If you had the chance-ideas for a "dream shop"

[Standarded]

Good morning-After many years of struggle, I finally have the job I've been hunting for, and as a result I have the opportunity over the next few years to put together the shop I've wanted for a long time.

What I'm going to be doing is first, retrofitting a 16 x 16 building I have on the property, and part two will be adding a new building adjacent to that-somewhere around 1600 to 2400 sq. ft minimum. I will have at least one mill, one or two lathes, drill press, other machining and metal fabrication equipment, storage areas, two or three dedicated rooms for isolating projects such as gunsmithing and engine building, and an area where I could park a car or unload things out of the weather.

So-what would YOU like in a shop? I'm looking for any ideas that I might adopt. I have some specifics that I will be sharing, and I would like your feedback. Thanks, everyone

 

[Standarded]

In addition, I would like some feedback about shop layout, construction, any "unique" features, so forth. I will also add that single phase electricity is all that is available, so I will have to look at the issue of using 3-phase equipment I have. Thanks again.

 

[Tom Griffin]

Keep the dirty stuff separate from the clean stuff, preferably in another room altogether. In other words, anything that makes dust, like woodworking, grinding, sawing, welding, etc., should be separate from the precision machinery. I occasionally do woodworking in the same room as my mill and lathe and the dust combined with the oil on the machines makes a heck of a mess. A dust collection system would help, but keeping it separate would be best.

Tom

 

[chief]

I now have my dream shops the big one 26 X 50 is my welding shop and the small storage shed 12 X 16 is small machine shop with heat & air.

 

[Charley Davidson]

My dream shop is one that I own and no A-hole for a neighbor. If you knew the situation I'm in with my shop you would understand.

 

[chief]

Hi Charles Davidson: Please give us more Info. on what your talking about, And pictures would be Great, We try to keep this very civil on here.
The Chief.

 

[Charley Davidson]

Hi Charles Davidson: Please give us more Info. on what your talking about, And pictures would be Great, We try to keep this very civil on here.
The Chief.

There's no Charles just Charley please, Thanks. Not trying to be uncivil, I have a shop I've rented for almost 2 years doing metal fabrication and welding. The other tenant on the property is a mean old man that tries to rule the world, has harassed, threatened & even tried running me over. I've complained to the landlord, cops, city & even had him arrested to no avail so I have given up the fight and moving out. That's just the short of it, it is a bigger problem than I've painted. Sorry for the negativity. But there's always a silver lining somewhere and I'm looking for it.

I'll post pics of my current shop later as they are on another device not with me.

Some really nice shops posted here by the way.

 

[chief]

Well
Charley I’m very sorry to hear about all your problems with your Neighbors,
But this is not the place to address this subject,
We are here to help you with anything about Lathes, Milling Machines, Grinders,
Drill Press’s and things like that,
And I know some Guy’s think I need some Help with my Spelling,
But This is not the place for that either. Ha. Ha.
And I’m sure if I’m to for out of Line on this Allthumbz will Let me know I Hope.
The Chief

 

[ScrapMetal]

Charley, I feel your pain. I had a tenant in strip dual-use building that I manage that pretty much fits that description. He was creating a lot of "friction" with my other tenants but I had to wait for his lease to be up before there was anything I could do about it. Didn't renew his lease and he's now gone. Remaining tenants are much happier.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled program...

Standarded, I'm curious as to why you are limited to single phase. If that is the case I've seen a lot of talk on here about VFD's to run dual phase motors on single phase current and from what I've seen they don't seem to be that terribly expensive.

Good luck with your shop,

-Ron

 

[DMS]

Grizzly has a pretty nifty flash based design tool that lets you play with layouts. I found it very helpful when laying out my shop.

http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx

As far as my ideal... Paddy needs to get out of my head, cause he said exactly what I was thinking....except he can keep the bar feeder, I think I could get along without it. In general though, I would suggest

* Some sort of Lathe
* Some sort of mill
* Some sort of saw for cutting stock
* Some sort of welder for joining metal/fabrication
* A grinder or two for metal removal, tool sharpening.
* Maybe a drill press
* A decent vice
* A press (arbor or hydraulic)
* A workbench
* Tool/material storage
* Clamps/Cutting tools/consumables for your new toys.