Planning is essential if your
workshop space is limited. My first workshop was 9 sq meters, and getting
a belt grinder, band saw, workbenches, storage, buffing spindle, heat
treating oven, drill press and any number of small tools arranged in an
orderly fashion was a daunting task.
I have learned to use layouts and
elevations to make the task easier. A layout is a drawing or plan of your
workshop as a fly sitting on the ceiling would see it. An elevation is
what the walls look like when the fly is sitting on the opposite wall.
The first step is to take a note
pad, pencil and measuring tape. Measure the floor area of your workshop.
Make a quick drawing, with the basic measurements in place. Add the door,
if the door opens inwards; note the area it needs to swing. Mark the
positions of windows, power outlets and lighting fixtures as well.
Measure all the things that will
be standing on the floor. Take breadth, width, and height measurements of
each. Next, measure all the things that will be sitting on top of your
workbenches. These are things like a small drill press, buffing spindle,
small filing or storage cabinets, and heat-treating ovens.
You will need a few sheets of
graph paper, a graduated rule and some coloured pencils. If you are using
a metric measuring system, you need to use graph paper with ten divisions
to the square, twelve divisions to the square if you are using inches.
Make scale drawing of the workshop
floor plan on a sheet of graph paper on a scale of one to ten if you are
using a metric system, one to twelve for imperial. (If the paper is too
small, glue a couple of sheets together) Draw the existing electrical
circuits with a coloured pencil.
Make scale drawings of the floor
standing equipment and furniture (length and width) as well as the bench
top tools and equipment on another sheet of graph paper (use the same
scale as the floor plan!) Label each clearly and cut out with scissors. Do
the same for the tools you are planning to buy, but in a different colour.
Now comes the fun part: Arrange
the little cut-outs on the floor plan. You need to consider the following:
Walk space, easy access to tools, easy entry and exit (you may need to get
out of the shop in hurry should something go wrong.) as well as the
position of electrical outlets.
If you want to make optimum use of
wall space then you might want to do elevations, ie.
drawings of the walls. Use your finished layout as a
guide for the position of the floor standing equipment. On the elevation
drawing, you can plan cupboards and shelves.
