Making a workshop. Need advice

[Zeppo]

Ok, my wife gave me the OK to turn our garage into a workshop.
I was wondering if people could maybe post some pictures of how they have their shop organized so I can get some ideas on how to do mine.

I got a few good ideas, but would always welcome more.

Thanks,

[NightGod]

Really, the most important things are to have a safe place to store everything and convenient access to all your tools. There's a reason things like pegboard are so popular-they keep stuff out of the way and in easy reach. It's a very personal preference sort of thing, as well and far too hard to answer without having any idea of what sort of tools you own/are buying.

Good general guidelines would be make your shelves deep enough and study enough to safely store large power hand tools (circ saws and routers being the two main things that take up aa fair chunk of space) and invest in some decent quality organizational system-whether it's bins or a steel toolbox or pegboard, spend a extra bit of cash and buy quality because that's guaranteed to be the one thing you will pretty much use forever.

As an aside for BYOAC stuff, pick up one of those big assortments of bolts/screws/nuts/washers you'll see at most hardware stores-it's amazing how many times I had to make a trip to the store to buy one 4 pack of screws for a specific need until I wised up enough to get one.

[TroyO]

I agree that you'll need storage, storage, even more storage and then maybe a little extra storage.

Luckily, as you build up your tool collection, some of it gets cheaper when you can make your own. I have found the following especially useful...

2 walls of my shop (2 car section of a 3 car garage) have workbench made from simple 2x4's which makes for about 22 linear feet of working surface. Under all that I have a shelf for big stuff.

I have pegboard everywhere I could fit it. (I think it was like 4 full sheets, so 32 feet x 4 feet of it)

I have big hooks everywhere I couldn't put pegboard that I use to hold thinks like my crosscutting sled, misc jigs and clamps etc.

I have the plastic snap together shelves seperating the 2 car workshop from the one car parking space. (about 15 linear feet)

I went to the dollar store and got clear plastic bins... pretty much bought them out. I got the shoebox size with attached lids and I think I got 75 of them... and want more, LOL. Handy because I work on so many different types of things... I have my airbrush in one, leatherworking tools in another, sculpting tools in another... you get the idea. I need to do leatherwork I just pull out that bin and make sure to put it back (usually  )

Don't forget the vertical storage too.. I have a lot of stuff that's not used often that's stored up high. Yep, it's a pain to get to but it's less of a pain than working around it everyday for something you use once a year.

Anyway, time spent organizing and actually making a system is soooo much time well spent!

[shardian]

Screw the workshop, do what I'm doing and turn the garage into a gameroom!    The only bad thing is that now I have to find a shed to store all my workshop stuff in...

[Gambit]

My workshop is very small.

Everything I have is portable sized, and I built cabinets with wheels to set things on. When I need to use the table saw I wheel the miter saw back against the wall to make room. Can only use one major tool at a time.

Sucks, but at least I have all the tools and a place to use them.

[javeryh]

I am also curious to hear what people have done (pic would be great!).  My father and I are going to build a workshop in my garage hopefully before the weather gets cold.  I have a 2 car garage and I got the go-ahead fro the wife to dedicate one side of it to the workshop.  I've got a tablesaw, router, drill and jigsaw and a ton of screwdrivers and other small miscellaneous stuff but that's about it.

[Vigo]

I second the pegboard vote. Most useful way to cover your walls, making pegboard cabinets to mount on the walls is a good idea too. That way, you can have cabinets, and still use the surface area for hanging tools.

Fit in drawers wherever possible, and label them. get a vertical drawer tool chest too. The more storage the merrier.

If you have plenty of room in your garage for more tools, it gives you more of an excuse to buy new tools. 

[Angry_Radish]

I'll have to make it out to the garage to take pics, but if you are planning on using the garage for a workshop AND cars, what I did was to get an old solid core door out of the trash (a really tall one), mounted it horizontally to the wall with a piano hinge, and added fold-down legs to the underside.
Makes a nice, sturdy flip up workbench when needed, and takes up almost no room when the cars are in.

[Gambit]

Go to Home Depot, or Lowes, or even Borders book store and look through all the woodworking magazines.  There are alot of books on garage storage.

I have this old issue, I think it was Wood magazine, which had a great section on peg board storage.  It had designs for everything from clamp holders to lumber racks to baskets, all on peg boards.

First you'll need to build a wall down the middle of your garage. Your wife may have given you permission but once she sees all the sawdust and paint overspray all over her car she will give you this look: