# Workshop layout help/advice?



## Rob Cheetham (6 Nov 2021)

I have built my own workshop in my garden and have just booked in the electrics to be wired in on the 24th november.

Im just writing this post to just get peoples advice on what they think the best layout would be before i commint100%to the plug points.

The inside dimensions are 3.1 x 5.2 meters. My list of equipment is as follows

Record power BS400 floor standing band saw
UJK Router table from axminster
AXMINSTER TRADE AT260SPT SPIRAL PLANER THICKNESSER 
AXMINSTER TRADE AT540PD FLOOR PILLAR DRILL 
Laguna fusion 3 table saw (will be purchasing soon when complete)
Laguna cyclone dust extractor (will be purchaisng soon when complete)
Excalibur 21" scroll saw (not to worried about this as will squeeze in where i can at the end)
Tool chest (about 6ft tall nearly)
Evolution sliding compound mitre saw

I should add that all floor standing machines will be on mobile bases eventually, including the outfeed bench.

I will be having a bench at one end and bench to act as an outfeed table for the table saw and extra workspace.

I will include pictures of the inside of the build currently and also a layout I created so you can all see what I have come up with. Then feel free to give advice on what you think?

Im having four downlights outside under the canopy overhang. 8 downlights on the inside. 3 16 amp sockets and 5 double standard sockets. These sockets are pin pointed on the layout.

Thanks for reading and I look froward to your thoughts and opinions


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## Sporky McGuffin (6 Nov 2021)

I know you said the machines will be on mobile bases, but don't put the bandsaw in a corner. Site it where it's usable without moving it, if you can.

Also just to check that where the extractor is you'll be able to empty it easily...


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## eribaMotters (6 Nov 2021)

I would double up on the number of sockets you have on the end walls.
The big one though would be three single metalbox sockets on hanging chains down the middle of the ceiling. I fitted these in my last workshop and they proved invaluable

Colin


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## PerryGunn (6 Nov 2021)

All I can say is put in at least twice as many sockets as you think you'll need - then add a few extra for good measure. You'll never need to use them all at once but anything that avoids trailing cords, or the need to use an extension lead, in a workshop removes trip hazards.

You may also find that, although you've planned where everything is going to be, this may change over time and additional sockets installed now are relatively cheap & easy - adding additional sockets later will cost more and be a bit of a PITA.

I've only got a small workshop and made sure that I put in plenty of sockets. Worth having at least one double under any fixed-place benches and some higher ones over benches or along walls are very useful as you can still reach them when things would be in the way of 'normal-height' ones.


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## Droogs (6 Nov 2021)

Think about how you process and work your materials. Dimensioning (width & thickness) first and what you use to do that and then work either clockwise or anti-clockwise around the workshop until you are at where you will apply the finish to the piece. Think about what powered kit will be used at each station and where they will be and put in the appropriate feeds. Also think about having a couple of feeds dropping from the ceiling using either coiled cable such as a phone handset cable used to be or an automatic sprung retractable cable feed for big machines you may move around


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## Sandyn (6 Nov 2021)

Just as others have said +1 for many more double sockets and then some extra. It is so easy to put them in at this stage. Can you get sockets to the middle of the area, possibly from the ceiling. Also use several of the LED light panels that people have talked about. Lots of diffuse light to eliminate shadows. I would have some kind of emergency stop along the centre and pairs of master slave sockets in the walls. A master shut off switch at the exit so at night you can turn everything off , but possibly one or two sockets on a bypass for things you might want to leave on. Speakers wired in, perhaps a disco ball in the middle??


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## Sideways (6 Nov 2021)

Yup, double socket every 1 metre along the walls. You don't need them in the corners so that makes about 10 of them between the two long and one short walls.

One 16A outlet near the door in case you need to run a cable outdoors for a bit of welding.

Two 16A outlets on whatever is your "back" wall to feed your table saw and whatever. Say at the 1/3 and 2/3 positions I'm saying "back" wall because you don't want to be stepping over the cables to your machines.
Anything with 1.5kW motor or less, and corded power tools will run off a 13A socket.

Workshops are like rooms in the house. You are bound to reorganise many times over the years so a flexible distribution of power has advantages.

Are you having the electrics wired properly - individual LNE wires ("singles") run in metal or plastic conduit and metal box switches and sockets ?
Keep it where you can see it and easily add to it, protect it from knocks and the fixings of all the shelves, hangers and whatever that you will gradually put into your walls....


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## Inspector (6 Nov 2021)

If you can add a lean to without violating zoning etc I would put the dust collector outside. 

I suggest you have at least one or two circuits big enough to handle a 5hp/4Kw motor. You never know when one will come into your life. 

Here is a little information of light levels for various activities. Illuminance - Recommended Light Level My shop has 1,000 lumens per square metre. 

Pete


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## mikej460 (6 Nov 2021)

Totally agree with all the above and would add an external waterproof socket to allow you to work outside without worrying about extension leads.


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## Rob Cheetham (7 Nov 2021)

Thankyou to all that have replied. I think I will take the advice on more sockets. Like 1 every meter that was stated. Im not sure on hanging sockets but im defo going to look into it. I just think it might be a bit overkill as its only a small workshop, but I do like the sound of a retractable one. Anyone not if you can get a retractable one on a runner from one end of the room to another. That would be helpfull


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## Sporky McGuffin (7 Nov 2021)

I have a retractable at one end of mine that'll easily reach all the way to the other, but I wid I'd had a ceiling socket too.


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## Ollie78 (7 Nov 2021)

Try and make everything the same height.
Put everything on wheels if it can be. 
Try to line up the table saw and planer with a door for long lengths.
Get plenty of good lights, I like 6400k led batons and they are cheap.

Ollie


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## Trextr7monkey (7 Nov 2021)

Hi regarding the sockets I would look at running industrial style trunk that allows sockets to be placed anywhere rather than lots of doubles. We had it at work and it was reconfigured several times over the years.
Overhead cable reels we used tended to. be fixed in one spot very useful-again by trade grade stuff rather than from local hardware shop. Well worth getting it right early on


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## Spectric (7 Nov 2021)

The one thing you soon realise is that whatever layout you have planed, as soon as you actually start to work in there you find that things need moving round. This is the big advantage of a large workshop because you are not always juggling space and have the room to place machines where you want without them interferring with using others. Unfortunately many of us are in smaller spacers and getting things to a working state will involve putting things on castors and having flexability, often having to move a machine to use it. Also keep in mind heights, ie your outfeed tables need to be above any obstructions so workpieces can be freely fed.


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## Inspector (7 Nov 2021)

You could use a wire rope strung tight from one end of the shop to the other just under the ceiling. Suitable electrical wire hanging in loops from it on small pulleys so that the wire can be pulled where you want it. Same idea as gantry cranes use. It can also be done with pipe, tube or track etc. Jib cranes 

Pete


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## Cabinetman (7 Nov 2021)

Exciting times!
Fit some noggins around the walls to take the sockets, and don’t use the studs to bring the conduits down on, you will hamper fixing shelf brackets etc, damhik!
Might be worth putting a hatch in the wall opposite the door so you can rip long lengths of wood. Ian


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## heimlaga (7 Nov 2021)

I agree. On a workshop that size you will need strathegically placed hatches in the walls for ripping and planing. 

Use the upper parts of the walls for shelves and cabinets for less often used tools and materials.


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## heimlaga (7 Nov 2021)

I would try to put the bandsaw where you planned for the drill press. To get outfeed space for the planer/thicknesser. The drill press culd stand where you planned for the bandsaw as both table and head can be swiveled out of the exact line of the planer-thicknesser.
If the bandsaw stands where you planned for the drill press you only need to wheel it half a metre away from the wall to get two metres of free outfeed path behind it and unlimited infeed path through the door.
I would want the dust collector immediately inside the door where you planned for the tool chest. Carrying a barrel of chips through a cramped workshop isn't too fun. Then the tool chest could stand besides the workbench.

Just an idea


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## southendwoodworker (8 Nov 2021)

Very envious!

With the table saw - i am assuming the outfeed is on to the bench rather than in to the wall. if that is the case, do you have enough in feed space given it is so close to the door?


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## recipio (8 Nov 2021)

If the mitre saw is the main crosscutting saw you will use it 90% of the time. Try and stand it away from a wall so you can get behind it to tidy up. Even with extraction they generate an awful lot of sawdust.


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## akirk (17 Nov 2021)

I had my workshop built earlier this year - while some thought it was overkill, I really thought through sockets and put in many more than most would... In the last 6 months the vast majority have been used at some point. Various bits that have worked:
- some plugs on each wall with a USB output
- several circuits - so I have a white circuit that is always on (useful for the music / air filter / etc.) and a red circuit for anything which has spinning metal bits - and that has an additional isolator - if we have friends with children over the whole workshop can be turned off with one switch - no checking that you haven't left a particular machine on... and yet the air filtration etc. continues to work. (we also have a blue circuit for fridges and freezers, just because we could!)
- several outside sockets on front and side of the building (front is onto the front drive and side is onto the back garden) - highly used.


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## Spectric (17 Nov 2021)

With plastic sockets next to a workbench there is potential to smash the fronts all to easily, personally I would have used metal back boxes with threaded couplings and bushes, you could then use plain metal clad fronts and kept the reds.


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## akirk (17 Nov 2021)

Spectric said:


> With plastic sockets next to a workbench there is potential to smash the fronts all to easily, personally I would have used metal back boxes with threaded couplings and bushes, you could then use plain metal clad fronts and kept the reds.


Possibly - but have never smashed a socket in my life and can't envisage a time when I might...
If I do they are cheap as chips to replace and certainly the overall cost of installation was therefore much lower...


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## Spectric (17 Nov 2021)

I have seen many and even in a house where you would not use metal clad kids have managed to crack them with toys etc so much more vunerable in the workshop enviroment, but then I am governed by the regs so have to work to 7671.


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## Farm Labourer (17 Nov 2021)

_have never smashed a socket in my life - _Obviously not trying hard enough in the workshop - I managed to break one at the weekend and it wasn't the first!


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## Woodernhift (17 Nov 2021)

I would have a method of turning all the electrics on/off as you leave but leave these thing you may need on when you’re not there eg heating, dehumidifie, air cleaner, alarm.


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## akirk (17 Nov 2021)

Woodernhift said:


> I would have a method of turning all the electrics on/off as you leave but leave these thing you may need on when you’re not there eg heating, dehumidifie, air cleaner, alarm.


That is exactly what my multiple circuits and isolator switch is set up to do…


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## Hornbeam (17 Nov 2021)

I would swop your tool chest and the extractor. That way you have your tools by the bench and the extractor emptying is by the door, possibly with more space. Bandsaw in the middle of teh end wall so it can be used without moving. Do you have enough room to reposition your pillar drill onto the long wall where the two 16 amp sockets are as this would give you more space around the bandsaw. Router table same height of lower than bandsaw as it is easier to move around and can be pulled out for use but left in situ when using the bandsaw. 
Hope your kit isnt too heavy as you will probably move it around a couple of times
I have just gone through this process but all of mine is cast iron 250 to 500Kg each machine


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## Louie10 (6 Jan 2022)

Rob Cheetham said:


> I have built my own workshop in my garden and have just booked in the electrics to be wired in on the 24th november.
> 
> Im just writing this post to just get peoples advice on what they think the best layout would be before i commint100%to the plug points.
> 
> ...



I noticed your list of machines of which I have many so maybe I can offer some usable advice, firstly the record power bs400? I had this bandsaw and i have to say i was dissapointed because i found it incredibly difficult to get it to cut straight, in the end i sold it on and purchased the sabre 350, in my opinion a much better saw, the Laguna is a great saw, very please with it so far, a soft start on the big 3 would make it a near perfect saw! Anyways my shop is about 16ft by 16.6ft and I use ever inch, remember mate to value an assembly area, I love my machines but as a cabinet maker I really value the assembly area, in early days my machines took priority but the assembly area now really plays a huge roll. I will try and add photos, louie


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## Louie10 (6 Jan 2022)

Here are some photos that maybe of help mate


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## Joebal (18 May 2022)

Rob Cheetham said:


> I have built my own workshop in my garden and have just booked in the electrics to be wired in on the 24th november.
> 
> Im just writing this post to just get peoples advice on what they think the best layout would be before i commint100%to the plug points.
> 
> ...


Hi Rob,
I haven’t read all the other comments, I’m pretty sure they gave you some good solid advice. I might be repeating what’s been said but here goes.
1) you don’t have enough sockets on the walls. You need to have at least 4 doubles on the longer walls and three on the side wall. This may sound excessive but I can assure you that it’s not. As you slowly start using your workshop you will find that you will end up with more equipment like spotlights, hand power tools and even a computer and printer. You will definitely end up moving machinery around to create a natural workflow environment a couple of times as you find the feel of your workspace.
2) you will need power brought up through the floor to the centre of the the room/ main workbench. Definitely install power sockets overhead above the bench as well.
3) If you have or are going to have Wi-Fi, which I think is essential in this day and age. This gives you the opportunity to install a smart TV & Alexa right at your fingertips to use as and when for the likes of YouTube videos, plans and ideas.
4) you might also seriously think about replacing your standard sockets with Smart sockets which are not expensive at all and this will effectively give you a whole smart workshop and run by Alexa. ie….. Alexa turn on the power to extraction, tablesaw, light, tv and so on.
5) I noticed you didn’t include a space for a sink. If you can install one at all then I would also make sure that you do so. It’s an essential part of any workshop and you will find it invaluable.
I hope that at the very least, I’ve given you some stuff to seriously think about and make your workshop somewhere easier and more enjoyable to work in.
Good luck with your project and I and am sure everyone else will look forward to to seeing more pictures when it’s finished.
Kindest regards,
Joe


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## g1_lo (2 Jun 2022)

Always remember that you can do as much planning as possible but if you've had no prior experience of assembling a workshop accept the fact that you will potentially have to alter certain things. But thinking about workflows etc are a good base but having the main bits like sockets etc located all around so that when you find a better way its not to much trouble changing the layout. Embrace the Kaizen.


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