a face cord of stove wood in the garage in our six winter months. YMMV, but I take my planer and jointer out onto the driveway for stock prep.

[Stew Denton]

Thanks for the heads up on Derek's website, but do you have a link, or what I can do a search for?

The way things look now, it will probably be six months at best before I will actually have a shop. There are permitting hoops to jump through, a dirt work contractor to hire, a concrete guy to hire, electricians for the main lead in, etc. I don't know how much of it I will build myself either. I may do the walls, insulation, much of the wiring, etc., but will likely hire putting on the roof.

Stew