What's the best shop idea ?

[zmotorsports]

Mike, I'm in Riverdale by day, Layton by night. Let me know if you need a hand when you're ready to move in to that beautiful new shop. I'll PM you my info.

Jon, thank you so much. I am flattered by the offer. I will keep that in mind and keep your contact information handy. I hope I have my ducks in a row for moving the equipment but I will definitely keep your offer in mind, although I hate asking people for help.

When we purchased our new home, it took me and my son three weeks to move the shop into the third bay on the new house. Once the shop is completed I will only have to move it about 50 feet but will more than likely take a lot more than 3 weeks. We moved the house contents in 3 days.

Either way we may have to meet up once the dust settles as it is nice to put a face with a name.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

That's the best idea , BIG BIGGER BIGGEST . The better your shop will be depends on the size. I never heard anyone complain there shops so big they cant work in it. The more room the better the storage and working area. Keith Rucker on YouTube built a excellent shop building , separating the wood and metal shops. It's the best shop layout I've seen for the hobby or working man.

Agreed. A shop can never be too big. The wallet can definitely be too small though.

Mike.

 

[starr256]

Keep the junk out. Tripping over stuff in a small shop is bad enough, but when it's stuff that is not associated with the equipment is just plain frustrating. That includes unused tools. Do I really need 15 #2 philips screwdrivers, 13 of which are worthless? Or that old grinder with the burned out motor? Need to be ruthless in a small shop.

 

[Boswell]

Need to be ruthless in a small shop

I agree with starr256. get used to moving stuff out. An inventory of old and broken is a luxury of a large shop.

 

[Splat]

What's the best idea you did to improve your shop, or idea you've seen.
A piece of equipment, shop layout, new lights, or anything else ?

Never let the wife in.

 

[dlane]

Build a bigger shop, separate shed for the someday projects

 

[hman]

Right now I'm faced with an odd space problem. Huge shop space, almost none of it usable.

Had a shop in Oregon in what amounted to a 3 car garage (2 car spaces plus "shop space), crammed with some nice tools and a 32 year collection of "stuff" (it ain't junk - it's all useful stuff - I just don't know what it's useful for right now). Plus a work/hobby room in the house. Also had ½ of a 2 car garage and an interior "project" room as a shop space in Tempe. My wife and I recently moved to Chandler. Now all the stuff from both shops is in the new shop space - 32x48ft. Wall to wall boxes, with narrow aisles so I can get to things. And as a result of stuff being packed by others, multiple moves, etc., it's totally disorganized.


Somewhere in there are 2 lathes, 2 mills, 2 4x6 metal bandsaws, 2 wood bandsaws, 2 table saws, about 4 grinders, 2 air compressors, welder, etc. etc. etc.

So back to the original topic ... shop ideas. My own "bright" idea, worked out over the past few weeks, is that it's more important where something LANDS than where it comes from. There's no sense starting to empty a box of stuff unless you have someplace to put the contents!

So, other than unpacking and building shelves and other stuff for the house, my major activity in the shop has been designing and working on a number of storage organizers. I'll be posting the first in "POTD" very shortly.

 

[British Steel]

As a couple of weekends' work and a major improvement I finally got around to some wiring, we were dodging (or more often tripping up on) a web of extension cables all fed from a double socket on a 32A ring shared with the kitchen, now a separate consumer unit teed in after the meter supplies our own 32A ring with twelve well-located double 13A sockets (trusting to diversity, there's not often more than 2 of us and neither of us is going to draw more than 4 kw...), three 32A sockets for lathe, welder, phase converter* etc., plus a couple of 16A for "light duty" and outdoor feed. Other than the ring's sockets (with their common 32A breaker), every outlet's fed from its own breaker in the RCD-protected consumer unit and has a lockable-off isolator within 8" of the outlet socket in the interests of Pixie Protection.

My kids are looking forward to no more interruptions to online games etc. when Something Goes Wrong as the house and shop supplies are now on separate RCDs and breakers! The lighting still comes from the house supply and there's a battery-backed fluorescent that gives some light over lathe, mill and the consumer units for emergencies

I Knew It Was Worth It when I plugged in a charger for my bike battery without having to climb over piles of tools or find the end of an extension lead, or unplug something else I was about to use...

Dave H. (the other one)

*which has a pair of 3-phase sockets on it for the mill / welder / whatever to plug into - no additional 3-phase wiring to run around the shop!

 

[woodchucker]

Right now I'm faced with an odd space problem. Huge shop space, almost none of it usable.

Had a shop in Oregon in what amounted to a 3 car garage (2 car spaces plus "shop space), crammed with some nice tools and a 32 year collection of "stuff" (it ain't junk - it's all useful stuff - I just don't know what it's useful for right now). Plus a work/hobby room in the house. Also had ½ of a 2 car garage and an interior "project" room as a shop space in Tempe. My wife and I recently moved to Chandler. Now all the stuff from both shops is in the new shop space - 32x48ft. Wall to wall boxes, with narrow aisles so I can get to things. And as a result of stuff being packed by others, multiple moves, etc., it's totally disorganized.

View attachment 265080View attachment 265081View attachment 265082View attachment 265083
Somewhere in there are 2 lathes, 2 mills, 2 4x6 metal bandsaws, 2 wood bandsaws, 2 table saws, about 4 grinders, 2 air compressors, welder, etc. etc. etc.

So back to the original topic ... shop ideas. My own "bright" idea, worked out over the past few weeks, is that it's more important where something LANDS than where it comes from. There's no sense starting to empty a box of stuff unless you have someplace to put the contents!

So, other than unpacking and building shelves and other stuff for the house, my major activity in the shop has been designing and working on a number of storage organizers. I'll be posting the first in "POTD" very shortly.

Seems like you need to get heavy duty shelves in there so you can start processing. put the shelves in so you can stack reasonably to the roof. Open a box, figure out what's in there, mark the sides and stack it on the shelf in an area with like stuff. While those heavy duty shelves are expensive, you'll get double use out of it in the end.

 

[dlane]

“faced with an odd space problem. Huge shop space, almost none of it usable.”
Did they put your household items in the shop too ? that’s what happened to me.
Shop stuff in the house , house stuff in the shop, still sorting things out after a year
Looks to be a nice size shop when things are put up.