Shop Layout...

[Ppwcanada]

Hi all! Well I have started the new shop on our acreage. It will be a 70 x 80 x 18" steel shop. The pad was poured yesterday and sealed today. I started walking around it today and am totally perplexed as to how to lay it out efficiently. I am a welder by trade and a mechanic by hobby. So I intend to have a "hot" side with all my welders and anything that sparks. And a cold side with a two post hoist, tools etc. Somewhere I need to put a 5x5x7' powder coating oven and all that goes with that. Also trying to figure out an efficient place to put the metal saw and racks for steel material (20' lengths). I thought that would be easier than building it by far but...nope!! I am taking pics and will post as the build goes on.

 

[Thumper68]

The easiest way to get a layout that works is to draw the interior to scale and then make cut outs of all the equipment and shelves/racks and just move them around until you get one that works.

Too bad that you didn't do the before the pour, if you had then you could have placed conduit under it for wiring.

 

[bullnerd]

Grizzly.com...has a shop layout program free on thier site. Not the best but better than nothing.

 

[Ppwcanada]

I actually spent time with graph paper and cut outs. Which gave me the general idea of the size of the shop I would want. But I'm kind of a visual guy. I get inspired but what others have done, lol. I'm not terribly worried about the conduit in the concrete as a lot of stuff is going to be against the walls, with the exception of the hoist and perhaps a lathe, thus keeping the middle open for projects. I'm going to be spending a lot of time on here though. Looking for a good idea for a front work bench/tool bench. Once I get some pics done I will start a thread showing the build. Thanks guys!!

 

[Nighttrain]

Nice size shop but not much headroom at 18". With my shop I had my tools in it for several months before I got the layout. May still make some changes. Your best bet may be to get it done then just go with the flow. As with woodworking tools each tool had its use and hence it's location by use. I don't do too much metal work but the lay out probly the same. Steel storage near the door where you bring it in. Then the chop saw then welder s etc. looking forward to seeing the pictures

 

[AndyA]

Steel storage near the door where you bring it in

It would be nice if you can drive the truck/trailer in the door right next to the rack and unload without carrying very far. Better yet, have the rack accessible to a forklift or other type lift if you have one.

You'll also want your welders with gas bottles to be fairly near the door. Yeah the bottles will tilt and roll across the concrete fairly easily, but it'll be easier if you don't have to move them very far.

It's also nice to be able to run the stick machine's leads out the door to work on large stuff (barn trusses, farm equipment, etc). You may or may not do this sort of work.

I'd put a table for tig work in the back. Most of the tig stuff I'd do is small enough to be easily hand carried. With the tig in the back you might be able to leave the doors open and not get too much wind. Your tig and stick may be the same machine. In that case I'd put it in the back and buy more lead. You can also semi-permanently install lead from the machine to some quick-connectors near the door.

With mig there's a limit on the length of the gun and still have it feed the wire properly. I'd probably keep the mig machine on a roll around cart so you can move it to the work. If you have a machine with the separate feeder, I might consider building an overhead boom for the feeder.

Grinders/sanders can be put in the back of the shop. I'd try to keep these away from welders and other sensitive equipment so you don't get grit in everything.

I'd put the bulk of the tools on the cold side of the shop. The hot side would have a few tools: grinders, hammers, clamps, vice-grips, 1-1/8 wrench for regulators, etc.

I'm sure I can spout off a crapload of random ideas. Let me know if you want more

 

[NUTTSGT]

Have you spent time searching through the gallery section ? You'll find many good ideas from other members and how they set up their garages and shops.

 

[Rentawrench]

Put wheels on EVERYTHING. Make a storage area ( Far corner ) to keep equipment an roll out the needed equipment to a well lighted an ventilated spot (Heated too for winter )

 

[Cryptic1911]

^ Everything on wheels, but also keep all metalworking / messy equipment to one area, although you may want to make sure you have a power outlet to run a welder near the lift for those times when you need to weld something on the car itself

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

When we moved our shop (equipment dealer) to a new facility, I used Sketchup and Google Earth to layout the entire shop (both free) - including parts room shelving and outdoor storage in the yard. It made a lot smoother transition to know how many rows / length of shelves would fit and which way to position equipment ahead of time and not have too much "put and take" shuffling around 'till you like it. I was able to "adjust" and preposition stuff on the computer and print out a new layout in a few minutes if the owner decided he didn't like item "X" being wherever I had thought to put it.

 

[sberry]

I have all of these features and then some. One I missed was a conduit in floor to the bench, I had a ground lead but no pipe for wiring. I went back and cut a groove.