What size "Tuff Shed" for my new shop? [Pictures] - created 05-05-2007
Rychener, Scott - 05/05/2007.18:07:38
Lots of wood shavings, but few guitars.
With any luck this year, My Wife and I are planning a room addition to our house. She requests that I get rid of my funky 8' X 17' shop and to substantially reduce my occupancy in our 16' X 24' work room, moving to some form of out building. I started looking at prefab garage and storage buildings. I want something like a Tuff Shed as opposed to a metal building because of the noise of power tools is not friendly to the neighborhood echoing from a tin can. Their tall ranch storage and ranch style garage both have low gable roofs in sizes up to 12' X 32" with a wood floor and up to 24' X 32' on a concrete slab respectively. 24X32 would be a real squeeze in our back yard, factoring in the room addition and the garage style is much pricey.
The goal is to have a luthiery shop that one person could build a few standard types of solid body guitars on a miniature assembly line basis. I wouldn't rule out other types, but as a start I want to focus my efforts. I have another area to keep my machine tools and welding fabricating stuff, so I am concerned with woodworking here.
Given the opportunity, what size shop do you think would be the smallest that would work, following these parameters? How would you set it up? What machines would you feel is a "gotta have". Now this isn't a no cost spared kind of deal, this one that a working man could convince his wife of. So guys and gals, care to do any consulting on this one? What's your arguments pro and con? Thanks for participating in a blank sheet of paper "What if".
Biggest you can comfortably fit into that space. Neither you nor your wife will be sorry you have that inside storage/workspace later.
We added a large addition for my parents last year. What I got out of it was a 16x30 (minus wall thickness) shop underneath. I thought 16x30 would be huge after moving my stuff from the end of the garage and the small room in the existing basement. I probably could have filled twice the space. (And I could have fit into half). Having room to walk around and room for more than one workbench is very nice. We completely isolated the airspace in the shop from the rest of the house--it is heated with baseboard electric and cooled with a window air conditioner so that no dust or fumes from the shop get into the house. The interior door to the shop is an exterior door with gaskets. A two-story addition ought to be the cheapest way for you to get the space. For gotta-have big tools: I love my bandsaw(s) and my thickness sander. I have a floor drill press that is indispensable. My router table is a board that I lay on sawhorses when I need it. I also have a table saw but it is not essential.
Scott, Are you going into guitar making full time at some point in the future? Remember that once you start building guitars you will be entering into a negative cash flow situation until you quit. Don't spend money you don't have now because you probably won't make it back. If you mean to build acoustic guitars it's quite possible to do that in a very small space, especially if you can get someone else to size your lumber etc. 2 rooms on 2 floors might make more sense if you are serious about keeping sawdust off your lacquer -do your spraying and assembly upstairs.
I like Bob Gramann's tool list. If you were going to make electrics exclusively then I think a 2' x 4' CNC router might make the most sense since you can do your thicknessing and truing on that as well as all the carving and routing and get by with just a largish bandsaw for resawing. Obviously if you can get a Fadal 4020, that would be better
Deb can you give me an idea in square feet? Is my idea too small at the gate?
Bob, I agree a much larger band saw is in order. The rest of your list I have on hand so that shows promise.
David, Not really a full time thing. My (possibly half baked) idea is to have the shop and process set up so as I have time, I can flip on the lights and start in with what ever work is at each station. Spend the time I can, do a quick clean-up and flip off the lights until the next session. My set-up now is total clutter with projects getting moved around too much. My wifes argument is "How many guitars do you want to own?" so that would imply sales on a limited basis.
Part of my problem is storing the great tooling and jig ideas I get here. Some can be stored as wall hangings, others not. When I think work stations, one for neck finishing, one for routing neck pockets and cavities, final assembly, that sort of thing.
I have not ruled out basement, but if the shop has a tragedy so does the house. The wood floor out building could go with the family on a move. Not easy but do-able. The 12X32 has appeal if I did the interior as three rooms. 12X12 on one end with a large exterior door to do cutting and sanding, 12X16 in the middle with an exterior 36" door. Use this room for cleaner operations and the remaining end room as a finish room with a kiosk type spray booth vented out the back. Maybe I'm kidding myself on how small a space would work.
Space or no space, I doubt I will give it all up. It would be nice to use some mortgage funding to step up to a grander scale, making it a one time only decision. More cool ideas please, would anyone want to share a shop picture or two? I'll stop here so I can listen.
Deb can you give me an idea in square feet?
Not really. I'll just repeat to build the biggest you can afford that will fit in that space. I can tell you right off the bat that a 12' wide shop will be uncomfortably narrow.
Scott - my shop is 25x25 which is pretty big but I find it very cramped at times. I have 1 corner partitioned off for bikes that is 5x8 and the rest is shop. I have drawn up some plans over the years to lay things out a bit better and in order to get my "dream shop" I would have to add about 8 feet to it. So your 24x32 is probably a good idea. And who cares if its a tight fit in your yard... less grass to cut.
My garage had a 13' ceiling so I had cabinets and pegboard all the way up for storage. The high ceiling for storage is the one thing I miss in my new basement shop.
>I can tell you right off the bat that a 12' wide shop will be uncomfortably narrow.
Gawd don't I know it... My shop is a 12x25 1 car garage... It's way too small... I've tried every which way to optimize it.
Here's a shot from each end of my shop. I've only been in it since September so I'm still adjusting things as I come up with better ideas. I don't think you can have enough wall space. That said, I don't think you can have enough floor space. All of the big tools are on rollers so I can move them out to use them.
One thing that nobody's said anything about is windows, for natural light. Windows don't have to open, even; that sunlight is real handy for getting a finish right.
My first good shop was 12 X 32. It ca work, if you don't use it to also store your materials. I kept my woods and parts in the house, which was also humidity controlled, and only took-in what i was working on at the time. I had a bench/counter running the full length, including an "L" shaped section at one end, and the large power tools on the opposite wall. Worked well and was quite efficient. drawbacks were the dust, even wit a large dust collector, and no finishing area.
My shop is in my 2 1/2 car garage, and I'm not quite done setting it up. My washer and dryer are in there, too, and all the sawdust was sorta drawn to them so I built a wall to enclose them into a laundry room. I have a stall in one corner for the CNC machine that I will put in some sound proofing so I can run it at night without bothering the neighbors. The computer is on a roll around cart. I use a portable work bench where I can set up the disc sander, jointer, miter saw, scroll saw, and a little table saw. The big stuff - the band saw and drum sander, are on wheels so I can park them out of the way or roll them out for use. The drill press isn't on wheels yet, but might be eventually. I just use a shop vac for dust collection, but someday I'll get a real collector system.
I would also put in a vote for a wood floor.
Natural lighting is wonderful. I have skylights that I covered with diffusers from fluorescent light fixtures to get rid of harsh shadows. Most days the only additional lighting I need is a task lamp with a 26 watt compact fluorescent. I do have to occasionally cover up one of the skylights with a black cloth if I need strong side lighting (when I'm carving or sanding arched tops and backs).
The other thing I like about my current shop is that the ceiling is 12 feet high on one side. It makes it that much easier to flip long lumber without bumping it into things.
My floor plan is 12 by 24, and it's plenty big for mandolins and occasional small furniture. It was a nice improvement from the basement in our old rental house.
Depending upon the project, one person working doesn't require a very large space. Working one guitars is actually very space efficient. I work full time building and restoring canoes in a 24'X24' converted garage. Tools, material, 4 moulds, and sometimes three canoes at a time. I've got a fabric building "wharehouse annex" now that is helping big time.
Storage is the single biggest issue. Storage for: tools, jigs, parts, materials, work in progress. A creative mind can address storage issues, and there are LOTS of good workshop books available these days.
Spend some time on thinking about how to make your workspace flexible. Modular cabinetry, mobile tooling and benches, etc.
I'd list criteria for a "dream shop" as: adequate space, excellent storage so I can remember where I stored stuff!, adaptability of work stations, good floor, lighting (natural and artificial) ventilation, dust control, climate control.
If I had to put build a space in a residential neighbourhood, I'd have it look like a garage, but I'd have a deck on the roof to replace the lost yard, and I'd have patio doors which open to the yard, onto, perhaps, a covered patio. That way the space can occasionally be used for other purposes, doesn't interfere with family functions as much, and retains desirability in the resale market.
As far as size goes, I would be reluctant to build less than 16' X 24', you can work in it, but you reduce its versatility for the amount of cost required. 24' X 24' is pretty good, but 24' X 30' is so much nicer.
Overhead cabinets... base cabinets underneath work surfaces. Try to keep "everything" off the floor except for the power tool bases. Being able to sweep a broom under and around things easily makes it easy to keep the sawdust and wood chips in order. Having doors on your storage is a big plus... Saw dust doesn't get all over everything and when everything is out of sight...it's just much easier to look and remain organized. I'm probably going to be selling my house and moving to a new one in the next 6 - 8 months so, I'm not going to be doing anything too permanant in the garage... so I'll continue to be fighting storage and workspace.
I'll be converting a double garage into my new shop at the new house I've just bought. It's 22' x 24' with a small recess on one side of the end. That might just be a good place for a small paint booth. But I've got a couple of other things that will be incorporated into this one. The concrete floor is just what's needed for tool stability - especially the larger ones. For you guys with wood floors or plans for them, I would encourage reinforcement of the floor under your drill press, or other large items. When I had my 16 x 20 Home Depot building put on my current property, I used twice the number of piers to put the joists on just for that purpose. My father was a gunsmith and when he installed a new lathe in his shop, he removed the floor and poured a concrete column into the ground and level with the shop floor. When he mounted the 1000 lb.+ lathe with foundation bolts, it didn't move for anyone. My tool areas will remain bare but painted and all of the walking and standing areas will have shock flooring. I use it now in my wood floor shop and it's the best thing in the world. The garage doesn't have much natural light so I'm doing 2 things. First, I'm building "storefront" style panel that will hold a pair of windows and a door that will look like the house. This will be installed just behind the rollup door and I can leave it open for traffic. It's not a retail thing, just an inviting entrance when I have a client over. The second thing I'm planning is to use at least 2 of those tubular sky lights at calculated locations to get some color correct light in there. They are also the easiest to install in a pitched, shingled roof of the style I have. I've seen them in person and I really like the illumination they make.