I made my master plan for the shop late last year and finalized it in January. It's been a great help to my wallet and my mind as I moved forward with concrete plans on where things would go, and what would fit, and what I needed.
Six months later the plan definitely still works, however after months of use I am cognizant that it needs some minor tweaking. As I'm finishing up the workbench, I examined other spots it could go so I could have full access to the left side of the bench. After several hours in Sketchup I realized that where it is going is the absolute best spot. I'll have to drag it out a bit at times, but that's fine.
Here is an approximation of my shop right now.
If it looks familiar, it's because I posted it months ago and I've been following this plan to the letter. It works pretty dang well.
Now, for what's changed:
over the past several weeks I've been using my jointer and planer very heavily. I've been jointing 3' and 6' boards, and I've been moving my planer (and jointer, but it's right there) to the entryway and running them from outside the door towards the back wall. This has worked well, but I was thinking if that's where I will primarily plane, I should maybe have it closer to the door. I've never used the planer where it is, mainly because the outfeed tables don't clear the neighboring surfaces. On the cart, the outfeed table is nearly perfect with the surface of my saw, making a natural outfeed extension. My jointer I can just shove a bit closer to the door (it's on a cart, but two wheels are fixed).
I've also noticed I rarely use the router table. Partly because there's not a ton of room to pull it out from it's cubby and hook up the vac. I was thinking when I rebuilt (read: finished) the router table, I'd ditch the cubby and just have it at counter height so I could use it where it was, and pull it out only if need be for long or wide pieces. Either way, I would gain greater access to the dust port on the rear, or I could design something where it exits out the bottom and front.
This is what I've come up with so far:
Move the bandsaw a little closer to the jointer, put the drill press next to the bandsaw, and move the planer cart over to where the drill press was. I obviously haven't finished the back wall yet, and that's where I could use some ideas. In my original plans the spot where the miter saw was was a modular tool station, and modules could either fit there, or the gap where the planer cart rolled into. So the miter saw could move over if needed, or I could put a sharpening module, pocket jig module or dovetail jig module in either spot. Whatever I needed that was light. I'd like to retain one spot where I could do that, I think. I also need to make a home for the new mortiser, because at 68lbs I don't want to be lifting it up and off a bench. I could put this on a permanent small wall shelf if I have to, but bench height is preferred.
So looking at both graphics, anything come to mind?
Six months later the plan definitely still works, however after months of use I am cognizant that it needs some minor tweaking. As I'm finishing up the workbench, I examined other spots it could go so I could have full access to the left side of the bench. After several hours in Sketchup I realized that where it is going is the absolute best spot. I'll have to drag it out a bit at times, but that's fine.
Here is an approximation of my shop right now.
If it looks familiar, it's because I posted it months ago and I've been following this plan to the letter. It works pretty dang well.
Now, for what's changed:
over the past several weeks I've been using my jointer and planer very heavily. I've been jointing 3' and 6' boards, and I've been moving my planer (and jointer, but it's right there) to the entryway and running them from outside the door towards the back wall. This has worked well, but I was thinking if that's where I will primarily plane, I should maybe have it closer to the door. I've never used the planer where it is, mainly because the outfeed tables don't clear the neighboring surfaces. On the cart, the outfeed table is nearly perfect with the surface of my saw, making a natural outfeed extension. My jointer I can just shove a bit closer to the door (it's on a cart, but two wheels are fixed).
I've also noticed I rarely use the router table. Partly because there's not a ton of room to pull it out from it's cubby and hook up the vac. I was thinking when I rebuilt (read: finished) the router table, I'd ditch the cubby and just have it at counter height so I could use it where it was, and pull it out only if need be for long or wide pieces. Either way, I would gain greater access to the dust port on the rear, or I could design something where it exits out the bottom and front.
This is what I've come up with so far:
Move the bandsaw a little closer to the jointer, put the drill press next to the bandsaw, and move the planer cart over to where the drill press was. I obviously haven't finished the back wall yet, and that's where I could use some ideas. In my original plans the spot where the miter saw was was a modular tool station, and modules could either fit there, or the gap where the planer cart rolled into. So the miter saw could move over if needed, or I could put a sharpening module, pocket jig module or dovetail jig module in either spot. Whatever I needed that was light. I'd like to retain one spot where I could do that, I think. I also need to make a home for the new mortiser, because at 68lbs I don't want to be lifting it up and off a bench. I could put this on a permanent small wall shelf if I have to, but bench height is preferred.
So looking at both graphics, anything come to mind?
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