Thread: Rollaway workshop - who has done it?

Get a bigger shed.

I have tried something like this, and unless you were very good as a child with those puzzles that involve moving a number of tiles around a board with only one open space, you will go nuts. A nice level driveway may let you move your tools & work units about when you have them all on casters (my driveway is sloped about 20 degrees as I can get one small item out before gravity takes over) but you will spend a lot of time trying to figure out what needs to go where then shuffling everything around, only to find that now something else is in the way.

Another thing to remember is that you will have to have things set up well enough to make all the cabinetry and bench tops so you can set the shed up to make all the cabinets and bench tops (can you see where this is going?) unless you can use someone else's workshop for the cutting and joinery, or have enough portable tools to do the job on the lawn a bit at a time (while all the big stuff in in storage somewhere).

If you have a full set of dimensions for the new workspace, you probably can pre-plan where things are sort-of going in the new space & really get cracking on cutting out all the sheet goods, framing & bench tops that you will need in your existing workshop. Then it may only take a weekend with a bunch of friends (and their battery drill/drivers etc) to assemble the pre-fabricated storage.

Other than that, try your local library/s for some of the older woodworking books, many of them have chapters if not whole books on setting up a workshop - lots of ideas. Some on-line sites such a Grizzly have a set of scale cut-out machine shapes that you can arrange on a grid plan of your workshop - most machines are of similar shape and size as they are mostly knock-offs of an original 1940's or earlier design.

I did it and it does work but my workshop is fairly large. My primary reason was I wanted the units to act as outfeed/infeed for the machines so they all had to be at the same height as well. One mistake I made was the opening to roll the units into was too small and like a shopping trolley they tend to be a bit difficult to line up accurately. Having small mobile bench space is not such a bad thing either. At the moment I am debating whether the system has outlived its usefulness and it may get the chop shortly.

This probably isnt what your looking for but rather impressive none the less

The Smallest Workshop in the World

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Bsrlee, yes I do see your point about shuffling the cards, although I do have that same sort of problem now.

I have two benches at the moment.
1 long workbench down the side of my shed
1 mobile workbench which is 1200x1200, with wings on either end that extend to make it 2400x1200.


I use the mobile bench for almost everything, and the more traditional long workbench only really gets used for stacking my crap on Although the storage under it is invaluable.
I absolutely love this bench, but in a single car garage, there will be times there is not room for both this and all my tools such as buzzer, tablesaw etc

My idea is to use the roll-away design, but without the fixed benchtop and cavities down one wall.
So the mobile units would be the bench when they are lined up down the wall, but can be moved out to be infeed/outfeed tables, or lock 4 of them into a square to make up something similar to my mobile bench. I'm just not sure how to lock them together. Perhaps clips, or a sheet of ply to fit over the top of them.

Im also not sure I would need them to be quite this small. I think even a few 1200x600 style mobile units would be enough. Again, the key being that they can all be lined up down one wall when I need space in the middle of the shed.

Cheers
Dave

Originally Posted by sidewz

My idea is to use the roll-away design, but without the fixed benchtop and cavities down one wall.
So the mobile units would be the bench when they are lined up down the wall, but can be moved out to be infeed/outfeed tables, or lock 4 of them into a square to make up something similar to my mobile bench. I'm just not sure how to lock them together. Perhaps clips, or a sheet of ply to fit over the top of them.

Im also not sure I would need them to be quite this small. I think even a few 1200x600 style mobile units would be enough. Again, the key being that they can all be lined up down one wall when I need space in the middle of the shed.

Cheers
Dave

It might depend on the floor in the workshop as in how flat it is. I can see that using multiple units will lead to a bench top that does not line up on each join. I reckoned my floor, pineboard on steel floor joists, was flat but I soon found out it wasn't that close when two units were put together. If you make them too big they will be hard too maneuver and push if heavily loaded. I used non directional casters on mine and they act like shopping trolleys. I am thinking of doing the same thing and that is do away with the bench they are under and use them as an island bench but it won't be a WW bench.

It looks fantastic and a serious investment in time and money to build all the carts, but practicality is another issue.

i would consider the same as space is a prob for me too but:

-my floor is all over the shop (literally, lol) meaning heights will be a massive problem

this would be ok for the dropsaw. But i wouldnt want to use tablesaw, router table like this

sure u can lock the wheels off but in my experience theres still movement (in the rotating mechanism to a degree) = risk of binding on the tablesaw, no confidence in the router table

maybe u can get really good wheels = min $100 a set of 4.....i dunno, i want to like it but too many unknowns and expense

I have a single car garage as my workshop and have to make room for the car to come in so all of my big tools are mobile.

This includes Table saw, Thicknesser and Router table (bench is permanent). I have had this set up for about 8 years but would love a dedicated shed instead, just dont have a back yard big enough or room to enlarge the garage. I have to keep everything at the front space of my garage (in front of the car) and some at the sides.

I find the lockable wheels give me no problem with movement during use but can really only have one tool set up for use at a time. Having all your tools mobile may not be very practical but you have to make do with the space you have available.

One benefit is i have to clean up after every session before the car comes in so have a nice clean space to work in all the time!!!


Steven.

You have to make do with the space you have so if that means that everything has to be on wheels then so be it. I started out with a bench and a tool cupboard in the garage and then came a table saw, lathe, bandsaw, and the list goes on. The 2 cars were gradually squeesed out. I then was directed to get a shed built in the back yard. Space and funds got me a 12m2 tin shed and I moved some stuff down there and now one car is back in the garage. The big stuff still in the garage is all on wheels and gets put to one side to allow a car in but nowhere as tidy as that rollaway workshop article. Sometimes with a project being assembeled that car has to live outside for a few days. I find that wheels on the equipment is really good even if it is not just for space issues. So good to set up for a job the way you like. The last and often overlooked item is space for the wood stash. Cant make anything without wood.
Regards
John

Look at the space above you. It is possible to put a shelf in above where the car is parked and just above head height. This can accommodate timber and those less often used items that we all seem to collect. I had one across the back of my workshop which was 2.4 x 7.2 but I recently pulled it down due to its use by date being over. No junk means no shelf needed and I tossed out everything that wasn't nailed down. Its last use was to store stock for Clearvue but once I relinquished that I had no need for it.