Shop layout advice

[Hy Tran]

So, I have space which is essentially a 1-car garage (without the car About 10-ft wide by 20-ft long (there are a few odd shapes where the stair goes up to storage space, that I cannot use for shop storage). I'm attaching (I hope) a quadrille-grid.

This will be my shop space.

Where should I put the lathe? Should it be near the center of the room, so I can access all the way around it? Or should it be near a wall? I'm leaning center-of-the-room, using battleship E2/E3/E4. I have 220V outlets at E2 and at A6, but I'm thinking of putting in the dust collector at A6. The heater will be along the A3/A4 area (garage is insulated, but not centrally heated. Winters can drop to -30 F at night outside). Lighting will not be an issue (there's plenty of artificial lighting). I'm a bit constrained in that C1 thru C6 is the passageway from real garage (where the cars are) to house entry; my spouse will not want to dodge equipment while carrying groceries.

The grinder will be behind me, wherever I choose to put the lathe. Other equipment will include a bench, a bandsaw, and shelving.

Thanks!

Hy

 

[Joe Greiner]

Put everything on wheels.

 

[hockenbery]

I like my lathe with bed at a slight angle off parallel with a wall and a shop broom width from the wall.
Shavings can pile up there.
A couple of shower curtains will keep the shavings around the lathe.
Also consider how often you will turn with the doors open.

This puts the grinder out in the center. Easy to move if you need that space.

Enjoy
Al

 

[Owen Lowe]

What size lathe are we talking about here?

Without actually seeing the space, I’d investigate putting a lathe at G5-J5. Only on extremely rare occasions do I actually desire turning from the backside. Angling out from the wall is a good suggestion. The wall helps contain the flying shavings - which is why I’d steer clear of being near your real garage to house walkway.

Are you planning on securing the lathe to the floor? Try it where you think it should work and move it if it doesn’t.

 

[Hy Tran]

Robust AB, approx. 2 ft wide by 5 ft long.

Wheels: for once-in-a-while rearrangement, yes. I don't expect to push around 800 lb of equipment (even on wheels) frequently.

I may be spending several weekends turning, and saying "I wish this were here," but I'd like to start out somewhere close to a good solution. I have the feeling that once I plunk the lathe down, that will dictate the grinder (which is relatively easy to move if I need the occassional open space). Wood storage will go wherever there is leftover space

I did think about the G5-J5 space, along with E3-G3 area. The doors at L2-L4 and at C7 open to the outside (C7 opens to a covered walkway, L2-L4 to the outdoors). Summertime, daytime highs are in the high 70's, and might hit high 80's with a heat wave. Winter daytime highs are expected to be in the 20's, so I don't expect to do much turning with doors open in the winter The area outside C7 may become the firewood staging area.

Shower curtain is a great idea, thanks! That would also provide a neutral background to have an attempt at judging shape.

 

[Dean Center]

I did something similar last winter and the most important thing I learned is that you really don't know where everything needs to go until you live with it for a little while. Personally, I need to see out, so I put a window in one wall and positioned the lathe so I could see through it. I also like having a wall on the far side of the lathe for reasons already mentioned, but also as a place to put tool holders for whatever you want to have right at hand. (No, you don't want to reach across a spinning chunk of wood to grab something, but positioning the stuff you need to the left or right of the stripe you'll make with green wood is not difficult.)

In your situation, I'd put the shop in the section E-->L, and shelves and such at A-B, so your wife doesn't have anything scary looking or dust generating adjacent to where she'll be walking. If you string shower curtains across at E, you'll keep even more of the mess out of your wife's way.

How to position the lathe also depends on how you prefer to work and what you produce. If you do a lot of hollowing off the end, you'll like a different position than if you're mostly a spindle turner. Having a short, straight run for the dust collection is also a positive design feature.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

As was mentioned you will change things eventually no matter how heavy it is. Grizzley has a shop planner on thier website which might help us to visualize and you to create. Plan for some dust control other than curtains for sanding dust. Grinder behind you sounds good , or could also be at the end of the lathe.

 

[Peter D'Attomo]

Lathe position

My lathe is centered in my garage, so I hung drop down outlets rather than wall mount which keeps things cleaner and out of the way.

 

[robo hippy]

I have a dedicated lathe room in my shop. Shop is 24 by 36, and it is in an 8 by 12 foot room. Headstock is up against one corner, and it runs parallel to the wall. Enough room for a grinder bench and storage right behind me when I turn. You only need room to tilt away the tailstock, and room so you can slide the headstock all the way back without it hitting the wall. The tailstock end is pretty close to the door, so if I am doing a hollow form, I can swing the handle out the door to get around the shoulder and neck of the form.

robo hippy