Your thought on this workshop layout please...

[TFrench]

I have a pretty big space but just have everything on wheels so I can pull it out into the centre of the room. Make an adjustable outfeed table that can catch stuff from any of your machines and you'll have a lot of flexibility.

 

[ratkinsonuk]

I've had a measure up, and done a little mock-up, and I think there's just about enough space with some clever planning...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eg938qgitc7d3 ... 190607.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dxamqnnnb0joy ... 190655.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6s86rjpbj1ieu ... 190720.jpg

 

[ratkinsonuk]

Here you go

Thanks for sharing that Matt. It looks like your shop is about the same size as mine, and you've managed to fit in something similar to my intentions, so it's good to know this is a proven setup.

Rob.

 

[whittler1507]

Guys one of the best bits of advice I got was how are you going to work and design your workshop around your workflow

 

[SteveF]

put the drill press in-line with chop saw
if you can get the height right so you can use the worktop for both

Steve

Cheers Steve. My original sketch had the drill on the end of the chop saw station, and that's probably where it would eventually end up depending on how things pan out. My ineptitude with the web version of SketchUp lead me to just dropping it 'wherever' for the purposes of the initial design.

A side question - has anyone bought one of the cheap £25 copies of SketchUp Pro from eBay and do they work or is it a con?

Cheers.

if you put it at the end you are limited to just drilling the end of a long piece and cannot drill the middle section
think of it the like your chop saw where in an ideal world you would have 3.6m either side
but the drill would only need 1.8m
Steve

 

[ratkinsonuk]

if you put it at the end you are limited to just drilling the end of a long piece and cannot drill the middle section
think of it the like your chop saw where in an ideal world you would have 3.6m either side
but the drill would only need 1.8m
Steve

My current drill is just a small benchtop model Steve, so it would end up on a wheeled pedestal for those times when I required the extra width. If I do upgrade to a full height drill (I can't see the need at the moment), then I'd have to rethink it's location.

I'm trying to build as much of the workshop using modules as I can, so I can move pieces around. Even the workshop itself was designed so that it could be taken apart and moved to a new house, with very little loss of materials.

Cheers, Rob

 

[LancsRick]

One thing I'd suggest which I did in my single garage setup was to have a three piece thicknessing setup.

I have my lunchbox thicknesser mounted on a piece of 18mm MDF. This has locating dowels such that I can add a 1.2m piece of MDF on both infeed and outfeed with rollers fixed at the matching height to the thicknesser bed. This then means that they can be stored vertically behind the workshop door, the thicknesser goes under the bench, and if I need to run any truly long stock through it I can just lay the whole thing out on the garage floor in about 3 minutes flat. Works a treat!