Thread: building a workshop and need help

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I am planning on building a workshop to complete my projects (current project is a 51 Chevy pickup). It will be detached from the house and will be 40' X 30'.
Can anyone give me some suggestions as to how to organize it, Workbenches, tools, shelves etc.?

The first thing you will find is that you will have outgrown it the minute you move in. This is true if it is 1000 sq ft or 10,000.

You are going to get a lot of personal opinions on this one, so here are mine. You have to first determine what you are going to be doing in that shop. Light mechanical work, metal fabrication, painting, etc. Once you decide that you will have a better handle on what to put where.

When I had my own seperate hobby shop (Hurricane Charlie took it down, so my Sons and I now moved into a larger shop, 2700 sq ft, and we share it, so I can't lay it out the way I would if I were the only one in there) I laid out my shop so that I did my dirty fabricating/grinding work in one section and my cleaner work in another. So my grinders, welder, drill press, etc were in one portion, and my engine stands, hand tools, etc were in another.

If you have a large air compressor, consider moving it outside in it's own little shed. It will free up space and be much quieter when you are using air tools.
Plumb the shop with lots and lots of 120 and 240 volt outlets, and put a lot of flouresant lights overhead, especially at the work stations. Put air outlets all around the shop too.

I don't like workbenches. I tend to put stuff on top of them, then I put more stuff on top of them, then I put even more stuff on top of them. Eventually the bench is full of stuff and you can't work on it. Plus they take up 6 or 8 feet of valuable real estate that could be used for something else. My Son built a small welding table out of steel, about the size of a large bbq grille, and it has wheels on it. I find this to be ideal for working on something. He is a little ticked that I am always using it when he wants to use it, so he told me last week he is building me one of my own. I hope so, it really is nice to work off of. I clamp stuff to it to grind and weld, and clean up is really easy.

I like pedestals for stuff like grinders, vices, chopsaws, etc. They are free standing when you bolt them to the floor with lag bolts, and are easy to clean up under.

I also like lots of pegboard and racks on the wall. Hoses, extension cords, and everything else is real handy when hanging in plain sight. I have a couple of rollaway tool chests, but don't like them for tools I use a lot. I prefer them hanging on peg board hooks or on a rollaway tray cart.

Sit down with a piece of paper and draw out your shop and what needs to go into it, and obviously try to get everything to go around the perimeter in a systematic fashion.

Now with all that being said, our own shop is a disaster. Ever heard the expression 10 pounds of something in a 5 pound bag? That is our shop. Too many projects that are 1/2 way done, and we keep bringing more home.

Those are just some of my personal opinions. It will be interesting and informative to see what others like in their own shops. The picture below of our shop shows what I mean about hanging hoses, clamps, etc on the walls.




Don

Put everything you can on casters... Every piece of equipment I own is on casters. Doing this makes for a very mobile, easy to clean and adaptable workshop. I have one bench that is stationary and I use that very little. My tool post for the tubing bender bolts to the floor but that is hard to get around to keep it solid.
Lots of light is very important as Don said.
I have gotten away from shelves and pegboard as much as possible though. They collect to much dust and dirt and I replaced most of that stuff during my shop makeover with some plastic wall cabinets from Home Depot and a few yard sale cabinets and drawer units. Watch the yard sales for this kind of stuff. I bought my kitchen wall cabinets for 2 bucks apiece...
Mark

My detached garage is 32' by 30' and I made it a drive thru and built with no floor beams. It's also plumbed for a bathroom. Wife gets upset dragging grease throughout the house.

My shop is 30x48. Half of it is set up for woodworking, and the other half for auto. The sawdust and grinding debris doesn't seem to know that, though.

I have a long workbench, and sure enough, it's covered with junk. I have to move stuff around to create space.

Here are a list of things I'd recommend, assuming your money tree produced a good crop:

1. Rolling tool cabinet.
2. Rolling worktable.
3. Oganizing bins for nuts, bolts, springs, fitting, etc.
4. A closable cabinet for all your paints and flammable liquids.
5. A nice radio blasting some good rock and roll.

As far as tools, the more, the better

Hey Led - Everyone's ideas are right on! Especially the roll-around work tables - I made 3 of them and use one solely for a welding table with my 220 ac/dc welder and all accs on the bottom shelf. The top I made of 3/4 in. ply and wrapped it with 16 guage sheetmetal. Really not that hard to do if you can weld, or ask a friend to weld it-up for you. My shop is 1512 sq ft. with 12 foot ceilings in one half of it. I installed a 2-post lift and believe me, it is the greatest thing I have ever done for myself. Keep this in mind when you are designing - they are fairly reasonable and can run on 110/220 volts. Hope this helps, can send you photos if you like. Good luck, and if you can manage it don't skimp on something that you will be sorry for later.

Also keep in mind some of your wife and kids things, like honey lets put the xmas decorations in the shop or dad can we put our bikes in the shop or dad can we make a play house in one corner of the shop. I have an old 30x30 and am going to tare it down and build a 30 x 70 with a 12' lean to across the back for lawn mowers and bikes and extra motors/trans/parts. The 30x30 portion will be two stories and the wife and kids can have the upstairs area as long as they don't mess with all my small parts that will be up there like carbs/distributer ect.
The other 40x30 will have 12' ceiling as mentioned above with a two post lift.

The first thing to place is the beer box. Build your shop around that. Don't forget the 42" Plazma with suround sound. The next thing to get is a dead bolt lock so that the wife and kids can't stick junk in your shop.

For the serious side when you build it put plug ins every 4' you can never have enough outlets. Plan where you want your 220V at (welder, compressor and or a lift. If you are building a new shop think about a floor drain so that when you clean the floors or wash your ride it is not a mess. Put enough light to do surgery (no such thing as to many lights) If you are like me I spend way to much time in my shop so an overhead fan keeps a nice breeze unless your painting.

Before you decide on a layout think about running hard lines with drip legs for the compressor.

Did I mentiom a BEER BOX?

A mans shop is his castle