Ever Changing Shop Layout

[ssmith1627]

Every time I think I have a good layout, I work in there for a while and then want to change it. Is this normal or obsession ? haha

This is what I have right now:
http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v...hop_layout_001

My issue now after running the S&C ducting for my DC is that I really don't feel like I'm getting enough out of it on the longest run which ends at my bandsaw and planer. That run goes up from the DC to the ceiling so about 6 feet, across the ceiling for about 12 feet and then down the wall and to the bandsaw or planer so that's another 8 feet, the last part in flex hose. Too many bends and too much distance I think.

So I'm thinking now about totally re-arranging my shop so the D.C. is against one wall and all the tools are arranged in a half circle around it. The longest run would be a straight shot to my table saw of 6-8 feet.

http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v...layout_new_001

Will have to add a table behind the saw for outfeed support but that's simply enough. Gives me better access to my workbench since it won't have to double as an outfeed table. And hopefully gives me much better dust collection.

Think I'll finish my current project before I start moving all this around......

Steve

[cgallery]

That's a lot of room you have to play with. I'm envious.

[ssmith1627]

It looks so big in the drawings. Somehow the reality doesn't seem as roomy. Once you add in shop vacs sitting around, two kennels for dogs up under one of my work tables, a pie safe that I'm trying to restore, etc.....it gets eaten up.

I wish I could tear out that laundry room and move the w/d to another spot in the house but there's really not a spot for them.

Steve

[Tom Miller]

Just remember that every foot of flex hose is like 8-10 ft of smooth wall pipe (e.g. S&D). So, if you're shortening the smooth wall stuff, you won't really notice a difference. But you may notice a difference if you replace, say, 4ft of the flex with 4ft of smooth wall.

Regards,
Tom
p.s. The photo links aren't loading -- says "can't find the server"....

[ssmith1627]

Tom, the photos work for me. Maybe try again ? Thanks for letting me know there might be an issue.

For the planer specifically, I'm talking about replacing that whole run which is right now:
a 45, 6 feet of smooth S&D, a 90, 12 feet of smooth S&C, a 90, 4 feet of smooth S&D, 4 feet of flex hose

I'd be replacing it with about 5 feet of flex hose in roughly an S shape.

Would that not be a significant improvement ?

Appreciate the feedback. Thanks for the taking the time to kick it around with me.

Steve

[Jes Pidlin]

"I wish I could tear out that laundry room ..."

Just a thought, but could you move the front wall back to just clear the W & D? Have something like a closet with double doors across the front. From your drawing it looks like it would give you about another 20 square feet for portable stuff.

[ssmith1627]

Yeah, double doors that open out might work. I've also thought about those stackable units -- they have full size washer / dryers now as one unit and that'd close up that space some too.

All a matter of how long we'll be in this house.....we go back and forth on moving.

Steve

[LarryG]

You could also re-build and re-orient the closet to that the door(s) open onto the little alcove serving the door at upper right, which I presume leads into the house proper. Making the closet shallower would increase the amount of elbow room in the shop, but if you still have to allow access to the doors from the same side as you have now, you really won't have gained as much as you will if those doors are out of the way completely.

[ssmith1627]

The door in the upper right is to the deck. The door on the "east" wall in that picture goes inside -- foyer / den. The door on the lower right goes outside.

It's actually a pretty good idea. Make the laundry room open to that "hallway" -- opening to the right instead of "south". Especially with a stackable unit.....maybe shelving beside it for laundry room type stuff and even a pocket door to avoid having to swing it out into that narrow space. But would give me a lot more wall space on that other side.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Steve

[Tom Miller]

Tom, the photos work for me. Maybe try again ? Thanks for letting me know there might be an issue.

For the planer specifically, I'm talking about replacing that whole run which is right now:
a 45, 6 feet of smooth S&D, a 90, 12 feet of smooth S&C, a 90, 4 feet of smooth S&D, 4 feet of flex hose

I'd be replacing it with about 5 feet of flex hose in roughly an S shape.

Would that not be a significant improvement ?

Appreciate the feedback. Thanks for the taking the time to kick it around with me.

Steve

Photo problem must have been at my end -- the links are working fine now.

Re: change in flow resistance after re-plumbing -- it could very well be a toss-up. If your flex hose is doing an "S", that's like four 90 degree elbows, but made with hose that has up to 10x the flow resistance of smooth wall. So, who knows. The point I'm trying to make, though, is to minimize the flex as much as possible. Every foot counts.

Regards,
Tom

[ssmith1627]

Thanks Tom.

The problem I come up with if I scrap the ducting I have in place now is that the hoses will just be laying on the floor. I guess that really wouldn't matter if it was S&C pipe vs. flex hose but they're no longer up and out of the way running near the ceiling.

Here's yet another option to get everything connected to the DC in the same general area and everything not connected away. It's tough to lay things out so that you can actually use each machine for what it's intended ! The clearances around each one certainly make it difficult.

http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v...ut_possibility

This goes back to something we discussed here a while back -- actually putting the D.C. outside the shop. Obviously that brings up the heat loss issue again -- tomorrow that would've been fine but today it's 30 degrees outside. But this would keep the DC piping in one general area and out of the traffic areas.

Who is tired of hearing about my shop layout ? Maybe I should start a poll ? haha Thanks for listening.

Steve

[LarryG]

Who is tired of hearing about my shop layout ?

Hey, we'd all much rather it be YOU who's going to be shoving his heavy machinery around and figuring out what doesn't work, before we start in on OUR shops ...

Last night I was thumbing my copy of "The Workshop Book" by Scott Landis, and one of the interesting examples he showed was a fellow who put his DC right in the middle of the floor and then grouped his machines around it in a rough circle. The owner called it his "octopus" and that's pretty much what it looked like. The piping and hose runs to each machine were VERY short ... in some cases, just a couple feet. IIRC the overall diameter of the circle of tools was around 10 feet, plus in/outfeed room beyond that.

At first glance it seemed very weird ... we get so used to tools being arrayed against walls ... but the more I looked at it, the more I realized how much sense it made.

Do you have room to do something like that?

[ssmith1627]

I played with that idea as well after seeing something similar in Fine Woodworking. Played on Grizzly's shop layout program, I mean.

The issue there becomes the DC stuff -- aren't you then taking those hoses around 180 degrees from the instake side of the DC to get to the machines behind it ? That was the part I didn't like the idea of -- it seemed to be just what I was trying to get away from, more bends.

Putting the D.C. against a wall and making a half circle made more sense to me. Straight shot to the table saw. Left and right bends to get to the other machines but no more than 90 degrees. I was trying to lay them out not only based on the space to get to each machine to use it for its intended purpose but to also have the most direct line from the DC to the existing dust port on each machine.

Steve

[LarryG]

The fellow in the book had the type of DC that has the impeller mounted horizontally, midway up the machine. He added a plenum-like housing on it so the "legs of the octopus" could run to each machine with a minimum of bends.

(Incidentally, it was an HF machine, apparently an older model that I've never before seen; the author said the brand name was "Central Machinery.")