Evolution of a Workshop
I recently had a question from a viewer concerning my shop setup. The gentleman was building a new shop and had questions about equipment arrangement. He stressed that he wanted to get the setup right the first time. This made me laugh a little. If I only had a dollar each time I thought my shop was FINALLY setup perfectly………….well, I wouldn’t be rich but I would have at least 20 bucks.
Whether minor alterations or major rearrangements, my shop has seen its share of modifications. New tools are usually the culprit. You just cant drop a new tool in the middle of the floor. You need to find the perfect spot. Preferably a spot that fits into the shop work flow and is located near an appropriate outlet. For most of us, this is the biggest challenge. Most of our garages and basements are inadequately wired for a shop. But for the viewer who emailed me, there was still time to increase the number of outlets, and that was the advice I gave him.
It is important to recognize the fact that the setup WILL change and you need to be able to adapt. So if possible, its always a good idea to have multiple 220v outlets and numerous 110v outlets throughout your shop. Today, in my own shop, I had a work-flow dilemma. My shop, while generously-sized, has limited wall space. Most walls either have doors, garage doors, or something else in the way. And walls are a natural place to put a large tool. So some of my tools are positioned in the middle of the floor in a group of three. The group in question consisted of a drum sander and a planer sitting perpendicular to one another, and a 14” bandsaw wedged between them. This worked for a while, but there were two major issues. First, when going from the planer to the drum sander (the usual work-flow), I had to pick up the whole pile of boards and walk around to the other side of the little triad. Once there, I had no place to sit the boards as I sent them through the drum sander one by one.
The fix was rather simple and involved putting the drum sander and planer side by side so the out-feeds were going in the same direction and finding a new home for the bandsaw. So now the drum sanded pieces can rest right on top of the planer and I don’t have to carry them around when moving from one machine to the other. It will probably save me a few seconds per board and makes the whole operation easier and safer. The workflow just makes sense.
Now I have been in this garage for almost 3 years now and none of these tools are new to me. So why did it take this long to come up with an ideal solution? I wish I knew. But the moral to the story is there is no reason to think of our shops as static entities. Our equipment changes, our needs change, our tastes change. Heck, I sometimes like to move things around just for the sake of seeing something different. I find it very inspiring. Just ask my wife who recently came back from a work trip to find our office completely rearranged just for fun.
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Marc:
I know I asked you that question last year, but someone else’s question must’ve sparked the article. The clue was that it was asked by a “gentleman”. Seriously, thanks for all the help you give me.
I’d be stumbling around lost without your advise.
Eight years ago, when my wife threw me out of the garage, she let me build a shop. And the thing she kept saying over and over again, is ” your only going to build one, so build it big enough”.
I made it 24 x 40 thinking I had plenty of room-ha, boy was I naive.
In those eight years I must have rearrange tools probally 3 times a year. Yes, some where due to adding a new drum sander, or a bigger band saw, but mostly it was because the direction of my projects changed. First furniture repair, then building furniture, now its cabinet making and soon to add veneering.
I will say this tho, a by product of all the rearranging was a plus, because I sure got the shop cleaned up. All those scraps of hardwood and plywood got tossed in the burn pile or neatly stored some where. Misc hardware that I had bought on sale ,or for a project “I was going to get around to” got put in its place.
So there is a plus to the madness !!
Oh, and as a side bar- I just had another 480 sq foot slab poured at the back of the shop to expand.
So I will be moving machinery, cabinets, and tools once more, and I know this will be the last time.
Yea- right……………
Thanks
Dave
I had the chance to start over with a new shop earlier this year in a three stall garage. One stall would always be woodworking equipment, one for the wife’s car and one for mine when it’s really cold out (below zero) here in Minnesota. So far it’s working out well.
I was starting from a basic 22’ by 34’ three stall garage shell and added the following:
1. Electrical – outlets and lights
2. Mechanical – heating and cooling
3. Insulation – walls and ceiling
4. Sheetrock – taped, finished and painted a bright white
The best advise I would pass on to others is to add enough electrical capacity and lighting at the beginning, especially if you are going to cover the walls with sheetrock or paneling. Here’s my recommendations for electrical:
1. High output aperture industrial fluorescent lights every five feet with 3-way light switches on both ends of the shop
2. A minimum of two 220 circuits, alternating the circuits with every outlet, spaced approximate 16” or 32” apart
3. A minimum of four 110 circuits, alternating the circuits with every outlet, spaced every 16” or 32” apart
4. Ceiling drop cords for both 110 & 220 centered in each stall
5. If your shop is attached to your house and you have a hardwired smoke alarm system required by the newer electrical codes, be sure to add at smoke, fire and heat detector in the garage and connect it to the house system. That way if there’s a fire in the garage, especially when you are not in the shop, everyone in the house will know right away.
6. Wire for a heating system (ceiling mounted furnace, etc.) and cooling system (window AC unit, sump pump, etc.) now, even if you will not install them until later when funds are available.
7. Make it a pleasant place to spend time by installing a cable or satellite TV outlet. If you don’t have a cordless phone or wireless Internet access, pull cables for the telephone and computer network.
8. The one thing I omitted and will likely retrofit next summer is a high CFM exhaust fan to use when spraying finishes, the typical box fans in the windows just don’t cut it for my home made finishing booth. It would have added $300 during construction to enlarge the furnace chimney through the roof, now it will cost double that with the necessary permits (city requires a wall switch operation and inspection) and exterior changes to the garage side wall.
By having so many lights installed, it really helps eliminate the shadows when doing finishing work and keeps you sane during the long winter months in the north. By placing your outlets on at least every other stud, you eliminate to the need for unsafe extension cords and there’s always an outlet within easy reach. Additionally, with all the cordless battery chargers, pencil sharpeners, radios, etc. that get plugged in, you never run out. The ceiling drops came in handy when I needed to move the jointer and planers close to the garage door openings to mill some 15’ boards, the 220 circuits where within easy reach.
I spent about $2,500 on the electrical work that split out as $1,100 for materials, $200 for permits and $1,200 for labor by a licensed electrician. Those with more time, patience, and electrical knowledge might tackle this project themselves, but I appreciated the fact it was all done in three days.
As you correctly state, the shop layout is never perfect. The only machine of mine that has not moved at least once in the last year is the table saw and the 3’ by 7’ out-feed table I attached to it.
If you would like a PDF copy of my electrical plan, please email me at kelly@breit.com and I’ll gladly send it out.
Cheers,
Kelly
Shop design (layout) … there must be some absolutes.
I do not pretend to know these absolutes but will, just the same, make a stab at them here.
Like …
1- Any power tool that can get long boards fed through them should be in the middle and probably on wheels for flexibility. ????? (TS / Planer / Drum Sander / Joiner, etc.)
2- Tools that treat the wood in a static position while the tool moves over the wood would most ofter do well along a side wall with long lateral support for holding long pieces. My perfect shop would have a long side-wall with a very long table or counter. Cut into that counter would be a flush mounted chop saw, (down some ways) a flush-mounted radial arm saw, (down some ways)a flush-mounted power mortising machine and (down some ways)even my drill press (I know that the height variance of the drill press table could be a problem. But if the drill press was mobile it could be pulled forward when needs dictate a different table height from the fixed counter.) Norm has done something like this and I really like it.
What do you think??