When I moved into my new digs in January, I originally had my eye on a 1000 sq ft space that I got skunked on. So, I settled for 800 sq ft thinking it would be tight but adequate. Fact is, it’s just toooooooo small. I have tons of equipment and I’m geting tired spending half my time rolling stuff from one side to the other, tripping over dollies and cords, figuring out ways to stuff 20 lbs of ummm… stuff into a 5 lb bag. Anyone else there with tips on how they have made an undersized shop work efficiently?
P.S… Eric… come get this stove outta here 😉
PaulB
Replies
A lot of people work in a lot smaller space.
What kind of equipment and what kind of projects?
And how much need is equipment storage (job) and how much for work space.
Bill...
I've attached a few quick snaps to give you some idea. I know it loks like a scene from Katrina. I've been so busy the last month all I can do is throw the stuff somewhere when I'm finished and load the truck to start something else. Mea culpa, but it's too congested even when it's orderly. (Not to mention I'm storing the appliances you can see that were removed from a remodel and awaiting the people I've given them to to come and get em.)
I have only one large fixed piece, a Unisaw with extensions. But I have tonssss of hand tools (e.g: 5 circ saws, three Sawzalls, 5 nailers, etc etc.) and many medium sized items (router table, compressors, 2 chopsaws, planer, drum sander, band saw etc). In one photo I think you can see two of 4 metal lockers that are full of power tools. Lately I've been doing more cabinet construction than I anticipated. Right now I'm in the midst of 4 bookcases for a job we're on. I'm sure there are a lot of folks making do with as much "density" as I have, and hoping I can pick their brains as to how they do it.
PaulB
Wish I had a shop that tidy to work in.
Call friends, tell them Goodwill is getting a call Monday.
Count your blessings.
Joe H
LOLLLLL...
Well, the German in me likes a shop that looks like an O.R. Anything else and it grates on my nerves. As to the appliances, the fridge is going to my brother who lives 4 hours away so I'm trying to be understanding. The W/D is going to a friend who's another 4 hours away that I owe big time, and the range is for a BTer who I also consider a close friend. But, the clock's definately tricking.. ;)
I noticed in 2 of the pics I can see clear floor space, you have room for more.
Joe H
Thats only so I can roll something in there when I need it to not be where it is... or ummm, something like that.
PaulB
I see lots of space on the walls and above the garage door. Use it :)
I had a sheet metal shop bend me up some metal shelving in 12" and 14" depths and installed it on some plain old Sterling brand galvanized components available at the local Big Box. A hanging rail is on 3 walls of the garage at the top plate, and yes, I had to add some blocking behind some of the shelf standards because it did not line up with the stud.
I had the shelving made in 3, 4, 8 and 10 foot lengths and I installed it without cutting any of it, took some planning.
If you were to look at a cross section of the shelf, the back has a 2" lip at 90* up, and the front has a 2" lip at 90* down. Each lip has a 1/2 inch hem towards the back so there isn't an exposed sharp edge. The lip and hem add strength.
Cheaper and stronger than wood.
How thick was the sheet metal? I like the idea and want to get some costs from my local sheet metal shop.I did a search and found a couple of workshop pics from various BTers, how 'bout an update? Some pics from folks showing their best use of space. If nothing else, it will be a good excuse to get out there and clean the damn things up so we can find what we're looking for!How many folks like me work out of their garage?
I had the shelves made out of 20 ga galvanized. Strong enough to go about 36 inches between supports without bending, but I do have some heavy stuff there.
Some fabricated sheet metal U channel under the shelving would allow the use of thinner sheet metal, but then you have to figure in the additional work involved to attach it.
I tried the wood route, and either I had to use 3/4 ply, support it every 16" or add a stiffener to keep the sag out.
I should add that I had this done when metal was a bit lower in price earlier in the year.
Being a metal guy by trade, it was much easier to go the metal route. Not combustible, either.
Build benches with storage underneath. And cabinets above. You want to be a woodworker build a shop like a woodworker.
Here's a picture of the corner of my shop. I can't find anymore right now. I might snap some for you later. But I have much less room then you do and have all the room you need to build cabinets and such. Organize. And through those junky metal shelves out. That's how I got mine rolling.
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/at.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&guid=692C6C35-EC80-4D59-838D-B9D8E67246A0&frames=no
Always trust your cape.
http://www.hay98.com/
Well, seems that the consensus is build up. Thanks... I'll get to work on some ideas. BTW, my much maligned metal shelving is (with one exception) actually very heavy duty commercial stuff I took with me from the stockroom of my previous business, built like a tank and 7 ft high, but guess I need to go higher. May pitch my landlord for permission to build a loft area, the ceilings are insanely high and waste a tremendous amount of space.
PaulB
The problem with the metal shelving is that it's only good for one thing. Storage. If you had a bench with storage underneath then you are utilizing the space twice. Cabinets above and you have all the space you need in your "little" shop.
Always trust your cape.
http://www.hay98.com/
Point taken Gunner, thanks and I appreciate the shop tours link Greg. I'll take a look for some ideas. Does this mean I can't lust after a bigger space anymore?
Nope you've got enough room. LOL
Always trust your cape.
http://www.hay98.com/
Paul, once you get organized, & if you have a chance, how about some before & after shots?
You have plenty of space.......take that wall with the metal shelving, and built wall to wall wood shelf, I spaced mine about 2 foot. Then get some pegboard on that other open wall, and get some hooks to hang those cords you have all over.
If you still need space, built a work bench with storage under it.When in doubt, get a bigger hammer!
One thing I was surprised nobody mentioned was the fans that could be mounted on the walls. I had several fans sitting on the floor and it really helped air flow and space when I got some that mounted on brackets.
Guess their shops may have A/C already. <G>
Get your tickets early for the George Paul Memorial SuperBull Event in Del Rio, Texas. This PBR sanctioned Bullriding event is the best party in Texas. Stock furnished by Bad Company Rodeo. And don't forget to visit the Corona Club in Cuidad Acuna, Mex.
My metal shelves are on the wall above the workspace :)
Paul, I welded up some brackets from scraps of 1x1 bridging angle. They are a simple "L" shape. I mounted them with the leg above the shelf. Made one continuous 24" shelf all the way around the shop just above the windows and doors.
Buy some of those cardboard file storage boxes from an office supply big box store. They are cheap. You can put some of the assorted project pieces and other stuff you can't throw away (like several years worth of FH mag) in them and up on the shelf. mark the front of the boxes and you have dust free storage the you can find stuff in.
Also, check out sales of used store fixtures. I took some demo'ed cantilever floor shelving posts and lagged them to the studs. The adjustable metal shelves are my lumber rack.If you haven't drawn blood today, you haven't done anything.
Consider it an opportunity to improve your planning and organizing skills :-)
I was in heaven when my shop grew from 256 sq ft to 320 sq ft. I'd get lost in 800 ft - LOL.
Of copurse, it all depends on what you are trying to do. The things that drive me the craziest are the lack of space for parts mid-project (no matter where they are, they are in the wrong place) and having to clear everything out and reset every time I spray (oh yea, and not enough room for the parts to dry).
The key for me was setting the TS and outfeed table first. Although it's on wheels I don't move it. The outfeed table doubles as an assembly table. Everywhere possible is used for storage, as efficiently as possible (pull-out shelves & drawers e.g.) - under the TS & outfeed table, behind the fence for the SCM, ...
The Taunton workshop book has some good organizing ideas as well.
Good luck!
RE: Storage
So much space. Want to trade? I need more space to stuff up.
Looking at your bare walls and those cheesey metal shelves, I can see where you are wasting a lot of space.
Do a storage wall.
There is a lot of space up on those walls for stuff. The wall area can be organzied to take a lot more stuff. Depending on your needs, space under the shelves can be retained for equipment to roll in and out.
My garage (which is stuffed - a real blivet) has pegboard walls all the way around for gear. At the 6' level I ran an 18" deep shelf on cleats for seldom accessed items (except over the 16' of work benches on one side). There are several floor to ceiling shelf units.
All the stuff is made from scrap OSB from the job sites (lot of good cutoffs after sheating and roofing) and white wood 2x3s. 2x4s are overkill for shelving. When done, I closed the door and sprayed 5 gal of white primer on myself and every other surface, then moved the gear in.
I built a lumber/plywood rack on rollers that has been rather handy. There are additional lumber racks that hang from the ceiling, just above the garage door when up.
Storage is containerized in Rubbermail Roughneck totes and 5g buckets.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
Try this link for pics of shops, & maybe a few ideas...http://www.shoptours.org/
Your pics make it look like you have a lot of room for organising and shelving. Consider losing one wall to floor to ceiling cabinets, made by you, to house, well, everything you can stuff in them. Mix it up to suit what you have and will stash.
Overhead is wide open. While you want room to spin boards, you could find a corner to stick some loft storage. The first shop I built at one end I made literally a small loft, like the old barns, where all the bulky but seldom used stuff, as well as sheet materials, migrated to. When I moved getting the sawdust off looked like a geology expedition. You could point to layers of different colors and sigh "ahh, I remember that dresser."
Some of the workshop books I've thought had some ingenious approaches to cramped spaces. I think what stood out as making them all noteworthy was the individuality that went into each guy deciding what worked best for him, and making whatever thing it was that accomplished that.
I know your pain though. I started with 400 sq ft and was in heaven, briefly. Now I don't think 2500 would be enough. (And I can't afford that, so haven't built new yet). We always grow to overfill what we have, don't we.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Don't feel bad about filling up the space. There's actually a mathmatical rule that says (in essence) "Everything will grow to fit the space or time allotted to it." After I heard that, I had the perfect excuse. LOL It's not my fault, see...
Don
Paul - I share your pain.
Reading the list of stuff that's in there brings to mind an excellant book. It's called "For Packrats Only" by Don Aslett (a professional organizer and bookwriter). I've read through the book twice. There are some good ideas and some good stories in it. I just flipped it open and came across "lockers". He says,
Ever wonder what a professional organizer's most dreaded assignment might be? Unquestionably lockers. Most lockers are used so intermittently they can easily be piled full and defiled and left behind for another day. All lockers start out like children; innocent, open positive. Then we convert them to junk banks where we make regular deposits and no withdrawls, until we can barely force the door shut.
He does have a way with words, and there are chapters after chapters with some good stories (How about people that saved stuff that came out of them in the hospital? He said he's seen lots of that. Can you say baby's umbilical cord?)
You may be compulsive about the clean up, but it's a good read anyway.
Don
You crack me up. For 10 years, I worked out of a 24 x 32 shop, shared with 2 other people!Unisaw, 14" bandsaw, 12" jointer, 12" stationary planer, sanding station, 10" radial arm, 5' lathe, bench top drill press, router table, two work benches...and then all the portable tools<G>...still room to build a bunch of bookcases, entertainment centers, and, even kitchens. Then there were the dining room sets, desks and night stands...Overhead storage, storage all the way up the walls, under every horizontal surface, doors and windows to run long pieces out helped. Workflow charts for projects keep setups and resetups to a minimum...if you're not using the table saw, it makes a dandy surface for building a chair, or gluing up drawers or doors. Before that, I worked out of a school bus, try turning a board around in there, lol.The last shop finally became a bit too cramped when a second lathe moved in, accompanied by 4 little old ladies...now I just go by and tune up the tools for them, and work out of the back of my truck in my driveway...let me know when that 800sq' is available. "what's in a name?" d'oh!
OK OK...geeeeeez Louise. I know you cannnnnn work in a space this size or smaller, but I want to do it comfortably. All I can say is that when contractor friends have visited the shop the common reaction is "holy crrrrrrrrap you DO have a lot of stuff". I haven't listed the half of it. Anyway...I'll start thinking of finding time to build storage more suited for a shop. In that regard I have a question that I've simply never run into before. The building I'm in has metal studs. Will those support the same loads (in terms of hanging shelves and cabinets), applied of course with Piffin screws, as wood framing?
Paul "Space Deprived" B
I had a smaller space than that ( uh..still do).
Add a swing arm above attached to one wall, like a mono truss. Hang air and power drops from that...no more tripping the dolly wheels. If it can span across the room, you will be amazed at how it works.
I utilize french cleats on the dozens of milk crates to store alot of stuff, and still keep it portable. Make a thicker cleat opposite the beveled one and get some tilt to the crate, keeps things from jumping out. If you adda nail rail inside the crate to sandwich it, they are strong enuf for a shelf on top of a few.
I can store a slew of 10'' saw blades on edge in a crate with kerfed plywood inserts top and bottom, again, tilted, they stay put.
Milk crates are the next best thing to 5 gal. buckets! Modular storage that are similar sizes makes a lot of sense.
Make sure every thing serves double or triple duty, and you will be golden.
edit: yes, metal studs are fine, adda 2' wide plywood backer SECURELY screwed to the studs, add your beveled cleats to THAT.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Edited 9/4/2005 8:50 am ET by Sphere
You have already heard you have plenty of space you just need to use it better. Well..... read the first sentence again lol.
We use hollow core doors for shelving a lot. Hold weight. We get them for free off every home owner that wants new doors. They are usually 24-32 inches deep and free! Hang em, stack em, use them for desk tops stand them on end and build shelving sets. From the ground they look neat just like you stained and varnished some 2X's for shelving. DanT
I got a quarter of what you got, spacewise, so I know what cramped means. The key is to use as much wall and overhead as you can. I bought those heavy-duty shelf standards from HD and put them on the wall, I probably have a ton (literally) of lumber on them on one shop wall. Workbenches with drawers are really good, as I see you have.
Also - all machines should be either on wheels/mobile bases, or there's another idea that I borrowed from a big commercial shop when I wound up with a couple machines that were either too heavy or too unwieldy for mobile bases. Basically, build a custom "pallet" for each machine so that a standard pallet jack will fit under the machine. Make each pallet high or low enough so that it is a comfortable working height, and even put one under a heavy-duty workbench to have it double as an outfeed table. Then build a large scrap bin on a pallet and store the pallet jack under that scrap bin when not being used to move a machine. I have an 18" planer, Unisaw, drum sander, jointer, shaper, drill press, lathe, 24" scroll saw, bandsaw and dust collector, three workbenches stuffed with hand and portable power tools, and my lumber rack, all jammed into a space 12 x 22, so I HAVE to be efficient. Every single machine is on wheels.
Space...the final frontier. Get a ladder and go higher.
I find that the best thing is to get as much off the floor as possible. Build some beefy, (reasonably) high shelves and get rid of the scrap dimestore shelves. Mike