Looking for Garage machine shop layouts

[gtr1999]

Hi Guys,
I did some searching but didn't find what I was looking for. Anyone layout a 12 x 23 garage bay with a Bridgeport, 10" SBL, Surface Grinder, 20 ton press, and large workbench? If so can you post some pictures and also what did you do for 3 ph? what type of converter works best?

Thank you and looking forward to your ideas and pictures!

 

[rsanter]

A lot depends on what you will be working on and where there are doors or other things.

20 ton press is small, so I would have it on wheels and be able to pull it out when needed.
One day you might need it in the middle of the shop to try to straighten a shaft.

I have my bport mill on a mobile base. I did this originally so I could have it tucked close to the lathe and then just pull the mill out a little to use it or the lathe. This have also worked very well for me as I have had to drill,holes or make slots in long pieces so I was able to position the machine such that I had the room to do it.
Otherwise if themill is stationary then many people like to put them in a corner due to the shape of the machine.

With a lathe, I think it is important to be able to have the space to feed a shaft through the headstock. My lathe used to sit up by the garage door, headstock to the door so I could always open the garage for that. Currently it sits in a back room ( machine room) with the headstock to the walkway so I have open space to feed stock through.

Surface grinder might go very well to the right of the lathe. You can share a little space by having the surface grinder table going over the lathe bed a little at full shift as you can move the tailstock over a bit.

I have always liked having my workbench on wheels and positioned near the garage door. It's on wheels so I can move it where needed, by the lathe, in the middle, in the driveway...etc.
Near the garage door so that when I am working on it there I can have added space by opening the door so I can work from toe sides of the bench. Or if I'm grinding or making a mess it nearest to the opening. My next choice would be to have the bench next to a man door to the backyard or into the house. Similar idea, I want access to two sides of the bench.

Bob

 

[bullnerd]

Check out the Grizzly tools site. They have a shop layout thingy that has metal working tools on it. Look in my build thread in my sig, I have some pics of mine.(layout)

From 25 yrs of working in machine shops, the only way to find the best layout is start making stuff and adjust as necessary.

 

[matt_i]

Isolate your grinder from your other oiled-way machines. The grinding dust is a deadly abrasive attracted to oiled surfaces.

Sometimes people back a mill into a corner. I've seen lathes flat against the wall or out at a 60-45 degree angle in rows.

A simple rotary converter would basically work. I would prefer a VFD for the grinder to reduce harmonics.

 

[Falcon67]

Here's my layout more or less - 12x24 work room. Not a BP, just a wanna be BP. Press is a 12 ton, it's on a roll around base and parks elsewhere in the shop. The square column is a 1 HP 3 phase unit, use a 2 HP VFD to run it off 240v single. The 12x36 lathe is a 2 HP 240V single phase. I have a regula metal band saw, also on rollers parked elsewhere. The 10" band saw is really for wood, but I put a 1/2" bi-metal blade in it and it cuts 1/4 aluminum plate like butter.

From 25 yrs of working in machine shops, the only way to find the best layout is start making stuff and adjust as necessary.

Quoted for truth. The above started out with the big lathe in the middle and the bench on the right side wall. Awkward. Reversed that, now it's perfect.

 

[larry_g]

I have mine in the build thread below. I have a 12x36' 'clean' area and the grinders. welding, and other tools go in the main shop. I did the original layout with the Grizzley site and it worked perty well. I have a rotary converter and it feeds a distribution box that then feeds the machines.

I agree 100% with Matt I

Isolate your grinder from your other oiled-way machines. The grinding dust is a deadly abrasive attracted to oiled surfaces.

That is what drove the decision to seperate the shop into clean and dirty areas.
lg
no neat sig line

 

[gtr1999]

Very nice. I am gathering ideas to make this work. I have a nice 36 x 24 garage but only want to take up one bay of it. It has 120/240 200 amp, (2) 330 oil tanks and a hot air furnace. The ceiling is only 9' though and I want to put I a lift at some point and be able to walk under the car at 6'3".
I haven't found the surface grinder I want yet either. I will continue to use the KO Lee I have at work but a nice table top 120 volt unit would be nice. They are out there but not too common.
I have a 9" bench top SBL but my go to a 10k SBL on cabinet. The mill is an old round overarm but I rebuilt the head in the past and there's not a lot of hours on it.

Please keep the pictures coming, they look great. I also have a single car garage on the house with another furnace in it but I like to park my S10 in there during the Winters.

Thanks

 

[matt_i]

a nice table top 120 volt unit would be nice.

You could potentially setup a surface grinder on a mobile base, take it outside and level the feet down, do your grinding there, then bring it back inside. Not ideal in the dead of winter, have to determine how often you have to grind something.

I would stick with 3phase surface grinders. Single phase grinders can produce irregular finishes due to "cogging" in the motor from electrically induced harmonics.

 

[gtr1999]

Thanks Matt, I may be forced to stay with a 3 ph grinder and know it will work better. I use it to grind shims & axles when rebuilding differentials so it doesn't have to have mirror finish but it has to grind flat.

 

[matt_i]

Just another idea here. Put your machines on stationary bases built of doubled stringers of 2x4s on edge (so 3-1/2" tall rather than 3" tall) plus doubled 3/4" plywood or 2x8 crossmembers. Search craigslist until you find a decent pallet jack. The machines can then easily move with some imagination and minor work, around the shop, to test various layouts, and can still work reasonably well just like that if you don't mind the ~4" elevation change.

 

[gorilla]

I have a 16"x40" lathe and a Tree mill. I have them set up parallel to each other so the operators space is shared. The mill is against the wall and the lathe has free space behind it so I can clean the chip pan. My surface grinder is about 10' from the mill and lathe but i always wet grind so the abrasive in the air isn't a big a problem. In my 40+ years in the metal trade I've never seen a mill or surface grinder on wheels I think it's a bad idea.

 

[54stude]

Have you seen abomb79 on YouTube? He has a very functional shop in a similar amount of space.

 

[Steve from Socal]

I don't have any pictures on this computer but, I had a lot of machinery in my 19X25 garage that had a laundry area and, HVAC as well.

The garage actually had two cars parked in it as well for some time. Version one was my K&T 2H mill, a little bigger than a B-Port, my Monarch 10EE, a small drillpress, BurrKing 760 belt grinder, a 6" bench grinder, two work benches, a big tool box and small compressor.

Version two changed with the addition of my DoAll 1612 vertical bandsaw, an 80 gallon upright compressor, two cars still fit. The garage itself has a 16X7' door based to the left facing the garage on the 19' front wall. There is a passage door to the house about 14' from the front on the right. There is a step at 17' that spans the back so I have an 8' raised area. The five feet on the right of the step is HVAC, then next to that on the back wall is a washer and dryer.

In versions I and II the 10EE was in the pocket to the right of the door, first with the tool box and the with the bandsaw. The mill was on the step in front of the washer and dryer, it sounds worse than it was. There was a work bench next to the dryer on the back wall and another work bench at the front of the step behind the mill.

Version III went to a complete shift in the lower area. I had been looking for a welding table and I found a dandy. My welding table is a 36x36x132" cast iron angle plate from a floor mill. The welding table went in the pocket where the lathe and saw were. With the machines on the other side I didn't have the room to park two cars inside. There are some pictures of the garage somewhere I just can't find them now.

Steve

 

[astroracer]

My machine shop is 8' x 24'. Two lathes and DP. The mill sets out in the working side as I didn't want to take it all apart to get it into the smaller room.
The best thing I did was put one of the lathes on a HF 44' roller cabinet.

The other lathe, along with my automotive wiring box, and a lot of project storage at the other end of the shop.

You will notice a lot of the cabinets on an casters... Best thing you can do.
Mark
Tons of storage for all of the machine tools and it keeps the stuff clean. Having the lathe moveable makes for easy cleanup.

 

[rsanter]

Isolate your grinder from your other oiled-way machines. The grinding dust is a deadly abrasive attracted to oiled surfaces.

Sometimes people back a mill into a corner. I've seen lathes flat against the wall or out at a 60-45 degree angle in rows.

A simple rotary converter would basically work. I would prefer a VFD for the grinder to reduce harmonics.

I try to keep my machines covered when not in use as I do other things in my shop like welding and grinding

Bob

 

[gtr1999]

Well it's been a couple of months, long winter here and even colder and snowier in March. I am looking into feeding my 240 1 ph into a converter then feeding a sub panel then out to the machines. I have lined up a J head rd overarm for a good price and a SBL 10k also at a good price and both are in nice shape. The J head I rebuilt years ago in fact and doesn't have a lot of hours on it. Still looking for a grinder and then show horning it all into my 1 bay garage area leaving 2 bays open for car work or storage.

 

[mikegt4]

With that size shop I would put the machines on mobile bases. You will most likely have to move them at some (or many) points in time to accommodate overhangs and other set up issues. as others have mentioned the grinder needs it's own segregated place.

I made mobile bases for my lathe and mill that have the casters on a removable rectangular tube that I can switch from one base to another. I did so for a couple of reasons. A lathe, being long, narrow and top heavy needs to have casters with a wide stance for stability when being moved yet you don't what to be constantly tripping over them once the machine is in place. Wide stance doesn't hurt on a mill either. Also with only one set of casters (one good set) to buy the cost of multiple bases is kept low. It only takes me about 15 minutes to attach or remove the casters so moving the machine on occasion is not a problem.

 

[gtr1999]

The bay I want to shoe horn them into is 24' deep x about 13-14' wide. The SBL10k is 3' x6', the mill 5' x 6', grinder about 4' x4' but I am still in the hunt for the right one.

Not a bad idea on using casters, I want to do a body off on a 69 vette and will be using car rollers on that project.