Single wall work bench, 2 wall L or 3 wall U shaped??

I would put a single full-length bench on the back wall and then an island table/bench in the center of the main area, leaving enough room along the walls for whatever machines you plan to set up. Sometimes having access to your workbench from all sides is amazingly useful. If you have kids the center bench also makes a sort of an obstacle that helps keep them from running into the shop when they are playing in the yard. My main bench is made from a solid core masonite or MDF door slab. The door weighs close to 100# and makes a very stable mount for a vise.
For a one-man shop this setup works well. For shops with multiple users the wall-mounted bench configuration is probably a better idea, you get traffic jams when trying to move around the bench.
 
This will be a one man shop for sure and probably sans little ones for a while yet. :)

I'm also going to use solid core doors for my bench top. At my old house that I moved out of, there are (3) 38" wide luaun faced MDF core doors that are thick exterior grade. I'm going to go pop the hinge pins and snag them for both bench top material and shelves for the bench.

I think it was you that I got that idea from in a past thread where someone was asking about work benches :)
 
Paint eveything you can white. Use oil-based paint. It cleans up easier, and reflects lots of light. The paint will also seal the OSB. Fumes from OSB are not good for you.
 
Walls are going to be white, floor is going to be gray heavy duty porch/floor paint. I can't imagine how bright it's going to be in there with white walls lol :)
 
If you're going to paint the floors with a heavy coat of paint, I'd recommend countersinking and attaching some .25" Masonite to the floor prior to painting. If you want also the walls. It paints much better and cleans up much easier. Just be sure to sink a lot of screws into it, it warps when painted if not secured.

Also I would put a full 12' bench on one wall and another 4' on the opposite side wedged up in the corner, should give you plenty of work room.
 
Here is my shop layout. Its meant to be a one person movement layout. My center work areas are movable and my band saw is roll able. My radio covered by the t shirt in front of my rockwell tester is movable when I need to slide in there. All my corners are accessable and are being used for something. I felt my cordered areas were a big waste of space in mt last shop so I just started this shop with those areas easy to get to and it just sort of worked out.

YES- I will be cleaning after I get all my spines eased Sat morning before I roll out the leather on my easily cleaned center tables :)

Outside Door View
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Left far corner
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Left Front Corner
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Right Front Corner
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Right Far Corner
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Rear Center Wall
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After Each Batch I'll do a clean of everything and by the time the batch is done its full on mess like these pics. Gotta love it!! I'll get that center counter cleaned off and all knives will be on that with clean newspaper to lay them on and clean center tables for leather cutting time :)
 
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Cool pictures, lol and I just sent you an email for pics hahaha...bad timing on my part.

Nothing wrong with a messy shop, a messy shop shows productivity!

I like the idea of a take down table on saw-horses for clean work. One idea I had was to make a hinged table top that hangs next to the wall (say under one of the windows). You lift the table top up and fold down 2 legs also on hinges. During normal work, the table stays down and clean. When I need it, I fold it up, set the legs and go to work.

There are SO MANY ideas out there for work stations and what not in a shop it's ridiculous.

Once again, thanks to all who responded!
 
65535 said:
If you're going to paint the floors with a heavy coat of paint, I'd recommend countersinking and attaching some .25" Masonite to the floor prior to painting. If you want also the walls. It paints much better and cleans up much easier. Just be sure to sink a lot of screws into it, it warps when painted if not secured.

Also I would put a full 12' bench on one wall and another 4' on the opposite side wedged up in the corner, should give you plenty of work room.
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Good ideas but I have already spent enough on extra flooring thickness and wall covering :).

Plus, I think painted masonite on the floor would be a slip hazard. The 3/4 t&g OSB I layed down over what was there has a fairly smooth face, it should paint up nicely and still give grip.
 
No buffer for me. I would like a 2nd grinder. One for say 60 grit then 1 with 120 grit.
After the batch is at 120 load em up with a 220 and a 400 grit and go at them again.

But I don't normally crank out that many to justify that.
 
I have a
metal bandsaw
wood bandsaw
drill press
etcher
ht oven
Rockwell tester
hand drill
cut off 4.5" hand grinder cor cut off wheel
oxy/aced torches
quench tank
etch tank
kmg grinder
 
One thing to think about is what other equipment might you get in the future?

If you might buy some stuff that does not sit on the bench then you will need to have room for that. Also if you buy more benchtop equipment.
 
I'll be covering my work tops with thin sheets of plywood. Only screwed on. (they're cheap)
That way I can cut on there draw on there paint on there and make a big mess of it.
Then just remove the plywood and screw on a new sheeth.
I think I'll renew them once a year.
That's how I plan to keep the workplace clean and workable.
 
bigern26 said:
One thing to think about is what other equipment might you get in the future?

If you might buy some stuff that does not sit on the bench then you will need to have room for that. Also if you buy more benchtop equipment.
Click to expand...

There is a thought!

Now take some pieces of cardbord and cut them the sizes of the equipment you do have. Place them around on the floor in the shape and confines as they would sit on your bench or benchs. Looking at them as if they were full sized machines will reallly give you and idea on where to place them and if there is enough space for working on them within the proposed shapes of the bench.
 
Well. This is about as clean as my shop gets. Under the newspaper are my bladeshow knives. Covered them up unroll the dust settles from cleaning. I do use a shop vac but sweeping floors always kicks up dust.

The tempered glass is what I cut my leather on. I'll be starting on getting all my sheath patterns made or located tomorrow.

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Grizz, I have an idea you might want to consider, especially if the floor of your shop is smooth and solid.
Instead of bolting your machines to a work bench that's fixed to the wall, mount them to roll around cabinets. You can even make a cabinet that two machines bolt onto and the top flips over to give you access to the one you need to use. If you want the plans to this cabinet, I'd be happy to email them to you or post them in this thread. By using wheeled cabinets you can take advantage of the limited space in your shop that fixed benches don't do. For storage you'll want to look for some used kitchen cabinets that someone is throwing out and mount them on the wall.
Just some things to think about!! :D
 
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