Need advice on organizing my one car garage woodshop!

Something like this?

Wheels:

M

-- Madmark - [email protected] Wiretreefarm.com

Ditto what Mark said…Big Time!

I work with a one car garage shop, about 11’ by 24’ overall. That is about 260 sg. ft total. Not much.

I found that the first thing was my main “small” bench would have to be in the middle, so I could put projects on it that could extend over the edge if needed.
I also made the hard decision to run the table saw against the long length, so my cut length was greatly shortened, but having a very small shop kind of limits the size of my projects anyway.
I keep the table saw next to the bench in the middle, so I can use it as a bench extension, or vise versa.

My two bandsaws sit pretty much at either end of the garage. They both sit so the cut runs with the width of the shop, not the length.
My planer, chop saw, jointer and router table are grouped down by the garage door. They are all on wheels. With our fairly good weather, lots of times I will just roll one to the opening with the door up and use it.

I do have one bench on one wall, and it contains all my grinding and buffing equipment, as well as two sanders. Other stationary power tools line the remaining walls, like spindle sanders, 6X48 belt sander, drill press, lathes.
Lots of hand power tools hang from hooks off the ceiling. Every rolling cart with a tool on it also has a shelf or two for odds and ends.

Overall, it is very, very cramped, and sometimes I am amazed that 80 guitars came out of that shop, in addition to dozens if not a couple hundred items for the gallery I sell in. But only a couple of coffee tables have been done in there, and no cabinets of any type. Just no room to do casework.
Good luck!

-- Tsunami Guitars and Custom Woodworking, Cleveland, TN

I strive for 3 woodshop goals…
1. Only woodshop stuff in the woodshop.
2. Everything in the shop on wheels except me.
3. No bleeding in the shop.

-- Francis Robinson, Central Indiana, USA - - Shopsmith fanatic

I work in a one-car garage, i put the table saw in the middle and then everything else around the edge, go up as high as you can with storage. I have 13’ tall ceiling o stuff i don’t use very often is up high

I also work in a one-car garage shop, and I have shuffled things around several times. I think I have finally come to a setup which I like, and so far have been happy with. Everything is on wheels. I have a workbench that is also doubles as my table saw outfeed, and also more often than not becomes my assembly area. I have another workbench which I use in the same fashion, except for outfeed. My table saw sits down by the garage door, and with the door closed I can make a 40” cut. Anything longer, I need to open the door, which I am more than happy with. I also have a ptree cast iron router wing in my table saw. I have my bandsaw angled so that it is usable mostly in position for stuff shorter than about 28”, but if needed, I can turn it and wheel it out a bit, and I have plenty of infeed/outfeed then. Don’t mind the plastic shelf piece the Rigid sander is sitting on, I am going to get or build a base with drawers (or possibly just buy a small mechanics type chest) for that here very soon. My wood storage is sort of in an awkward place, with the garage door tracks and all, but it keeps the more easily accessible wall space for tools and other things which are used more. My planer and miter saw are on a flip-top cart, which I pull out into the middle of the shop when planing, and have a quick disconnect for the dust hose on the table saw which I plug onto the planer (DW735). I also have a block that sits on the table saw workbench which acts as material support for the miter saw. Place it on there when needed. I plan to also add a drum sander, which would sit to the right of the bandsaw, and I would move the rigid sander closer to dust collector (where the shop vac is currently sitting). Scroll saw is under work bench, brought out onto bench when needed. TV mounted up high above workbench to keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley cup finals ;) Tool storage below TV is a DIY French cleat system. Forgot to also mention, as you can see in the picture below, I setup a temporary “table” on saw horses in the middle, when needed.

I do not have a jointer, I use a straight line rip jig, or pay the local cabinet shop to joint my material when needed.

Hope that helps, and I can gladly post more pictures, or answer questions if needed.

and I just finished this set of cornhole boards up. Not really “fine woodworking,” but they are being donated to/given away by the organization Military Appreciation Day (MAD – militaryappreciationday.org), they are a nesting set, boards fit together, and everything fits inside. Albeit a bit heavy at 68lbs, the set can be carried and stored as one clean kit. Everything is hand painted, not vinyl stickers.

I work in a 20’x20’ space (with a 10’x4’ space in the middle taken up by lumber, currently). One of the biggest improvements I’ve made was also the easiest : vertical storage.

I added two 3’x6.5’ wire shelving units, and that allowed me to store things like finishes, my dovetail jig, grinder, and other misc tools out of the way.

I also was lucky enough to get a parts storage unit from work, it was going to be thrown away, so I got it for free. It is about 5.5’ tall, 3’ wide, and 1’ deep. It has 52 drawers, each of which is divided into 4 spots with removable dividers. I was able to organize all of the junk I’ve collected over the year into that thing, with plenty of spots to spare. It is made of plywood, with the outside wrapped in thin painted steel, so I can stick magnetic things to it. The construction is simple (box w/ dividers and simple plywood box drawers w/o slides).

One of my walls has a French cleat system on it, which works great for storing hand tools.

All of my tools are on mobile bases.

I think if you can keep the small stuff all tucked away in something with a minimal footprint, and keep the big stuff mobile, it’ll free up a lot of space.

-- - The mightiest oak in the forest is just a little nut that held its ground.

1. if its on the floor – its on wheels (except the bench) A mechanics rolling tool chest aint pretty but you can store a huge amount of heavy tools in one
2. toolchests & boxes need to be replaced with wall tool cupboards hung on french cleats. tools used everyday should be next to the bench whilst tools only used occasionally can be anywhere else you have room
3. first aid kit should be dustproof and easily accessed
4. fire extinguishers should be easily accessed
5. insulate the roof and walls if you can afford to.

-- ... Never Apologise For Being Right ...

1. if its on the floor – its on wheels (except the bench) A mechanics rolling tool chest aint pretty but you can store a huge amount of heavy tools in one
2. toolchests & boxes need to be replaced with wall tool cupboards hung on french cleats. tools used everyday should be next to the bench whilst tools only used occasionally can be anywhere else you have room
3. first aid kit should be dustproof and easily accessed
4. fire extinguishers should be easily accessed
5. insulate the roof and walls if you can afford to.

- BigYin

Some good points…
I have space to waste (24’ x 40’ plus a few hundred sq. ft. of extra storage space) and I usually do. :-)
I am guilty of trying to put everything close to the bench. I’m doing cleats of my own design on all walls and many things are used so seldom that they can hang at the far end of the shop. I’m an old guy and sometimes working standing in one place for a long time is often worse on me than a few extra steps. Many times I need to be taking those extra steps to keep circulation going.
I am a huge believer in wheels so almost anything in the shop can be shifted around quickly. It is pretty easy to free up an open work space by shoving several things over into a corner together then just wheel them back home when you are done. That applies to both big and smaller shops.
To paraphrase… “clutter happens”.
:-)

.

-- Francis Robinson, Central Indiana, USA - - Shopsmith fanatic