Discussion: Describe your shop dimensions

[Todd L]

I have an enclosed back patio at the house. It is 35' X 12' I was thinking of putting up a wall directly out from the back door about 10 feet deep. This way you exit the house into a smaller patio, the go out another door to get into the backyard. What this leaves me then behind the wall is an area

12' X 25'. The 25' doesn't seem to bad, but only 12' wide I was wondering if it's feasible. Basically I have a table saw, 6" jointer, 12" planer on stand, router table and band saw for large items among tons of various smaller tools. I can't seem to come up with a configuration that will allow the TS enough space. Presently the TS stays outside, covered on a mobile base, and I may have to keep it there. Anybody else have a narrow area that they us for a shop and is it enough?

Thanks, Todd L

[John A. Voss]

My shop is 12x26 and although it is tight at times it works well for me. I have a table saw, drum sander, planer, drill press, scroll saw, spindle sander, lathe, and band saw with a large (3'x5') workbench. It was only

12'x16' until last spring when I added 10' to the front. All of my tools are on mobile bases so that helps.

[Unisaw A100]

I have a similar shape (14'ish X 42'ish at the most narrow part). I ended up putting the side table of my saw (right hand extension) against a wall and it hasn't moved from there.

There really isn't a need to be able to waltz around your saw. OK, it does limit the length of a cross cut with a sled, but so far I'v not needed it.

UA100, who does have a chop box and a circle saw so maybe X-cutting longer pieces isn't a big deal...

[Rick Gibson]

Mine is a basement shop 25' x 25' but there are 2 support posts down the center effectively cutting it in half for large work. I have a below grade outside door which with another strong back I can just get a 4x8 sheet of plywood in, the corners usually get dinged slightly but I have to live with that. I have tablesaw, 6" jointer, router table, workbench, thickness planer, scroll saw and another bench which holds my drill press and grinder. Also have 12 inch wide lumber racks on 2 walls. I could close in the carport and get more space but then I would have to heat it in the winter. Since the basement is already heated I figure for what it would cost me to close in the carport I can buy lots of wood and more tools.

Rick

[Dave W]

I built a 12x24 shop and expanded it to 18x24 after a few years. It seemed like working in a tunnel. Long narrow shops do not seem to "work". Dave

[Todd L]

This is what I am afraid of.........

Todd L

[Unisaw A100]

I disagree. OK, let me restate that. With my shop I'm able to have my machines at one end and my assembly area at the other.

Now, width, especially a very narrow shop, that would/could factor into the "tunnelness" but I think you just need to lay it out and make it work.

UA100

[j.duprie]

my recent shops (in the order I had them)

15 years ago: 1 car garage. Bench iin the middle, tools on rollers on walls. Pull out tools as needed. OK workjing conditions, but spent a lot of time moving tools in and out. cieling open to rafters (nice)

5 years ago: 35'x45' barn, with a lally column (or 12'x12' support column) every 10' more or less. 7.5' cieling. Nice to not have to move the tools around, but the columns and low cieling really suck. Impossible to work sheet goods other than laying them on the floor (or sawhorses) and using a skill saw. Can't easily move boards around without hitting the cieling. Workable, but I liked the garage better (other than the fact that I had something resembling heat in the barn, and nothing but a jet heater in the garage). The constant dust and dirt (it was a couple hundred years old) made finishing a (bigger) drag.

Now: 40x50 clearspan shop, 10' cieling, DC, real heat. separate dedicated finishing room. I'm in the process of setting it up, but so far its great. I'm building the cabinets, built in benches, etc, and its nice. I have the tools more or less positioned where they will end up, and the workflow is good. On the occasion when I have to do something odd, its a long walk to some of the tools, but when I do normal workflow (rough stock dimensioning, surfacing, final dimensioning, joinery, finish/assembly) there aren't any long walks....

My opinion is that bigger is better *if* its set up right. If I had to carry stock across the shop tog et from one step to the next, it'd suck. Right now its pretty much set up so that the outfeed stack from one machine is the infeed stack for the next, so there's not much carrying or moving.

YMMV...

--JD

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

I have a 2.5m by 3.5m cellar (yes, thats 8 by 11 feet only...), with one wall taken by a row of kitchen cabinets (oven and drain not connected to anything, the sink just emties into a bucket so that i can use it as a sharpening station) and a wall-mounted workbench on the other side. Only hand tools used there.

Wood is stored in the garage next to the car, if someting larger is needed the car has to go out or it has to be dine weather...

[Stephen M]

My shop 25x20 Less a staircase (11x3, down). The stair case space is not a complete waste as the knee wall is intentionally *not* code (slightly below machine height) to that infeed and outfeed can take place above the stairs. I have a "cathedral" ceiling 6'4" on the edges 9'5"? in the middle. This gets me to the magic ">8'" in most of the working area so that manipulating sheet stock is not a problem.

Lanes lanes lanes!

You need to "isles" for walking between machines and "lanes" for infeed and outfeed of stock. With the table saw in the center, that gives me and "isle" on either side. The center of the shop functions as the tablesaw "ripping" lane. The north wall has a lane shared by the jointer and planer. The south wall has the chop saw and drill press.

Lanes can be stacked vertically too. My dad had a scroll saw and chop saw offset, but essentially stacked to create one lane above another.

With 10 or 12 feet of width, you can only have 2 lanes (unless you count stacking) and one isle in the middle. Lay out your shop with infeed and outfeed lanes shared by tools as best you can.

I turned my table saw at and angle so that I could have >10' of infeed w/o centering the saw on the long axis of the shop. Also, I did not want any potential kickback aimed at the picture window above the stairwell :-)

-Steve

[J T]

Wed, May 19, 2004, 2:06pm (EDT+6) [e-mail] (Juergen=A0Hannappel) says: I have a 2.5m by 3.5m cellar (yes, thats 8 by 11 feet only...)

Nyah, nyah, nyah. I've got a bigger shop than you have. Mines 8 feet by 12 feed. LMAO

Except the younger son has about 3 feet of that taken up by junk of his.

Still, it's what I've got, and all I'm likely to get, so not complaining. It holds my bench saw, on a stand; 39" wood lathe, on a stand; 12" planer, on a stand; and bandsaw, router table, drill press, and scrollsaw, on shelves, on each side. Myriad tools hang from the walls and rafters. Foot wide shelves, 8 feet long, on each side. One wood storage rack, attached to the rafters, in the back corner, another will go up in the future. The air compressor will wind up on a small stand suspended from the rafters, in the front. One folding chair, plastic bucket for trash, plastic bucket for old screws, bolts, nuts, etc., plastic basket for small wood pieces. Sorta narrow "workbench", about 4 feet long at the back. Paint/finishing stand goes under the workbench. Things need to get shuffled at times, but still usually wind up with a work/standing space about 4 feet by 5 feet. No prob.

I recently made a neat, 3 shelf, work stand, to use in the house. Because I usually do glue-ups in the house. Have to in the winter, and it's just plain handy. So the stand. I posted some pictures of it awhile back - they're gone now. It's working out great, but I'm still modifiying it a bit, to hold a roll of wax paper, my rolls of plastic I use for patterns, and maybe a few more mods. Added wheels a few days ago. I won't move it around much, but loaded it's gotten too heavy to handily lift and move, so the wheels. Racks to hold clamps, and holds two glue jigs. Having that in the house, instead of the shop, frees up a pretty fair bit of space, and beats having to go back to the shop to do the next stage of a glue-up.

I only stopped in today to see what was going on. This was the only half-way interesting thread.

JOAT "106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses." - Elwood

"Hit it." - Joliet Jake

[Bri]

[Todd L]

Bri, nice layout, I like it, thanks.

Todd L

[Walt]

Excellent, thanks for the photo. I'm just finishing constructing my shop in the backyard. It's 12x16 and I was a little concerned with how tight it would feel (the layout looks okay on paper). I was going to make it

16x24 but I ran into permitting issues (the permit guys don't have a classification for shop/shed so it was going to require features to pass a house inspection. No, I didn't feel like pouring a foundation wall). So instead I made it 4 sqft beneath permit requirements. Later on I'll pull a wall and make it 12x32.

Pictures if anyone cares:

[Jon Endres, PE]

Sometimes, but when you just have way too much crap crammed in there, ain't no space, nohow, gonna work properly. Mine is currently an 'L', 16 x 24 on the long sides of the L and 12 x 6 on the short sides. I can't even move around in there.

New shop will be a bit bigger, maybe 24 x 32, with 10-12' celings and a lumber 'loft'. I will have to sacrifice 12 x 20 of it for temporary evening car storage.

Jon E

[Jon Endres, PE]

Jon E

[Bri]

I know, I know. That was when I just finished it. Not the same at all now.