Gene Howe wrote:I'm in the process of rearranging my shop, also.
I'd imagine that most shop iterations are designed with working space and efficiency in mind. I've found that, like clamps, you can never have enough.
As soon as my current rearrangements are complete, I'm sure I'll start a project that will require even more space. Or, I'll wish I'd moved this cabinet/machine/ bench over there instead of where I did move it.
I suppose shop plans are much like marriage, requiring attention, planning, constant updates, work arounds and, lots of love.
Gene
That is why I decided that everything in my shop but me will be on wheels.
So far I have done fairly well at it. All of my Shopsmiths are on Shopsmith caster sets. My Ridgid TS3650 tablesaw has a great mobile base which was part of the reason I bought it. My Foley Belsaw planer/molder/ripsaw has "fair" factory casters. I have my 6" long bed jointer sitting on a mobile base of sorts but I'm not happy with it yet.
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When I started planning the woodshop in the new location I had intended to build in quite a bit of stuff but I have now changed my mind. Every time I planned something at a particular location I ended up changing my mind based on adding tools etc. so I am now planning on "everything" being mobile. The main shop building is 24' x 48' plus a build-on across the back about 8' x 24'. It is too far from end to end to be constantly walking from one end to the other for something related to some job because part of the stuff is no longer close at hand.
If all machines are on wheels, all other tools are on mobile storage towers, all supplies are in mobile storage towers and all lumber racks are mobile then I can move anything to any location at any time... And I probably will...
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I often see guys building some tool cabinet carefully planned around each tool similar to the old tool chest of early woodworkers. The early woodworkers often had a mere handful of tools and generally had to be able to take the tools to the job. His box would have a spot for his hammer, another for his saw and so on. He might use those same few tools most of his life. If I started building a custom cabinet carefully fitted to each tool it would be totally obsolete before I got it built because I would buy more tools to build it.
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There is another reason for planning the shop like a MASH unit. I am still considering other locations for the whole shop.
Sitting here at the keyboard I am 400 feet from the woodshop. I realize that doesn't sound like much and at this time it isn't but in another 5 years??? My concern is that in a few years I might avoid trips to the shop in some of our Indiana winter weather. Some of that stems from remembering that my mothers health took a serious downhill slide after a bad fall on glare ice. She would have died that day had the dogs not alerted me that something was wrong.
I am planning to sell a piece of property in another county maybe next year and that would be a good time to make a change if I decide I want to.
I have a couple of thoughts... I keep looking at our 36' x 40' basement under the back part of the house. We have talked about finishing it out like a big family room or something but we don't really need the space at all. This house including that basement is roughly 5,000 sq. ft. and it is just the two of us.
I can add a large outside access for under $1,000 and it would be very nice to just go downstairs to work in the wood shop. It also would have several advantages over another building. It holds at 72 degrees in the winter and about 68 in the summer without the AC running. No extra heating or cooling cost. It is where the main electrical entrance to the house is and that is plenty heavy for the current shop use and would only require pulling a few wires through a conduit if it ever needed beefing up. It has a perfect concrete floor and "decent" headroom. I'll keep looking at it.
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I have also looked at the possibility of adding a large garage to the back of the house but that would cost a lot more to build than some other structures.
I might mention at this point that when talking about this I mentioned to Diana that having the shop in an attached garage or the basement would probably put a little sawdust in the house. Her comment was "so what"... I knew there was a reason I married her.
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I also have a small shed about 40 feet from the back door of the house that was a former chicken house back in the 1940s. It is 16' x 20' with a concrete floor. It has only about 6.5' of headroom at the low end but about 9' at the high end. I could build onto the high end and make it around 1,200 to 1,500 sq. ft. pretty cheaply. The low ceiling area would be fine for storage of supplies etc.
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It gets to be a little like looking at buying a car or house. The more you look, the less you know.
For now I will just go ahead with what I have but keep all options open.
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Maybe what I need is a 400' long "covered bridge" between the house and the woodshop.
