I’ve got plenty of room to put a huge one up. Got 5 acres mostly woods. I just don’t want to pay the price for one that size.
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Possible new shop size
- Thread starter wildman2
- Start date
I had a 14’ x 18’ shop, minus a 2’ x 4’ notch. Made cabinets and furniture out of it for a decade, and along the way developed increasingly sophisticated yet simple routines with workflow and storage. That notch was part the living side of the live-work building. There were two roll-up doors in one corner, which helped with milling at times. The 12’ dimension seems like an undesirable constraint for long-term use.
For things like table saws, you can only cut something less than half as long as your shed and that assumes it’s right in the center of the shed. A piece of plywood that’s 8’ long will need at least 17’ to pass it over the blade. So, for colder weather or if you want to work totally in the shed, keep that in mind when you decide how to set things up. If your not going to be handling anything longer than say 4’ or can cut the bigger pieces outside, then you have a lot more options for setting things up. I generally assume a 4x8 sheet of plywood or 8‘ boards as very common starting points for a lot of woodworking.
I'd be thinking about how a lean-to type roof is going to tie on to the outside so I'd have outdoor storage as well. Maybe pour a slab for that area.
My thinking is the generator will get old after a wile. If at all possible you may want to consider permanent power.
Even it’s just one line for lighting.
One 20 amp will do the trick.
Than you can fire the generator for the large tools (220 volt ones if you have them).
Hood luck.
Even it’s just one line for lighting.
One 20 amp will do the trick.
Than you can fire the generator for the large tools (220 volt ones if you have them).
Hood luck.
Wit the generator, are you going to be able to maintain climate control, especially when you're not in the shop? For example, overnight in the winter, high humidity summers, etc. You don't want wood to be moving while you have a project in progress.
Depending what your desires and constraints are, I will offer that a plastic film greenhouse (using actual greenhouse plastic that lasts, not visqueen that rots in the sun) is the cheapest way to cover ground. You can buy steel framed or check with your agricultural extension service for wood-framed plans (Cornell put out a good set years ago that are still available.) You can blend with solid sidewalls and a plastic roof. The plastic does need to be replaced occasionally, but the good stuff lasts years if properly installed. Sometimes you can find a disused one you can buy inexpensively and move.
Good advice. I've had more woodshop accidents than I can count on both hands.
After the sixth accident, I finally quit for good.
lol jk
That sounds like a decent amount of space, unless you plan on using it for general carpentry, where you need to cut 4x8 plywood. Guitar building doesn’t involve much longer than 8’ boards, usually 4’. A crosscut sliding miter set up along a long cutoff table would work well, the rest of the length serves as workbench. I have my table saw, jointer, and planer on wheels, but rarely have to move it. All kinds of space saving tricks, like combining router table with table saw extension. I think you’ll be fine, but if you can wrangle more space, so be it. Use the rafter space for lumber storage, get crafty. To people working out of their apartments, this would be a palace. Get serious on dust collection, it’s the biggest problem in the shop I share with my brother.
I’ve more or less given up trying to cut 4x8 plywood on a table saw. It’s just too unwieldy. Safer and easier to just use a saw guide and a circular saw, but really, how much plywood are you cutting for guitar building? I just buy the 2x4 or 4x4 “handy panels” at HD when I need plywood or MDF, never needed anything bigger for bass building templates or jigs.
All about perspective. I've never had, and will not have for at least the next few years, a dedicated or decent shop space. My shop space is a 2 1/2' x 1 1/2' empty shelf on the overflow storage shelves in our basement. Anything messy I need to drag tables and saw horses upstairs to the back yard and do it in plain sight of the neighbors watching me make a fool of myself. For me I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.
Not saying you need to love it, just saying, if it's a decent upgrade for you go for it. If you want more of an upgrade and your wife's on board, go for that instead.
Edit: to be clear, I'm very thankful for what I do have. I can do what I need to do in my space, with only the most mild inconveniences. And it's a decent upgrade from my last situation, which was nothing at all
Not saying you need to love it, just saying, if it's a decent upgrade for you go for it. If you want more of an upgrade and your wife's on board, go for that instead.
Edit: to be clear, I'm very thankful for what I do have. I can do what I need to do in my space, with only the most mild inconveniences. And it's a decent upgrade from my last situation, which was nothing at all
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- Jul 7, 2010
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- Endorsing Artist for: Duncan Pickups; Line6, Hipshot, GHS Strings, Somnium Guitars
Uh, you better take that while you can. That actually would be a great start for your needs actually.
You WILL find that since you are doing more than guitar stuff, the wife WILL want you to make this and that which will take up the room.
So go inside and say: Hunny you were right, I will need a bigger shed. Thank you dear"
Or something like that.
Have fun and try to keep all of your fingers.
LOL
Understood. When we built our house, I designed my shop as an extension of the garage. We had a budget in mind for the build, but it was really short-sited. Another five feet of width would have made a huge difference in the usability of the shop and would have made very little difference in the mortgage.
I have a 24 x 40 barn, but it has a gravel floor and no utilities or insulation. It would cost a small fortune to turn part of it into a workable shop.
The best thing to do is figure out what you want to have it for, and whats going in it, then figure out the size you need.
If your building cabinets, you need to cut 4x8 and 5x5 sheet stock. When I built my shop specific for violin work, I made it 16x16. It's barely large enough; I have a 14" bandsaw, 6" jointer, copying router table, belt sander, spindle sander, 30" bed lathe, and a couple of workbenches and a tool cabinet. It's cramped, but I get by. Originally, I had a small tablesaw in there, but it was impossible trying to rip 4x8 foot sheets.
If you had a completely empty room, 12x20 would be just manageable for sawing up sheet goods, but I assume you will want other tools and benches and storage for working.
I've since bought a cabinet saw that you can open up the fence to 54", but it has to live in the large shop building. If you intend on doing any serious work, I would look at 24x 32 feet, minimum, but you have to make do when working within a budget. Sometimes it's just better to save up rather than spending money twice, when you find what you originally built isn't working for you.
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The 12 wide is not big enough for the equipment you're talking about. At least not for me with the same tools.
Mine is 12 x 23 or 24 (don't remember the length exactly but I can measure if you want). It works, I wouldn't want it any smaller. I have a garage door at one end out to a driveway, when I need to run 8' material through the table saw I can open it up (weather permitting). I use every inch of wall space for hanging stufff. Table saw in the middle, workbench at the same height for outfeed table. Jointer, bandsaw, router table, small drill press on wheels. Table saw on wheels also. Let me know if pix would help - its the second shop Ive had this size (basically 1/2 of a garage) and I spent alot of time thinking through layout.
