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Man cave re-organization day!

S

Scott Bradley

Joined
Feb 21, 2010
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My space is too small again. Time for another redo. Man, I'd love twice the floor space and a separate compressor/dust collector room and a finishing room and a hardware loft and a bathroom and a metal room and a...... Starting to get a little tight in my little 24x24 space, especially with one was taken up by doors.
 
Scott Bradley said:
My space is too small again. Time for another redo. Man, I'd love twice the floor space and a separate compressor/dust collector room and a finishing room and a hardware loft and a bathroom and a metal room and a...... Starting to get a little tight in my little 24x24 space, especially with one was taken up by doors.
Click to expand...
Scott,
I know what you mean. My shop is 20x20 withe the same door problem. No walls for wood storage, too many tools that I don't use anymore since furniture building is out. I did put in a very,very small bathroom. I wish it was more of a rectangle with walls without windows.. Gary
 
Don't believe re-organizing will ever be done once-and-for-all.

You know that saying about "A woman's work is never done"......the ladies would understand!

After about the 5th change in my index card bowl file, I decided to re-organize the whole darn thing again last night.......took several hours to do it, but this time, I think I got it right..........yeah suuuuure! 🙄

ooc
 
I have the same 24 x24 space and just spent the last 3 weeks trying to reorganize. I had a larger used dust collector and 60 gallon compressor on my back porch for the last year. I installed some 220 lines in the shop and got those pieces installed which started the whole redo. I still have a huge mess and trying to figure out where and how to store wood. I need to build a whole bunch of cabinets which will help with the organization. I'm building a set of wheels to put the compressor on this morning because where I had to put it I have to roll it out to get to my lawn tools or cut long boards on my miter saw. Have to roll it back to get the motorcycle in the garage. I'd say a 3 car garage is in my future but then I'd just fill that up. I've been looking at buying one of those old farm houses that has a chicken barn. Those things are about 60 yards long and 24 feet wide. It might take a while to fill one of those up. 🙂
 
Searching for ...

... my tiny violin.

I would love to know the pain and agony of a 24 X 24 shop. My shop has a floor space of 13 X 15. In this cavernous space I have a Unisaw with 52" table, 16" Minimax bandsaw, Jet drill press (gray, that was before blue which was before white), compressor, dust collector, radial arm saw, stationary planer, stationary jointer, workbench, and older Delta lathe. In all of the extra space that would only be taken up by air, I have stacks of lumber lumber leaning against the walls. And all the extra floor space (where I am not standing at the moment) is where I have my turning wood that is too good to leave outdoors.

I would love to move my Jet mini lathe in here -- right now the ceiling isn't being used so that is a possibility. I could move my Robust AB up to the attic -- that would work as long as I remember to not stand up straight -- the only snag in that plan is wrestling 750 pounds up the pull-down ladder and getting through the opening that is smaller than the lathe by an order of magnitude. This could put a damper on my outboard and deep hollowing work. Maybe if I put a cupola on the roof for a little more headroom .....
 
This adventure started Friday when I wired a 4th 220 circuit for the dust collector. I had been alternating it and the compressor on the same outlet and just letting the compressor pump up and just use it until I needed to cycle it again. Got really old. Then last night, I was thinking that all my 220 outlets were on one side of the shop or in the center line and I had several items(paint cabinet, drill press and toolbox) on that side, taking up that valuable real estate. So I flipped everything to the other side to get the larger tools to the correct side. Wound up moving everything except the 3520b, PM66 and the mitersaw station, which along with the lumber storage, takes up a full wall. Cleaned out all the little rat nests of hardware and junk that tend to grow over the years. Threw away a bunch of stuff that I've sat on for years. Wish I'd had a yard sale. Probably could've bought a new drill or something. One of my goals was to set it up so that I could go to any machine in the shop and just use it without having to do anything other than turn it on. I almost got there but decided to park the planer and shaper against the wall because I turn more often than do casework nowadays and would rather keep the 2nd lathe in the middle of the floor because I often use both machines. The 2nd lathe, the jointer, planer and shaper are all on wheels, so I can go from turning mode to cabinet mode now in just a couple minutes. If I'd had another 4ft, I'd have been golden and could have just left it all set up. Cut my 8ft., wall mounted bench to 2ft. as well. I'm not a fan of large, flat surfaces, as they tend to collect a lot of junk. I agree with Odie in that you are never finished. Add a couple of pieces of equipment and everything changes. I do wish I had 4-6ft. of surface for some rarely used benchtop machines but otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied. For now..
 
BTW, I did use the Grizzly shop layout tool to get a decent idea before starting and stuck pretty closely to that plan. Machine sizes are slightly different from mine but plenty close enough to get a good idea of what you want. I can also capture the space under my tablesaw at some point but have never gotten around to it.
 
that ever elusive space

Years ago I bought a business with a 52'x90' warehouse, 24' sidewalls. Plenty of space? Yeah, right! I did have enough room when I rented a 15,000SF building, then I didn't have enough business. So it goes.

I have found more space organizing the small things that amount to clutter than the big ones. The big ones are pretty easy to lay out but it is easy to not have a certain place for all the small things to go into. First thing I know all my work space is eaten up with clutter.

Air compressors belong outside the building, the further out the better. A small building to house the air compressor, dust collector, anything else high noise that doesn't need to be in the shop is best. Insulate it to be nice to the machinery and for sound deadening. A big thing with the air compressor is that they create hot air. Water separators are almost worthless until you cool that air. A trip underground is great for that and standard PVC is adequate to handle pressures. Large diameter results in very low pressure drop at typical shop pressures and CFM's. Water separators inside the shop work well once the air is cool and piping the shop is very easy with PVC. Very nice to have dry air and no long air hoses anywhere.

After owning a dozen shops large and small I am down to working on an open air back porch. Hope to move to the front of an old dairy barn soon. I'll have to lay those two small rooms out carefully to fit my stuff in. Fortunately it has been a long time since the cows were in there!

Hu
 
I was landlocked when I built the shop in '92 and really couldn't go bigger but I could have surely gone much better for not that much more money if I'd known then what I do now. If I ever get the opportunity to do it again, I'll put much more effort into the planning than just building a bigger space. Heat, air, flooring, lighting, dust collection, finishing, storage, workflow...... I love my shop and nearly everyone who comes in comments on how nice it is but wow, I'd like to do it again.
 
they say you have to build three houses . . .

Scott Bradley said:
I was landlocked when I built the shop in '92 and really couldn't go bigger but I could have surely gone much better for not that much more money if I'd known then what I do now. If I ever get the opportunity to do it again, I'll put much more effort into the planning than just building a bigger space. Heat, air, flooring, lighting, dust collection, finishing, storage, workflow...... I love my shop and nearly everyone who comes in comments on how nice it is but wow, I'd like to do it again.
Click to expand...


Scott,

There is an old saying around here that you have to build three houses before you know how to build one. The same is true of shops. My last one has inch and an eighth plywood subflooring with tongue and groove around the edges for a floor, extra sills, floor joists twelve inches apart, a ton of piers in the areas heavy equipment was to go, insulation, every other electrical receptacle on a separate circuit and a separate circuit for a computer, cedar siding and shingle roof. It only has a steel walk in door but that is a full four feet wide. Built the shop over height with a sturdily constructed half loft that stored a ton of wood, probably literally! Bit me now that I have to move it, the roof has to come off to be legal height. This was a very very nice small shop to work in. The 220 window unit fitted into a wall is considerably cheaper to operate than 110 and easily kept the shop at seventy degrees or cooler on the hottest south Louisiana days running only occasionally.

Hu
 
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