Workshop Reorganization

Well, I've decided to use the really cold weather here in the South to reorganize my shop. I'm working from a 2 car garage that measures about 21'x21'. My shop always seems to be a work in progress anyways, always changing and rearranging. I don't make any one particular type of furniture so I can't exactly set it up for, say, cabinet making, or chair making, etc. I'm trying to take the best advantage of my space, while keeping a good portion of floor space available. I also try and keep everything mobile. Here are a couple pictures of what my shop used to look like.

From ShopPics

From ShopPics

It has changed a lot since that picture, but the layout is very similar; table saw on the side of the shop, butted against the wall, band saw in between the garage doors, work bench behind the table saw, dust collector tucked in the corner with PVC ducting runs and then other items such as planer, miter saw, sander, etc on mobile bases. Since this time I have added a few things such as a clamp rack, 8" Grizzly jointer, Grizzly lathe, wood rack and some other odds and ends.

So, since that time I've tried to utilize more space. One thing that I decided upon before starting this is that I am going to start breaking down sheet goods in another part of the shop; trying to rip a full sheet of plywood by myself is difficult, dangerous and a pain. I've decided that when I do use sheet goods, I'm going to break them down on saw horses with a long straight edge and circular saw, then over to the table saw. So, with that, this is my new layout. I'm going to run with this for a while and see how it works out. In this first shot, this is the view from the door from the house into the garage; along this wall are my Ridgid planer, 6" Grizzly jointer, Delta mortiser and Craftsman drill press. I also have my router cabinet at the far end. My Grizzly band saw is in the same place in between the doors.

From ShopPics

The next shot continues to the right and shows my bench now tucked directly up to the tablesaw, and my table saw in the middle of the garage; I really like this layout. You can see my Harbor Frieght dust collector, my air compressor is tucke in that back corner, and my Grizzly 8" jointer. Also, you can see part of my lumber rack on that wall; I don't keep a lot of lumber around so these racks work great.

From ShopPics

This last picture shows the rest of the shop, this is from one of the garage doors looking into the shop. Here you can my plywood storage on the left (where my DC used to be), then my new Grizzly lathe, my Ridgid spindle sander, clamp rack, miter saw and small power tool storage under that.

From ShopPics

All in all I like this layout so far. I still have some random things to do like clear some more clutter out and re work the small extension table on my table say; I need it to extend the entire width of the back of the saw and right side table, right now there is a gap and this would give me more work space. Also, with this layout I basically have one garage door wide open so I can bring in lumber there, put it on the rack (right by the jointer) and prep it. Also, for sheet goods, I have enough room to layout some saw horses and break down the sheets and then move right to the table saw for the rest of the work. I do need to do a little work with the dust collection. Right now I don't have a good way to get a dedicated pipe to the 8" jointer without running it across the floor right where I would bring lumber in. I may by a long piece of flex hose and use that so I can unhook it whenever it's not in use.