Shed Design software

[FenceFurniture]

Like many of us (at some stage) I am at the point of working out how all the tools will fit into my barn. The barn is already up and running with a minimal amount of tools, and I have to be able fit many more in during the planned tool invasion.

So, before I learned about the planning software on the Grizzly site I turned to my old friend Excel to do my planning. I have attached a progress plan, which is different to what is now.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f153/149655d1286530265-gday-new-workshop-new-equipment-barn-plan-2.pdf

However, that is not the point of this thread. The point of it is to ask would anybody like to know how to do this in Excel?

It's really quite easy and you can customize the colours a bit, but more importantly you can make the sizes to fit your machines. This can't really be done on the Grizzly site as all the machinery icons available are only from what they sell. Just now, I couldn't find an icon on Grizzly that was even close to the Jet JPS-310 that I plan to purchase.

There are a number of other advantages to doing your own plan:
1. You can save it (and any number of different versions) onto your own pc
2. It's totally free if you have excel (most do)
3. You can make shapes for a few different table saws and fences, so that you can see what will fit (and work) and what won't.

For me, the flexibility of having my own TOTALLY CONTROLLABLE software has allowed me to vary things as new information became available, leading to a change in the planned product to purchase, which usually leads to a floor plan change.

Depending upon response I could post some instructions on here.

Regards, Brett.

[coffenup]

try here i have fun playing designing my shed lay out
Grizzly.com® -- Workshop Planner (http://grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx)
regards michael

[beer is good]

Hi Brett,
I am a big fan of Excel and would like to know how you did what you did. I started using SketchUp to lay out my shed but it was a bit hard as it was the first time I had used it.
Thanks,

[FenceFurniture]

Hi Beery (or is that Bleary?)

I've attached a PDF so that it can be downloaded. What follows here is a cut and paste from the PDF:


TO USE EXCEL FOR SHED PLANNING (I use Excel 2003, not sure how 2007 functions)

Don’t be put off by the length of my instructions, this is actually super easy to do, it just takes a lot of words to carefully explain it. Just take it step by step and you’ll be a whiz in no time.

PREPARATION:

Without knowing what (Excel) tools are already set up in your PC, you will probably need to customize a wee bit. This is a one-off exercise, and the tools will stay in your Excel display forever, until you decide to remove them (by doing the reverse – dragging them from your toolbar into the Customise window).

Click TOOLS→Customise→Commands and then in the left hand window select “Drawing”
Click and drag the following to ANY toolbar:
Select Objects
Group
Ungroup
Regroup
Bring to Front
Send to Back
To Grid
Shadow On/Off
Then in the left hand window select “Autoshapes”
Click and drag the following to ANY toolbar:
Rectangle
Oval
Autoshapes
More Autoshapes

You can rearrange these icons within the toolbar when you have the “Customise” window open. I usually put these tools in the Toolbar at the bottom of the screen, but to each their own.

Now you have pretty much all the tools you need (except for a 20” Martin Thicky – and isn’t Martin proud).

PLANNING:

Open a new Excel sheet and set the column widths to 4.71, row height to 28.5. This will give you a square grid pattern and each square represents 100mm x 100mm. Don’t ask me why 4.71 horizontal equals 28.5 vertical – send Bill Gates an email. There isn’t even a relationship between the numbers i.e. 28.5 / 4.71 = 6.050955414 (not 6).

If you want to see these gridlines when you print out then go to PAGE SETUP→Sheet and tick Gridlines (under Print).

You will need to adjust the enlargement of the page size to suit your shed size. For mine 50% to 75% works well (up the top of the screen).

Now you are ready to start planning. Select an area of cells to represent your shed – i.e. my barn is 5.3 x 2.9 metres so I select 53 cells wide by 29 cells deep. Put a border around these cells. To represent windows and doorways you will use a rectangular Autoshape and colour it Blue, White or transparent as you wish.

N.B. You can go into as much detail with Autoshapes for you tool representations as you want (time & patience permitting).

DO NOT USE TEXTBOXES – they can’t be rotated. You can add text to any Autoshape by right clicking and selecting “Add Text”.


CREATING YOUR TOOL IMAGES:

Taking my DP-4132F Drill Press as an example:
1. Click on the rectangular Autoshape icon and then draw any old rectangle (don’t worry about size etc). Right click and select “Format Autoshape”. You will see that you have about eight tabs to choose from. Go to size and change to what you need – this is 1/10 scale (but may not look it because of your screen magnification e.g. 50% or 64% etc). For this drill press I entered 5.82 x 4.5 cm because the footprint of the front is 58.2 x 45 cm. Then go to “Colours and Lines” tab and select what you want. You are not restricted to the Excel colour palette here. If you go to “More Colours” or “Fill Effects” you can select just about anything – even a photograph from file if you like. When drawing a shape if you have activated “Snap to” then the shape will be drawn to the nearest gridlines – this can be very convenient.

2. Now we add the black circle for the motor. Click the Oval Autoshape icon and again draw any old oval. Change the size to be 2 x 2 cm (representing a 200mm circle), then change the colour. If you tick the “Lock aspect ratio” then you only have to change one dimension to make an object bigger or smaller. Thus ensuring that it stays as a circle.

3. Now we want join them up. Click the “Snap to” icon (which looks like #). This will enable you to move any shape to the nearest gridline EXACTLY by using the arrow keys. It’s also a good way to move shapes quickly (click it again to turn it off). Select the front of the drill press and use the arrow key once or twice to align the back of it to a gridline. Then select the motor and move it up (or whatever) to the same gridline. Press the Ctrl key while you select the front and the motor and then click the “Group” tool icon. Now the two shapes are one and the whole thing can be moved around and rotated. Rotation is done by hovering over the green dot until you get a little circle thingy and then moving your mouse roughly in a circular manner (or go to Format Autoshape and changing the degrees of rotation in the size tab). If you rotate manually then you will notice that Excel has some notched stops at the major angles, just like your mitre gauge!

4. Changing Colour: Click once on the Grouped objects, then click once on the object to change (you’ll notice grey dots around it) and then you can edit the text, change the colour or keyline. YOU CANNOT CHANGE ITS SIZE OR POSITION RELATIVE TO OTHER OBJECTS IN THE GROUP – see 5.

5. To change the size or relative position of one object within the Group: select the group, click the “Ungroup” icon, format the object and then click “Regroup” and it will select all the other objects in this group for you and regroup them (as the name perhaps implies!).

6. Adding Text to a shape: select the shape, right click, down to Add Text (or Edit Text if there is already some there) and type away. You can have multiple fonts, sizes, colours within the one object. You can also align the text centered, right, left, top, bottom, middle as required.

7. You will note that in the colour adjustment tab there is a transparency slider. You can use this in areas to show drawer or door opening footprints without interfering too much with the overall visuals.

8. To represent a doorswing go to “More Autoshapes” and grab “Pie Slice” (about two thirds down). You will have to turn the shadow off. You will notice little yellow squares which can be grabbed and moved until you have a quarter of a circle. It can be formatted for colour etc just as any other shape can be. It’s a very good idea to use some transparency of colour for this.

One final point: Of the 8 tabs available in “Format Shape” there is one called “Properties”. It is best to select “Don’t move or size with cells” for each object or group. However, if you ungroup/regroup you may have to set it back again from the default (which is move and size with cells). Also make sure that “Print Object” is ticked.

That’s about it – happy planning, and send me a message (FenceFurniture) if you need any help. If you think this is a good way to go for planning then feel free to let me know and/or give this post a rating. If you think it’s shight then bugger off and log on to Grizzly (lots ‘o luck with feet and inches pal!).

Regards, Brett

[Squirrel]

FenceFurniture,

Very timely, I am just in the process of submitting plans for a new house and a 7m x 6m workshop. I will have a play and see how it pans out. Might be in a better position to comment in a week or two.

Squirrel.

[Beetle Shirt]

Now that, right there, is a prime example of what makes forums great. Top stuff Brett, thanks. Well worth a greenie.

I had a grid book out and was working with a pencil to sort out mine, but it didn't even occur to me to use Excel.

[Johnny]

Brett - thanks for this. I never would have thought to use Excel for this purpose but it works a treat. Cheers, John

[banjoping]

If anyone needs sheds drawn I can possibly help, because I work in a shed company and we have a software package.