Shop Layout Help.....

[Guest]

I just cleared off a wall in my shop that's about 15 feet wide. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best use for that wall. I could build shelves, or put up Peg board, or a combination of the two, or leave it bare are put tool chests there, etc.. I'm wondering what ideas people have for getting the most bang (Storage wise and usefullness) out of a 15 foot wall.. I'd say I can come out 3 feet from the wall if I were to build shelves, etc..

Anyone have a pictures of their shop walls?

-Adrian

[aboard_epsilon]

The method I use for very strong shelves is to ..
Get some one inch wide by quarter thick steel.
cut into lengths of about 4 foot.
drill your anchor bolt holes into them.
weld onto these at 90 degrees, heavy 1x1x11 inch steel box section as the shelf suports.
three supports for 4 foot lenghts or 4 for 5 foot lenghts......

paint and screw into rows down the wall
four foot apart.......no more or you will end up with sagging shelves.
buy plastic end-caps/plugs for the 1x1's...avalable from any fabrication shop
use solid wood board plained all round as your shelves inch thick by 12 inches wide.
they over hang by one inch ..makes for a finished look.
what you will end up with is the strongest..easyiest and cheepest to build shelves imaginable.
capable of suporting 200lbs on each shelf
plus you will have 4 or 5 feet below them of more space to use how you like.
the above method is for a brick,concrete or block wall.
all the best...mark

[This message has been edited by aboard_epsilon (edited 06-25-2005).]

[JRouche]

This storage solution is only good for a wall that wont have anything in front of it, such as my back wall for the garage. The "cubby holes" are about 14" deep by 9" high and 11" wide. I think there are 144 of them, or so. The whole unit along with the doors is about 25" deep. If interested I'll go into how I built them. JRouche


There are three sections, each with a door.

Right side closed



Right side open



Left side closed



Left side open



Middle open





[This message has been edited by JRouche (edited 06-25-2005).]

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

I'm trying to find something to do with that wall that will help give me more floor space and allow me to store as much stuff with it as well. I was thinking maybe some rolling tool chests that are large enough for most of the things I would place on sleves.. Does anyone have a setup like this? I just copy/pasted this together as an idea for my wall:



I'd like to be able to put both bulky items (Air tools), and also lots of smaller items (Bolts/hardware/etc) in something like those chests.. I think being able to roll them out of there mught be handy too and have the bear wall again..

-Adrian

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

JRouche,

That's really nice. I was actually thinking about building something like that (Just the cubby holes). One of the problems I'm trying to solve, if I have a ton of misc stuff and right now I have stuff in boxes, and bins, and since I can't see the stuff I have, I forget that I have it, so I never end up using it. I wish there was a way to organize my stuff so I can see all of it. I was thinking that drawers might be easier for me because I'll end up putting items behind items on shelves, and I won't be able to see the items at the back..

The problem with drawers, Is I'll only know what's in them if I use them frequenty..

-Adrian

[JRouche]

I had the same problem. More of the junk, I mean very important future necessities are small. I made the top ones without a three inch lip, basically allowing me to see the entire cubby. The lower ones have a three inch front lip to retain very small or loose items..I know exactly what I have now. JRouche

[ibewgypsie]

I put duct tape with items-listed on my roll-around. About figured them out now top lid won't close, it's too full.

I put a rows of shelves up high for hte bushels of books I have. A 24"'er over the lathe holds my beer fridge and stereo, a metal rack next to the mill holds the mill tools and lathe tooling. Never enough room. The roll-around table I built to hold the indexer has assembly of parts on it. Doing too many things in too small of a space for sure.

Never have enough shelves. Put them up high out of the way. I have about three feet of books devoted to just the mill. I at least know where they are. While they were in th ehouse I didn't.

[Tinkerer]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 3 Phase Lightbulb:

I just cleared off a wall in my shop that's about 15 feet wide. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best use for that wall.

I'm trying to find something to do with that wall that will help give me more floor space

-Adrian</font>

Hang a door on the wall to accesses a addition...

If you place it to one side or the other you can still put up some shelves.

I Like JRouche's idea.

[john hobdeclipe]

Send it to me, freight prepaid…I could really use 15 feet of clear wall space!

Find an auction that is heavy with office furnishings or the like. Buy some steel 2-door cabinets. Put them on homemade pallets. Then buy a pallet jack. Now you can line the cabinets up along the wall, and as you needs change, or if you need to change your shop layout, you can easily move these around. You can line them up two deep, with little-used stuff in the back row.

Just be sure to make the pallets about an inch larger all the way around than the cabinets, and nail down a little wood strip to keep the cabinet from walking off the edge, and keep the heavy stuff down low.

I have everything in my little woodworking shop set up so that I can move it and rearrange it with the pallet jack. It was my wife’s idea…and a good one!

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

I ended up buying some tool chests this weekend for wall storage. I also ordered 5 large deep drawer top chests that fit ontop of the base units but they were not in stock so I have to wait two weeks for them to arrive. Now I need to get a label printer







-Adrian

[Arcane]

3 Phase Lightbulb, that is one of the best ideas for garage storage I have seen!

[CCWKen]

Tool boxes are a terrible waste of wall space and even a poorer method of storage. The roll-a-rounds can go anywhere and can be parked back to back, if need be. Shelves/cabinets, benches and drawers make better storage units. I wish I had room for a 15' bench.

Obviously, you don't have enough tools or machinery!

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by CCWKen:
Tool boxes are a terrible waste of wall space and even a poorer method of storage. The roll-a-rounds can go anywhere and can be parked back to back, if need be. Shelves/cabinets, benches and drawers make better storage units. I wish I had room for a 15' bench.

Obviously, you don't have enough tools or machinery! </font>

I tore down the 15 foot bench that was already there because it was a complete waste of space and utterly useless. Talk about a waste of space. This is a before/after picture:

Before:



After:



-Adrian

[Steve Stube]

3 Phase Lightbulb, you should have ordered them empty not full of new tools. Now where are you going to put things?

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Steve Stube:
3 Phase Lightbulb, you should have ordered them empty not full of new tools. Now where are you going to put things?</font>

My shop is getting cleaner and cleaner as I start taking my tools off my shop benches, tables, floor and putting them into the tool chests. The hard part is trying to organize categories so I can quickly find something instead of having to open every drawer when I'm looking for something (That's what I want to avoid).

-Adrian