Building my shop from scratch

[Iansaws]

I am about to start building a shop for myself in a new 16x24ft "storage building" in my back yard. I have a few ideas about the layout and design but any tips I can get from here would be great. After reading many of the post here, I am much more concerned about safety. I have never had any formal woodworking training (never took shop in high school) so I am sure there are things that I should be aware of that I haven't got a clue about. I have never used a table saw, but have just assembled my new BT3100 and it is an impressive beast. Any suggestion regarding shop safety would be appreciated as well.

I have a good deal of experience wiht hand power tools and have built an entire library in my house using them, but I have always wanted large area to work in where all my tools can be stored and accessed. I now have the space, just need to build the shop.

[Pappy]

A good place to start is this thread that has several layouts included. It may answer some of your questions.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...ghlight=layout

Grizzly has one of the best shop layout programs available. the 'stock' tools are all Grizzly, but the dimensions can be modified and notes added to describe them. If you register, you can save your plans on their site for future reference/modification.

http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.cfm?

[Garasaki]

Simply having plenty of space is a nice step in the right direction for safety to begin with.

Perhaps a good decision to start with is wether you want your tools permantly "installed" or will you have them mobile so you can move stuff around when you need to.

If you plan on using a lot of power tools, dust collection should be a priority for you. Learn what you can about it, purchase the items up front (don't skimp here!), and get it installed asap. It really is important, for safety, health, and enjoyablitiy!!

[LCHIEN]

Three things you almost can't have enough of - storage, work surfaces, and lighting.

Some people like cubbyholes for individual tools; others like to have shelves for the boxes in which the tools came, doors and /or locking cabinets might be nice if security or neatness is an issue.

Worksrfaces at different heights, I like taller benches for close-up detail work, lower benches for largem heavya dn or bulky items/projects. You need infeed and outfeed tables and supports.

Lights are something you would be wise to install early. Research how many and what type you need/want.

Also, its a god idea to plan for electrical circuits and dust collection if you plan to get serious. Multiple circuits for lights, air compressor, dust collector, HVAC, and tools become very important.

Sectioning off your space for various tasks may become important later, too.

[LarryG]

A 16x24 space is a nice size; not huge, but a lot more than a lot of folks have. The building I moved out of this spring was 10x19 inside, and while it was tight, it worked. You'll have almost exactly twice as much room to play with.

You might want to get hold of a copy of the "America's Best Home Workshops" magazine being discussed in another thread. As I recall the first featured shop has the exact same 16x24 dimensions that you have. I thought the shop's builder/owner had a good overall arrangement, and some clever ideas for maximizing the available space.

I'll agree that mobile bases are a good way to stretch your space, but I personally prefer to have as few things on wheels as possible. In my current shop (admittedly larger than yours, at 22x24) I have only my band saw and my thickness planer on wheels. In order to use the planer, I have to move the band saw. This is not intolerable, but it's about as far as I care to go. IMO you don't want to get into a situation where you have to move Tool A and possibly Tool B every time you want to use Tool C, or vice-versa. It takes time, the mobile bases cost money, and there can sometimes be stability issues (which is, in turn, a safety issue). Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against mobile bases in concept. I'm just saying to try to use them only when you absolutely must.

+1 on Loring's thoughts on storage, work surfaces, and lighting. In addition to the obvious drawbacks, shortfalls with any of these can become safety hazards ... stuff will be in your way, the workpiece may not be adequately supported or secured, you may not be able to see what you're doing. Being human, most of us tend to get frustrated when we're constantly bumping into things or running up against the limitations of our setups, and frustration can lead to carelessness which in turn can lead to an injury.

You said you had some ideas in mind. Do plan your layout as carefully as you can, and seek as much input on the proposed tool arrangement as you can get, but don't be surprised when actually fitting the tools into the shop and using them shows you that some changes are needed. It's almost impossible to think of everything, to visualize everything, and get it all right the first time.

[Thalermade]

A lot of great info has been given so far. My two cents involves potential workflow. Give thought to what type of wood you may be using - sheet goods, rough cut lumber, etc. and what kind of process is needed to begin using the wood.

Convenience would be to have wood storage as close to the door where you bring in the materials. Then have the appropriate machines close by to the storage. Table saw to cut sheet goods. Or maybe RAS or CMS to cut boards to length. Then you might need to have a jointer or planer.

Have fun and research, plan, design, and repeat.
Russ