My shop is out of control. I need some ideas
I’m starting to get really frustrated with how out of control my shop is. I know I’m not the first to experience this, but in about a year I’ll be retiring and really want to enjoy my time out there. This is a repurposed 20×20 garage. There is no room outside for sheds, external dust collection, etc. So 400 Sq Ft is it. I have a table saw, jointer, planer, band saw, mini-lathe, miter saw, floor standing drill press for major tools. Anyway, I’ve taken some pictures of it as it is today, at it’s worst. I can, and will, clean up the obvious stuff, but in a day it’s right back to where it was. My first thought is I need to build more cabinets with drawers so I don’t just put things on surfaces. Anyway, if you haven’t eaten recently and can stand it take a look at the situation and give my your thoughts. Here are some pics:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9SsZ5Aaipgvhuqxm7
Verbal abuse for being this sloppy is accepted.
Replies
What's the problem? Looks like a normal woodworking shop to me....
I think a 5S program would do you some good. https://quality-one.com/5s/
Make some hard decisions. If you haven't used it in a year, think about getting rid of it. If it's something that does get used but infrequently, set up a better storage system for it. Get real about what your retirement will look like. Do you really need all this stuff? What happens when you're gone? Who is going to sort all this stuff out? When my Dad passed and I went through his stuff I found he had hardware and other odds and ends he'd had since I was a kid. "I might need that some day" was a common refrain.
I went through a purge of my own a year or so ago. I divested myself of lots of hand tools. It was painful, but necessary. I have about 1/3 the space you do and nearly the same complement of major tools (No jointer or lathe). Nearly everything is on wheels. Essential supplies are in drawers or tubs. The tools that survived the purge are a core kit that I use often. Would I like more stuff? Yup! But there's no room for it. More importantly, there's no reason for it. What I got rid of I never used anyway.
I'm planning another purge of things I've not used in the last year. It's a process. The last S in a 5S program stands for Sustain. You need to keep at it.
Could you message me when your kids are planning the estate sale?
I suffer from the same thing. Garage shops have to coexist with your home owner tools and therefor get cluttered quickly. I've worked hard to hang things on the wall and find storage solutions. I also stopped buying big tools a while back since I'm out of room. I don't have a chop saw since 90% of my cross cuts can be handled with my table saw and a miter gauge. The lumber that is too long I simply cut with a hand saw. I also don't have a jointer. I have some good hand planes that work well enough for me. My planer is a 12" Delta that sits out of the way until I need it. Good luck.
That looks like a bruising parlour, with you as number one customer. :-) Been there, got the bruises.
I recently moved house and had to accept a halving of shed-space as the new hoose meant only a one-car garage was available for WW. It's smaller than yourn. I knew the WW equipment and timber I had in the old shed wouldn't go in that garage - not if I wanted to get in it too. So ....
I sold the drum sander & stand, large belt sander & stand, the floor-standing bandsaw, the lathe on a cast iron stand, plano-press wall clamp, drill press, compressor, Tormek ...... I gave away the shaving horse and steam box. I vowed to use the proceeds from the sales of the above to buy more hand tools and to change my WW mode accordingly.
Mind, I kept the sliding carriage table saw, router table and the planer-thicknesser. No point in going mad and "unplugging". I'd be doing nothing but planing and sawing all them rough planks! (Which are under the hoose in the undercroft, with all the pipes and the ground source heating gubbins).
All the other detritus of ages went too as part of the move. Some stuff got boxed up and thrust into the attic or undercroft, notably the many G and C-clamps, all sorts of old sandpaper, a woodrat, several drills and who knows what else of stuff I rarely used.
The remainder got a good organisation - a place for everything and everything in its place. No non-user tools allowed! I did spend rather a lot of man-hours making tool cabinets, though.
The result is quite pleasing. My bench top is clear and can be worked on without having to push a pile of stuff to one side. I even have a second worktop for assembly and glue-up. with enough room at the ends for a small drill press and a sharpening machine. I also obtained a Huge Dustsucker of 3HP and fine filters, which does take up a good portion of the room .... but who needs lung rot and a coat of dust on everything?
A severe winnowing of large machine tools creates a lot of floor space. A similar purge of "stuff" creates a lot of bench space. Things then get done. Some of the doings are rather slow because the hand tool must do 'em with no motor to help. This is "character building" (or so I have heard).
But one must reject the hoarder instinct to jettison even some things one holds dear - if they are just nice to have but don't really do much. No, this is not easy for we accumulators.
Lataxe
Yikes! It may be a case of simply too much stuff for the area available. Organizing your shop calls for some tough decisions; what do I really want to do and how do I want to do it.
The miter saw takes up a giant footprint for the advantages it brings to a shop. Mine got relegated to the yard shed about 2 months after I got it. It is just too much footprint for things I can easily do another way.
A flip-top tool stand for my planer and sander was a boon. My CMS used to live on it but, my spindle sander was more valuable to me than the miter saw so . . .
Parts storage is another thing. If you have lots of drawers and racks and bins and tackle boxes and there is still that much stuff laying out all over what is supposed to be your work area . . . hard as it may be it is time to thin the herd.
I have been doing the same thing over the last year and it is amazing the things I kept because I was going to do 'something' with them 'some day'. That was great when I was 45 but, now that I am 65 and retired, many of these things are NEVER going to be used by me. I sell them, pass them to those that can use them, give them to charity or just plain toss 'em.
Happiness can be yours!
P.s. One thing that really helped quick was to get a few fairly large plastic bins and label them very simply. Plumbing Stuff, Electrical Stuff, etc. This meant that I actually had a place for all that various plumbing and electrical stuff that gathers in coffee cans, on shelves and under foot. Inelegant? Sure. Effective? You bet!
Looking at it from the standpoint of building more drawers can be a slippery slope, since just because you have enough drawers to stick everything into does not mean it is necessarily well-organized or uncluttered. Also there is an argument to be made that having everything visible is beneficial to quick workflow, rather than everything out of sight in drawers.
It looks like you have plenty of room on either side of your table saw, could you nix the miter saw and use a crosscut sled for most of your crosscuts, and a circular saw for the very long boards? That would open up a sizable space. If not, selling the miter saw and getting a Bosch glider that can go right up against the wall and building out a miter saw station/cabinet?
The other thing I would definitely do is pull up everything completely out of the shop, sort it by type, and put up French cleats. That will let you get all the tools and shop nice and clean, take better stock of what you have, what might be redundant, and better see how to fit it back into the space. I've found that when I've been in a work space for a while my mind gets stuck on this has to go here anf that goes there just because that is where I'm used to it being. Pulling everything completely out helps reset that. Plus you can build the French cleat tool holders to be much more space efficient than a shelf or pegboard. Do you have anywhere else on the property like under the house or attic to keep larger boards long term to free up shop space? Also, overhead Retractable reels for power cords and air hose really help with keeping the workspace uncluttered.
Shelves, not drawers. Stuff is hidden and forgotten in drawers.
have a tag sale and get rid of what you don't use. I really don't know how you have accumulated that much stuff. How do you have any room to do a project. You could build a bigger shop but you would that really help? Good luck!!!
No verbal abuse from me. That would clearly be a pot / kettle situation.
Here is what helped me, having recently retired and done what you are intending. Start by organizing your workflow. Get tools used in the same phase of a project located close together. Makes them easy to reach and put away. Purge (or inconveniently store) anything you aren't going to use regularly. Put everything on wheels.
Now comes the hard part. You need to set some shop rules. Here are a few I use.
*Only one project at a time
*Have a plan and goals - don't just spend time in the shop
*Clean up after every step
*Any piece of wood under 12" is kindling, not scrap
*Tools not in use are parked out of the way.
*Nothing stays out overnight - tools get put away, floor gets swept
It takes practice, but once the rules become habits, it just feels right to put things away as you work.
As an aside, before you consider buying any more tools, you might want to put some money toward an electrician. Looks like you could use more outlets and some good overhead lighting. Good luck and enjoy your shop time.
I adore this post. It says what I often think—or at least start to think—about my own work habits, space, etc. I need to make a commitment to some of these changes, or my own shop will almost certainly succumb to entropy and my ADD.
I try to do most of those steps. When we moved into this house, I had the luxury of setting up the new shop from scratch, in the basement that was my price for moving. Dust is a major issue for the wife, so none can be tracked out into the rest of hte basement, hence, constant sweeping, vacuuming, a dust collector and air cleaner.
I have been trying to force myself to replace tools as I finish using them but have a long way to go.
There were 3 lathes; the 14x40 found a new home last week. There was a small Taig metal lathe that has a new home. There are 2 dust collectors; I used the small one outside with the planer at the last house, but can't have that kind of noise outside here (retirement community, AKA "The Wrinkle Ranch") so it will be going. One grinder is gone, the Tormek knockoff is gone. Small drill press is gone.
I had thought about getting rid of stuff many times; one day I said 'its time' and started on Craigslist. Once I started, it was easier to turn loose than I expected.
Ya just gotta start.
Beasley, old organiser,
Those are good rules, especially the clean-up-&-tidy-away one for the end of the day; or even after each step, as you say. It's astonishing how a pile of tools and other stuff can accumulate on the bench top from even the simplest operation. Use a tool and put it back in its place - which means it must have a reserved place always available.
My frequent users have a place on a long magnetic rack on the wall against which my bench is abutted. I can reach out to get or replace one. Chisels, measurement & marking stuff, small saws mostly. One advantage of a small and organised shop, though, is that things in cupboards are but a step away from the bench and you know where they all are.
Your rule about burning wood parts under 12" though ...... I used to follow this rule when I was wood-rich. (I had numerous suppliers of reclaimed free wood from building renovations). Since I moved house and my suppliers are now far away, I have become miserly with the off-cuts. I've developed a scheme ....
A large wicker basket receives the off-cuts of a project. It gets rummaged in from time to time and the true detritus goes to the stove. But a surprising quantity ends up in other things, notably small boxes but also handles, knobs, buttons and various other small things most projects need. Another type of off-cut serves as a practice piece for trying out some new hand tool operation.
The trick is to never let the (admittedly largish) off-cut basket get full.
Lataxe
I love your space.
Mine is messy too so join the club.
Most woodworkers are either horribly messy OR anally tidy. There is not much in between.
You will never have a ZEN space so just accept it - you are one of the 90% who are messy.
That having been said, Woodshop Junkies has a lot of ideas for working tidily in an even smaller space:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvp9keCjcX8
I live in the same square footage with larger stationary tools and I can still fit the bicycles, lawnmower, winter tires for two cars and sail inventory of a racing yacht without feeling cluttered. I see two things to improve your life in the shop, one is the layout and the other is about housekeeping. Did I count 8 tape measures side by side? You could sell 5 .
For the layout I started with a scale plan at 1/4 inch per foot where each major equipment or workbench was cut from a piece of coloured paper with an arrow drawn on them for showing the direction of the stock. The tablesaw would be at the center, the jointer, planer and bandsaw would be side by side facing the garage door so when processing long stock I open the door. The main workbench is on the other side of the shop with space to move around, it’s height is slightly lower than the tablesaw so long stock can be pushed above.
Accessory/tool storage is planned in function of the equipment location. For example push sticks, miter gauge and blades are stored beneath or beside the tablesaw so when there is a setup the tools are easily stored Back after use.
Then it’s a matter of housekeeping, one place for each tool. if done throughly, you eventually find that you have too much storage And can have a yard sale with duplicates.
I am in a 10'x16' shop and trying to make it work. Chop saw had to go. Flip cart for DW735 & Ridgid sander complete this week end. Two more plywood panels to go to complete french cleats on all walls. I have been working on only shop organization projects for about two years to make room for Table saw, band saw, sander, planer, jointer and drill press. Only this weekend have I cleared enough floor space to start my Moravian workbench. The idea now is to convert to hand tool woodworking so I can get rid of all these space hogs......unless I build a bigger shop. That won't happen until the Mrs. gets her screen porch built first. I would take one small area and say "there has got to be a better way to organize this" and start searching for some ideas. My favorites are when I start with another person's idea and customize it to suite what I need to fit.
I have been trying to retire for a couple of years. I started rebuilding my shop so that the boss could have her Christmas decorations in one spot and I could do some WW and fly rod building in the same 16 X 26 garage. And yea, my Jeep lives there too. I did the purge and got rid of some old stuff - corded tools from my dad and granddad (yea, hoarded that stuff moved it from WV to FL 35 years ago), built lots of shelves and recently some cabinets . However, building cabinets required some new additions like Kreg stuff and Woodpecker corner jigs. Everything is on wheels - Saw Stop, cut off saw, planer and drill press. Jointer is table top so it is on a shelf under the bench with the sander. What I really need is less Christmas stuff. Keep trying and do the purge and then you can buy new stuff!
Neeeeveeer say out loud that you want to get rid of her Christmas stuff - that's equivalent to treason and the punishment is worse than death.
I am in a 170 sq foot space (with a staircase in it) and have everything you mention in your post, and then some. When I "expanded" the shop from 120 sq feet a few years back I was pretty careful about how I used the space. First, all major machines are on wheels and have parking places. If I need the bandsaw I have to move the tablesaw out of the way.
The best thing I did by far was to line the entire space with 3/4" T&G plywood. I can hang anything anywhere. I also ran a 40A subpanel and put outlets everywhere, even overhead. The switch for the dust collector is overhead in the machine area. Because of the small space and wheeled machines I am forced to sweep up between operations, but I think that's a bonus and not a negative, so I fall into the anally clean camp.
Next time the place is clean, sort things into groups, select your favorites of any duplicates, and put the "extras" out of sight somewhere. Once you are down to a kit of your favorites you can work out storage, with the least used things going into the least accessible spots. Move anything unrelated to the shop OUT of the shop if you can.
Last, consider building a wall of closets just deep enough to hide your dust collector. Getting that noisy beast (and maybe your compressor) into a quieter place makes for a happier shop experience. The rest of the closets can swallow anything you need them to in a pretty small vertical footprint.
I too have 400sq' in a 20 x 20 garage; and have learned and implemented some hard lessons.
Each year I get rid of hand tools that I haven't used in 2 years (extra routers, circular saws, sanders, ...); and get rid of stationary equipment that I haven't used in 3 years.
Have one, at most two, of individual tools that you choose to keep. I go so far as to get rid of extra tape measures, and other clutter. All of my hand tools are stored in a single mechanics tool chest; my hand power tools are stored in my router table or under my workbench.
Go Vertical! get shelving on the walls, and use it.
Get equipment, other than the really heavy stuff, on wheels, and store these based on frequency of use.
I eliminated my chop saw... required too much space behind and on either side - I now use a small circular saw to cut things down to size - by combining its function with my cabinet table saw - using a sliding table saw. This thought process resulted in getting rid of other tools that took up too much 'grey space' - space to either side or behind. I sold my Incra table saw fence, and this required too much space to the right of the cutting blade.
I purchased a jointer/planer combo which provided both more functionality and integrated two stand alone machines,
Regarding my equipment inventory, I have a 20" j/p combo, a sliding table saw (9' table); industrial spindle sander, router table, 17" bandsaw and a floor-standing drill press. All lumber is on-the-wall; as are all clamps and sander & finishing supplies.
I do wish I had more space... as 400 sq' is just plain small. but it works.
Everyone is going to have their own strategy. I would start by coming up with a plan for the space. Decide where your large stationary tools will be placed and plan on storing accessories nearby. I much prefer drawers and just purchasing stackable plastic drawers and/or garage wall cabinets can give you a lot of cheap storage.
Once you have a plan, take advantage of the warm weather and clean everything out. I would even remove shelves, etc. Give it a couple of fresh coats of a light colored paint. Before you put anything back in place, clean it and be ruthless about what you allow back in and make sure you have a place for it. If you just start setting things on the floor or scattering the same types of items (like finishing supplies) in multiple locations you will be right back in the same place.
Give yourself a clean space and some system to easily store and organize everything. It's going to take some work to get there but the idea is to make the day to day easy. When something is a pain, you won't do it. Develop a plan to make it easy to stay clean and organized.
Good luck!
Has the OP considered the effects of having a messy shop other than just the visual aspect of "messy"? There are two effects in particular that are not good. ,,,,,,,
I have a friend who is a messy bloke - fundamentally unable to tidy up or organise. He owned and ran a bike shop with the cellar devoted to storage and bike mending. This cellar was large (the whole footprint of the building) yet was crammed to near hip-height with cast aside packaging, old bikes and sundry other clutter. Through it all were two passageways - one to the bike fixing bench and t'other to the storage area.
I spent half a day down there helping to fix a bike one day. The bike fixing bench was the length of one wall and a huge heap of old bits, new bits and tools. Nothing was organised.
Well, the lad spent about 70% of his time looking for stuff in this mess. The search for a special tool to cut the bottom bracket threads, say, could take 10 minutes to find, buried under all the other everyday heap of tools and parts. The same was true of the storage. It could take ten minutes to dig out something from the back of the storage pile.
So - loadsa wasted time that could have been spent productively.
The other problem was the bruising and occasionally worse injury. Trip hazards everywhere. Digging for stuff inevitably resulted in cuts and wallops from sharp or heavy stuff being dug out, from time to time.
It's no way to work (or play, if you're a hobbyist). What is your hobby, after all? Hide and seek and sticking on bandages? Or woodworking? :-)
Lataxe
I suspect most of the problems are that everything laying out doesn’t have a place It is supposed to go to when not being used.
I’m a fan of graduated drawers myself. Preferably with dividers or other tool specific holders.
3”, 5”, 8” deep and another whatever depth fits powered hand tools like a jigsaw. Drawers have specific tools in them and I put them back.
I doubt you even know what you have in there. I’d lay it all out on the driveway then divide what stays and what goes (Do you Really need two grinders???).
On One wall you build a row of base cabinets most with drawers. Maybe fit the miter saw in that. Some open shelves above.
A French cleat around the circumference of the walls to hang items off of. You can move them easily.
On the upside you have a retirement project already lined up: getting the shop working right.
For years I alternately built a furniture project followed by a shop project. Worked well to get things in order.
One book I liked a lot is Setting Up Shop by Sandor Nagyszalanczy. Lots of pictures. Taunton Press.
The defunct Shopnotes magazine has loads of shop storage projects you can browse plans for And still buy on their web site.
YouTube is full of shop storage videos.
Mike
Pictures for ideas.
1 & 2 - Retrofit commercial metal cabinets. You can add doors to open metal shelf units as well.
3&4 - Pegboard on the ends of workstations.
5 - Saw this somewhere almost 20 years ago. A piece of cord with loops knotted in along the length. I can slip my hand-screws out and back in one handed in this unused corner behind the cyclone.
Hit the limit on pictures but, there is so much more you can do. Most of my ideas come from things I see in other people's shops in the background of what they are taking a picture of ;-)
I see clutter. I would first suggest a general clean up to get rid of obvious things you can toss. I am a big fan that every tool has a place. So I would try and work towards that. Others have provided good suggestions.
Cabinets are a good idea. Also, I see some general household tools. You might want to get one of those rolling mechanic tool cabinets and put all non woodworking tools in there in an organized manner.
Then, as others have said, what are you not using and really don't need. For example, I see a bike hanging. When is the last time it was ridden. It might be time to donate it. My dad has mostly relied upon a ShopSmith. It is one way to greatly reduce machine tool footprints. I didn't say it was more inexpensive.
You are not alone. I think we all battle keeping chaos at bay. Being retired in theory would help as you would have more time to focus on organizing.
A few more pics and ideas. We're woodworkers after all, build storage into your machine bases, outfeed tables and assembly surface.
No abuse here. Been there and done that! Your pictures show that you intend to be organized, but just aren't able to keep up. I had the same concern about 10 years ago when I retired. Solved the problem by resolving that I was going to organize the shop and everything would have place that it should be kept. If I couldn't find a place, it had to go. Made a commitment to build whatever was necessary to make that happen.
After some deep thought, deep for me anyway, I came up with two ideas that have worked well for me. The first was to build two tool chest, on casters approx 36 h x 36 w x 30 deep. Each had 6 drawers, 2 deep ones on the bottom and others 2-3" high. These fit under my workbench and have proven to be just what I needed. Most of my hand tools fit in these. Planes, files, hammers, screw drivers, socket sets, vice grips etc. I did a little organizing inside the drawers, but not essential for it to function well. I know the screwdrivers are in the top drawer, left hand cabinet. Easy to pick out what I want, even if they are all just thrown in the drawer loose when I am done. Other drawers are pliers in all their forms, chisels and carving did some organizing in this drawer to protect the edges. Planes, shaves, card scrapers etc in the next. Wrenches come after that and finally a misc drawer. The other cabinet has layout tools, calculators, in the top two drawers. Then a drawer full of sockets. Next one is full of hammers. Then a drawer with punches, files, file cards, sharpening stones, putty knifes, followed by another misc.
I find it very easy to work out of the cabinets. Instantly know where any tool I want is located. Most importantly to me is that I can put all the tools I might have used in a day away in no longer than 10 minutes - all without having to decide where I'll keep it today.
The other thing that I did was to get a handle on all the parts I have. Valuable when you need them, but just in the way when you don't. Started with wall-hung parts bins, some as small as 1.5" x 4" and some up to 4" x 4". Lots of room to store stuff. For the larger stuff, I built two shelving units 4'w x 8'h x 1'd. I bought some corrugated boxes, these were for letterhead 8.5 x 11 x 3.5. Sturdy construction with attached lids. And some corrugated parts bins. These are open topped boxes, with the front panel only going about half way up. Allowing you to see inside readily. You want to make sure when you put your shelves in that you make some at the proper height for the part bins (they will not stack) and for stacks of 3 high letterhead boxes. I got a good Brother label maker to label all of the cartons so I could read them from 6' away!
Final suggestion; plan to spend some serious time getting this done. Your shop looks like mine did. It took me about a month to build the things I needed and to painfully go through all my stuff and find a home for it or toss it!
With that done, I finally solved the mystery of "what is worse than NOT having the tool you need?" Answer: "having the right tool, but not being able to find it!"
I didn't intend for this to go on like this, but if you are interested, I'd be happy to send some photos.
Terry Deschenes
Issaquah, WA
1) You have a lot of tables with no drawers under them-that is wasted space.
2) Elevate as much stuff as possible so that you can comfortably work around your machines.
3) Have a central work bench serve as the outfeed table for three machines or four machines (Table saw and router table feeding across the width,
planer and bandsaw feeding across the length). One long edge of the table is reserved for traditional use.
4) THROW OUT THE SCRAP WOOD or host a giant marshmallow bonfire party that will be fueled by your scrap wood.
New shop under construction, 11 X 14. Sort of. Made the decision to get rid of most of my old construction tools. Years ago, for personal woodworking, got a ShopSmith - that eliminates most self-standing or big benchtop tools, with one wheeled machine and a set of crude custom shelves on one wall for the "attachments". Hand tools now inhabit the old Husky Mechanic's tool chest - on wheels, almost 5.5 feet high. Biggest project might be a bureau or small desk or a chair. The painful part was/is getting rid of supplies I'll never use again. Sheet-rock nails, 2-gallon jugs of finishing nails, misc parts from this and that. Misc plumbing parts, same for electrical. Going to one sharpening system. I'll kiss the sheetrocking tools a not-fond goodbye. Need help repairing a piece of sheetrock your kid damaged? Sorry, chum. Don't have the gear, anymore. On the off-chance I do major construction, (new wood floors, say) I'll rent the tools. If I need a new tool or type of tool? Old one or something equivilent will have to go. There is no basement or attic or out-building for storage - maybe that will help. House needs a new roof? I'll hire. Now we'll see if I can keep it together.
Now don’t be jealous but my shop is almost 1,000 sq ft
“Most” things have a place And it’s relatively organized but the extra space is a killer
I have two air cleaners hanging from the ceiling
I have stuff all over the place and the dirt on the floor is sometimes overwhelming
Reading these comments has given me incentive
I have a festool kapex which I use rarely. I am going to sell it
I will put away tools when I am finished using them
I will clean the top of my workbench like a good boy
I want to thank you all for your help
Michael
Does anyone know if there is an article or plans to build the drawer set into the Grizzly G0529 Spindle Sander Cabinet Base?
KGart, You should start a new post. Since the original post is over 18 months old and on a different topic many forum members will not scan to the bottom and may miss your question.
First, everything has to have a place to go. Otherwise you pick it up and want to put it away but there is nowhere to put it so it goes on a flat surface or in a pile. Easier said than done, I know, I am still working towards this. And it should go to a dedicated location so its not just in a drawer somewhere. With that being said, I am constantly amazed at how quickly my workbench gets covered with tools for even the simplest of tasks. I also think that we all get the impression that we are sloppy because we compare ourselves to what we see on social media and I am sure that there has been quite a bit of decluttering activity before those videos are shot.
Yup… that’s a messy shop — you already know that. I feel you, brother!
My advice is to refinish the floor.
Doing that will fix everything.
Large tools on wheels around perimeter. Work table on wheels. Pull out tools as needed and replace. Having project organized is a plus.
I hope his situation has improved since 2020. This cleared Ben's 2-year cutoff by exactly a month.
A possible start would be to build a rotating top roll around cart. Mine has my grinder on one side and my belt sander/disk sander on the other side. I can roll it into a corner and that takes care of 2 tools at one time.
Think about what tools you never use together and that will fit when it rotates.
One possibility is an outfeed table for your table saw with jointer or planer under it. Remember it's an outfeed table, not a parts storage table.
One combination I can't see working is miter saw and router table, even if it would fit. How do you clean up the mess they both make?
Lots of good responses already, so nothing valuable to add except that you've made me feel so much better about my "constantly in a tornado vortex" shop.
:-)
Way too much small scrap wood. Cull your inventory. Be brutal.
Somebody in the thread had the best suggestion -- paint the floor. That way, you'll have to move pretty much everything out and then you can start over from there. Pick a week when no rain is expected. Move it all out on the driveway, and then start throwing stuff away. Buy ten or more, large heavy duty plastic stackable tubs and put all the small electric tools and other stuff in them. No duplicates. Label the tubs on sheets of paper -- don't write on the tubs themselves. You can build cabinets and shelves later. Focus needs to be on reducing the visual clutter. I couldn't build a birdhouse in a shop like that. It would drive me bananas.
Utilize pegboard if you can -- hang the stuff you use all the time.
Then, look at suggested shop layouts for tablesaw, jointer, planer, drill press, etc. There are plenty of them out there. Use one that makes sense for your space. No sense trying to cover those here. You need to see pictures. Some places have little pictures of machines you can cut out and are to scale. It might be worth planning it all on paper first.
Looks like all you need is a good clean up and tool organization.
My shop is always in a state of semi-chaos, its a matter of putting things away during a project, not let things accumulate.
It takes a little discipline at the end of the day, but I tend to turn out the lights and leave.
Not what to do!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE_AdqLAXrg
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled