Any suggestion for 12x12 shop?

[durango dude]

New home has 12x12 shop space. I'm sure it will work if laid out correctly.

Any suggestions?

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- work bench JJJ -
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there's a big metal desk (work bench)
The only power is marked +
(dedicated 20 amp coming)

JJJ is jointer

[LCHIEN]

You're going to have to give yourself a hug - some close quarters.

[os1kne]

That's pretty much what I've had since we moved ~ 5 years ago. It's tough, but do-able for most things. For me, making the shop work has been a constant work in progress of small improvements. I've usually got some type of home improvement project going on, and I haven't taken much time to focus on improving the shop area.

A TS the size of a BT3 can work ok if it's on wheels. (Forget about ripping 8' material.) I got a track saw, and find myself using it more and more - especially for sheet goods.

I set up everything I can against the walls, and roll the TS to the center when I use it. For assembly, I setup a couple of folding sawhorses in the center - usually with a door slab on top. If possible, I try to do painting and staining elsewhere.

Good luck!

[capncarl]

IMHO the metal desk would have to go. Metal desks are too low for work benches, too deep and have too much wasted space for a shop where every square inch must be utilized. For me, a deep workbench just seems to catch clutter. You will have to get real creative in your wood storage, possibly overhead. I’d suggest a long work bench that houses the compound sliding miter saw imbeded in it so the bench doubles as an outfeed table on each side of the saw. The bench should have lots and lots of drawers to store all hand held power tools, supplies and hardware. Lighting in this tight quarters might be touchy. The section of my shop I call the “wood shop” is 14 ft wide and has every wall packed with stuff that seems to just eat light even though I have 6 four ft fluorescent fixtures. My next attempt to improve the lighting will be to change to LED bulbs and install ceiling mounted track light so I can focus light where I really need it most. I like to have tools like planer, jointer, drum sander, disk/belt sander etc on mobile stands where they can be pushed against a wall and out of the way when they are not in use, rather than mounted on a fixed stand or attached to a work bench and always in the way.
capncarl

[leehljp]

Build a front porch with pressure treated wood! Had a 9 X 12 shed in Japan and built an 8 X 12 "runway" (on the same level of the building) in front to pull out and do my larger work. The only full time inside work was on my mini-lathe, which stayed inside. That "runway" was absolutely the best part of the building. Pulling out the TS and BS was easy; setting up a router table was easy, so was the thickness planer. (I didn't do this in the rain though, obviously.)

It is frustrating being working those tools inside, and then only one at a time.

Specific Layout of small shop becomes less critical with a work area outside.

[os1kne]

Agree about the metal desk - didn't see that earlier. Also, I find keep some tools that aren't used often stored in plastic totes (like my benchtop belt/disk sander) and only get them out when needed.

[leehljp]

Capncarl mentioned something that I did that helped tremendously: I painted my Japanese shop with some cheap barely off-white paint that I found on sale. By painting the whole shop an "almost white", my lights went a long way. In my current shop that is wood panel, I need far more light than I thought. White shop walls, ceilings and initial shelves reflect a lot of light. Do it BEFORE moving in! It is a pain but worth it in the long run.

[KenBurris]

Pappy ?

[cwsmith]

I hope this will be useful, I'm in my very limited spare time I'm working on my 12 x 20 shed in order to turn it into my future shop. While I realize that you are going to be about six feet shorter I'm thinking my layout art may be helpful. The grid is 1-ft squares and the tools are drawn to scale. You didn't list what tools you have, but my thought is that if there are any similarities to mine, you may be able to just cut these out and move them within your area. Note that I have placed a red arrow at the 12 ft length position. My layout is attached below.



CWS

[poolhound]

Any shop is better than no shop! Mine is not that much bigger than yours but at about 17x13 seems roomy in comparison. I would position the tablesaw so its in line with the door and as far away from the back wall to maximise rip length. Other than that I try and have most things on wheels and look for multifuction bases. My biggest issue is storage and mess. Keeping the surfaces I have clear and clean seems to be a forever job. I do keep some tools that are not in regular use in my garage. I also just bought a small shed for keeping all my shorts and various WIP projects out of the shop. I hope this will help.

[Pappy]

Pappy ?

Been there, still am! Everything is portable and no space is wasted.

[capncarl]

Close quarter shops are a perfect application for the router table to be built into the table saw wing and not have a separate tool taking up that extra wall space.
Dragging up the light discussion again..... I’d go ahead and install all LED bulbs while you have the chance.
capncarl

[Haninga]

Great share people, was facing same thing and this thread really help as always

[durango dude]

Y’all are correct. The heavy metal desk is a space hog. Right now my routers and Sanders are in the drawers. Thanks for the decent feedback. Stay tuned. It’ll be awhile. I just had neck surgery, and no heavy lifting for a bit.

[dbhost]

New home has 12x12 shop space. I'm sure it will work if laid out correctly.

Any suggestions?

--------------------------------------------
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- work bench JJJ -
--------------------+---------: - -

there's a big metal desk (work bench)
The only power is marked +
(dedicated 20 amp coming)

JJJ is jointer

How's the ceiling height?

Chances are with storage, you are going to have to go vertical, and reduce the size of whatever tools you have if possible. Instead of floor model this or that, go with bench tops. Flip top stands, or a wall stacker system like i have in my shop would go a long way.

Realize, that in a space that small, you aren't going to be able to do many large projects, without having a way to move the projects to a larger space as you work on them, so hopefully this isn't a basement space...