Did you have a master plan?

[kurtboyd]

I recently bought a home with a 45x80 sq foot shop. I’ve always wanted more space. Now I’m trying to locate everything and design the shop to suit my needs. I mostly do automotive and fabrication work. The previous owner had a partition wall running down the center of the shop with power and water in it. I’ve removed the wall and now have a blank slate. Looking for advice on planning, things to keep in mind. I bought some grid paper and I’ve cut out scaled versions of the equipment I do have so I can move the cut outs around on the paper. I’m currently shopping for a 2 post lift and a few other things. The shop is underpowered so I plan on running some additional 220 circuits.

Any planning advice is much appreciated.

 

[apollo11]

No but I wish I had

 

[Thumper68]

I had a master plan using the same method that you are using, the only things that have stayed the same are the vise, table saw and band saw. everything else has moved 3 or more times in 10 years.

 

[raferguson]

When I was in plant engineering, we did just what you are going, start with the scaled drawing, and then scaled "paper dolls" of the benches and equipment. Put it on a cork board, and just pin the equipment in various places until the arrangement starts to make sense. You can measure clearances to make sure that you have enough room around everything for you to safely get through, and to maintain the equipment. Remember that some equipment, like a mill, have movable parts that can extend past the standard footprint. Go out with a tape measure, measure each piece of equipment, and consider the clearance and access requirements.

The other comment that I have is to realize that things change, and what seemed like a great idea 5 years ago may not seem like a good idea at a later date. So try not to design a fabulous layout with no flexibility.

We sometimes would put all the services in the ceiling of the building, such that we could move equipment as desired, and then just plug in overhead. We might have air hoses and outlets on flex cable hanging down well below the trusses.

I am a fan of designing to make it easy to move things, whether putting things on wheels, or making it easy to put a pallet jack under the equipment and reposition it as desired.

Have fun. A good layout is not a one hour project.

 

[L5wolvesf]

. . . the only things that have stayed the same are the vise, table saw and band saw. everything else has moved 3 or more times in 10 years.

This is a big reality. Different projects may require different equipment and amount of usage. Having things movable is a big consideration for me. Flexibility is a good thing.

 

[sberry]

Where the lift is located is the main deal. Get moved in, make do somewhat, adapt as needed. Figure out where the comp is going to sit. Almost nothing I had designed turned out as I first planned. It ended up more effecient. I wired as I went. Every other building I have done has a bunch of parked wire, lots of stuff unused.
Despite the fear,,,,,,,,, don't be scared to something twice or revise it. Move stuff, this includes a little wire or pipe and in the end it may be better, cheaper and easier than trying to work in every idea you can think of. Use a couple cords and power strips till you figure out just where you need stuff. Leave some means to add wire when needed.
Run dedicated circuits If and when.

 

[sberry]

shops are about people. Theu are a raceway for the utilities. Puttng the stuff where it's easiest for people to use is the point. Bsse it on duty cycle, make it easy to get rid of stuff you don't use as fast as possible. A lot of times it's easier to put it away and get it again vs working around.

 

[-Brent-]

I spent a lot of time revising my plan. Now I'm at the point where I've had offers for tool storage that could be an "upgrade" but it would mess with what's working. I feel like that means I did a good job being critical with the plan as both prior to implementing and beyond.

 

[Ray916MN]

I planned the layout of my building before I built it. Used a computer version of the graph paper approach.

If you want to maximize your space try to minimize the amount of space dedicated to walkways. The more walkway space, the less workspace.

Make a plan to use your vertical space. Getting stuff off the floor is essential to maximizing the amount of workspace. If you have long material stocks, consider making provisions to store them vertically as opposed to horizontally.

Leave room for project storage. Dedicating accessible storage so you can put away partially completed projects or gather the parts for a project allows you to get work done when it is convenient, as opposed to getting held up working on a project because a stuck project is in the way. I have open shelves and shelves sized for large bins so I can have clear workbenches while at the same time having allot of projects in process.

Make sure stuff that has to go into and out of the shop regularly (lawn equipment, vehicles, bicycles, etc.) can be parked directly in front of garage doors so you don't need space to walk around them and so stuff doesn't need to be moved to get them in/out of the workshop.

Make a plan for table height roll around toll chests/carts, as opposed to having all your tools in a single location. I have different ones for different tasks and different tools set. For additional project workspace use strong folding tables like Pit Posse aluminum service/work tables as opposed to planning for large amounts of fixed workbench space.

If you are going to divide workspaces, consider using shelving or pallet racking to divide the space. Either side accessible storage, while providing a framework to use like a wall. It can also be moved and reconfigured to shift space between areas, unlike a fixed wall.

 

[James-W]

I sometimes question whether a floor plan is something that is necessary. What I mean is, I have moved equipment around in the garage numerous times since we built it. Some years I find I use certain tools a lot more than others so I have them right where I need them. Then the next year my equipment needs seem to change and I have to change things around again. It would be nice if none of my equipment needed to be moved around, but in the real world I find it doesn't work that way. I guess if you only do a certain type of work, then everything can stay the same. But when you do several different types of work, you may need to shift equipment around from time to time. At least that is what I have found.

 

[code4pay]

I made a plan for my 40ft container workshop. It helped alot I used sketchup so I could do it in 3d.

 

[matt_i]

A few things I kept in mind are..

- keep woodworking away from metalworking due to the dust. Ideally in its own sealed space or outside.
- keep grinding & welding away from machining or assembly due to metal grit.
- heaviest/hardest-to-move should probably be deepest into the shop due to the difficulty of relocating it later.
- not sure if you plan to heat or cool the entire area or are going to segment off areas...
- if you are going to service vehicles, make sure you can open the doors, pull off major assemblies
- if you have stationary tools like saws which take in long raw stock, align that path with a door.

I'm working on trying to future proof in wiring, I have twistlock receptacles for 240vac 3 phase in the ceiling. I also have a different twistlock receptacle for 120vac in the ceiling. I have outlets around 48" high and am working on putting more about 12 down from the ceiling. A tremendous amount of storage space is available higher on the walls, I can see things like clocks, lighted signs, I'd like a battery shelf for storing my tractor batteries indoors on minders over the winter.

 

[sberry]

Walkspace is workspace. Being able to walk without being in a maze is important, is the sink along th a way or in a corner? Getting the stuff along the walls is important, it leaves the floorspace open to wotk.
A couple of my main revisions were removing stuff that got parked when I moved in, some never really used, found out I was giving warm storage to extra garbage cans and some shelves could easily be consolidated. Stuff piled I literally didn't use in 20 yrs. I agree with vertical, store up out of the way, you can get something used once a year way better than tripping over it.
It's easy to bring something in with the intention of working on it, find out it's still there 6 months later.

 

[sberry]

I want out of the way to create and utilize space for storage for stuff I didn't want to toss but didn't need in my shop,,,, I can walk over and get it if and when it's needed. same for the service cart, don't need everything on it, it's actually easier to walk to another box on occasion vs sort thru it all daily.
I want thru a big purge recently, mainly in my junk storage, made the stuff I did want to find easier and only missed a couple things so far, none of them critical.
It's easy to let stuff not being worked on sit. It happens, I try to keep it to a minimum. O got to force myself to finish or move it out.
I have a basement in old house, shelved it all up for this, built additional space in storage building just for it with big shelves, the building itself was the incentive for that. Moved forklift and couple trucks out of the shop along with a lot of other stuff that messed with the plan of having an empty shop, empty so I can use it if that makes sense.

 

[astroracer]

The BEST thing you can do is put all of your equipment on casters. Then you need no "plan". With everything mobile it is very easy to relocate equipment where it works best for you. Outside, inside, where ever. It is nice to roll my chop saw outside on a nice day and run it there where it doesn't make a mess in the shop.
Being able to roll everything into a corner, out of the way is nice. Rolling it all outside to clean is even nicer...
I have one lathe and my mill that are not mobile, yet... Even most of my work benches are on casters as well as my hydraulic press, tubing bender and stomp shear.
Mark

 

[matt_i]

I have one lathe and my mill that are not mobile, yet... Even most of my work benches are on casters as well as my hydraulic press, tubing bender and stomp shear.
Mark

This is an excellent point, almost everything I have that's under 48" square is on a skid base of 3/4" ply plus 2x4s on edge to make the "thing" easily relocatable via pallet jack.

 

[astroracer]

I need to get a picture the next time I do a major cleaning. I can empty either side of the shop in 10 or 15 minutes. I dust everything off outside and sweep and use the leaf blower to blow all of the **** out the OH door. All of the stuff rolled outside looks pretty cool...
Mark

 

[sberry]

Most of mine can be moved too. I had a spill on a shelf the other day, wheeled it out, swept befind it and shoved it back. If it doesn't have wheels it can be done with pallet jack.

 

[kurtboyd]

Thanks for all the replies. With the exception of a few things, most of my stuff is mobile. I have a Fosdick drill press that weighs about 2k. It can be moved but it’s not much fun. The lift will have to be permanently located. I’ve always bolted my tubing bender and jig table down then leveled them. Just one less measurement to keep track of. Chopsaw table serves as a material rack so it gets pretty heavy. My compressors are outside.

 

[sberry]

Outside air helps a lot. I have a large shop but I still fuss over sq ft, if I didn't it would disappear fast. I got rid of 2 welder carts by sitting a couple on the tig.
The little Lincoln stick kind of landed where it did, I finally moved it from really valuable space that is much better suited to walk way. I was skirting it several times a day.

 

[zmotorsports]

To answer your question, YES, I had a very detailed plan. So detailed in fact that I knew where every outlet and drop cord was going to be placed before construction even began.

That being said, what works for me may not work for you, or someone else for that matter. Shop setup seems to be very personal as everyone likes to have certain things in certain places.

Luckily I knew exactly how I wanted my new shop setup coming from my old shop that I had originally built back in the early 90's but had acquired a lot more tools/equipment and upgrades over the past 25+ years so I was able to incorporate them into the new shop design and layout.

If you are uncertain you are on the right track of playing with layout and organization before you get too deep into it.

Good luck.

 

[Falcon67]

Used Visio and defied objects, then spent a lot of time moving things around. And when things hit the ground, there were still changes. This is more or less the current layout. less the truck that doesn't fit LOL

 

[apollo11]

The BEST thing you can do is put all of your equipment on casters. Then you need no "plan". With everything mobile it is very easy to relocate equipment where it works best for you. Outside, inside, where ever. It is nice to roll my chop saw outside on a nice day and run it there where it doesn't make a mess in the shop.
Being able to roll everything into a corner, out of the way is nice. Rolling it all outside to clean is even nicer...
I have one lathe and my mill that are not mobile, yet... Even most of my work benches are on casters as well as my hydraulic press, tubing bender and stomp shear.
Mark

That's what I did. Most of my stuff is on wheels.

 

[engineer2]

If I had a huge shop space like that I would wall off a "clean" area for cars and things you don't want to get dusty. I might also wall off a "dirty" area for disassembly, sandblasting, power washing, grinding, welding, etc.

 

[crewchief888]

ive moved stuff around countless times in my garage.

a few things are on wheels so they can be "stored" out of the way when i'm not using them.

my space is much smaller than yours, i keep the miter saw and table saw in the basement where they are used most often, along with most everything else relating to wood....


every time somthing gets added to the garage that wont fit in a toolbox drawer or on an existing shelf i end up doing the curly shuffle

 

[sberry]

I really dont need more floor but the wall space is valuable.

 

[rburke65]

I started with a plan on the building/shop, but moving stuff in was "form follows function" sequence. It will change!