Shop Planner tool?

[Noo]

Hey all - Are there any good shop planning tools?

I took a brief look at the Grizzly online tool. Its not exactly what I had in mind.

I'm looking for something to tell me how big of a new shop/barn/garage to build.

For example - My jointer is 80" wide. It would need ## amount of room to the right and left plus room in front of the machine to comfortably work. Table saw should have 8 feet in front and behind the blade plus room to maneuver. Planer needs, lets say 8 feet in front and 8 feet behind. You get it.

Add to the complexity, the building I'm building will also need to accommodate a compact tractor, a SXS, a motorcycle, misc lawn and garden, misc tools and some storage. I intend to have wood shop walled off from everything else. No current plans for a 'finishing room'. 

I would love to find a tool that would allow me to just list my primary items and total sq footage would be calculated with working space. 

Does such a design tool exist?

At this point I'm just saying I'll want one garage bay for tractor, one for sxs, half of one for motorcycle and equivalent of two spaces for woodworking. maybe 15*30 for each 'bay' calculation.  That makes it about 2000 sq ft, I figure I can maneuver everything into that space. 

Thanks all - Its been 12 years since I have been on here.

[mound]

Hey all - Are there any good shop planning tools?

I took a brief look at the Grizzly online tool. Its not exactly what I had in mind.

I'm looking for something to tell me how big of a new shop/barn/garage to build.

For example - My jointer is 80" wide. It would need ## amount of room to the right and left plus room in front of the machine to comfortably work. Table saw should have 8 feet in front and behind the blade plus room to maneuver. Planer needs, lets say 8 feet in front and 8 feet behind. You get it.

Add to the complexity, the building I'm building will also need to accommodate a compact tractor, a SXS, a motorcycle, misc lawn and garden, misc tools and some storage. I intend to have wood shop walled off from everything else. No current plans for a 'finishing room'. 

I would love to find a tool that would allow me to just list my primary items and total sq footage would be calculated with working space. 

Does such a design tool exist?

At this point I'm just saying I'll want one garage bay for tractor, one for sxs, half of one for motorcycle and equivalent of two spaces for woodworking. maybe 15*30 for each 'bay' calculation.  That makes it about 2000 sq ft, I figure I can maneuver everything into that space. 

Thanks all - Its been 12 years since I have been on here.

Welcome back!

Sketchup would work quite well and the learning curve for it, for this purpose, would be very fast. 

Or you can do it the old fashioned way -  use graph paper and cut out shapes to scale of each piece of equipment you want to put in the shop, including required infeed/outfeed space, lay it all out on another larger piece of graph paper the way you'd like it placed, and from that derive the size of the shop

[fredhargis]

Does such a design tool exist?

If it does, I haven't seen (or heard of) it. I suspect Mound's ideas, or the Grizzly tool that you aren't fond of are as good as it will get. If we have some architects here there may be some pro level program they can use that does what you want....but my guess is you're looking for something a little less involved.

[Noo]

If it does, I haven't seen (or heard of) it. I suspect Mound's ideas, or the Grizzly tool that you aren't fond of are as good as it will get. If we have some architects here there may be some pro level program they can use that does what you want....but my guess is you're looking for something a little less involved.

One thing I was thinking, after I wrote this. Infeed and outfeed space can be shared across different tools (Of course). Adding up a calculation of sq ft per tool with accounted working area would give me too large a number.

The Grizzly tool doesn't have a motorcycle and I cant find a mitre or radial arm saw in the library. I'll play around. I'm not sooo anal I would plan exactly my layout before building the building. I just need to figure out the total size and where doors and windows may go.

A quick sketch with a 40x50 building shows I can get everything in. I'll need to draw out some workbenches and storage and arrange things a bit more to confirm.  What I'm seeing, with a more squareish building the SXS and the Motorcycle can easily go front to back, behind one roll-up door. Tractor behind a second roll-up. I was thinking for the woodshop section I would do a double swing out door or maybe a sliding barn door instead of a roll-up.

[Gary G™]

Maybe you can figure it out with Visio.
I used it to plan an office relocation for about 20 people and their furniture.

[fredhargis]

Well, you may be overthinking this a little. My shop is 32x50x10, and I have a partition wall that makes the woodshop half 30x32, then the second room is the remainder. The second room holds my compact tractor with many attachments (all on dollys), my lumber racks, a mechanical workbench, and still has room for my vehicles to pull right in for oil changes and such. It would easily hold a SXS and a MC with room to spare. The back room has no windows, just an overhead door (12' by 8'). The wood shop has 2 windows on opposite sides, and a 9x7 OH door. Both rooms have entry doors. I didn't lay it out before building, since I knew everything would change (many times) before I had the tools in the final place. But windows, while i like them, take up valuable wall space....so I minimized the number.

[rwe2156]

Having built 2 shops and remodelled one 3 times, I can tell you from experience all the planning in the world will get you in the ballpark, but you won't really figure it out until the get the machines in there.

What I recommend is figure out where you can put a dust collector, that will dictate somewhat the general area you want your big/hard to collect machines.

[Noo]

Hey, thanks all for the input. I was an inch away from pulling the trigger on some land for a house and shop built then a nice 40AC property with a house and a 40x60 shop came to market. I think I'll be all set!