Small shop setup with incoming cabinet saw

[GaryA]

the super humidity season is just around the corner in Tampa if I remember correctly. At least it was from my view from across the street from Rocky Point Golf Course near the causeway that crosses to Clearwater.

Regards...

You are correct! It's starting to set in already...worked my a** off yesterday, and it wasn't so cool out with the door open. I've got to get a big fan setup in there (and maybe a dehumidifier). I'm still trying to figure out if I can get by with just that, or if I need to do AC in there. Was considering one of those portable AC units. But I think I'd be OK as long as the air was moving...??

[LarryG]

Gary, are you planning to put your cabinet saw in the same place and same orientation as your BT is in the revised layout pictures?

If so, I hunch you'll quickly realize that's not going to work very well. A BT measures about 42" long by 24" deep ... seven square feet. A cabinet saw with 50" rails is about 84" long by 34"-36" deep ... 20 to 21 square feet. That's exactly three times as large as your BT!

In a shop as narrow as yours, I think the optimum arrangement is like Popeye has, with the saw's right end hard against one long wall. This is what I have in my new shop space (it's a two-car garage, but a row of columns down the center effectively turns it into two one-car garages, each about 10'-8" wide). I recall you saying your garage is 11' wide. Keith's layout with the DC at the end of the saw works because his shop is two feet wider than yours. But in your case, that missing two feet will mean you'll barely have room to squeeze by on the right end of the saw. Also, remember that you not only want to use the full 50" rip capacity of the saw, you also want to maximize the crosscut capacity left of the blade.

I don't think the feed direction going into or out of the shop matters, in and of itself (JR has a good point about where you stand). However, I prefer the "operator" side of the saw to be closest to the remaining work areas in the shop, so that I don't have to walk all the way around to the other side of the saw when I need to make a cut ... instead, I just turn, take one or two steps, and I'm there.

My new cabinet saw feeds out of the shop, like Sarge's ... I have about 6-1/2 feet of outfeed clearance with the garage door closed, which should be adeduate for most purposes. I could have reduced this to as little as 4-1/2 feet -- still enough to crosscut a sheet of plywood. But since I had eneough depth in the shop to increase this by two more feet, I did so.

[LarryG]

Here's a sketch showing a couple other considerations that I don't think anyone has yet mentioned:

This is essentially the arrangement I have in my new shop space. There's 8'-8" of clearance between the short wall next to the overhead door and the right end of the saw's rail ... just enough to wiggle an 8' long sheet in there. Also, while my cabinet saw didn't include a router mount in the extension wing, I'm going to build a new one that will be oriented as shown.

[GaryA]

Thanks Larry! I think you just solved my concern (being able to use the router table on the extension )with doing it on your layout. Just turn the router insert (duh - why didnt I think of that) so I can put the right end against the wall. If you look at my last picture of the 5 above, that cabinet can be relocated to my 2 car garage, and the DC of course can move. Do you think I should put the DC in front of (in corner where steel cabinet is now), or behind the TS? What about outfeed table though? Doesnt sound like i'll be able to have a permanent table set up there based on my available space. If I had it turned going into the shop, I was thinking my next bench/assembly table could also serve as outfeed in the center of the shop. I pulled 76" off of the Jet specs for width (I'll be OK on depth)...either way, I know it's going to be tight. I guess I'll have a better idea, once that beast gets here tomorrow...

I think the sheet storage may also work the way you have it in your layout - it would just cover up half of my window (no big deal)...

[ironhat]

The common theme that I see in many of your posts, GaryA, is that you feel like you have so much to do and you want to do it perfectly the first time. Kudos on your ambition - probably why we are Wworkers! Why not look at your shop as a work in progress and try some things out. If somethng doesn't work you can always change it. That's why they make spackling and paint! I'm just yanking your leg a little and hoping that you are having some fun with this. You have nice equipment, a decent size shop and a wife who hasn't thrown you out for buying it all.
Enjoy -life is waaaay to short (just lost my father-in-law/ buddy, hence the OT reply).
Chiz

[LarryG]

Chiz offers good advice. Sometimes you just gotta do something, even if it turns out to be wrong! After spending many hours toying with my layout using CAD, at virtually the last minute I moved the DC from a side wall (basically, the same placement Keith shows in his diagram) out to the middle of the shop. I'd spent weeks tinkering the drawings, numbing my brain such that I almost made a serious error in the placement of this item. And once I actually started moving stuff into the space, I realized that the place I had earmarked for the drum sander wasn't going to work at all, and that it and the band saw needed to swap positions. Planning and drawing and visualizing is fine, but there comes a point when you need to actually be in the space, with the tools, to figure out whether it's going to work.

Gary: putting the DC where the metal cabinet is now could work, but this might prevent you from using the full 50" rip capacity of the saw. But that would probably only come into play if you were ripping a full sheet of plywood, which is difficult to do working alone ... most people (myself included) break the sheets down with a circular saw first, then trim to final size on the table saw. As long as you have at least 4' clear from the saw to thee DC, so you can crosscut a 4' panel, putting the DC there should be okay.

Also, on that 8'-6" measurement ... note that these full-sized sheets have to be angled into this space past the back right corner of the saw (upper left corner, on my drawing). Depending on the width of the wall next to the garage door, you may have to move the saw either farther back or out toward the middle of the shop in order to slide full-size sheets in here.

I have a window-sill interference problem, too, but nothing I can't live with.

Another possible option: store the sheets vertically. I only have seven feet of headroom, so I can't do this; if you have eight feet or more, you can.

[GaryA]

Point taken. It may not have come through in my post, but if there is one thing I am doing, it's having fun with this! I couldnt be more excited that I now have a dedicated shop for the first time (and the wife whole-heartedly supports it - just got to take advantage of time when I can outside of family time with kids, etc). If there is one thing I am guilty of, its exactly what you said - over thinking and wanting it perfect. I've got a lot to do to get it fully functional, but will take it one step at a time and stop and smell the cherry wood

Since we're getting all sentimental here, one of the main things that has inspired me to constantly challenge myself since joining several years back, has been all of the wisdom, experience and assistance that everyone here has provided me. You guys are the best!