Shop thought on bench tools

[sailor55330]

Hello-

I have a pretty fair amount of benchtop tools in my small workshop. The lathe isn't mobile and the tablesaw needs to be in the middle for room to work. The shop is about 11x13, with a 3x3 "bump" in one corner. I currently have a 12 DP, Miter Saw, small router/shaper table, scroll saw, planer, and 10" band saw all on their own carts for mobility, but I really don't care much for them. They were built at various stages of learning and have various designs that really don't match. I was thinking of building a long worktop attached to one wall and then permanently mounting some of the tools to it and making matching storage carts to go underneath. I figured the DP, possibly the router table, the scroll saw and a belt sander would be relatively safe to mount given that you don't usually need tons of clearance for workpieces on these machines. My other thought was to add shelves that slide out on full extension slides. I could put the router table and the band saw and maybe the planer on these and then extend them as I needed them--basically pull away from the wall to give a long run for longer pieces on the bandsaw and router table. I've seen slides that hold up to 100lbs, so it might be close on a couple.

What do you guys think of this? It seems like it could work in my head, but it wouldn't be the first time I've been headed in a bad direction.

Any thoughts are always welcome.

Thank you

[schloff]

That would be one way to do it, using slides. You could also add some supports to the bottom of the slides to support more weight for when you're using the tools.

Look into (hate to recommend it, but they are the space saving gurus) Ikea. They have some really cool ideas for storage and making unusable space usable again.

[poolhound]

My main initial though was whether putting everything on the same height bench would make sense as each tool may have a different optimal operating height. For example while a DP is fine on most normal height benches between 28-36 inches a router tables top is typically closer to the height of a TS so might be too high if used on top of a bench.

[capncarl]

3 ideas in my photos. I've wanted to build a variation of these for my shop for the grinders.

[poolhound]

3 ideas in my photos. I've wanted to build a variation of these for my shop for the grinders.
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This turntable option is rather funky but not sure it saves that much space. And his shop is Waaaaay too clean, he obviously never uses it :-)

[atgcpaul]

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I am still really happy with the flip cart I made for my lunchbox planer and Ridgid OSS. I'm wondering if you could get your planer and scroll saw on one flip cart. Your miter saw, router/shaper, and belt sander could share one countertop. Your bandsaw and DP kind of need to be on their own so you can tilt the tables.

About the extension slides, remember that you need to factor in the weight of the wood you'll be cutting, too, not just the tool. So would you be working at different heights depending on which tool you'll be using?

[capncarl]

The problem with a slide out tool storage cabinet, a 25" deep tool needs that much room pushed in and another 25" pulled out. With this concept you have used all your shop space up.

[cwsmith]

Having multiple cabinets or stands to set your tools on seems okay, although a bit space hogging. The flip or rotating surface (I've seen those in a couple of magazine-bonus pamphlets) are fairly good ideas if you have the time and inclination to build them. The rotating "lazey-susan" is sort of neat, but it does take up some space and I'm not sure how efficient it would be located in a corner, if you need in-feed and out-feed space.

More challenging perhaps is that you don't necessarily use all those tools at the same height, or do you?

For example, all my bench top tools (bandsaw, belt/disc sander, scroll saw, and small router table) are Ryobi models. My big router table is a Rockler top and I made it to be the same height as my HF workbench which is 34 inches.

But, my BS902 band saw is too low sitting on that bench. So, I have it sitting on a bench at 36 inches, which places the BS table at 49-1/2 inches... perfect for my 5' 11" height, as it puts the work right where I can see it well while standing.

But working at the scroll saw takes much more time and I prefer to sit. Sitting, the HF bench much better, but I prefer an even lower bench of 32 inches, as the scroll saw table would be at about elbow height while sitting on the shop stool.

A bench grinder and even my belt/disc sander are 'standing height' machines and both of those serve well on a bench height of 34 inches, though 32 inches isn't bad.

I mention this only because I so often hear where keeping all your benches/work surfaces at the same height is a plus. But I don't find it necessarily so. Tools seem to designed and/or are more comfortable depending on your operation. The BT3100 is about 38-1/2 inches, my Ridgid DP table at 41-1/4 and the RAS most comfortable at 39 inch. All of that is of course dependent on my comfort level, I stand 5' 11". SO, for me and the way I work, the heights are all over the place. I could of course adapt, but that would have to be decided by how much discomfort I'd discover after any intensity of work at any particular machine. At the heights given, I'm fairly comfortable.

Right now, I've decided that most of my bench-top tool work is for brief periods, and I'm thinking I'll just store them under bench or shelves and move them into position as I need them, rather than have them permanently occupying precious work space of a small shop.

CWS

[mpc]

As I've posted before, I basically make roll-around cabinets for all of my bench tools. The cabinets come in two basic sizes: one is square and the other is a rectangle that is half the size of the square. This way the cabinets line up along a wall or in rows fairly neatly. I do have one oddball sized cabinet for the drill press. I wanted a wider but less deep cabinet compared to my standard rectangle; it's basically square... just a smaller - and lower - square compared to my standard. It's less tall to put the drill press at a comfortable height. I have a "radial" style drill press... i.e. it's extra deep compared to a typical bench drill press. Kinda like comparing a sliding miter saw to a regular miter saw. That's why it has to sit by itself. Using the drill press to set the "standard size" for my cabinets would have resulted in the standard being too large for most tools... so the drill press gets a non-standard sized cabinet. My BT3000 + wide table kit is also on casters so it sits parked against a wall unless it's being used. Thus my tool storage is roughly equivalent to 3 walls of a 1-car garage. The center area is the working area.

Each cabinet has shelves though drawers could be used instead. Lots of storage space gained compared to the simple splayed-leg stands that come with many tools. For tools that don't have many accessories - like the Ridgid EB4424 belt/spindle sander unit - I use the cabinet to store "related" items. MY EB4424 cabinet thus is designated the "sanding" cabinet: it holds all of my sandpaper, the ROS, etc.

mpc

[dbhost]

Another idea, and this is simply my humble suggestion, is to do something like the "Tool Stacker" rig that I did.


It is simply a pair of those heavy duty shelf standards, the double slot kind, and then 18" shelf brackets. The bench tools are all mounted to 3/4" plywood bases that are 24" x 18".

FWIW, that pic isn't current. I have been able to get the following on it without having any of it on the floor.

#1. Benchtop 6-1/8" jointer.
#2. 13" Ryobi lunchbox planer.
#3. Rigid Oscillating spindle / belt sander.
#4. 8" Bench Grinder / Wolverine jig.
#5. 16" (?) Scroll Saw. Old Dremel scroll saw I got on Craigslist.

The taller, but still technically benchtop tools got a dedicated space, but I have room for that. It is pretty obvious you don't. So I can't help there. BUT..... If you have a bench top drill press, and mortising machine, I would, if it were me, go with a flip top cabinet to hold them.

[capncarl]

I like the idea of having your bench tools stored neatly out of the way on a set of wall shelves. At sone point in our lives we all have to face the fact that we can't do what we could in our younger days, and climbing a ladder and lifting a bulky heavy object and transfer it to a workbench is one of the things. Sadly I've reached that point and must mount my tools where they are convenient. I wish I had taken better care of my back. Most of my bench top tools are mounted on a hodgepodge of moble stands and box cabinets at a height somewhere near my workbench height.

My next build for the shop is going to be a large out feed table for my tables saw that will utilize 4 boat trailer toung jacks with swivel wheels. The outfeed table will be sized to fit around and over the table saw by jacking up the table and rolling it over the saw and setting it down on the saw for storage purposes, and when the saw is rolled into the storage room the outfeed table will simply go with it, on top. The outfeed table is going to have a "big notch" cut into it on the right hand side, to be used as a docking station for all of my mobile base mounted bench top tools. This will require me to make new box style moble bases. All of the moble base sizes will be dictated by the largest bench top tool. The mobile base does not have to be large enough to actually use the tool on it but large enough to roll it around without it tipping over. Each mobile base will have the same size thick top that will fit in a the out feed table. I could see this concept being adapted to a lot of different shops. For tools that need to be higher the tool would be raised on its top insert.
capncarl

[sailor55330]

Thank you to all for the responses. I've seen many of the concepts listed here. I do like the idea of the wall mounted tools, but I really don't want to be lifting them every time I need to use them. I may have to go that route though. I also may just re-build the rolling tool cabinets. I think I could make some of them "better" by more carefully sizing them to the tool and I know I could do better on storage under the tools. I guess what I'm trying to do in a perfect world is be able to access any tool at any time with the minimal "shuffle" time. I think I built some of my bases a little wide, not being quite sure how "tipsy" they might be. I also think part of my dislike of the rolling cabinets is that i used castors that are too small--I guess I tried to "cheap out" and sometimes they don't roll as smoothly as I would like, which is my fault. My other "selfish" reason for trying to keep the tools pretty stationary is that I really don't like connecting/disconnecting DC hoses from tool to tool. I much prefer a simple push of the blast gate so much that I often find myself not using DC on some of the tools that fall into that category!

I'll keep mulling this over and if I ever find the time, energy, and money, I'll post some pics.

Thank you again