Workshops tend to evolve over time and you don't always get the chance to plan as much as you may want to. However having a vision of where you are heading with your woodworking and what you want to make can help a lot. Follow the steps provided below to help you plan at our perfect workshop. 

1. Check your space

Take a good look at the space allocated for your workshop. Whether you have a garage, an area under your house or a purpose-built shed, the tools you buy will be heavily influenced by the size and shape of the space you have to work in. The smaller the space the more imperative good layout is and no available space should be wasted. It is very useful to be able to change the layout to accommodate larger projects. If you are going to purchase floor-standing machinery, I suggest you mount them on mobile bases so they can be easily rolled to one side when not in use.  

Some machines are just too big to move around and the orientation of your larger fixed machines and workbench can make all the difference to the flow of your workshop. Even if you are lucky enough to have a large workspace, a well-planned layout is still essential. You can walk a lot of extra miles in a large space and easily fill it up with needless things, creating confusion and disorganisation.

2. Make a plan

Drawing a plan on paper is important. You can even make a model that will help you see how things fit in relation to each other. I find it helpful to lay newspaper on the floor folded to the dimension of my machinery footprints, place them where I plan to have them and then walk around a bit see how it feels. The Carbatec Catalogue and most of our product specifications online, contain the footprint dimensions of our floor-standing machinery, so you can do this before you buy anything.

3. Workflow is key

Most of the larger items in your workshop have a relationship to each other. To keep the flow of your workshop running smoothly, position your machines in such a way that once a particular process is finished, the machine for the next stage is close at hand. Also, face them in a direction that doesn't involve a lot turning around of material. You will be grateful for this when machining long boards. The jointer and thicknesser are logically companion machines and will most likely share a dust extractor. Because they produce a lot of shavings, you will want to position them so the extraction hose is as short as possible to ensure maximum efficiency of your dust extractor. It also works well if your table saw is in-line with the thicknesser so after dressing your material you are easily able to size it.

Put special thought into positioning your saw bench, it needs as much space around it as possible, especially if you have a sliding table. You want to be able to move freely and safely around the whole saw and allow extra space for easy and safe handling of large boards and panels.

Most importantly, enjoy!!