Wood Shop Planning Ideas by Rex Rothing
This article is to present the reader some of my thoughts on wood shop planning ideas. First, I should say if you are planning a 500 square foot garage space, a 1000 sq.ft warehouse, or building a 2000 sq.ft shop, it is not big enough! Enevitably, you will need more space and a bigger shop. A 5000 sq. ft. shop would be nice but even that would soon fill up. Go for the biggest shop you can get, you will never regret it.
Begin your wood shop planning ideas by drawing out to scale the size of your shop on a piece of cardboard or plywood. Then make pieces to represent the tools and work areas approximately to scale, such as: table saw, radial arm saw, bandsaw, planer, jointer, drill press, sanders, lathe, router table, workbench, material storage, finish area, showroom, office, bathroom, and whatever else you may have such as a scrollsaw, flammable cabinet, or dust collector. There are quite a few things to think about. Also, you should consider future plans for what you will add later.
Next you begin to lay out these cardboard representations on your master plan to see how they will create a flow of materials in and finished products out. You need to consider every tool placement for the space necessary for work to proceed. The table saw needs room to cut plywoods and a receiving table for cuts to land on. The radial arm saw is used to chop long lengths so it needs tables on both sides, usually along the longest wall. The router table and planer need to have clearance for long mouldings and boards to pass thru. The sander needs to have space to round off corners of wood. The plywood rack needs to be near the delivery door. The clamps need to be near the assembly table, and so on, you get the idea. Each placement should not interfere with the flow if work with the least number of steps between.
Once the positions of every tool and work area is established, you could proceed with a test run. Just an imaginary, or real, placement should be layed out on the actual space and a walk thru project tested. When everything is placed correctly, it is time to install your dust collection and electrical conduits. If you are lucky enough to be building a shop, underground dust collection below the slab is well worth doing. An underground dust collection system does not go against gravity and it does not build up dangerous static charges in the grounded portions. If you are adapting to an existing building, then the electrical and dust conduits need to be placed as best that they do not interfere with aisles for movement of materials. Smaller tools can be planned to share dust pipe and outlets. 220 volt outlets need to be placed for the larger tools. The dust collection system should be planned without any sharp turns and with several cleanout stations for when it gets clogged up. Plan for dust to flow out and fresh air to flow in.
If you find that your shop is too small, it is best to plan for rolling tools on castors. Plan for each tool to have a docking station where it will be stored and a working station it will roll out to. You should consider, can it fold out, hang up, or slide under? Which tools are used the most, and how much space is needed for the work you do? You might need to plan for a outside awning or canopy and a set of saw horses for rough cutting larger pieces to a smaller size.
The one thing that you would really want to be strong and stable is your workbench. This should be sturdy enough to stand on because eventually you will be up there reaching to sand or finish the top of a large corner shelf or something. The workbench is the foundation or center piece of your woodshop. You cut, sand, assemble, and finish all your work there. The workbench needs to be at optimum height with the other work tables and tools, about 36" for my shop. The workbench needs to have plenty of electrical outlets and drawers underneath it; your benchtop and hand tools are all used there. You will need the drawers to keep the space uncluttered while you work and the outlets to save you from extension cord tangles and trippings. You need to be able to work from both sides of the workbench since sometimes large pieces cannot be moved around while partly assembled.
Eventually, customers will want to phone you and send you faxes and e-mails, so you will have files, orders, receipts, cards, brochures, and other office supplies. Therefore, you will need an office. If the office is not a dust free area, your desk will be covered in dust and your fax machine will jamm up. Besides an office,a showroom or finished goods storage area would be nice to have. If you have no dust free storage area, you will be constantly moving finished items around as they get in your way, and you will be cleaning or refinishing them as you wait for the customers pickups. Even though you have a great dust collection system planned, you will get dust out of the system. Plan on buying a good broom for exercise and a facemask for your health.
As a final thought for your wood shop planning. If you like to deal with lots of different small jobs, some big jobs, but plenty of variety and many customers, then put your shop on the highway or a busy road. If you would rather work one job at a time, one customer at a time, and more detailed start-to-finish projects, then locate your shop off the main road, out in the country somewhere. Either way, people love woodworkers and they will find you. Plan twice, build the shop only once .
