Shop Layout Questions

[David Stone]

Back in September my wife and I sold our weekend house. I couldn't sell my shop for a price that made it worthwhile, so I gave most of my tools to a good friend on extended loan.  He's done some small woodworking and wants to do more.  He has a huge, four-bay heated garage.  He's got an unfinished apartment above the garage -- I can already picture trying to convince my wife that we should spend our vacations here.





I can't get over how much space there is.  He's going to dedicate half the garage to the shop -- out to about where we're standing in the photo above.  It's about 27' x 27'.  

The primary question is where to install the 220 30 amp outlet(s) for the TS, BS and Jointer, and the 20 amp outlet for the DC.

Here is my rough plan for laying out the large tools:



Any suggestions on layout would be greatly appreciated.  The floor is beautiful, flat concrete, so the BS, jointer, planer, etc., will be mobile.  

We'll put a bunch of 15 amp outlets along the back wall by the miter station.

I thought about dropping one or two 30 amp outlets over the TS and the jointer/planer area.   Would we be better off running a cable along the floor (with some protective cover) and putting a box on the floor near the tools?  

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

A recent Wood magazine (October, maybe?) put the spotlight on a ww'er with a 24x24 shop. I'm laying mine out very similarly to his, but I'm not putting a toilet in mine, and I have a *few* different tools, so my layout is not a perfect reflection of his. I'd check it out if I were you.

[fredhargis]

I don't know how much room there is on the saw side of the planer and jointer, but you might want to rotate them 90º to allow room for long boards. Otherwise I like what you have. I'd put the outlets for those tools in the ceiling, run the cords along the DC dusting.

[cvillewood]

My table saw has a big outfeed table and extension table to the right. Guessing your saw would too? Personally I like a jointer against the wall if possible, with lumber racks above it to maximize space. Planer can be pulled from the wall when needed or left in a stationary spot.

[Mike in kc]

You might consider incorporating your TS into your work/assembly table similar to the solution my good friend, and wood working mentor Jim Sherer had, many years ago.    I learned a tremendous amount, and helped him build a considerable number of projects large and small on that table.



The far saw is a 10" unisaw, and the one on the near side is a 14" version.   Plenty of table space for whatever may come along. 

Had it been my table, I would have made provisions for the top to extend past the sides six inches or so where possible, to allow clamping pieces to the table, and incorporated a traditional vise with bench dogs, by the far saw, to allow traditional hand tool use. That, I think would have given him the best of both new and old world wood working.

[David Stone]

Thanks everyone.  Very helpful.

[Stwood_]

Since the concrete is already there, I would go with ceiling drops for the machinery thats in the open. No way would I lay cables on the floor. Trip trip trip...in the way in the way in the way.....

[ajkoontz]

Here's my layout in a 2 car garage. I had to put the jointer to the left of the TS due to space. Sometimes I have to move it out of the way to make some cuts on the TS, but generally I like the layout. If I had the space, I'd put the jointer against a wall vs what I'm doing. My layout works pretty well to maximize the efficiency of the dust collection. That's probably the biggest thing my layout has going for it.

Hands down I would put the power in the ceiling. That's one thing I did and am very happy that's what I decided to do.