Shop Ideas, Good, Bad, Ugly

[Whip]

Some great advice already.  When I saw this topic I immediately thought of three things that have already been mentioned, but I will repeat them because to me they are so important.

Lighting - there are calculators online that will help figure what your needs are based on size.  Don't skimp here - you will love a well lit shop!

Electrical - figure your needs and then double it.  At least!  When I build my shop I put a double wall outlet every 4' along the walls.  It is nowhere near enough!  I wish that I had twice as many outlets.  Plan your circuits carefully to spread loads out especially for things that will be used at the same time.  Think about a couple of 220 outlets even if you don't need them now, you might down the road.

A bench that you can walk all the way around is a great centerpiece for a shop.  It might be tough with a shop your size though.  You want to have room to move around it with at least a couple of feet clear on each side.  Make up a scale drawing of your layout and use little cutouts of your table, machines, etc. to help figure out where to place them.

Heating is probably not as big of a concern for you, but I sure wish I had gone with in floor heating in my shop.  

Pre-planing will go a long way toward making your new shop the best work space it can be.  There is a woodworking website called Sawmill Creek.com with great forums that have tons of information about planning shops.  It is the Trad Gang of woodworkers - check it out.

[Troy D. Breeding]

Don't forget a de-humidifier. I bought one just to help dry the paint. Once everything was ready to go I found that the new wood used in construction was way wetter than I expected. After running it for several days the joints in the wallbaord opened up really showed how wet everything was. Alittle calk solved that problem. Now I use it to keep the shop dry and found that it really helps keep my bow wood at lower moisture contents. I bring in new wood and give it afew days to adjust to the dry air before I try to use it.

Troy

[AZStickman]

Thanks!! Good stuff guys keep it coming...... If you have any pics of your benches cabinets etc. I'd appreciate seeing them...... Terry

[Keefer]

Terry ,
 I wished I could figure out how to load pics but have had trouble since my wife has got a newer camera and me not knowing how to load them on here sinse the new photobucket ..
 There used to be a post about a year or so about shop ideas and maybe someone else remembers and can lead you to them or update the posts ?
It had lots of inside pics and some great ideas..

[gringol]

How ever much space you think you need, double it.  Then double it again.

[TRAD101]

PEG BOARD !!! I redid my shop 4 years ago cause it was a cluster. could not find anything, we have
have all been there, we know we got it, remember
seeing it, but where is it? I have three benches with peg board above them and built a 4x8 stud wall in one corner of the shop with two 4x8 sheets of peg board screwed to it. amazing the time and MONEY you save when all you have to do is scan the walls for what your looking for. I hang everything from tools to fasteners and when
I run out of room I will hang some more peg board.

[Robertfishes]

My shop is a 11x24 portable shed. I insulated the walls and ceiling, screwed 7/16 OSB over insulation and frame, put up an interior wall and door to make a 8x11 glue up and spray finish room, put 2 bathroom vents in to pull air in thru filter box,,painted OSB with white Kilz paint, hung 6 floresent light fixtures from ceiling, put 6000 btu a/c unit in window, built 2 work benches. Put up white peg board over work Branch.. white reflects light better than plain wood...,got a yard sale dehumidifier, filled shop up with too many tools and exotic wood boards, bought an enclosed trailer for extra tool storage..

[John Scifres]

After 15 years of this and 3 different configurations of shops, I think I have at least a couple things figured out.  

Don't buy extra of anything unless you are highly organized.  Extra ain't a bargain if you can't find it when you need it.  That alone has cut my storage space by 90%.  There's a reason most factories are just in time stock levels.

Windows.  Natural light is the best light.

Power drops.  Forget low-to-the floor outlets.

Find a way to add an outdoor work space.

[lt-m-grow]

Wheels...

Seriously put everything (or as much as possible) on wheels...

Some tools will be used all the time, some not so much.  Having the ability to move tools into good working position and then out of the way will make the shop "bigger".

Good wheels matter too...I have some cheap dollies that work great, and some "special" built for the tool wheels that are junk.

[Robertfishes]

I don't have many pics of my shop. here is a pic of my glue up bench in the 8x11 room, it runs full width of the room and makes a turn to the other wall so it's 2'wide x 11'x8' and "L" shaped . my oven is under the bench and it has castor wheels under it so I just roll it out as needed. I made the bench from 2x6's and melamine on one side 3/4" plywood. I put contractors paper down before each glue up to keep (most of) the glue off of the bench, a razor blade gets any small glue spots off of the bench.  I made a small 30" x 48" rolling bench, I have a spindle sander and a 6x 48" belt sander on it. I put wheels under my drill press and big band saw too.    [/URL]

[Ranger44]

I agree with TRAD101 on the peg board.  I'm terrible when it comes to putting things away and trying to find them later.  I copied an idea I saw in another shop.  Put up peg board(painted white) and after I have it well organized I trace each tool with a black permanent marker.  Having the blank space on the pegboard helps remind me to hang the tool back on the wall.

Dust collection is great and make sure the system is grounded properly.

As John S says natural light is the best.  You can see many little things in natural light that don't show up with artificial light.

[eflanders]

I had a small shop sized shop like the OP mentioned...  I insulated, put in A/C, heat, and a fan, added a couple of operable windows and had all of my big power tools on casters.  I put 24" deep workbenches on 3 of the 4 walls high enough that my belt sander, table saw and jointer would roll under the work benches when not being used.  I put 4 gang 110V outlets every 4 feet and had 2 220V outlets in there for my table saw and jointer.  I was always moving stuff around in order to work on larger projects, but it was all possible with the arrangement I had.  I would NOT try to put in a central workbench given the small size he is working with as it will get in the way as he works on various things around the shop.

[Jeff Strubberg]

One thing that helped my small workspace tremendously was building a sheet goods hanger on the ceiling.  Plywood and other stock go up in that unused six inches of space just below the ceiling and open the floor up a LOT!

Make sure you hang your lights so that the light won't be blocked.