Bob Vila's Workshop Planner

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Bob Vila's Workshop Planner
The perfect workshop is not built overnight but evolves over time. Here are a few tips and hints for setting up shop at home.

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A home workshop is a personal affair. Above all, make it a place of your own. Check other sources for advice, but then use your own ideas and alter basic concepts to fit how you think your workshop will work best. But remember, the best ideas won't come all at once. Flexibility is on your side and the final criteria is that it works well for you. You can use the best ideas available at the time, then modify your shop as you discover better ways. An excellent source of shop layout ideas is other shop owners. Take every opportunity you get to visit other shops and ask the owners what works well for them and what could be set up better. Chances are good that every shop you visit will generate at least one new idea that you can put to use in your own shop.

Sizing Up Your Space
Workshops can be set up just about anywhere space is available and noise won't be an issue. If you set up in a basement or an attached garage, consider adding a sawdust collection system. While new tools are designed to control sawdust as much as possible, central collection systems are effective and economical to install. Wherever you set up your workshop give the heating and cooling system top priority. It will add greatly to your enjoyment. Whatever source you use, be sure to check its limitations around dust particles or paint vapors. Adding insulation will add to your comfort and save on utility bills. Also take advantage of an attic ventilation system if you set up in either a home garage or other building.

Here are some basic guidelines to follow when planning your shop: • The 8x12-foot Stage I Workshop providing 96 sq. ft. can be set up in a basement or along the end wall of a garage. Open shelving can house portable tools and materials. • The 14x20-foot Stage II Workshop with 280 sq. ft. of space can also fit in a basement room or in a single-car garage. Open shelves and cabinets can be used for storage. • The 22x24-foot Stage III Workshop offers 528 sq. ft. in either a large basement room or two-car garage. Storage can be open shelves, cabinets, and under-bench shelves. • The 24x32-foot Stage IV Workshop with 768 sq. ft. would require the equivalent of a three-car garage or a separate building. Open shelving, cabinets, under-bench shelves, and special racks can provide storage.

Planning tool purchases
Although there are no set rules on what tool to purchase when, if the tool buying bug bites and you want to add to your collection, make a purchase that will complement your existing tool inventory. Consider these groupings when planning your next purchase.

Group I	Group II	Group III	Group IV
Circular saw	Benchtop table saw	Freestanding table saw	Radial arm saw
Sabersaw	Power miter saw	Scrollsaw	Freestanding bandsaw
3/8 Power drll	Nailer	Benchtop table saw	Thickness planer
Router	Scrolling sabersaw	Freestanding drillpress	Wood shaper
Bench grinder	Benchtop drill press	Belt-disc sander	Wood lathe
Pad sander	Belt sander	Jointer	Arc welder
Palm sander	Air compressor	Air tool set	Rotary grinder
Miter box	Shop vacuum	Cordless drill	1/2 inch drill

Workshops layouts

The Amateur
Most home repair projects can be tackled with an assortment of bench top tools. Giving them a permanent home in a dedicated workshop will likely inspire growth down the road as projects become larger and more complex. Start with the basics—a power miter saw, sander, drill press and tablesaw can tackle larger jobs that handheld tools can't properly manage.

The Hobbyist
In addition to bench top tools, freestanding machines—bandsaw, tablesaw, planer and drill press, for example—can accommodate larger wood stock. When setting up a larger home workshop, it will pay to think about how to position tools to help, rather than detract from, efficient project workflow. For example, in this workshop larger pieces of wood can be easily moved from storage to the radial-arm saw for rough cutting to length, then to the lathe or table saw for more work.

The Professional
When your tool collection outgrows the corner of the garage or basement, efficiency and ease of use top the list of workshop design and layout requirements. Here are some ideas to incorporate into a full-scale dream workshop. • When setting up a shop, make as much use of natural light and ventilation as possible. A rule of thumb is that windows and skylights should make up at least 10 percent of your shop's total square footage. Use doors large enough to allow easy movement of raw materials and finished projects. • Be generous with your electrical budget. Do the electrical work before building benches or moving in tools. Install more circuits, lights, and outlets than you think you will need. Air compressors and welders often require their own circuits if they are in frequent use. • A rule of thumb is that you can put from 8 to 10 lights or outlets on a circuit, but check with local officials. Basically you can install as many outlets as you wish, as long as you have enough circuits to handle them. In some cases, outlets and lights can be on the same circuit, but a load on an outlet may cause the lights to flicker. • Having electrical outlets about every 3 feet in your workshop will help eliminate extension cords. Stumbling over extension cords, using cords to get to hard-to-reach outlets, and dealing with tangled cords present dangerous situations, slow efficiency, and boost frustration levels. Ceiling outlets can help reduce dependence on extension cords. • For most workshops, minimum lighting is about 1/2-watt of fluorescent lighting, or 2 watts of incandescent lighting per square foot of shop floor area. If you use 48-inch double-tube fluorescent fixtures above benches, mount them about 4 feet above the workbench surface, over the front third of the bench. • Consider using latches, instead of knobs, on shop doors to allow easy opening in emergencies. Have safety gear, such as smoke alarms and fire extinguishers installed and maintained. Also set up a first-aid area.