New Workshop layout, your thoughts please.

[Cabinetman]

I’m planning the lighting and sockets for my new 12ft x 21ft workshop ceiling height is 8 ft. After much deliberation I am going for 4’ led tubes 4000k 95 CRI 1800 lumens per 4’ tube giving 10,800 for 6 or 14,400 for 8. The beam angle is very wide at 120° which equates to a spread of about 17 feet at bench height, these are quite expensive fittings with no flicker / strobe.
On the plan below the sockets are marked in red and the tubes in blue, not sure if I need the two going across the room or not?
The main door to the workshop is in the centre of the LH wall, the other door shown will hardly ever be used. For scale the pencil marks along the bottom edge are 2 ft apart, these gap between the saw ( and planer/thicknesser and spindle) and the bench is 2’9”.
All thoughts welcomed. Ian

 

[duke]

Maybe this will help, I have two zones. Plenty of light and the ceiling is at 12 '. Don't know the total lumens.

 

[Mike G]

I don't know about the lighting, Ian. Leave your wiring accessible so that you can add to the array if you find it necessary.

I would just comment on your layout, though. Why do you need access to both sides of the bench? Having it out in the middle of the floor like that makes it a bit wasteful of space to my mind. And my bandsaw is used a lot for ripping longer lengths of wood, so having it tucked into a corner like that wouldn't work for me. If you were making a piece of large furniture, such as a table, a dresser, a chest of drawers, or even a bookcase, where would it stand as you were building it? You seem to have closed down your floor space quite a lot.

I hope you're after that sort of input. If not, please take it as well-intentioned, and ignore it completely.

 

[AndyP]

Being as you asked; my limited experience of a limited sized workshop has taught me a few things.
Paint the walls and ceiling white; it will make a lot of difference to the lighting
There will never be enough sockets in the right place; surface mounting them makes for easy upgrades.
Wall cupboards can be hung on french cleats for easy rearranging.
Flush floor sockets might be useful.
However ever well planned you think it is after a few years you may need to change things.

Oh and stuff expands to fill the space made available for it.

 

[Mike]

I painted the ceiling and walls in my shop flat white. I can't remember the rating of the LED fixtures, but each section of my shop has four double-tube fixtures.

My MFT-style assembly table is on wheels and the Sjöbergs bench is stationary along one wall under my tool board. The ceiling mounted LED fixtures are about as far away from the bench as they are in your plan. I had to add additional LED tubes above the Sjöbergs bench to fill in the shadows I create when working at the bench.

 

[Cabinetman]

Maybe this will help, I have two zones. Plenty of light and the ceiling is at 12 '. Don't know the total lumens.View attachment 58107View attachment 58108View attachment 58109

Thanks for doing that Scott, what sort of size are the areas please?

I don't know about the lighting, Ian. Leave your wiring accessible so that you can add to the array if you find it necessary.

I would just comment on your layout, though. Why do you need access to both sides of the bench? Having it out in the middle of the floor like that makes it a bit wasteful of space to my mind. And my bandsaw is used a lot for ripping longer lengths of wood, so having it tucked into a corner like that wouldn't work for me. If you were making a piece of large furniture, such as a table, a dresser, a chest of drawers, or even a bookcase, where would it stand as you were building it? You seem to have closed down your floor space quite a lot.

I hope you're after that sort of input. If not, please take it as well-intentioned, and ignore it completely.

Yes thank you Mike, all very helpful! The bench, well I’ve never had a freestanding one before and the whole bench is going to be a bit of a testbed for some ideas I’ve got. But you are right that end area needs to be looked at again, particularly as you say if I’m building a larger piece. I think I shall be cutting down on the size of the assembly table 2. Bandsaw is just for curves or a bit of re-sawing to my mind.

Being as you asked; my limited experience of a limited sized workshop has taught me a few things.
Paint the walls and ceiling white; it will make a lot of difference to the lighting
There will never be enough sockets in the right place; surface mounting them makes for easy upgrades.
Wall cupboards can be hung on french cleats for easy rearranging.
Flush floor sockets might be useful.
However ever well planned you think it is after a few years you may need to change things.

Oh and stuff expands to fill the space made available for it.

Definitely will be painting it all white you’re right. Sockets, I surface mounted them last time and tbh I found the trunking and conduit was inevitably in the way. So I’m fitting a few more than I think I’ll need this time particularly as a lot of my stuff is battery powered now.
I’m lucky in that I’ve got a whole barn to store all my “stuff” in so I think the 6’ high cupboard which is quite large and left over from the kitchen will be plenty large enough for anything that might be affected by rust.
How right you are that whatever my thoughts are now things will be need to be altered later, luckily all the equipment and furniture is on wheels. Ian

 

[Cabinetman]

I painted the ceiling and walls in my shop flat white. I can't remember the rating of the LED fixtures, but each section of my shop has four double-tube fixtures.

My MFT-style assembly table is on wheels and the Sjöbergs bench is stationary along one wall under my tool board. The ceiling mounted LED fixtures are about as far away from the bench as they are in your plan. I had to add additional LED tubes above the Sjöbergs bench to fill in the shadows I create when working at the bench.

Thanks Mike, so you have 8 tubes, what size of room is that pls? I certainly am anxious that it will be a bit dim in mine. Not too worried about shadows over the assembly table as I can add a work light for the occasional time I work on it, mainly used for storage of parts etc.

 

[Stuart]

The thing with workshops is they’re very personal to you and how you work. I found the ability to work from both sides of my bench quite useful at times. What I did do was mount it on some of those castors designed to lock up or down and they proved extremely useful depending on what I’m working on.

I’ve also got one of those power cube socket setups hanging from the ceiling. Very useful instead of trailing cable everywhere.

My workshop is small and having everything on wheels gives me the ability to move stuff around as needed, almost essential for me and space availability.

 

[Cabinetman]

The thing with workshops is they’re very personal to you and how you work. I found the ability to work from both sides of my bench quite useful at times. What I did do was mount it on some of those castors designed to lock up or down and they proved extremely useful depending on what I’m working on.

I’ve also got one of those power cube socket setups hanging from the ceiling. Very useful instead of trailing cable everywhere.

My workshop is small and having everything on wheels gives me the ability to move stuff around as needed, almost essential for me and space availability.

Oh good thanks, yes my bench will be up and down on wheels too. I have also planned for a socket off to one side near the bench from the ceiling so it’s there when and if needed. I deliberated about having it directly over the bench and thought that would mean the cable being on the bench top and in the way, so rather have it over my shoulder particularly when routing.
Ian

 

[GaryR]

I just added essentially the same strip lights to my garage shop. 500 square ft, 8 ft ceilings as well, 11 fixtures x 3600 lumens per fixture for roughly 80 lumens per square foot. It is a little brighter than that, though, since the lights are clustered more toward the back of the garageThe rows are 5 ft apart and the ends of the rows are 4 ft from the walls.. Call it 100 lumens/sq ft. It is bright enough everywhere for general work, and I've added one more hanging fixture over my bench to help with close work.

 

[Robert]

I worked in lighting but not lighting design (how many lights and where). These days there is AI to work that stuff out for you. Google AI says detail bench work needs 750 lux. It also says your 8 lights will give an average illumination of 370 lux at bench height. Note average - around the walls will be less than in the middle where you have the lights. My guess is you'll be OK. You can always add a task light to a place where you do fine detail.

 

[Mike]

Thanks Mike, so you have 8 tubes, what size of room is that pls? I certainly am anxious that it will be a bit dim in mine. Not too worried about shadows over the assembly table as I can add a work light for the occasional time I work on it, mainly used for storage of parts etc.

I have two shop areas in the basement with a 212cm ceiling height (just under 7 feet). I installed an electrical distribution sub-panel and ran lots of single and three-phase branch circuits in both areas.

This area is 5 x 4.5 meters and has all of the large machines that require connection to the large dust collection system. The four double tube fixtures (eight tubes total) provide enough light. The bandsaw, router table, and belt/disc sander are shown in their storage locations and they don't interfere with the operation of the sliding saw. The OSB panel on the back wall is for the sliding saw accessories.



This is the other side of the same room with the spindle moulder and drum sander moved out of the way and the jointer/planer tucked away in the corner. Except for the sliding saw and miter station, all machines are mobile so they can be moved into the other room as needed to make space. It can be inconvenient, but the shuffle game works and requires a bit of thought to the workflow.



This adjacent room is 5 x 5 meters and shows the reorganization in progress (please excuse the clutter). This area is for the hand tools and small powered tools. At the time this photo was taken, I was still setting up the tool wall and had not installed the two smaller single tube fixtures over the Sjöbergs bench. This area has only one three-phase circuit behind the drill press. When I was laying out the shop, I was going to buy a large floor stand drill press, but received a great deal on this smaller tabletop version.



This is the other side of the same room showing the clamp rack. My wife rolls her eyes when I tell her you can never have enough clamps. To the right of the clamp rack out of view in the corner is the computer workstation.

 

[Inspector]

Mike if that's cluttered then you better not come into my shop. I've eaten in restaurants that had much much worse kitchens.

Ian my shop is 24'x 28' approximately and the ceiling is about 9' along the short side and rises to about 12' in the centre along the peak. Scissor trusses. It is all clad in OSB and I haven't gotten around to painting it yet in the 10 years we have been here. There are 4 rows of batten lights with 4 battens in each for a total of 16of, 4000 lumen, 6,000K fixtures. Or 64,000 lumens in the 640 square feet. They are on two circuits so I can shut half off should I want. It is very bright with almost no shadows anywhere and I like it big time. My wife, quite a bit younger says it is too bright. At the time I built, LEDs were about a hundred bucks each locally so I bought directly from China for a third of that delivered, taxes etc in. Got 6 for the garage too while I was at it. I would but from them again if the need arose. They provided the copies of the CSA/UL approval certificates when I asked and the electrician installing them was satisfied with the documentation and markings.

My power circuits are around the perimeter, which are 110V, 220V 20amp every 4' or so and a 40amp for the 5hp cyclone. The 5hp air compressor is downstairs in the garage with its own 40 amp circuit. In hind sight having a floor plug or two in the middle of the room would have been nice.

You can never have too much light.
Pete

 

[Mike]

Mike if that's cluttered then you better not come into my shop. I've eaten in restaurants that had much much worse kitchens.

Thanks, Pete. The kitchen is my other domain, so you might be able to imagine how it looks.

 

[Cabinetman]

Thanks a lot for that Gary

I just added essentially the same strip lights to my garage shop. 500 square ft, 8 ft ceilings as well, 11 fixtures x 3600 lumens per fixture for roughly 80 lumens per square foot. It is a little brighter than that, though, since the lights are clustered more toward the back of the garageThe rows are 5 ft apart and the ends of the rows are 4 ft from the walls.. Call it 100 lumens/sq ft. It is bright enough everywhere for general work, and I've added one more hanging fixture over my bench to help with close work.View attachment 58114

Thanks a lot for that Gary that’s pretty much the sort of information I needed, as you say yours works out at 100 lumens per foot squared and mine is almost 60, I intend to try the eight screwed up in place before I put the plasterboard up and if it’s not enough get a couple more but I think it’s probably going to be enough. We shall see.
Ian

I have two shop areas in the basement with a 212cm ceiling height (just under 7 feet). I installed an electrical distribution sub-panel and ran lots of single and three-phase branch circuits in both areas.

This area is 5 x 4.5 meters and has all of the large machines that require connection to the large dust collection system. The four double tube fixtures (eight tubes total) provide enough light. The bandsaw, router table, and belt/disc sander are shown in their storage locations and they don't interfere with the operation of the sliding saw. The OSB panel on the back wall is for the sliding saw accessories.

View attachment 58111

This is the other side of the same room with the spindle moulder and drum sander moved out of the way and the jointer/planer tucked away in the corner. Except for the sliding saw and miter station, all machines are mobile so they can be moved into the other room as needed to make space. It can be inconvenient, but the shuffle game works and requires a bit of thought to the workflow.

View attachment 58112

This adjacent room is 5 x 5 meters and shows the reorganization in progress (please excuse the clutter). This area is for the hand tools and small powered tools. At the time this photo was taken, I was still setting up the tool wall and had not installed the two smaller single tube fixtures over the Sjöbergs bench. This area has only one three-phase circuit behind the drill press. When I was laying out the shop, I was going to buy a large floor stand drill press, but received a great deal on this smaller tabletop version.

View attachment 58113

This is the other side of the same room showing the clamp rack. My wife rolls her eyes when I tell her you can never have enough clamps. To the right of the clamp rack out of view in the corner is the computer workstation.

View attachment 58115

Wow Mike, as said it’s spotless. And well organised and certainly looks well lit! Thanks for the tour.

Mike if that's cluttered then you better not come into my shop. I've eaten in restaurants that had much much worse kitchens.

Ian my shop is 24'x 28' approximately and the ceiling is about 9' along the short side and rises to about 12' in the centre along the peak. Scissor trusses. It is all clad in OSB and I haven't gotten around to painting it yet in the 10 years we have been here. There are 4 rows of batten lights with 4 battens in each for a total of 16of, 4000 lumen, 6,000K fixtures. Or 64,000 lumens in the 640 square feet. They are on two circuits so I can shut half off should I want. It is very bright with almost no shadows anywhere and I like it big time. My wife, quite a bit younger says it is too bright. At the time I built, LEDs were about a hundred bucks each locally so I bought directly from China for a third of that delivered, taxes etc in. Got 6 for the garage too while I was at it. I would but from them again if the need arose. They provided the copies of the CSA/UL approval certificates when I asked and the electrician installing them was satisfied with the documentation and markings.

My power circuits are around the perimeter, which are 110V, 220V 20amp every 4' or so and a 40amp for the 5hp cyclone. The 5hp air compressor is downstairs in the garage with its own 40 amp circuit. In hind sight having a floor plug or two in the middle of the room would have been nice.

You can never have too much light.
Pete

Thanks Pete, again lots of great info! And again it’s 100 lumens per sq ft. If the ones I want weren’t quite so expensive I would splash out now on a couple more, but I’ve still got some other expensive bits to cover before I get it finished.
Ian

 

[AJB Temple]

Hi Ian. To add: my initial thought is that a) you will be putting the assembly table in shadow when you stand at it, and b) the back wall is unlit.

If you plan to do any detailed work (like carving) where you will be leaning over it, then a pull down lamp or Anglepoise is very helpful.

I prefer sockets quite high up so that cables are not trailing over benches. Sockets are cheap - we always need double what we have.

I need my cyclone extractor to be mobile so that I can connect it to moveable tools. The bandsaw has to be mobile to handle long lengths.

Where is your grinding and sharpening station (iron filing central). Where will the chop saw go and where will the belt sander and disk sander go? Will you need a morticing machine (I don't).

I find having a big metalworking vice to be essential. Needs super sturdy position.

I find it very useful to have a powerful extractor fan somewhere (or roof hung filter) to deal with dust in the air.

No lathe?

Where will wood be stored? Racking system for sheet goods, planks, strip & mouldings, dowels etc. I find this aspect is weak in most workshops (including mine).

Best, Adrian

 

[Woodbloke]

You've been into mine Ian, so you know the layout. The assembly table dominates the middle of the 'shop together with an open space about 2m square and it's those two things that determine what and how big your projects will be. The 'Tool Wall' faces West (deliberately) as too much natural daylight falling onto the workbench resulted in 'snow blindness' (or something similar). There's a small mucky metalwork area and in the diametrically opposite corner is the sharpening bench. Lighting is by standard fluorescent tubes which get swapped with new fangled LED tubes when they burn out.





The grey thing hanging from the ceiling is a paper roll used for taking pics; apparently battleship grey is the best background colour - Rob

Edit - no tablesaur, no chop saw but two decent bandsaws, pillar drill, drum sander, pt, extractors, router table and AirPress vacuum bag stand.