New Workshop

With the workshop sizes you guys are talking of I think you would either go into fits of laughing or go into shock if you saw my workshop. Small is not the word, its a 6ft x 4ft shed which houses a mini lathe, a bench drill, a vice and a bandsaw (which I have to pull out from under the bench when needed). I have a 4ft x 2ft assembly bench and thats it but its amazing how much storage I have in such a small space. I have a 15 inch deep shelf running around under the benches plus the space underneath and a shelf running around the top of the shed.

The thing with such a small space is that it forces you into keeping it tidy. As small as it is I consider myself lucky to have it as I know it wouldnt go down well to have anything larger. I was only thinking the other day that a 8ft x 6ft shed would be like a warehouse to me, I could have a bench mill where the assembly bench is now which would leave me the other 6ft x 4ft of bench space etc....I would be in heaven..lol

Edited By Ron Laden on 15/09/2018 11:20:16

Thanks everyone for all the pearls of wisdom so far. Please keep them coming!

I'm certainly not laughing about tiny shops, having experience of them. But now it's time for what will probably be the best shop I'll ever have. On ten acres of rural New Zealand, there's room for something a bit more ambitious than a garden shed...

Starting with a clean sheet and no definite constraints certainly makes the task difficult - it's difficult even to specify the problem. However, there's lots of good stuff and helpful advice in this thread, and I hope it helps anyone else who is planning a workshop.

Edited By Kiwi Bloke 1 on 15/09/2018 12:06:31

Edited By Kiwi Bloke 1 on 15/09/2018 12:11:21

Might be worth looking at some of the American forums for inspiration, they tend to have much bigger “shops” than us Brit’s.

Talking of ingenious use of space reminded me of buying a tool and cutter grinder from an old guy over manchester way, he had a very impressive workshop in the cellar of his terraced house.

The only way in to the cellar was a very steep narrow staircase with limited headroom, accessed through the kitchen.

When i marvelled at how he got all the machinery in, which included a hardinge lathe, he laughed and said

“ Oh that’s now’t, i had a couple of Bridgeports down there at one time “

It's alright for people in certain parts of the world who have plenty of space. My son lives near Darwin in Australia and his "garden shed" is bigger than my house. He isn't a model engineer. In the UK I have to make do in a 10 by 20 ft garage. With a bench either side and storage racks, I can fit in a mini lathe, a small mill/drill on one side and a bench drill and home made tool grinder on the other. What available space is left has to be used for everything else. Operations involving large amounts of sawdust are done outside.

Hi , as a fellow Kiwi, you have a fair choice of sheds available here in NZ, there are Skyline and Versitile, they do more than just garages, then there are outfits like Goldpine, and they do other than hay sheds, infact if you get one of the latter at the moment you'll go in the draw to win a Gator (to the uninitiated, a small 4 wheeled farm vehicle), They have 2 sheds in the latest flyer, the Angus Barn, it has 3 bays, so it has a floor area of 12 M x 8 M, and 3 M height. Or the Jersy Lifestile Barn, its 9 M x 9 M X 5.2 M high, and a 4.5 X 9 leanto down one side, They have a 22% discount at the moment. I imagine these Colour Steel clad sheds are unlined.

My shed is a double Skyline garage with a single front door(originally 6 M x M), I extended it 3 M.

Ian S C

If building space is not a restriction perhaps the way to go about it is to build something you can extend ad infinitum. So build to the width you might like and can easily span, say 12ft, by a multiple of 8ft (because sheet are that size) and when full extend the 8ft dimension to 16ft, etc. until you need a bicycle to get down the length to where you left the spanner....

They do suggest cooks when designing their ideal kitchen should think twice about over extending and keep everything within a couple of steps of the sink. The equivalent for us would be mill, lathe, and main bench forming 3 sides of a square only 4 or 5 feet gap in which you stand and can reach each easily. Then put the storage and lesser machines wherever is left outside that core workspace.