Small Shop Design

S

sharp21

Joined
May 6, 2009
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I'm going to be building a small shop in the back yard in the future & am looking for input as to the layout.

The attached picture is pretty self explanatory. I'll be building a shedrow style building 12 ft. deep, with 2 bays or rooms 10' wide & an open "run-in" that is 8' wide, for Storing the woodpile.

Workshop.jpg


I'll potentially expand my shop section to be 12' wide but am planning it out at 10' so that any extra square footage will be a bonus.

The middle bay will be yard tools storage & gardening centre for the wife, although I'll be putting the compressor in there as well! ;) The air will be piped in to the workshop. Bicycles will likely get stored there during the winter months.

Obviously design is dictated by function. I would like to use the shop for knife making while keeping it versatile enough for household wood working projects.

The main feature will be the Shop Smith multi tool which will replace a number of stand alone tools & be the most space effective solution. They have even been modified to run a grinder which is what I intend to do. This will serve as the table saw, router, drill press, bandsaw, planer, etc...

The other tools shown are:

Circled V = Small Shop Vac, for clean up & dust collection. It'll fit under the Shop Smith
6" Jointer
Circled G = Garbage
G/B = Grinder / Buffing station
Mitre Saw
Trusty workbench!

Everything will be on rollers & if you look at the shops door, it is a double hinged Dutch style barn door. I'll keep everything on the level of the lower door so that I can run the work out the top while using the door for support if needed.

The mitre saw work area is the same height as the workbench & the jointer work area so that shorter pieces can be run onto the bench & longer pieces are run out the door.

The grinder is on a rolling stand so it can be shuffled around as needed.

I'll be making liberal use of the wall space as well for hand tools, charging station, material storage, clamps, finishing equipment, etc.

This will be my first dedicated shop & project of this nature. Is there anything I am missing that a well equipped small shop should have? Design or layout ideas? The plan is done in excel so is quite easy to modify.

Thanks!
S.
 
Make sure your entry door is big enough to get your lawn mower in and out :) I don't know what kind you have, but my large ZTR takes a single car garage door :D
 
i think you wil find yourself running short on space faster then you think
i was working in a corner of a garage a room in the basement for HT and a few tables in another room for honing glueup and other stuff that need warmth and clean area

i was looking at the shead at my wife to be house 16x22 and putting addition on it. now tho it looks liek we will be building a proper shop 20 or 22x40 with a loft and overhang "porch" tho i am full time and my needs are much different then yours

all it takes is one or 2 more tools adn you are out of space
i have always heard build the bigest shope you can and still know that you will out grow it faster then you thinkn you should
 
My suggest is to get locked into as little as possible. You may not like where things are and have to rearrange them. I was happy with an L shaped bench on the back wall and right side of my tiny 8x8 shop. This gave me the most work space and wasn't intrusive.

Making the bench heights line up with the door sounds like a good idea -if- they are comfortable at that height. Mock some tools up at that height and make sure it's not too high or low for you before committing.
 
rannalf said:
Make sure your entry door is big enough to get your lawn mower in and out :) I don't know what kind you have, but my large ZTR takes a single car garage door :D
Click to expand...

Just a push mower & the doors are scaled at 4' so it should be fine.

Heat treating will get done in the garage, where I keep the metal working supplies.

Everything will be on wheels as it will have to be rearranged to do different jobs. The bench will be built in & everything else will move around it.

I burn a lot of wood through the year & appreciate a well stocked woodpile. I'd like to try forging some day but am mainly concentrating on stock removal.

My garage now is a double with a decent work area, but I always use the super tiny shop in the basement as it is laid out better & more comfortable. We are moving soon (no more garage!) so I am trying to plan this shop out well.

S.

Edit: I may try to incorporate a sanding table into the workbench...
 
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Wood working magazines have alot of good info on making the best use of a small space. One thing I saw was to get multiple use out of one space, for example store the drill press below the miter and swithch between project, not real likely you will need both at the same time. Be sure to plan your electrical outlets, never too many. I would also plan a dust collection system, pretty easy to install before all the stuff is in the way,

Having done a bit of wood working, will the shopsmith be able to be moved? for ply and long boards you will want to do your major cutting in the middle of the room. I have my table saw on rollers and some pedistial wood supports to make the job easier.

Looks good
 
looks great. Where will you keep raw materials and in-progress projects?
It's great to work on one thing at a time from start to finish, but that's seldom possible for me.

I recently put an old metal box of inter-office mail slots to use as sorted sandpaper storage! works great, and I recommend something like that for sandpaper, fasteners, etc.


-Daizee
 
Patrickknives said:
Having done a bit of wood working, will the shopsmith be able to be moved? for ply and long boards you will want to do your major cutting in the middle of the room. I have my table saw on rollers and some pedistial wood supports to make the job easier.

Looks good
Click to expand...

The shopsmith is on casters & will need to be positioned across the middle of the shop to use the table saw feature. I've factored that in to the design. The way it is sitting in the picture now would give me access to the lathe, bore, band saw & grinder from the side & the drill press from the top side.

I've been reading some theories about how the classic workbench is an outdated model for the style of work we do these days. I may shorten the bench to 4' & have a 3' work table / storage cart on wheels that can tack onto the end if needed. It would also be used to hold WIP's or as a gluing up table.

I'll be adding outlets like crazy & lots of lighting. My original design had a window but I'm not sure if I want to sacrifice the wall space. In the summer I'll have the top half of the door open & there will be some type of space heater for the winter.

The roof is actually quite high so there will be some storage space up in the rafters as well.

S.
 
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