Thread: Workshop Layout Any Ideas Suggestions

You can put machines much closer together but put them on wheels so they can be pulled out even just 1/2m into a work alley.

Where's your dust collector?

If you don't have one it will be worth sorting that out before you finalise machine placement,

Dusty sits outside see top of drawing

Combo on wheels, slide it between the B/S & D/P. The lathe, further out from the wall, so you can turn from the "wrong" side or outboard.

Power? How many 10amp, 15amp and light circuits? I have an 8*4 shed with 2 * 10amp (14 gpo), 1 15amp (2gpo) and a 20amp circuit for go juice and 2 light circuits. Unless I am using the machines on the 15 & 20& circuits, these are turned off at the box, which is next to the entry door.

Yes wheels look like a need for this space.

Juice is going to be another problem. I rent and so I cannot simple add more power point or different amp. At the moment I have a single 10 amp two plug powerpoint.

Would this be enough to run the dust extraction and one machine at a time? I know nothing about electricity.

I had another think about the layout and I rotated the tablesaw / combo machine and moved them closer to the roller door. Then I decreased the distance between various machines and moved the lathe to the opposite side of the workshop. This has given me a good amount more of free space around the workbench.

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Originally Posted by thumbsucker

Yes wheels look like a need for this space.

Juice is going to be another problem. I rent and so I cannot simple add more power point or different amp. At the moment I have a single 10 amp two plug powerpoint.

Would this be enough to run the dust extraction and one machine at a time? I know nothing about electricity.

Theoretically you can run 2 x 2HP machines on a 2 x 10AGPO
BUT it depends on what else is connected to that circuit and the breaker Capacity for that line.

My guess is that 10A line is part of a 20A house circuit.
If that circuit s running a washing machine and a dishwasher and a microwave then 2 x 2HP machines may trip the breaker.

FUDGE

So in other words I would need an electrician.

OR

I just run the workshop machines when no one else is home.

The tablesaw I am looking at is 3hp, will this run on 10amps with a 2hp dust extraction?

hi

are you right or left handed?

I suggest that you
1. boost the power supply to 3 phase, if at all possible. If not possible or prohibitively expensive, boost the wiring to allow the garage to draw 60 Amps on a single phase -- will require changes on your main board and a high current feeder to a sub-board in the shed. Make sure the shed lighting is on a separate circuit to the machines. just saw your post at 8:26. So boosting the current supply to the garage is not an option. Power supply into a rental is a serious impediment which will seriously hinder which machines you can run. From my memory of BobL's dust posts, you will need around 10A just to run the dusty, let alone the likely 15A to you will want for the table saw and jointer/thicky combo. Most likely the rental will be wired with two, maybe three, 20A circuits. One will power the kitchen -- microwave, toaster, kettle, range hood -- another the laundry with the 3rd covering the rest of the house and garage. Using a desk lamp or two you can work out which outlets are connected to which circuit. You could possibly run a heavy duty extension cord (possibly an electrician made one) from the laundry to the dusty.
2. arrange your work space for the work you normally do.
3. install a window to provide natural lighting to your bench.
4. make room for a mitre saw along one long wall.
5. where will your stash of raw wood be stored?
6. put all your machines except for the drill press, miter saw and lathe on wheels. (The DP will most likely need to be bolted to the floor and the Miter saw will be permanently mounted .)
7. on the basis that you are right handed, I'd locate the bandsaw to the right of your bench so that you can cut joints without needing to walk very far from the bench.
8. think about the flow of materials into the garage. Typically raw wood will enter through the double doors and be cut to approximate length (miter saw) before being further processed or stored.
9. place the jointer / thicknesser on wheels and store along one wall. Typically, you will process rough sawn boards to dimension at the start of a project and then not use the machine till the next project.
10. I'd also place the router table closer to the bench with the lathe near the double doors.
11. don't forget about storage for hand held power tools.
12. you will desirably also include an assembly table

Volts x Amps = Power available, so 240 x 10 = 2400 watts max before you blow.
1 HP = ~750watts, so a 10A circuit will run about 3½HP, but in reality 4HP (as Bob says) because machines don't usually run at full capacity. However, and this is important, induction motors (bigger machines like TS, BS, DE) have a very high current draw for a brief moment at start up - much higher than their usual draw, so this has the potential to blow the 10A circuit when starting up the Dusty and then another machine.

Not forgetting that other things like lights, perhaps a fan, heater etc may be running as well, so I would say that you need a Sparky. Unlikely that the owner of the house would object to this sort of improvement. If you go that step then you may as well get him to put in the biggest circuit you can - he will have to lay in new wiring for any circuit so just beef it up to avoid any problems. Cost will be largely dependent on the distance to the fuse box on the house. Depends on how long you think you'll be there of course.

It might sound silly, but given you've said you know nothing about electricity: be aware that whilst you can run (say) 2x 10A power boards off that 10A circuit, it does NOT mean that you have 20A at your disposal. The total of both boards at any one time still cannot exceed 10A.

WRT to layout of machines: give consideration to placing the thicky so that longer pieces can be fed in through the back door (temporarily opened). You could achieve this with the Thicky on the opposite wall to where the lathe is in the 2nd diagram (i.e. under your 240v label).

I would then be inclined to back-to-back the tool cabinets, by moving the left one forward into the lathe space and having a small corridor along the back wall to access the rear tool cabinet. Before that, move the BS to the opposite wall (it has a higher table than the Thicky, which it would then be next to), move the lathe to the old BS space and this will allow for the b-2-b cabinets.

Then, move the bench to the centre of the room and put the TS where the bench was. This will allow total access to the bench, and the TS could be rotated 90° for long pieces through the door, when required.

At this point, all the machines that need the Dusty will be near each other with the obvious benefit of a shorter flexxy being needed, and less distance to move it around from one machine to the other.

The router table can float around (on wheels).

You may even find that you then have enough floor and wall space to build a lightweight bench + shelf/s on wheels which is primarily bare - used for stacking things on during batchwork of thicknessing, TS work etc, as well as a myriad of other temporary uses (such as piling it up with tools and stuff that end up staying there to get in the road when the bench space is really required ). This sort of bench does not have to be wide - even 300mm is useful, by say 1500mm long. Could be a metre high, even 1200, with perhaps 2 or 3 shelves underneath. Exceptionally useful.

With all the machines and the bench on wheels the layout will sort itself out. You can also earn brownie points by stacking all the tools to one side of the garage so her indoors can get her car in there at times.
As to power Ian's advice is good. I run my dusty on another circuit from the machines and only one big machine at a time. I would also be thinking of getting by with a 2HP table saw. I have not found my saw limiting even on larger things like building a bench. Really deep cuts can be done with the bandsaw.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by Pat

The lathe, further out from the wall, so you can turn from the "wrong" side or outboard.

Yes, unless it is a swivel head lathe, in which case it can stay against the wall.

Lots of very good advice in the postings above and probably more to come.



Stay sharp!

Neil

Originally Posted by orraloon

I run my dusty on another circuit ....

Good point. Can the Dusty be run from a power point inside the house (which may be on another circuit)? That may obviate getting a Sparky in.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Volts x Amps = Power available, so 240 x 10 = 2400 watts max before you blow.
1 HP = ~750watts, so a 10A circuit will run about 3½HP, but in reality 4HP (as Bob says) because machines don't usually run at full capacity. However, and this is important, induction motors (bigger machines like TS, BS, DE) have a very high current draw for a brief moment at start up - much higher than their usual draw, so this has the potential to blow the 10A circuit when starting up the Dusty and then another machine.

Unless the two machines are started simultaneously a standard type of breaker should still be able to cope with this. Even a 10A breaker should cope with ~ 30A for the second or so it takes to start a 2HP motor. However it is unlikely the 10A GPO is connected to a 10A breaker - se below

It might sound silly, but given you've said you know nothing about electricity: be aware that whilst you can run (say) 2x 10A power boards off that 10A circuit, it does NOT mean that you have 20A at your disposal. The total of both boards at any one time still cannot exceed 10A. l.

It depends what sort of breaker and wiring the 10A GPO is connected to.
10A GPOs are usually connected to 16 or 20A breakers.
- if it is connected to a 20A breaker and the wiring is rated for 20A it will be OK. Most household circuits with 10A GPOs are connected to 20A rated wiring and breakers and so the two sockets on the one outlet may be able to cope with 20A

A 2HP DC typically draws 7.5A and so does a 2HP saw under moderate load so you should be OK (provided nothing else drawing significant current is on that circuit).

Yes. By "circuit" I meant the breaker, not the GPO.

How old is the rental property? It may have a bearing on the type of power supply cable and switchboard used.