Shop workflow and machine placement

Bear Republic

Steve
Corporate Member
Johnathan Katz-Moses has sone good info for shop layout. He also created a scale paper layout guide with clearances so you can cut them out and see what works for your space.
Nice free tool. He covers some other tips in the video below.


 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Grizzly has machine footprint templates that can be scaled, printed, cut out and pasted/taped (literally). Free.
 

pcooper

Phillip Cooper
Corporate Member
I've seen several that based the placement of machines on a project, to keep from retracing steps or wandering around the shop too much, especially when the shop is small. I ended up putting machines in my shop where I had enough room to work around them and enough light, and then each project would make me think if there was a big enough reason to move them around. I've moved machines a couple of times, so I guess for my work there's not a perfect layout, but the way my shop is now is the way it's been the longest. I still find that it could be better but moving something creates it's own new problem.
 

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
I think it is a very useful exercise to think about work flow and overall shop efficiency; and if I operated a production shop I am sure efficiency would be critical priority. That said, as a hobbiest woodworker my motivation is to locate equipment where the items fit best within the confines of the space available. On occasion I do move stuff but the motivation is typically to create a little more space. My hat's off to those who do operate efficiently.
 

chris_goris

Chris
Senior User
Really tough for a hobbyist shop to optimize a layout. Sure, less handling and moving materials is best but unless youre making variations of the same thing, and no plan on machining operations, how can you optimize it?. At best as other have mentioned, they try to simply make enough room around equipment to be able to use it, where ever it fits.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
I think it is a very useful exercise to think about work flow and overall shop efficiency; and if I operated a production shop I am sure efficiency would be critical priority. That said, as a hobbiest woodworker my motivation is to locate equipment where the items fit best within the confines of the space available. On occasion I do move stuff but the motivation is typically to create a little more space. My hat's off to those who do operate efficiently.
I was in a survey transit production factory once that would almost fit in my garage except for the raw material and finished product storage. The whole operation was built around 6 lathes. Each lathe was set up to do a series of operations on the tube and eyepiece. No tool was ever changed except to replace the carbide tips. It was the smoothest and most easy going factory I have ever seen. Three guys in the whole place. Efficiency defined.
 
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bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
consider making a scale cutout of the material sizes you're most likely to process like for rip, crosscut, plane, joint, etc. Try a scale of an 8' or 4' board and a 4x8 sheet of plywood. That should let you know what should be on wheels, what doesn't need to be on wheels, what can go in a corner, and what will work against a wall.
 

HITCH-

Hitch
Corporate Member
The Grizzly digital shop layout program is no longer supported but I found these other layout programs that might prove useful.

 

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