Thread: Organising The Shed

Ben, you're thinking through the same process I'm thinking through. And it's uncanny how many of our ideas marry up.

Like you, I have too much to put into the allotted space, so have been advised by wise folks here to go mobile on everything. I think this is a good plan, and I see you're thinking the same.

What I am setting up in my workshop is a "dirty station", that is a single space where anything that is mobile (and everything will be mobile except for the table saw due to outfeed requirements) can be rolled in to, hooked up to power and dust extraction and used.

My workshop plan looks a bit like this:

workshop.JPG

The space at the top right wall where you see "Kapex" is the dirty station (dust extractor will be outside).

You'll note in the above plans that many of the mobile cabinets are listed as having an 870mm height - this is wrong, as some of the devices will be too high to use comfortably - for those cabinets, I will be adjusting the height to make each device at a comfortable working height (I had already calculated the one for the lathe, as it's listed at 700mm high, and that will result in 1100mm at the spindle, which I believe to be an ideal turning height).

In all the thinking I've done, I've come up with a plan to base heights off the table saw for two reasons - (1) it gives flexibility in being able to use various mobile cabinets as in or out feed, and (2) it so happens the height of 870mm suits me as a working height. It might be worth for you to check this aspect, and plan based off that?

I am planning on making 2 of Timothy Wilmots' Multifunction Shop Carts: https://benchworks.be/en/projects/mf...ion-shop-cart/ These will act as left and right feeds for the Kapex, as they can be adjusted to a bench height of 870mm. The Kapex station will be built so that the working height of the table is 870mm. This also matches the height of the table saw, so these can also act for material support on that (in or out feed).

As far as each of the cabinets for the various devices, I'm basing them off Brad Rodriguez's plans for these here: https://fixthisbuildthat.com/diy-woo...e-stand-plans/ and here: https://fixthisbuildthat.com/diy-dri...s-stand-plans/

The outfeed table for the table saw will also be mobile, and have an MFT torsion box on top of it so it can be rolled out and used as a workbench/assembly bench if required. Its height is also 870mm, so it will marry up perfectly with other devices.

I hope these ideas and plans have contributed to your thinking - bear in mind, this is still all theorycrafting on my part, as I haven't yet gotten to the stage of building all this stuff - I've been thinking through it and planning only.

Fine Woodworking's roll away workshop might suit you....

Roll-Away Workshop | Startwoodworking.com

I have a dim recollection there is a video somewhere of it but I might be mistaken.

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

I haven't yet gotten to the stage of building all this stuff - I've been thinking through it and planning only.

And therein lies the problem MM, which what I suspect Bern is finding out - once you start doing it, things need to change once you've used them for a while, and there is absolutely no way around that. That's why they didn't build FA-18 Hornets for the First World War.

In 9 years of the current shed I've been through countless permutations either due to equipment acquisitions, changes of mind/need, midnight revelations, or realising how dopey the previous version was.

That's why moveable is good, and same heights are good (where possible). But having said that, stationary is great for being able to walk over to the machine is just use the bloody thing without fooling around.....

Tools that are not used as often or are easy to get out - yeah, bundle them up in the corner.

In MM's plan I'd be more inclined to have the Roubo and the MFSC (which I presume are Multi Function Tables or similar) over adjacent to that Tool Wall and float the Jointer and TS around until you find the sweet spot for them. (maybe the outfeed for the TS could be one of the MFSCs). Certainly I think you will want good access to all sides of the Roubo, even if it just 600mm off the wall. The Tool wall wood also benefit from a long (maybe skinny) bench under it with drawers under that. That can take Tormek, Grinder etc. For that bench I would use a Melamine top that can be changed after it's buggered beyond good use. Good for writing notes, dimensions etc on too.




To come directly to Bern's situation, maybe a floorplan mudmap might help some ideas to form amongst us. Some people use Sketchup for these things, but I kinda like Excel, using shapes that I compound up.

This is useful info. I must sleep (perchance to dream) but I will look through the suggestions carefully tomorrow. MM, I have Tim's plans - was thinking of his MFTC as a mobile workstation when the big sheets need chopping.

FF, love the idea of using excel! I've been swearing at Fusion 360 and Illustrator. This is what the place looks like at the moment (roughly):

Screenshot 2019-05-28 20.45.00.jpg

Ok, looking at that layout, and assuming everything is up for grabs in the pursuit of the noble wood arts, I'd be inclined to ditch the current cupboards on the right and push the car over that way. That would leave more room on the left for a contiguous space for woodworking, and a temporary space with the vehicle removed. Perhaps some more floor levelling on the left?

Maybe the proposed 4.7m wide bench at the back could be half bench, half cupboards.

Excel is far more powerful than people realise. With a bit of Visual Basic programming running behind it there is scope for awesome capabilities. I once wrote a suite that would refinance five properties and purchase three new ones, producing all the associated paperwork. Took about 30 minutes to run through, and produce a stack of documents 10-20mm thick.

This is one pipedream I had:
Capture.jpg

Btw, having things on angles can free up much space and make it easier to walk around. In the first pic I most often have the bench on the left and the thicky/jointer kicked at an angle from right to left to allow easy ingress to the thicky. As I only have 5x3 metres I always try to coalesce the biggest amount of empty space together.

1. Shed Dec 2018.jpg

That'll be a glass of Grolsch sitting on the Drill Deck. This was Dec 2018, and the layout has only changed once since then.

Because most handtools are 30mm or less high, shallow drawers are invaluable. Build your own (best idea) or suss out some map drawers. (sorry 'bout the "Shot on blah blah" - buggers snuck it in with an update until I saw it)

2. Shed Dec 2018.jpg

FF that's an awful lot of loose soft flex connects to your mitre saw, have you thought of replacing it with hard ducting. Actual losses will of course depends on what it's connected to.

Eh? Do you mean the grey or the clear? If grey it's only a 1m length, and the rest is general purpose which is routed through the 65mm hard tube ducting system. If you mean the clear 125mm then I don't have much choice really - installing a 6" hard duct in this shed is very problematic. The largest coil of grey is 7m long so it will reach the end of the deck outside, and it works just fine with a floor nozzle.

IMG_9164 2.jpgI hadn't thought about skinny drawers. Good idea.

Constraints:
1. I can't move the car over much more (a testament to my poor and budding excel draftsman skillz) - the roller door doesn't go right up to the right hand corner of the shed. There's a bit of wall there too. I could gain a couple of hundred mm, so I will have a look at it.
2. The slope. It's huge. Over the 3m of my level floor, there's a rise of 150mm. I built the 3x3 as big as I practically could. I originally wanted to do the whole shed, but it would have been over 300mm, creating a huge step at the entrance, and I wouldn't be able to get the car in. Same applies to levelling more areas - it would have to be stepped, and then the car can't get in.
The other issue with the step up is it's currently not easy to move big things (like the table saw) on and off the level area. I'll make a couple of ramps - trickier than it sounds as it's a compound slope.
3. Stuff. As in a lot of! Apart from the wood butchery, I have many hobbies. Currently, above the level work area dangle 6 bicycles of various flavour. They're on an electric winch, There are bike carriers on the walls, camping gear stuffed into shelves, diving equipment... the list goes on. So it's a shared area, and I need storage.

The other consideration is that I'm quite time poor, so I need things to be easily accessible, and the main tools immediately available. I'll often spend a quick 30min in the shed in the morning before I have to head off to work at 7. It's not a lot of time, so the more of that time I get to actually do things, the better.

So far, these suggestions strike a cord:
-base heights off the table saw. It's a comfortable height for me, so good place to start
-machines on angles
-bench/cupboard combo on the far wall
-thin drawers
-wall tool storage (more and more, I think stuff needs to be out in the open, or I forget I have it!)
-possibly a 'dirty station', but I might have to settle for a spot or two with dust collection pipes dangling.
-One or more of Tim's multifunction - type carts

I need to work through MM and Chris' links above to see what they have to say.

I need to settle on a simple, strong, and easily repeatable cabinet/bench construction so I can knock half a dozen of the things out. Something from the links above, or possibly something like Jackman Works

This is all very helpful, so thank you, and please keep hurling ideas at me!

edit : I don't have pictures of the finished floor, but this was one of the initial stages. I ended up projecting out into the doorway by around 1000m to get that usable 3m, and you can see how much of a rise I needed to get things level.

IMG_9164 2.jpg(and I can't get the darn thing to rotate, so just pretend you're in the Northern Hemisphere)
Edit - Fixed by BobL

Originally Posted by Bernmc

3. Stuff. As in a lot of! Apart from the wood butchery, I have many hobbies.

Yairs, I had a look at the pics in the Bench sale thread to see if I could work out what was what.

As you say, a lot of stuff.

Btw, for Excel planning I have found it very useful to organise the grid into scaled 100mm squares (refer my layout). This makes it really easy to quickly and accurately move the shapes around using the "Snap to Grid" tool.

If you have carts you are going to do heavy work on you don't want them to move around while working. I suggest figuring out how to make them retract and let the legs of the cart sit on the floor. When you want to move it lower the castors to lift the legs off the ground.

I would hate that floor.

Pete

Looks like you have heaps of room above those cross beams?what about even this.
FFduct.jpg

Originally Posted by BobL

Looks like you have heaps of room above those cross beams?what about even this.

That's Bret's shed. Mine is more like Calcutta in a cyclone

Originally Posted by QC Inspector

If you have carts you are going to do heavy work on you don't want them to move around while working. I suggest figuring out how to make them retract and let the legs of the cart sit on the floor. When you want to move it lower the castors to lift the legs off the ground.

I would hate that floor.

Oh, I do. with a passion.

I have a set of these castors to try. Problem is going to be access to them if I have everything tightly butted up against each other (which is what I want)

Screenshot 2019-05-29 14.51.15.jpg

Originally Posted by Bernmc

That's Bret's shed. Mine is more like Calcutta in a cyclonex

Sure I was referring to Brett situation, sorry to go off topic there - can't resist giving someone dust advice ��

I have a set of these castors to try. Problem is going to be access to them if I have everything tightly butted up against each other (which is what I want)

If you can, try to locate them on the side or the back of the legs so they won't get in the way.