Shop rotated 90 degrees and sheet storage...

[harryball]

I've been needing to do this for some time but have put it off due to my lack of commitment to a shop layout. Well... yesterday I finally got some time to spend in the shop and all I did was shuffle material. I decided yesterday evening I had to do something since stacking and restacking shuffled sheet goods was killing me, especially on jobs that should be quick.

Using some medium duty industrial shelving I dug out of our barn I knocked some sheet storage together and changed my shop layout 90 degrees to match the bot. My shop is a mess, but it's coming together. Take a look...

Here is the rack

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A view through the rack, it's a straight shot to the bot

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And the shop is a mess, everything was turned 90 degrees for the new workflow. I still have to setup and level things, arrange tables etc... The only compromise is my dust collection hose will be across the floor, but it's a small trade considering.

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Robert

[jamesgilliam]

Robert, I like it. How big is your shop? We just moved into our new shop, 40'x60' and have not arranged things, except for the Shopbot. I wanted it where I could see it from my office, (aka furniture storage room) window. Now if I can get the time to run hard wire to it. Just ran a job using extension cords to power the computer/control box, and router. Lights may be helpful at some point too. James

[harryball]

The shop is actually 27' x 37' and some change on the inside. On the last photo you can almost see the door on the left, that double door enters a room 19 x 31 that is our office area... still being sheetrocked.

Robert

[rookie432]

Gee Rob,
You call that a mess? Looks like a lot of stuff neatly organized in a small space.
Sure wish I had some old industrail shelving out in the barn. I am currently going to have to make a sheet rack similar to that. Tired of watching my sheets bow from storing them on the horizontal edge.
Built a 30x50 shop last fall and still setting up workflow. Hard to dedicate time to the shop when busy tryng to get projects out the door.
Your shop looks great.

Bill

[zeykr]

Nice shop - wish mine were half that organized!

In an effort to make mine better, I've ordered some used pallet rack from American Surplus to use for material storage. Ordered two sections 16' tall and 4' deep with 10 levels and thought the cost was probably less than I could build something similar for. Shipping almost doubled the cost, but still much cheaper than I could find locally. They sell used industrial shelving and many other interesting material handling items. Sales person was wlizotte@american-surplus.com (mailto:wlizotte@american-surplus.com) in case some one is interested.

Another intersting web site I found recently is irsauctions.com with a lot of auctions for woodworking and material handling equipment. Have not dealt with them yet - just drooling over some of the tools listed.

[harryball]

I think it's a mess... I'll have to post a photo when I think it's half way decent for comparison.

If I didn't have this shelving around I would have looked to purchase a rack of some type. It's difficult to build something sturdy enough yet light enough not to consume as much space in rack structure as stored material. I have about 40 sections of this shelving around the farm. This rack consists of 3 sections. We got them free for dismantling them from a local business that closed. It's amazing how useful the stuff is from tables to storage.

It was very nice when I pulled up this afternoon with a load of sheet goods. My wife and I quickly unloaded them onto the rack and nothing is mixed!

EDIT: FYI CompUSA is closing almost all their stores and many of the ones around Atlanta are selling their fixtures direct. Some have those industrial racks in the back. I stopped by the one on Pleasant Hill Rd., nothing I needed but prices were pretty good. Could make useful material storage racks.

Robert

[jamesgilliam]

Robert, Thanks for the tip on where to get the racks. I will have to call around Houston and Austin to see if I can pick some up. Your shop is alot more organized than ours is as you can see in the picture. Everything is supposed to have a place, but I just can't seem to find it. Maybe in a month or so I can get mine as good as yours is. Maybe on our next trip to Atlanta I can stop by and see your shop.

James
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[harryball]

You'd be welcome. We'll be in Austin the first week of September for Bat Fest. If I can remember we'll try to look you up and stop by to say hello.

Your shop doesn't look too bad, you have clear floor space! That's an amazing feat in itself.

Robert

[jamesgilliam]

Robert, The only reason the space is clear is that is the path to move the bot into it's new home. The rest of the shop is cluttered and a portion is home to the things from our old house to go in the new one once I get it built. Funny thing is we needed the shop first in order to be able to build the new house, and the shop will of course be the last thing finished. I can't get to one entire wall for the stacks of boxes, potters wheel and two kilns in the way, not to mention yard equipment, riding mower......

[harryball]

I started to private message... but I feel this information could be of wider benefit. It's show and tell... this is the tell part :-)

Have you considered purchasing a storage container? We purchased a 40' hicube (9' ceiling) for less than $2000 delivered and lined it with shelves. It's weather tight and can be resold or hauled to a new location. It's the best storage we've ever had. I can even drive my JD4310 tractor inside it and lock it up. Storage is a big issue for us, we're considering getting another shipping container in the near future. For the price per sqft it's hard to beat.

On the moving... I feel your pain James, we've been considering moving our home and operation to Wyoming. The shop would have to be the first thing operational.

Robert

[handh]

Robert,

I second the storage containers, we purchased 2 last year, they are all aluminum shipping containers and insulated, they have 9' ceiling height and are 46 feet long. We got them delivered for 1750.00 each and had to hire a crane to set them in place for 250.00. I love them.

[harryball]

Still working on things, here is a quick shop tour. I reduced the images so they should load fairly fast.

My dust collection is still a little chaotic after the move and a few tools and the toolbox in front of the door need new homes but most are set pretty good.

The workbench at an angle is due to an overhead attic door where I store somethings and need regular access. I don't know how I'm going to like the angled arrangement but I'm going to give it a try.

The wall (currently unpainted) was added on the side of the sheet storage and closes in the dust collector and air compressor. I'd say noise has dropped by 15% or so. When I get the insulation and door installed I'm hoping for about a 40% reduction.

The part carts are parked in front of the sheet storage. Those kind of lost their home but I'm thinking since they roll I'll be able to live with moving them to access the sheets.

Still a lot to do but it's going to stay like this a while as I catch up on orders.


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Robert

[zeykr]

nice orderly shop and some very nice tools!
I'm jealous!

[jamesgilliam]

Robert, Looks like you have it going your way. I can only hope that someday when the house is done I will get to set my equipment up where I can get to it. ( and run it without the use of extension cords ) As soon as I can pickup my racks I am hoping to get some things off the slab and have more room to work. Went to see a customer this morning too and may have another sign to do for them. Best news is Jo-Anne's shoulder was not as bad as we thought, simple cleaning of the joint and removal of some bone spurs this morning. Recovery time should be shorter, and she can still use her computer.

[bleeth]

Looks great. Once you close in the dust collector and compressor all the way look out for heat buildup in the room.