Looking for much needed inspiration

[SRX]

I have hit the wall with analysis paralysis.

I have a 12' x 16' shed/tinker spot. It is a gable/pitched roof. Concrete floor. 2 windows (one in the middle of each 16' side). Door on the front 12' side.

I have played with the layout alot. I am looking for ideas and reasons for such regarding the layout of the work area. My main concerns are to locate the workbench at the back wall or along the side wall? I do need to store the snow thrower and lawn mower inside.

I have a Craftsman table saw, drill press, and bench grinder. I have a Delta chop saw and a Porter Cable compressor. I have four of the 33" Vidmars and a 59" Vidmar on casters. I also have 4 sets of metal drawers from Diebold (banking) as well as the token file cabinets.

This is mostly a tinker/homeowner spot. It has 110V wired. Not planning on any 240V soon. I do like having the center floor open for any and all projects.

My current layout is roughly similar to this

I have considered placing all the Vidmars along the back wall.

Go wild. Pick and choose what you would place where. I will get better pics of the Diebold drawers soon.

Any and all feedback welcome.

Thanks.

 

[SRX]

It's an ongoing work in progress, but you can kinda see the layout above.

 

[SRX]

I'm thinking of removing the filing cabinets all together and reusing them in the boiler room in the basement.

 

[SRX]

There are a few metal cabinets that are not represented in the pics above (the tall Vidmar, another 33" Vidmar, and a non labelled 33" set of drawers similar to the IBM card holders that the drill press is sitting on currently (under the right wing of the table saw).

 

[SRX]

I am on the yes side of the fence for removing the old work bench (front left corner) that was left by the previous owner and using the footprint for storing the snow thower and lawn mower there.

 

[rvieceli]

Could you throw up a small lean to off the side or back of the shed to get rid of the mower and the snow blower. It would make the space more usable without shifting things around. Could just be gravel floor if you don't want the expense of concrete.

 

[Max]

A couple of thoughts:
- The Vidmars are taking up a lot if space. Send them to me and that will clear up a lot of space.. Seriously, I would keep the cabinets there and use the top of them as an assembly bench or for more storage. You don't want to always have to walk to the basement to get parts for whatever you are doing.
- You have a lot of different things stored in that area. I would try to move stuff I didn't use very often out of the area and to the basement. The space you have is already tight for a table saw unless you do small projects.
- One of my pet peeves is having a place where you have to interrupt your project before and after you work on it. As an example, I used to have to move a car and a motorcycle to use my saw, move the saw, hook up the sawdust collector, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. This time really cuts into your project time. So I'd try to minimize that work - for example the lawnmower gets wheeled out when you do a project, but all of the other stuff should stay in their proper places.

Max

 

[Gerald O]

No need to settle on a fixed layout -- you don't have the space.
Keep everything on wheels because you will be rearranging frequently.

 

[Homerr]

Buy a small shed from Costco, HD, Lowes to get the mower, snowblower, and yard tools out of there.

 

[n2jeepn]

1st thing I would do is get the mower and snow blower out, as suggested above. That will free up a lot of floor space. I'd also consider some shelves or cabinets on the walls so you can get small items up and off of your work surfaces.
I'd also keep as much as you can on wheels for flexibility.

 

[jimreed2160]

I love the rendering of your shop. Is that some sort of rendering app?

You have a pretty cool woodshop but it is small. Don't worry, most of us ww are space challenged. Tight areas can be frustrating because you spend more time moving things around than actually working on projects. I agree with others--the yard stuff needs to go somewhere else. If you can find another place for it, you will increase your woodworking enjoyment and your projects will benefit.

Good luck with your reorg.