Hi,

I am soon to move house and will (hopefully) have the funds and space to set up a half-decent workshop finally. Being the pedantic type, I'd like to plan it out to see what I can fit, rather than try to move machinery around once I get it.

So, is there any recommended software out there specific to, or suited to, workshop design? ie, recommendations of CAD or house planning s/ware where oyu can draw/build shapes such as bench, saws, etc and drag them aorund to try layout combinations? Or can you get templates for AutoCAD or similar of workshop equipment?

Thanks in advance, interested to know what's out there.

Regards,

Darren

Darwin, no matter how much you plan and shuffle, the workshop you end up with, no matter how big it is, will only be half the size you need.
Regards
Cramped Termite

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Retired Ratbag.

I know it is low-tech but cutting paper/card cutouts of your bench and machine footprints would probably be quicker to shuffle around on a basic piece of grid paper.

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I agree with DaveinOz that shuffling bits of card on graph paper is the way to go for planning your workshop layout, especially as there is a pretty steep learning curve with CAD software. Nevertheless, I have found Cad software (AutoSketch) very useful in helping to plan woodworking projects. It probably will take about 50 hours of hard study to become familiar with and attain competence to use all the features of this software, but I have found the effort well worthwhile, especially if you hope to design your own furniture, or publish articles in magazines. The software costs about the same as a good-quality block-plane (about $220).

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Free downloadable plans and articles on jigs and furniture

Hi,

Thanks for the initial replies. I did the cut-outs/graph paper thing with my current layout, just wondered if there was something more high-tech. I have used Rhino 3D and AutoCAD a little in the past, and a colleague thinks AutoCAD may have templates for machinery, but I thought there may have been something middle of the road out there (there eems to be a program for just about everything else).

Agree the CAD stuff is good for project plans, I (and many others) use it for model ship building to plan frames or features from plans.

Regards,

Darren

I don't really see why you need to get software with templates for machines to plan your workshop. Just simple rectangles would surely do the trick. If you insist on being fancy, you can create your own symbols, or templates. Any 2-D software, such as TurboCad, AutoSketch or AutoCad Lite would be suitable, if you are already familiar with CAD. 3-D programs such as AutoCad cost several thousand dollars.

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Free downloadable plans and articles on jigs and furniture

Put everthing where you think it should go. But don't bolt it down! You will soon discover the ideal spot where you , and your machines, work best...

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Jack the Lad.

Darren,

I agree with the guys that your tools will be moved around a lot no matter what you plan. However, I also like to try and plan a bit to, hopefully, save the back a bit when changing the toy room layout. So, I have found and tried a few shop layout software which I had posted up on the forum months ago at:
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...?threadid=4229

This is the post below:
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Shed Layout Software
There is a Computer Program (free I believe) called "Easy Shop Designer" that I found that allows you to do a shed/workshop layout. Go to http://www.inthewoodshop.org/software/software.shtml

Another one is at ToolDock (US Company with nice modular tool benches = expensive though) "Design Your Shop" using a web based flash app. Go to http://www.tooldock.com/designyourshop.asp
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Also, another page of Wood Working related software can be found here if anyone is interested:
http://www.woodbin.com/downloads/

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Wayne
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Hi,

Thanks Wayne for the links - I didn't see the original message thread. These look like what I'm after, I figured someone somewhere would have written something.

I'm sure things will move around but at least this will give me a starting point, and it's easier to do on a laptop than moving bits of paper around on a plane or train (which is where I usually get to do my planning!).

Regards,

Darren