Large MFT Shop layout- Help me choose

[NDM]

My shop is going to undergo a huge change based around my proposed 4X8 or 5X8 mft table that I will be building. Please help me pick which layout you think will work best. If you have any suggestions on how I can change it up, please feel free to share your idea.
I absolutely love this android app too!! I am currently plotting my whole house! It is called floor plan creator. Check it out.
Hopefully the pic will work.

 

[NDM]

Geez... 33 views and no responses.....Dont be shy...

 

[nclemmons]

Can you provide a bit more detail?  First pass, I like the option 2 with the MFT table between the two doors, but it's not clear if you normally work with the doors open or closed.  Could be in the way if you normally work with the doors open and are hitting them as you place items on the MFT table for either ripping or cross cutting.

1 - what kind of work / projects are you thinking about building?  Sheet goods?  Hardwood lumber?

2 - I don't see any space for things like a planer or joiner, so not clear if you have those but just are not showing them, but to me both are important if you are building furniture or wanting to cut down and clean up for face frames, etc.

3 - what is the 'cabinets' area for?  Is that floor to ceiling, or just base cabinets, because they might interfere if they are on the same side as the MFT table

4 - what are you doing for wood storage?

5 - is that a standard size table saw using the MFT as an out feed table?  Looks like it could be tight against the side wall if you are planning to do either wide or long pieces.

6 - any windows that would bring in light over the MFT table to consider?

neil

 

[NDM]

Can you provide a bit more detail?  First pass, I like the option 2 with the MFT table between the two doors, but it's not clear if you normally work with the doors open or closed. Doors will actually be Bifold and will fold away from the mft. I might actually build actuated star trek doors. Could be in the way if you normally work with the doors open and are hitting them as you place items on the MFT table for either ripping or cross cutting.

1 - what kind of work / projects are you thinking about building?  Sheet goods?  Hardwood lumber? Sheetgoods and hardwoods. Mostly sheet goods though. Different projects really.

2 - I don't see any space for things like a planer or joiner, so not clear if you have those but just are not showing them, but to me both are important if you are building furniture or wanting to cut down and clean up for face frames, etc. planer, jointer, mitersaw, etc...are all on wheels and can be stored in the space for rolling tools.

3 - what is the 'cabinets' area for?  Is that floor to ceiling, or just base cabinets, because they might interfere if they are on the same side as the MFT tableAll cabinets will be same height as the MFT/Tablesaw to serve as outfeed. There will then be upper cabinets similar to your kitchen.

4 - what are you doing for wood storage? wood storage is not an issue. To the left of all this  is my 18X13 concrete crawl space. Some storage will be up on the ceiling  and some is stored in my garage.

5 - is that a standard size table saw using the MFT as an out feed table?  Looks like it could be tight against the side wall if you are planning to do either wide or long pieces.Table saw is a contractor saw that is built into a workstation

6 - any windows that would bring in light over the MFT table to consider?This is my basement but I have tons of flourescent light strips all over the place. I will be centering the strips over the important areas. Its actually ver bright in there. There is more light from the rooms on the other sides of the doors. I will be building frosted glass doors.

neil

Answers are in red above.

 

[MahalaHomecraft]

I think you want your table saw and MFT away from the cabinets.  That's where your sheet good breakdown will be focused so you want that to be in the roomiest area.  If you have it by the cabinets and there are wall cabinets there, those wall cabinets will get in your way more often than you would think.

You might  want to make your MFT a roller, too.  Having a 4' deep table against a wall, that last foot is not the most usable space.  If you can pull it away from the wall to work all around it, though, you get more usable space out of a smaller table.

 

[Scott in Bend Oregon]

Put everything on casters, including the floor standing cabinets.  Then your shop will be easily configured for the job at hand.  You would benefit from have all four sides of the MFT accessible.

 

[Slappy]

if you build the MFT so you can break down the MFT for like just the top could be placed in a panel cart on wheels for when your not needing it .
then have the thing rolled up against a wall on the cart . Panel carts are Very useful when breaking down sheet goods when the  MFT top is in use
you want flexibility to open up large areas of space  IMO 

 

[Wooden Skye]

You mentioned that your tablesaw is in a workstation. Why not add the router table to the saw center so that you can use the MFT for additional outfeed support.  Then I would try to center it within the room.

 

[NDM]

I think you want your table saw and MFT away from the cabinets.  That's where your sheet good breakdown will be focused so you want that to be in the roomiest area.  If you have it by the cabinets and there are wall cabinets there, those wall cabinets will get in your way more often than you would think.

You might  want to make your MFT a roller, too.  Having a 4' deep table against a wall, that last foot is not the most usable space.  If you can pull it away from the wall to work all around it, though, you get more usable space out of a smaller table.

The whole reason for this is because with the mft, i dont have to worry anymore about space for outfeed.  Im going to do basically all the breaking down of sheet goods on the table that is large enough to cut any dimension without having any overhang. Simply, if it fits on the table, then it can be cut any way possible. Anything larger can still be cut but this design will easily break down 4x8 sheets. I might still do everything on wheels but I am trying to build a more of a stationary yet efficient workshop this time.

 

[NDM]

You mentioned that your tablesaw is in a workstation. Why not add the router table to the saw center so that you can use the MFT for additional outfeed support.  Then I would try to center it within the room.

Currently i am working with a tablesaw/router workstation. It is 8ft 4in by 2ft 3in. I now want a stand alone router table because i always seem to build up stuff on the combined workstation. Then i always have to move stuff and take the TS fence off to make long router cuts.

 

[NDM]

Put everything on casters, including the floor standing cabinets.  Then your shop will be easily configured for the job at hand.  You would benefit from have all four sides of the MFT accessible.

I think i will put everything on casters, but i dont plan to move these main parts. My workstation is too heavy to move easily anyway.

 

[Rocky]

Put everything on casters, including the floor standing cabinets.  Then your shop will be easily configured for the job at hand.  You would benefit from have all four sides of the MFT accessible.

I think i will put everything on casters, but i dont plan to move these main parts. My workstation is too heavy to move easily anyway.

Any pictures of this workstation?

 

[NDM]

if you build the MFT so you can break down the MFT for like just the top could be placed in a panel cart on wheels for when your not needing it .
then have the thing rolled up against a wall on the cart . Panel carts are Very useful when breaking down sheet goods when the  MFT top is in use
you want flexibility to open up large areas of space  IMO 

Ill have to figure out what the heck is a panel cart. Lol

 

[semenza]

I would make the MFT ten feet long. That way you can have rail support beyond the size of the 8' sheet.

Seth

 

[Slappy]

if you build the MFT so you can break down the MFT for like just the top could be placed in a panel cart on wheels for when your not needing it .
then have the thing rolled up against a wall on the cart . Panel carts are Very useful when breaking down sheet goods when the  MFT top is in use
you want flexibility to open up large areas of space  IMO  

Ill have to figure out what the heck is a panel cart. Lol

http://www.worthingtondirect.com/industrial-vocational-arts-furniture/narrow-panel-mover.htm
these work well to store sheet stock, doors & a MFT top , you use them to move sheet stock into the shop as well from the drive way .
Just make some collapsible rigs (saw horse hybrid)  to support the MFT top that would/could be used for other support items as well , like out feed rollers  for the TS

any place that sells mover supplies sells these , the above is the thin model ,they have wider ones as well sorta like the ones at Home depot but not as beefy
lotta guys pad the rails with cheap carpet & tiewraps to keep from damaging new sheet stock
the rails on these can be removed for easy access to place a panel/sheet/MFT top  on the cart

 

[NDM]

Put everything on casters, including the floor standing cabinets.  Then your shop will be easily configured for the job at hand.  You would benefit from have all four sides of the MFT accessible.

I think i will put everything on casters, but i dont plan to move these main parts. My workstation is too heavy to move easily anyway.

Any pictures of this workstation?

This is the Workstation and DIY tools that I am using I am using to make the MFT top. Notice the Parf dog that I had machined down to 1/2in in order to center my 1/2in bosch router and I also use it as a pivot to make perpendicular holes. Simply drill a line of 20mm holes and drop the pin in to pivot the track 90 degrees. Many other uses too...

 

[tbear]

layout #2

 

[NDM]

if you build the MFT so you can break down the MFT for like just the top could be placed in a panel cart on wheels for when your not needing it .
then have the thing rolled up against a wall on the cart . Panel carts are Very useful when breaking down sheet goods when the  MFT top is in use
you want flexibility to open up large areas of space  IMO  

Ill have to figure out what the heck is a panel cart. Lol

http://www.worthingtondirect.com/industrial-vocational-arts-furniture/narrow-panel-mover.htm
these work well to store sheet stock, doors & a MFT top , you use them to move sheet stock into the shop as well from the drive way .
Just make some collapsible rigs (saw horse hybrid)  to support the MFT top that would/could be used for other support items as well , like out feed rollers  for the TS

any place that sells mover supplies sells these , the above is the thin model ,they have wider ones as well sorta like the ones at Home depot but not as beefy
lotta guys pad the rails with cheap carpet & tiewraps to keep from damaging new sheet stock

Ah Thats it.... [big grin]

well that is sort of like the Idea that I had for my portable mft. Picture a cross between the panel cart, Mft top and a panel saw. The mft top would be connected on one long side. The other side would be able to rotate down and lock on an angle. You could then put a couple dogs in the bottom to support the sheet on to the Angled MFT sheet. I realized quickly that it would not be able to be used to rip sheets like a panel saw because the blade would get pinched as the sheet dropped from gravity. You could use this to cross cut though. Actually, thinking about it now, All you would have to do is clamp the top half so it would not drop......Hmmmmm [scratch chin]

I am trying to build a shop that will be stationary. I dont really want to have to roll equipment all over the shop and reconfigure each time I want to do something different.  I used to do the rolling shop thing when I was in a 3rd car part of the garage at my old house. In my new home the entire half of the basement is mine o mine until I build a 3rd car portion tandem to my 2 car garage.  It will make my small 2 car garage into a 3.75 car garage. But that will be some years while I save up for the renovation. I am going to build a massive master bedroom suite over the 3.75 car garage. It will end up being about 29X34 [jawdrop] to fit a Master bath, Closets, and Master bedroom. plenty of space I would say.

 

[NDM]

if you build the MFT so you can break down the MFT for like just the top could be placed in a panel cart on wheels for when your not needing it .
then have the thing rolled up against a wall on the cart . Panel carts are Very useful when breaking down sheet goods when the  MFT top is in use
you want flexibility to open up large areas of space  IMO  

Ill have to figure out what the heck is a panel cart. Lol

http://www.worthingtondirect.com/industrial-vocational-arts-furniture/narrow-panel-mover.htm
these work well to store sheet stock, doors & a MFT top , you use them to move sheet stock into the shop as well from the drive way .
Just make some collapsible rigs (saw horse hybrid)  to support the MFT top that would/could be used for other support items as well , like out feed rollers  for the TS

any place that sells mover supplies sells these , the above is the thin model ,they have wider ones as well sorta like the ones at Home depot but not as beefy
lotta guys pad the rails with cheap carpet & tiewraps to keep from damaging new sheet stock
the rails on these can be removed for easy access to place a panel/sheet/MFT top  on the cart

I think I will break out the old welder, plasma cutter and my hydro/Electric pipe bender and make one of those panel carts. I am absolutely certain that can build one for less than $275. I might even have 85% of the steel already left over from my DIY smoker build.

 

[Kev]

I'm looking at this thinking "what would I do", so don't look at my thoughts as criticism.

I'd split the MFT into two or three separates with the option to sit them a little differently ... 3 x (3x5) gives some interesting options (9x5 through to 15x3 ... I'm thinking how cool it'd be for working on balsa longboards and SUPs) ... certainly on wheels though.

I'd make provision for a bandsaw and associated DC.

With some serious innovation, a panel cart and a 3x5 MFT with a swing over top could be the same creature ...  [cool]