Ideal Workbench Placement
Tagged: workbench workshop
- This topic has 7 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 5 months ago by NikonD80.
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8 October 2018 at 6:05 pm #552592
I’m just getting started with woodworking and I am setting up my workshop in an empty 15ft x 16ft room in my finished basement (see sketch). Since the workbench (which hasn’t been built yet) will be the heart of the place, I’m trying to decide the best location to position it. Three of the four walls have doors. There is one exterior door and one interior door approximately opposite one another. There is a door on the third wall that leads to a 5ft x 11ft closet. The wall with the exterior door also has a large window (8ft wide x 4ft tall) facing north-ish, but it does not provide great light due to a deck above it on the exterior.
The bench itself won’t be the standard Paul Sellers model but something similar (approx 2ft wide x 7ft long) with a leg vise and a wagon (tail) vise. I am right handed so the leg vise will be on the left front leg and tail vise on the right end.
So, if you had this space and bench, where would you place the workbench and why?
I know I can move it around after the fact but I’ll need to add ceiling lighting (2 dim can lights at the moment) and the placement and orientation of the ceiling lights is somewhat dependent on where I put the bench.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.8 October 2018 at 6:50 pm #552594I think you’ll find that putting the bench against a wall is seriously limiting at times if you make bigger pieces but many people do it that way. My arrangement is somewhat similar to what you see in Paul’s video’s. I have a 2′ base cabinet against one wall with a tool cabinet above and about a 3′ walkway separating it from my bench which is 3’x6′ and that is centered in more or less a 20′ deep garage bay. That gives me great access to all sides and ends of the bench and I like that. I’ve got power tools in there too like a band saw as you can see, but I think you have enough room for something similar. Lighting is like clamps, you’ll never have enough. A couple of can lights won’t even be a start. I’ve got six 4′-4 tube florescent fixtures in a 20′ x 20′ area plus another 2 tube fixture over the bench, plus a local LED fixture that I can move around on the bench and that still isn’t enough at times.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.8 October 2018 at 7:58 pm #552596I like Mr Wheeler’s advice. Workbench in the centre provides a lot of manoeuvrability and flexibility. And light is important – last winter I invested £40 in 4×30″ LED lights above my bench and this has helped me tremendously. These are arranged in an “I I I I” formation – each light is 90 degrees to the bench and they are around 30″ apart. This throws an even light across my whole bench area. I hope this helps…
Sometimes when there are many options so that it’s hard to choose, you can find constraints that limit things down. For example, in my case, I have limited ceiling height. I decided I wanted my lighting to be up between the joists rather than hanging below so that I’d gain a few more inches. Given the location of other services, e.g., HVAC, there were only a few places I could put my ceiling lighting. This then determined the general location of my bench. I prefer to have the bench away from the wall so that I can work from any side.
If you have any constraints that affect how you build, have a look at them and this may help you limit things down.
10 October 2018 at 12:55 am #552616After I first built my bench, I placed it against the wall, and it was fine. Then I moved it out from the wall for a few years, and I like that also. Nowadays I have it back against the wall again, and I expect to keep it that way. Sometimes I have to throw a piece of plywooed over a pair of sawhorses for some tasks, but that is no big hassle. It’s all a matter of your methods of work and personal preferences, and those are likely to evolve over time.
As you noted, you can move things around. In my opinion, the most important element of planning is to maintain the versatility of your space. Another way to plan in versatility is to avoid dedicated fixtures for all of the lighting. Instead install some switched receptacles in the ceiling. Then you can move shop lights around without having to rewire.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Tim Ridolfi.
22 November 2018 at 3:46 pm #553410I’d personally start by trying it against the right hand wall in your diagram. You’ll probably want different things in different places, but the only way to know what works best for you is to get working and see how things develop. For example, you might decide you want a bandsaw or a thicknesser-planer, so will need lots of length for the in and out-feeds.
Paul does have a video showing the fitment of retractable castors to the bench, making it easy to move around. Be prepared to make changes as and when you find the need, and don’t be afraid of trying different things.
Over the years, my workbench has moved around the workshop several times.
I’ve had it against one wall, then under a largish window, moved if to the centre of the room and then moved it back again.For general work, I now keep it up against one wall so I have as much floor space as possible but for a really large piece, I may drag the bench through 90 degrees and have one end sticking out into the room if needed.
I often find that one of my biggest problems is not the actual workspace but things like timber storage and most importantly, storage of the piece I’m working on. For example, I’m currently building a 36″ by 18″ hope chest for my daughter; that’s a lot of floor space out of use for anything else while it’s being made. I also have several other projects on the go at the same time (all at different stages of completion) as I’ve recently had to start trying to make a living at woodworking (got made redundant) so I don’t have the luxury of making one thing at a time.
What I’m trying to say is that no matter how much you plan, this is very much a “suck it and see” type of thing. I’d be inclined to keep things as flexible as possible while you work out how you’re going to work in your new shop.
No matter what you do though, I hope you have a lot of fun in your new workshop.
Jon -
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