Help me set up my space

[milobloom]

Well, today I cleaned out "my" half of the basement in our new house and I'm ready to unpack and set up my stuff.

What I'm doing in this shop - your basic home maintenance tasks, but also looking to build kitchen cabinets eventually and perhaps various other stuff, who knows. I just moved into a 35-year-old house that's mostly original and needs a lot of work. Things like bookshelves, etc are strong possibilities.

This is an unfinished basement with cast concrete walls. I have a rectangle to work with that's 11 feet by a total of about 26 feet, but I have to work around my furnace and water heater. This gives me an L along the walls of about 11 x 12 for workstations, as well as an additional 7 1/2 feet between the furnace and opposite wall for shelving. I can also set up another workstation on the 11 feet or so that's on that opposite wall.

This area is bounded on one side by the stairs, and there is quite a bit of storage there. The previous owner framed in the entire area under the stairs, so I have a bank of five shelves that are four feet wide by 20 inches deep that's accessible from the back of the area, and then another series of shelves of various sizes accessible from the sides as the stairs come down to the floor.

I've taken and posted some photos for better reference:

http://www.milobloom.com/images/IMG_9722.jpg - Shot of main 11 x 12 area. That's a full sheet of plywood there for size reference. I can go to the left up to where that golf bag is.

http://www.milobloom.com/images/IMG_9724.jpg - Looking the other way. Furnace and water heater on the left. I can set up another workstation on that back wall if desired... there's power three feet from the left corner.

http://www.milobloom.com/images/IMG_9725.jpg - Area between the furnace and wall for extra shelving. That papasan chair will leave.

http://www.milobloom.com/images/IMG_9726.jpg - Stairway storage area. That pegboard hanging there is the side of the main storage closet, and that other set of doors is the additional storage.

I am intending to build a mobile cabinet for my BT3100. As for the work areas along the wall, I want something I can get together relatively quickly, since I'm already planning on building the mobile cabinet and I also need to build an assembly table of some variety, and I have all these things to do to the house.

As you see in the photos, the walls aren't framed. Do I need to do that?

As for benchtop tools, I have a miter saw I use all the time and a drill press that I don't use very often. I could build a dedicated station for the miter saw if folks thought it was a good idea, but I probably wouldn't for the drill press. Regardless, if I build the miter saw into the bench, I need to also be able to use that area for other things when necessary. Maybe an insert that I could stick back into the hole for the miter saw when I'm not using it.

I've been using the router table attachment on the BT3100 but with this setup I might get a dedicated router table so I don't have to worry about using the BT when it's in the cabinet.

So after all that, I'd love to hear what folks think about what I should do with this space. I have some ideas but I don't want to screw this up. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[SARGE..g-47]

I do believe Milo, that it can't necessarily be answered by others. I suggest that you drag a chair to the basement and sit down with a cup of coffee and a note-pad. You know what tools you have.. you know what outside factors will intervene.. you know what you hope for in the future.. you know much more than we know.

With that thought.. sit down and go over every possible scenario on a note-pad before you drive a nail.. etc. etc. And I would check with the young lady upstairs to make sure she knows what you decide. Nothing like communication to keep things on a smooth keel.

Good luck, sir.....

[newood2]

Think dust going all over and upstairs.
Consider building a room for your furnace and hot water heater with outside vents for fresh air. Whatever you do keep sawdust away from your furnace and water heater and other appliances.
Finish ceiling with noise cancelling insulation, sheetrock or drop ceiling.
Consider return vents on the ductwork in work area transporting dust to other areas.
Dust collector, and ductwork to power tools.
Dedicated breakers for power tools.
Good lighting for woodwork.
Just a few things to think about.

Howie

[JoeyGee]

I agree on framing in the water heater and furnace--leaving enough room for air around them as well as room to work on them as needed. I worked for several years in a basement shop fight next to my gas furnace and water heater without issue, but if I had to do it again, I would "box" them in.

I know you're anxious to get started, but I wouldn't build anything permanent until you work a few projects and know what your "flow" would be. As Sarge said, you are the one who will be doing the work and will know what your needs are. Once you start working on things, you will know what those needs are.

If you are going to be doing WWing, I strongly suggest you think about dust collection before you start anything. Even it if it's just a Shop Vac, I would try to cut down on dust from the start. I would also want an air cleaner of some sort, especially for the basement.

Also, I would at least replace those light fixtures with some 4' flourescent fixtures. As Howie said, I would put noise cancelling insulation in the ceiling and put drywall over it. If it were me, I would frame the walls and add insulation, just for sound dampening, if nothing else. All that noise bouncing around concrete floors and walls is bad. I would also paint the walls with a fresh coat of white paint, to reflect the light better.

Good luck. If you're like most, your shop will never be finished.

[milobloom]

All good stuff... you're right Sarge, I need to make the call on specifics... I did'nt really word my first post correctly. I'm looking more for stuff that should generally be in any shop - DC & air cleaner, for instance, what pitfalls to watch out for with the furnace being there, etc. Building a room around those items is a good idea I hadn't thought of.

I would venture to guess that in my current situation, there isn't going to be much heavy woodworking going on in here for a while except for the mobile cabinet. I need to get some sort of functional space going though for regular household repair tasks and to get my stuff unpacked and organized - right now it's all in those boxes piled up in the middle of the room. At the same time, I want to save as much money and energy as I can by creating that functional space in such a manner that it will have what I need to do something like kitchen cabinets, for instance.

In my old place I used a shopvac for DC and it wasn't terrible. Would the combination of that and one of those overhead-hanging air cleaners do the trick for now, at least?

[Hellrazor]

The biggest thing you need to do is find a place for the largest pieces of equipment first. So your table saw & outfeed table would be the first placement and work everything else around that.

[Hoakie]

I've been working on my shop over the last year. Grizzly has a neat, and free, workshop design tool here is the link

http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx

Good luck

[milobloom]

Nice, thanks for that planner. That should help.

Realizing that space is at a premium, I'm going to put the TS in a mobile cabinet eventually. I also want to to my assembly table in a mobile format, a la Norm, so I can move it around. The idea is that I can use the cabinet and table together for outfeed if the need arises.

I realize there's other stuff out there but Norm's stuff is what I'm most familiar with, so he's where I've been looking for ideas. I'm thinking about building the miter bench station (http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct.php?0201) on one wall. That leaves me thinking about something like this hutch (http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct.php?0106) on another wall, although I know this thing is rather detailed and I may not have time for it for a while.

Is it important to have a workbench like this - http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct.php?102 - because of the clamping ability? Or could I simply build something like that into a regular work/assembly table?

[SARGE..g-47]

Everyone has given you good advice as lighting.. dust.. noise and fumes are premium. Again you need all those as the foundation and then set the machines according to what you have. And it would be nice to go mobile on everything you can as that is a big help.

I have spent years doing this and my shop may change in one month. I spilled over the to remaining 850 sq. ft. of the rear (two car garage and 1/2 basement) about a year ago. Enlarged the door so some of the bigger boys could be rolled up quickly to the front cut area where I control dust.

It's just a matter of doing now and adjusting on the fly as I see it as things get added. And all with what you have to work with as all the day-dreams in the world won't change that given space. Only a move or addition to the current can do that.. then you go back to ground zero and do it again. Over time.. it gets there but with much change from day 1 to day 13,140!

Here is my "every evolving shop" as of this morning... Ain't much, but after 36 years of adjusting this.. adjusting that... it's liveable and home to me!

Regards...

[JimD]

I have about 400 square feet in an oversized 1 car garage in the basement. It gets tight but I've built two complete bedroom sets plus other stuff in it so far. I have my BT3100 with extension fence in a mobile cabinet (Spruce and Sandeply in the old articles). I have a work table 1/4 inch shorter than my BT3100 that has a vise built in. It is mobile, Norm's idea, but I move it very little. It is also light enough to drag for the little movement I do.

Your space is smaller so you may have to move around more. My DC hose goes under the work table to the BT3100 and makes moving the table difficult. I also have a long workbench with a RAS and CMS something like your illustration but up higher (I'm 6' 2 1/2" and I don't like to bend over to a 36 inch bench height to see my cut line). The disadvantage of having the saws up higher is the bench is less usable. For your space, I would keep the miter station small.

I have a router table on the infeed side of the BT3100 and I take the fence off and use it as an infeed table for big sheet goods (normally I break them down with a circular saw, however). I also have a mortiser on a little cabinet, a floor model drill press and a 14 inch band saw. I'd like more floor model tools (a belt/disc sander would be nice) but I'm out of space. I think I'm stuck with using portables which is not a huge limitation.

Jim

[milobloom]

Jim - I was already looking at your plans and was going to do your version, just because it seemed to be the simplest. How long did it take you to make it?