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Thread: Sketchup/Workshop/Layout of Shop

  1. #1
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    Sketchup/Workshop/Layout of Shop

    So, just thought I'd share. I know that I had purchased an ebook on using sketchup for woodworking years ago.
    While looking for it (as I don't really remember how to use it), I found this on my file server. Apparently I had the rudiments of it down 7 years ago.
    The specific tools don't exactly match my "shop" as I just downloaded models wherever I could and resized them.

    And significantly, I now need to be able to park a car in there. So the tablesaw never got to live out in the middle, which is why I never use it and am going to sell it.
    Anyway, I had completely forgotten that I made this model for my garage/workshop. Guess I can update it and start planning how to fit an 8' workbench and bandsaw in there, as well as the lathe I just bought. Also I have to draw a Dutch tool chest approximation.

    GaragePlan.jpgGaragePlanISO.jpg

    Amazing how much space it looks like I have. The reality is thus... I need to sell that darn Tablesaw and CMS to make some room.

    2020-09-12 12.28.18.jpg (edit: Interesting, must be a wide angle setting on my phone. This picture looks way more spacious than it actually is )
    Last edited by Erich Weidner; 09-12-2020 at 5:00 PM.

  2. #2
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    Most of these pics I see of peoples garage shops must be single or retired. About 50% of my space is dedicated to my kids bikes, camping, toys etc.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael J Evans View Post
    Most of these pics I see of peoples garage shops must be single or retired. About 50% of my space is dedicated to my kids bikes, camping, toys etc.
    I get the basement.
    The damp, poorly ventilated, dark basement.

    I sprinkle sawdust at the top of the stairs to keep evil spirits from crossing my threshold.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Matthews View Post
    I get the basement.
    The damp, poorly ventilated, dark basement.
    Is there an old boiler hidden in the corner making spooky noises?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael J Evans View Post
    Most of these pics I see of peoples garage shops must be single or retired. About 50% of my space is dedicated to my kids bikes, camping, toys etc.
    I am often a tad envious of folks with ample shop and/or garage space.
    Since moving and buying a place with a bigger garage or a proper workshop isn't currently in the cards... This past year I've made major headway in getting rid of things I don't use. (Amazing how much stuff I found that I only vaguely remember buying... some of the shelves I couldn't easy reach for over a decade were full of stuff like this!)

    I've been trying to treat every square foot of floor space and wall space as precious. With this new mindset, I've been able to part with a bunch of stuff I was likely never to use but just holding on to because I spent money on it. I've never had much luck selling things 2nd hand for enough money to feel like it is worth the time, so it usually goes to friends or goodwill. SWMBO exhibited severe frowny face when I prepared to dump this pile of stuff at goodwill, so my office floor space is filling up with boxes of crap I need to sell. (Never seem to have the time or the energy to do it...)

    I gave my hybrid bike away to an employee who had his stolen from out back of our business. My mountain bike got relocated to the 5'x10' shed (I just stacked it on top of the pressure washer and garden cart... that shed is probably haunted by now). SWMBO's bike is up high enough that so far it isn't in the way.

    I now have a lumber rack where the two lower bikes used to be, and can put boxes of sorted and finally organized stuff underneath. This is awesome, because previously I had to manipulate anything longer than 5' into the attic. So almost never had any decent lengths of project wood at hand. Now I can keep stuff up to 12' in length stored flat on a 16" lumber rack.
    Last edited by Erich Weidner; 09-13-2020 at 1:36 AM. Reason: typos

  6. #6
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    I complain about 50% of my garage being taken, but I have a extra deep 3 car garage. (mainly the reason I agreed to the home purchase) I've dedicated the 1 car portion to my area. The wife and kids get the other space (I get to maintain it) 😑

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael J Evans View Post
    Most of these pics I see of peoples garage shops must be single or retired. About 50% of my space is dedicated to my kids bikes, camping, toys etc.
    Ha!

    I'm long retired and 50% of my garage was taken up with my own stuff leaving me a one-car bay for a shop. i must have a lot of stuff. So I cleared and leveled a spot by the barn and built a 24x62' building dedicated as my shop, plenty of space, heat and air. But now it's half full of welding/machine shop, plastic and metal stock, electronics, library, maintenance tools, farm supplies, and now incubators and brooders for guineas and peacocks. I'm thinking of adding on...

    JKJ

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    Ha!

    ...So I cleared and leveled a spot by the barn and built a 24x62' building dedicated as my shop, plenty of space, heat and air. But now it's half full of welding/machine shop, plastic and metal stock, electronics, library, maintenance tools, farm supplies, and now incubators and brooders for guineas and peacocks. I'm thinking of adding on...
    Nice, John. Sounds like you may have me bested in number of and depth in hobbies! Perhaps the key is more space. (Though probably retirement helps too).

    We're in suburbia and have a tiny lot. Nowhere to build (and wouldn't be allowed by the HOA anyway). I keep thinking about possibly selling and buying something with more land. But I own a small business in the city so can't go to far. (And housing prices have become insane in the Austin area).

  9. #9
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    I’m recently retired and get the single car garage as my workshop. I do have a 10x16’ shed that catches most of the bikes, mower and yard tools. Also a small boat and a dozen winter tires that fit various family members cars. Kids grow up an move out but their junk stays on forever lol!
    Like Erich, I have been on a reorganization drive combined with a serious purge “of stuff I may use someday”. I decided it would be much more economical to recover existing space than move to a new space. I’ve sold some bigger things but most has gone to Habitat for Humanity. The stuff that I never used will now get used for a good cause at least.
    I get envious of the large, well laid out shops I see here but am also aware that if I had a shop like that I might have to deal with some higher expectations of the quantity and quality of my output!

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Publicover View Post
    I get envious of the large, well laid out shops I see here but am also aware that if I had a shop like that I might have to deal with some higher expectations of the quantity and quality of my output!
    Also, the shops that get (usually) featured in the magazines are glorious and large. There is a youtube (I think) video tour of Chis Schwarz's basement shot (I think I saw a blog post that he's moved in above his LAP studio now).
    He said it is only 10x15 or something like that, and shared with the heater. Interesting to see, and honestly it helped me with shop envy. But it also explains why he went minimalist with tools.

    These days I'm much more motivated to have a a shop that is uncluttered and as comfortable as possible than to have the perfect tool for every situation (Though, with hand tools, I can go more crazy and still not loose floor space).

    Yesterday I needed to rip a pair of 2x4's down into 3/4" widths for a honey-do project. I did actually fish out the table saw for the first time in 7 months. But this involved dragging the lathe out of the way, rolling the CMS stand and router table out of the way. The Festool MFT table is too tall to use as an outfeed, so it had to be moved as well. It is 15 minutes of shop tetris before I can use the TS. I'm going to hopefully have time to put it up on craigslist this week.

    I'll admit I had no desire to make eight 8' rip cuts by hand (plus I can't saw that long perfectly straight yet). If I had a bandsaw, I could have done that and cleaned up with the planes after cross cutting to length. As fast as a TS? No way.
    But I'd have gotten the first 15 minutes of that hand tool work "free" vs. first playing shop tetris.

  11. #11
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    I’ve been playing “shop Tetris “ for a while which is what was the driving force for my latest attempt at creating a more efficient and useful layout. I’m pretty much limited to a few bigger machines ( Table saw, Bandsaw, jointer/planer and dust collector) for the grunt work with a bench top drill press and router table. The rest gets done with hand tools or small portable power tools.
    I only had a bandsaw for about 25 years before getting a table saw. I like having a table saw in the shop now too and would not want to give it up but you can certainly get by without one.
    Cheers!

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Erich Weidner View Post
    Is there an old boiler hidden in the corner making spooky noises?
    The only thing making noise in our basement is me, on Taco Tuesday.

  13. #13
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    I'm in the same boat (and same area, coincidentally), fighting for organization in an even smaller space. I've decided the table saw is going to go after this last round of home projects (I know, famous last words...). Probably the SCMS, too. I'll try to wait to post my table saw on CL until after yours to avoid competition . I'm going to replace it with a medium-sized bandsaw, which will have a much smaller footprint.

    I have enough friends with big machines that I can borrow time on theirs if it's really needed. Fingers crossed that having fewer tools also keeps me out of so many home projects (yeah, right...)

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Culotta View Post
    ...I'll try to wait to post my table saw on CL until after yours to avoid competition . I'm going to replace it with a medium-sized bandsaw, which will have a much smaller footprint.

    I have enough friends with big machines that I can borrow time on theirs if it's really needed. Fingers crossed that having fewer tools also keeps me out of so many home projects (yeah, right...)
    Lol. I'm sure there is plenty of room in the Austin area for two table saws.

    I used to have a bandsaw, but it was small, and when it broke I didn't replace it. When I was no longer making bokken I never used it (back then). I got the sawstop shortly after that. And built a crosscut sled and did lots of sheet good work with it for years (it saw its share of solid wood also). But I never used rough lumber. After a 5+ year woodworking hiatus I'm now finding I just don't miss the tablesaw for projects I want to build.

    For some utility projects that I just want done like yesterday, it is nice to have the TS. But I think I'd be fine ripping on the BS and cleaning up with handplanes (after I get my 8' bench... which I have to get rid of the TS to have room for... stop the insanity!)

  15. #15
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    IMO, a SCMS is fairly easy to replace with a handsaw Daniel, especially if you don't do lots of miter cutting and stick to mainly crosscutting. A decent crosscutting handsaw works quickly and accurately after very little use. If I was cramped for space, that is one thing that would go.

    Erich, sounds like you need to stop the insanity by making a road trip to Tucson and relieving Ken of one of his workbenches. Besides, Tucson has the best Sonora dogs around.
    David

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