Real personal choices sir, and it all depends on how you work and what you do. For me, I always want my cabinet saw in the middle with plenty of area on all sides, not against a wall. I try to make all my benches the same height as my table saw table to use as an extra set of hands when needed. I like to flow in one direction so I have my jointer, then planer, then table saw. But you and I likely do not do the same type of woodworking. I would think of your shop as a kitchen. What are you cooking in there and what is the most efficient way to set it up taking the least amount of steps during your day. I have had 4 personal shops in my life and worked in about a half dozen others. Each one I did I made changes from what I learned, and would likely make changes if the day came where I built another. My guess is your journey will be similar. Good luck, have fun, be safe.
Work area design
My old Ryobi table saw stopped working so Ive been checking CL for a replacement. The saw was built in to my workbench so I figured an exact replacement makes things easier. But Ive been doing more cuttting lately and started to see the drawback of a cheapo saw (most of my work for 20+ yrs has been rough... framing, steps, decks, etc) So, I went down the rabbit hole of looking at higher hp, belt drive, good fences, etc. And decided if I needed to reconfigure my workspace a bit, that is ok.
Well, I ended up picking up an older craftsman. 3hp (I know its not a legit 3hp) with a biesemeyer fence. Runs great, everything aligned, fence is precision. But... its a monster! I knew it was bigger and Id need to reconfigure my garage but I think I misjudged. Its 7 feet long, which means about 3' left of the fence and about 4' to the right of it. The truth is, I will likely never (and have never) needed to make repetetive cuts on pieces that large. If I need to rip a sheet of plywood, the skill saw would be fine. So really 3' of fence is really all I need.
So, a few options:
#1 is just selling this right away and look for another saw, they are out there. Even if no biesemeyer fence, there are t-square fences being sold as well with saws and any would be upgrade to my old Ryobi. Dont love this option as now Im just spinning my wheels, posting on CL, buying ,selling etc. I have the saw in the garage, lets see if I can make it work.
#2 is cutting the angle bracket and square tubing to shorten the fence, and drop one of the saw's extensions. Dont love this idea either for obvious reasons.
#3 reconfig the garage. This is probably the right move, and where a little input from some more experienced people. The key point here, though, is that Im a hobbyist. So my needs are a little different than those of someone who is in the business. Still, straight easy safe cuts and convenient access to tools is important.
Anyway, below are 4 images of my layout. One is the current layout and the other three are what i think are the best options. Each square represents 6 inches. The gray sections outside the floorplan are a door (the grey one with black outline) and windows (just grey--looks like I forgot to add it near the lathe on two of the pics)
Benches and tools are labeled. FS=file cabinet, DP=drill press, BS=bandsaw.
Table A is the one the Ryobi was built into. Its my main work area. If I need to paint, scrape, hammer, disassemble, assemble, whatever... its where I go.
Table B is just a long thin bench attached to the wall, storage underneath. Had a radial arm at the right side but I just got rid of it.
Table C is big heavy work table, also lots of storage.
Note the saw is already on wheels so if I put it up against a wall, I can easily roll it back a couple feet if I need more outfeed. But it already has about 2' due to the motor in the back.
Option #1: Saw goes where Table A is. And Table A gets wheels so I can move it around and get to the saw as needed. In order to do this, I would need to cut away a bit of Table B--not a big deal.
Option #2: Saw goes where the band saw and drill press are, and they get moved to the left side in front of the lathe. My concern here is that even though its not blocking the door or window, seems tight. When I thought about a just getting a different saw or making this one smaller, this would be a perfect spot. All three could stay on the right wall.
Option #3: Saw goes longways where Table A is. Table A gets rebuilt to be long and thin, to share the space
So, overall, Im thinking one of the above three layouts. Or... making the saw smaller... or reselling and going smaller.
Thoughts?
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Well, I ended up picking up an older craftsman. 3hp (I know its not a legit 3hp) with a biesemeyer fence. Runs great, everything aligned, fence is precision. But... its a monster! I knew it was bigger and Id need to reconfigure my garage but I think I misjudged. Its 7 feet long, which means about 3' left of the fence and about 4' to the right of it. The truth is, I will likely never (and have never) needed to make repetetive cuts on pieces that large. If I need to rip a sheet of plywood, the skill saw would be fine. So really 3' of fence is really all I need.
So, a few options:
#1 is just selling this right away and look for another saw, they are out there. Even if no biesemeyer fence, there are t-square fences being sold as well with saws and any would be upgrade to my old Ryobi. Dont love this option as now Im just spinning my wheels, posting on CL, buying ,selling etc. I have the saw in the garage, lets see if I can make it work.
#2 is cutting the angle bracket and square tubing to shorten the fence, and drop one of the saw's extensions. Dont love this idea either for obvious reasons.
#3 reconfig the garage. This is probably the right move, and where a little input from some more experienced people. The key point here, though, is that Im a hobbyist. So my needs are a little different than those of someone who is in the business. Still, straight easy safe cuts and convenient access to tools is important.
Anyway, below are 4 images of my layout. One is the current layout and the other three are what i think are the best options. Each square represents 6 inches. The gray sections outside the floorplan are a door (the grey one with black outline) and windows (just grey--looks like I forgot to add it near the lathe on two of the pics)
Benches and tools are labeled. FS=file cabinet, DP=drill press, BS=bandsaw.
Table A is the one the Ryobi was built into. Its my main work area. If I need to paint, scrape, hammer, disassemble, assemble, whatever... its where I go.
Table B is just a long thin bench attached to the wall, storage underneath. Had a radial arm at the right side but I just got rid of it.
Table C is big heavy work table, also lots of storage.
Note the saw is already on wheels so if I put it up against a wall, I can easily roll it back a couple feet if I need more outfeed. But it already has about 2' due to the motor in the back.
Option #1: Saw goes where Table A is. And Table A gets wheels so I can move it around and get to the saw as needed. In order to do this, I would need to cut away a bit of Table B--not a big deal.
Option #2: Saw goes where the band saw and drill press are, and they get moved to the left side in front of the lathe. My concern here is that even though its not blocking the door or window, seems tight. When I thought about a just getting a different saw or making this one smaller, this would be a perfect spot. All three could stay on the right wall.
Option #3: Saw goes longways where Table A is. Table A gets rebuilt to be long and thin, to share the space
So, overall, Im thinking one of the above three layouts. Or... making the saw smaller... or reselling and going smaller.
Thoughts?
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