# Shop Layout Ideas



## krafthaus (Jun 8, 2015)

I have been reading these forums and looking at projects here for a while, but this is my first post. I am finishing a 24' x 45' metal building that I will setup as a workshop/storage space. I have 10×10 roll up doors at each end and plan on having most of my big tools at the front, assembly area in the middle, and storage towards the end. If the picture comes out right, that was what I was thinking.

Any advice on the layout of these machines?

Also I plan to buy a tablesaw, planer, bandsaw, jointer and drillpress from Grizzly. And a Clearvue cyclone without filters that will exhaust outside. Buying all these machines at once pretty much limits me to Grizzly. I plan on going with the spiral cutterheads on the planer and jointer. Any advice on machines would also be appreciated.

Thanks,


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

Keeping the big chip producers close is together is a good idea for more efficient DC.
So is exhausting to the outside.
Keeping dust produces like a drum sander or bandsaw closer to the DC is a good idea, too

Is the whole building climate controlled?
If its not, then I would suggest a climate controlled room or at least a finishing room.

If the whole shop is climate controlled I'm not talking to you anymore ;-D


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## timbertailor (Jul 2, 2014)

Sorrry, drawing too small for me to read.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

You have definitely got enough room to where if you are careful you will come out of it with a really nice shop if you put a lot of consideration into the layout. I spent a lot of time at looking at shop layouts that are on the internet and learned a lot. Here's one that I really like. and he's also a Lumberjock. His name is Joe Zey, aka Chiefwoodworker. He also has a great shop tour . He makes beautiful furniture. You can also find some nice shop tours at fine woodworking . Of course there are a lot of nice shops on Lumberjocks' work shop pages on the members home pages. You can do a google search and can see a lot of "other workshops.

With that shop layout page that you have you can also learn a lot. I'm assuming that you have used a graphics program so that you can make different drawings by moving scaled drawings of your machines and shop furniture around on the square grid of your shop building plan. That's a good way to learn what happens when material etc. are moved through your shop layout. You can learn about problems like "I don't have enough room to rip a full sheet of plywood because this is in the way. Don't forget to make use of plenty of casters on your pieces of shop furniture. I have always used plenty of casters in my shop. Even if you don't ever move a cabinet for any other reason it's still nice to just be able to move it where you can sweep up dust and trash from underneath it.

Best of luck to you when you get your shop up and running.

helluvawreck aka Charles
[URL]http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

[/URL] aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## jgt1942 (Mar 25, 2013)

To save some money you might want to consider building a Thien Top Hat (see http://www.jpthien.com/smf/) this is the route I went and I'm super pleased with the performance of the unit. For your shop I'd suggest a 5HP unit. Mine is a 2 HP Grizzly (it was given to me) and for my shop (25×27) so far it seems to be enough. With a 5HP you can start your main run with 10" pipe and drop down to 6" in the main run and then drop down to 4" for the tools. For some tools you might want to use larger than 4". All of my tools have a 4" port and the DeWalt planner produces the most stuff and my DC can easily keep up with it.

Currently I don't have an automatic shutoff on the DC when the dust bucket (currently 20 GAL Brute) gets full. This has created a problem for me a couple of times but the cost for such (about $300) is currently being spent elsewhere.

I also suggest that you learn how to use SketchUp and produce your drawings with it. This will save you a LOT of work and give you the flexibility to redesign on the fly.

I have a DeWalt table saw mainly because I purchased a bunch of tools from a guy that wanted to get out of woodworking. It does not have a riving knife which I really wish I had and highly suggest that whatever you get make sure it has a riving knife. If I had the money I'd get the Stop Saw Pro (see http://www.sawstop.com/table-saws/by-model/professional-cabinet-saw#overview). Safety is the big issue here. I usually attend woodshop classes at a local college and they have the Stop Saw. In the past three years, four times somebody has tripped the saw and saved fingers.

I was able to get a super price on a Jet 20" band saw and really like it for the size.

I currently have a Rigid 6" planer and really would like to have a larger size. The 6" is just too small. I have a Dewalt DW735 Thickness Planer and it is by far the loudest tool in the shop. Going with the spiral heads it a great move. I'm highly considering the Hammer A3 31 (see http://www.hammerusa.com/us-us/products/jointer%E2%80%93planers/jointer-planer-a3-31--310-mm.html) but the price is a real heart stopper.

I don't know anything about the Grizzly drill presses, they have several. I have a Delta 17-900 Drill Press that came with my big tool purchase. It is good but there are better for sure! I've added a laser light and this was a great improvement. I don't like the idea that I have to change the belt to change the speed. I would MUCH prefer a model with variable speed control. Mine is a floor model and I'm not sure if this is the best option for my usage. Looking at their site I'd lean toward the G0779.

If you are not in a super hurry watch Craig's List. You can get some super buys and save a ton of money. The newer stuff with spiral heads most likely will not be there. Recently in my area a guy sold an old commercial table saw with a 12" blade for just a few hundred dollars. A new saw like it would easily cost more than $5K.


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## krafthaus (Jun 8, 2015)

Thanks for the replies. Got some good ideas. I think I will set it up the way I'm thinking, most the tools will have a mobile base. The only hard part of re-arranging would be dust collection but at least I will know what I will want by then.


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