Workshop Plan, last minute advice and sanity check needed

[PokerG]

About to start putting things in place that will dictate the final shape of my workshop. I thought I had everything planned but I am starting to second guess myself so would like some thoughts from those with a bit more experience than me. (Hell, that would include a random person on the bus)

The shed is made of wood sitting on railway sleepers with a pitched roof with a longer side thats a green roof and the back is felt.

The current layout is including in the following image:

Hopefully that will give you an idea of just how cramped the place is looking. The dimensions are roughly 20ft x 9ft (233" x 110" to be precise). The assembly bench and main workbench are going to be 28" deep. The storage unit at the back will be about 18" deep. The stove (my current concern from those not reading the other thread) is the HotSpot R2 which will have the flu going straight up into the pitched roof. I plan on using something (currently thinking about Tim's aluminium foil wrapped plasterboard solution) to protect both the backwall and the as yet fictitious (ie not built yet) storage solution at the back of the room.

It is cramped and there is a lot in there for such a small space. But I have all the equipment assemble and I think it is doable with the tablesaw rolling about on the casters.

My main 2 things are:

1: Do you think the stove is in the right place? (Bear in mind the flu really needs to come out the back through the felt roof section)

2: Can you think of anything stupidly obvious that I have missed? (before I install the sink, which happens later today, as this will be the first sort of immoveable object, others being the carriage bolted drill press, the assembly bench & the stove)

I am also happy to entertain any general criticism of the whole setup as this is a pretty steep learning curve.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[filsgreen]

Looks good Gary, my only thought is do you really need a sink? Personally I think it is a luxury that takes up valuable space. After all, wood working isn't that dirty and you can always have a wash in the house, providing your workshop is in your garden.

Phil

 

[Adam]

I'd say well done on the sink - I'm always wanting water for odd things in the workshop - sure you can bring a jug from the house, but given half a chance I'd have water installed (well in fact I've laid a pipe underground when I buried the cables so thats my plan.)

Adam

 

[dedee]

Yep,
have to concur with Adam on the sink. My workshop is about 100' from the kitchen. Even sharpening tools can leave a mess on one's hands that would be nice to wash off quickly.
Also a sink will be handy for filling the kettle. :lol:

As for the plan I reckon that whether you have enough space will depend on how large your future projects will be and how well you use the wall space for storage.

I'd be happy with that layout and equipment content.

Andy

 

[NickWelford]

Make sure there's space to fit long items under the drill - you're bound to need it sometime.

Oh - and where will you put the lathe?

 

[woodbloke]

Gary - looks good so far, personally am unsure about the need for a sink - in my 'shop I just use a couple of 6 pint clean milk bottles for small amount of water I need (mainly for tools on the grinder, which is rare and for cleaning up glued joints after gluing). To find out exactly how all my gear fitted into my 'shop, I made a scale plan drawing of the floor and made scale cardboard cut outs for the 'footprint' of each machine and bit of kit/bench etc. I was then able to plan the correct position for each piece of machinery. Equipment which is on castors will also need to have trailing leads which is definite no no in my 'shop. Each piece of kit is in a fixed position with the cable plumbed to it on a ring main; the cable for the saw runs under the workshop floor. Also to save some space, if the table was in a fixed position, you could build your assembly bench behind the saw thus killing multiple birds with one stone eg. as a 'take off' table for long stuff and as an assembly bench which is opposite your main bench (the best place for it IMO) If you build an overhang on it of about 50mm all round its very handy to cramp stuff to as well as having access to it on three sides, instead of one when its agains the wall - just some thoughts - Rob

 

[garywayne]

I remember seeing an interview with Ron Fox? the router man. In his tiny workshop he had a window at each end the same height as his router table, drill press, etc. So when he had a long piece of wood, he would pass it through one window, over the machine and out of the other window.

Good idea I thought.

 

[Pete W]

Given the location of your benches, and those lovely windows, where are you going to store all of your hand tools?... saw tills, chisel racks, cupboards for planes - they all take a lot of wall space you know.

I'd get rid of that space-hogging tablesaw. That'll solve your problems :wink:

 

[PokerG]

Ok, it appears there's 2 crowds the pro sinkers and the anti sinkers. Being a big tea drinker and needing to keep my hand tools constantly sharp (despite all the equipment I expect to spend more time on hand tools) I think water is a must. Wish I hadn't decided on a big sink though.

With regards the rest.

Pete, the storage unit on the wall will be full of all the toys a hand tool guy could want. (Although I don't know where to stick my clamps yet, not that I have bought them yet, still arguing over to bessy or not to bessy)

The window trick has crossed my mind for bringing work into the workshop as the windows on the right hand side open wide enough to get some wood in and I can crosscut out the double doors.

woodbloke, I did a slightly more high tech approach but very similar. I used a vector graphics program and entered each of the devices in there with their relevant footprints and moved stuff around. That's how I came up with this configuration.

Nick, it's a radial arm drill press so the arm can bring it out a fair bit and worse comes to worse I can always throw one end of a long thin piece out a window and hope its not raining.

As for future projects, everything from woodcarving on a small scale, to fitting a wall-to-wall library in a 20ft x 16ft room in the house. Lot of skills to get to grips with and SWMBO would like it sometime before she hits 70. (We're mid thirties now)

It is in the garden, but I don't want to have to run back and forward to the house whenever I need water, especially in the colder days when you are in a nice snug room.

Thanks so far with all the great advice and sanity checking...


Gary

 

[engineer one]

gary
looks nice, but is your storage area on the floor, or raised, there is something to be said for racking, allowing you to move tools that are not in use out of the way.
the other thing is are you right or left handed cause every article i have lately seem about a hand tool bench recommends having about 20 inches at the end of the bench for sawing over, and end work etc.

hope this does not add to your difficulties :twisted: :lol:

paul :wink: