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Welding and Machine Shop Layout

modela

Plastic
Joined
Sep 2, 2007
Location
Northwest
Thanks to all for the great help on "how to" books. I have looked up articles and ordered books.

Another area that seems to be lacking is metal and machine shop layout. I find tons of stuff on wood shop layout but little on metal shop design.

By the way, my dad went to high school in L.A. in and industrial arts high school. His senior project was to design and build a three cylinder radial steam engine. We used to fire it up when we were kids. It stood about 10" tall with its turned oak base and its brass flywheel. We also looked through his notes and were impressed. Too bad there are not more of those classes available today for young people.

Jim
 
Welding, cutting and attendent grinding under lean-to, outside the shop. A large diameter pipe embedded in concrete with a heavy steel plate table top, with light anvil, large vise and bench grinder mounted around, electrical outlets under. For a real anvil, you'll need more substantial support.

For years, I got by with a welding/cutting table built from very heavy gauge, (at least 8 gauge) perforated 8" wide structural steel stud cut-off scrap from a job. The many large punch-outs gave lots of points to pass clamps through, careful not to O/A cut over table.

Of course where I live, working outside is OK year 'round and the air is rarely calm, carrying away welding fumes.

Tool grinding separated from machine tools, preferably by a door. Tool post grinding an exception, with great care to cover all sliding parts with oily cloth, cloth tarps on other machines. Roll the tarps off the machines, take them outside to shake. Better yet, put an old cylindrical grinder in the abrasives room, next to your surface grinder and Moore Jig Grinder.


Bob
 
Bob,

Thanks for the tips. I plan to have an exhaust hood over the bench. for the time being I can use my paint booth since it is new and has virtually no paint on it. It is 12' wide 8' high and 8' deep, has a 5 hp. tubeaxial fan with a variable speed control.

My dad took some very heavy 8" x 4" channels and welded them side by side with the open side down for his table top. It was supported by 4 4" pipe legs. It didn't work too badly. Probably could have used a place to cut. I like your idea about looking at a recycling yard for something for the top.

I have tried to design as much as I can on heavy casters to get the most out of my shop space (shops are never big enough).

I planned to support the anvil on a heavy wood base like it once was (strapped to a 2x12.

Nice ideas.

Thanks,

Jim
 
Matt,

I looked up your post and it shows the incredibly wide range of options depending upon what types of things the shop is used for. Although I did feel that the discussion was well worth it. As some of the participants stated that they have changed positions of machinery and layout over time.

Jim
 
There's two all encompassing layout for a general job shop. The U and the I (shot gun). In the U shipping and receiving are at the big shop front door. In the shotgun work comes in the front and goes out the back. The material and job storage/staging are right be the door, followed by the stock prep equipment, saws etc, then the turning and milling machine tools, drills, the burr bench, the assembly dissassembly parts cleaning area, inspection and paper work area also the toolroom, then the shipping station.

The welding area and the media blaster generate smoke and abrasive dust so they are separated from the shop by a floor to ceiling wall and a closable door or curtain.

The larger machine tools are arrayed to take advantage of the crane and the smaller ones installed on mezzinines and under them.

Every section should have a bench grinder associated with it.

Every machine should have its equipment and attachments stored right next to it in cabinets and every item should be clearly marked for the machine they are assigned to.

Every machine should be accessible by crane and or forklift.

Bend the layout to suit your equipment/work niche but arrange it in some logical order.
 
Sometimes shop layout is dictated by properties of the shop that are hard to change for physical or legal (permit, lease) reasons.

So in my shop the big machines are near the power tap and away from the big doors, so they don't block use of the doors. The things that make gases/dust are as far away from the mills as possible (sadly no door) but controlled by a microair smoke/dust collector. Some operations are done next to exhaust venting left over from when the place was a car shop. The compressor is in a cute little spot where only it fits. Likewise the forklift sleep spot.

Don't forget to account for stairs, human doors, poles, sinks, drains, and other hard or impossible to move stuff. And of course you'll want load/unload spaces near the big doors.
 
Thanks for all of the tips I received here. I made a list of some of the basic consideration layout tips and then looked at the participant's shops listed and got some really good ideas. I especially like the use of wood cabinets with machine tools and the way that people have organized their shops.

I am pleased with this forum.

Thanks,

Jim
 








 
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