small workspaces, show me yours!

[Homerjh]

As title...

I am moving house hopefully soon and have a small outhouse to myself. However it isn't massive, but brick built and dry. Also as it is away from the house should be able to get decent extraction and noise away from anyone!

Currently in a cellar that is shared storage, so good for scrollsawing, but any big drilling/cutting leaves a massive mess and dust in the air, not good, so don't do it unlessneeded.

Have a pillr drill, scrollsaw, router in a small ccabinet. But wouldn't mind trying a lathe in the future....

So show me your small space workshops and how you get around lack of floor space....

Ta

 

[Mickfb]

I've got a large space between my ears !

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

=D> =D>

 

[markblue777]

It is more about keeping everything mobile. If things are on wheels and you use the vertical space for storage it should help you alot.

I dont have a fixed workshop, i have a popup work bench (recently built a proper bench for the garden but obviously can only use in decent weather).

Mark

 

[wellywood]

It is more about keeping everything mobile. If things are on wheels and you use the vertical space for storage it should help you alot.

I dont have a fixed workshop, i have a popup work bench (recently built a proper bench for the garden but obviously can only use in decent weather).

Mark

+1
My shop is only 3.6m x 2.4m so my drill press and planer/thicknesser are mounted on wheeled cabinets with lockable casters and sit in corners when not used. If you standardize heights you can also make a collapsible outfeed table for use with a number of your tools.

 

[GLFaria]

It is more about keeping everything mobile. If things are on wheels and you use the vertical space for storage it should help you alot.

I dont have a fixed workshop, i have a popup work bench (recently built a proper bench for the garden but obviously can only use in decent weather).

Mark

You still need to be able to - meaning, have enough space available to.. - move things around ;
Say 3m2 in all, including the space for putting up the workmate and moving around + one chest of drawers (1.20 x .30 m) + the drill press mounted on castors; of course, if I move the DP around it must go somewhere inside the same 3m2; needless to say, the least used tools - the power ones - are stored in countless cupboards, and only come out when absolutely needed. One must learn how to best use the available space.

 

[Benchwayze]

My first shop was 9 feet square (External measurement) with 9 inch walls. (The lady next door thought I was building a 'Wendy House' for my then, little girl!)

I had only one machine; a lathe-combo. I had to set it up in front of an opening window, so I could feed timber from the saw-table attachment, through the window frame.

My present workshop is in a shambles, but it's a 17 feet by 9 feet-six inch garage, integral with the house.

You'll please excuse me if I don't show any pics atm, but it really is in pig-sty order! Castors though are the way to go, although I still have two machines yet to be made mobile! When I have learned how to weld, I might get the Sedgwick mobile! I have a 3 feet wide aisle right along the middle, and that's all the space I have to work in!

The best workshop I ever had was a cedar-wood garage, 20 feet by 12 feet. Trouble was, the house that went with it was a 'money-pit'. :lol:

John

 

[Roughcut]

From reading this thread it is becoming apparent that mobile bases for machines are really useful for small work spaces.
It has taken me a while to realise this! :roll:
I only have a single garage to use, but I've gradually become more and more frustrated at the lack of space I seem to have.
Recently the penny dropped that I could make better use of the space by making mobile bases for my machines so that they can be stored against the wall and wheeled out into the centre of the garage thus giving me a decent space to work in.
I have spent last weekend making a cabinet for the drill press with 75mm braked swivel castors and it is a welcome improvement over the fixed base cabinet I previously used.
Next I will make the same for the mitre saw, router table, scroll saw and maybe a better base for my new band saw.

 

[John15]

My workshop (shed) is only 14' x 7' 6" internal plus I have two overflows - an 8 x 6 greenhouse where I have an 8' x 2' bench where I do most of the sanding, and a 16' x 8' garage where I have a planer/thicknesser and plenty of room to store timber.

I do the bulk of the work in the shed as it is very dry with no damp or condensation problems as there could be in the greenhouse and garage. The shed size is OK so far for making most things but a squeeze for large items.

The only items I have on wheels are my two dust extractors and the P/T.

Cheers,

John

 

[Benchwayze]

My workshop (shed) is only 14' x 7' 6" internal plus I have two overflows - an 8 x 6 greenhouse where I have an 8' x 2' bench where I do most of the sanding, and a 16' x 8' garage where I have a planer/thicknesser and plenty of room to store timber.

I do the bulk of the work in the shed as it is very dry with no damp or condensation problems as there could be in the greenhouse and garage. The shed size is OK so far for making most things but a squeeze for large items.

The only items I have on wheels are my two dust extractors and the P/T.

Cheers,

John

John,

About 280 sq feet in total is 'only'? Set against my 161 sq ft., that's enormous... I'll swap you! :lol:

 

[Nick Gibbs]

I'm not sure about the mobile bases. I have a 10x6ft shed and have worked on the layout very carefully. I make do without a planer-thicknesser, have a plunge saw and rail for working sheet materials outside, but have a pillar drill, router table, bandsaw, lathe, quite large bench and disc sander that don't need to be moved (though both bandsaw and pillar drill are large enough to pick up and put on the bench). Keeping the shed uncluttered is crucial, I think, so that I can move around easily, and I tailor the work I do to suit my kit. That said I'm currently making panels for a wardrobe, 6ft tall, 2ft deep and 3ft wide. I keep virtually no timber in the shed as that is stored undercover round the back or under my bed, and I use a couple of old domestic vacuums for extraction. And I don't have that many tools, and those that I do have are carefully positioned so that I can reach them with the appropriate hand (left hand for chisels, right hand for mallet, etc…).

Obviously I write about my shed every month in the mag!!!!!!

Cheers

Nick

 

[John15]

Benchwayze,

I suppose when you add it up it's quite a big area but when I see photos of layouts that some guys have I feel a bit intimidated. Using the garage as a timber store is brilliant - so many off-cuts and left-overs, and stuff people give me - a plasterer friend brought me some beautiful oak pieces which the chippies had chucked in the skip.

The venture into one side of the greenhouse is only recent. It gets used as a store anyway with not many plants to spoil. I've lined the area around the bench with plywood to protect the glass from flying objects and the bench gives me a lot of extra working space.

Cheers,

John

 

[Benchwayze]

John - Nick,

I find it's timber storage that takes most of my space. I have only the roof space above the up and over door; and that is full. I'd like to build a covered area in the back yard, with walls that are alternately planked each side of the framework, forming a 'filter' system for the air. Just a canvas roof would satisfy me, but such a solution would not find favour with SWMBO... needless to say.

 

[Nick Gibbs]

You don't need much to store wood dry and well ventilated. Keeping timber out of the shed is crucial to survival in a small space I think.

 

[glynster]

The only way I have managed to fit everything into a single car garage (and exactly what car would ever fit into a single car garage anyway - mine would just about fit a mini into it providing you were happy getting out of the sunroof) has been to buy an old transit van and use it as a woodshed. It's not a bad runner too and is great for going to the tip and collecting timber and machinery etc. Set me back £1500 but when I compare that to moving house or an expensive large shed it seemed better value and a better use of money. Next year I'll build a large workshop in the back and sell the van. I found a larger workbench was a big help too ironically - means i can store a bench drill, morticer and benchtop planer/thicknesser underneath and drag them out onto the extra bench space when needed. Band saw wheels out when needed and the table saw eats up the other 60% of the room.

 

[Nick Gibbs]

I had a caravan for a while as a timber store. Very dry. It was superb and only cost me £150. Even came with a gas stove and fridge and loo, so doubles up in other ways as well.

 

[Stuart]

I would like to put some pictures up of my workshop but can't load them!

 

[Alexam]

John - Nick,

I find it's timber storage that takes most of my space. I have only the roof space above the up and over door; and that is full. I'd like to build a covered area in the back yard, with walls that are alternately planked each side of the framework, forming a 'filter' system for the air. Just a canvas roof would satisfy me, but such a solution would not find favour with SWMBO... needless to say.

John. you can make more space by getting rid of the sawdust you have been collecting. Don't wait any longer as the price for it has dropped like a stone!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Malcolm

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I had a caravan for a while. Even came with a gas stove and fridge and loo, so doubles up in other ways as well.

Ah I see...in case, not unlike Elvis, you want to gas yourself whilst taking a dump, eating a Hamburger

 

[Benchwayze]

John - Nick,

I find it's timber storage that takes most of my space. I have only the roof space above the up and over door; and that is full. I'd like to build a covered area in the back yard, with walls that are alternately planked each side of the framework, forming a 'filter' system for the air. Just a canvas roof would satisfy me, but such a solution would not find favour with SWMBO... needless to say.

John. you can make more space by getting rid of the sawdust you have been collecting. Don't wait any longer as the price for it has dropped like a stone!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Malcolm

I would still need space to wield the broom, to first gather it all together. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: