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Machine Shop Layout Diagrams

rkwadd

rkwadd

Aluminum
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Location
Virginia
I'm looking for a source for some 2D CAD files of a shop floor. I'd prefer a machine shop, but any manufacturing facility will work. I'm researching process monitoring/optimization and all the software I've seen on the market starts with superimposing machine or workstation data over a floor plan.

Any file format is okay, even just images or PDFs. I don't need to manipulate the layout or anything like that. I've searched online and have found a lot of food processing and a few warehousing examples, but I'd prefer something a little closer to machining if possible.

Any help finding a repository of sample CAD files I'm missing, or a good place to get nearly complete templates would be much appreciated.
 
Call me a neanderthal, but I've used basic polygons to represent machines. I typically just outline the footprint, and then I may have extra rectangles for "safety zones" or fenced areas if needed. So my layouts have lots of rectangles and labels, and nothing descriptive.

Maybe look for fire escape plans / egress plans with a machine shop context. That's another common plan type that may show such 'blocks' and things that you're looking for.
 
Thanks JNieman, there's nothing neanderthal about representative polygons. Based on my limited experience with user interface design, using a 2D CAD layout seems like a ridiculous way to communicate what each machine is and where they are placed relative to one another. The main reason I'm looking for them anyway is they seem to be the accepted standard practice and I need all the credibility I can muster!

I'll check out fire diagrams as well and see if that yields better results.
 
I'm not exactly certain what you're looking for but I have found that the easiest software to make floor plans in is Visio (a Microsoft Office product). It's dragging and sizing shapes onto a scaleable sheet. You can have worksheet tabs just like Excel, export to DXF format, lots of extra shapes like arrows, etc. Very easy to learn. With higher levels, it can do dimensioning, layers and basically becomes a simple 2-D CAD system.

The Dude
 
The only problem with 2D is if they didn't start with an "As Built" floor plan. Such a critter bit me yesterday. Apparently our facility floor plan was not updated by the Architects after the latest addition to the building. Seems the supposedly 50' between support I beams from the last "Older addition (1985)" row to the first "Newer addition (2006)" row is actually 49' 4-1/4" instead of 50'. That missing 7-3/4" has caused me some grief this week.
 
@astroracer That's perfect...thanks so much for the help!

@The Dude I've messed around with Vizio trial versions, and I've got a close colleague that's an ex-Microsofter and is an absolute ace with Vizio. Between the two of us that's a pretty good option. A key piece for this particular project is following existing practices for monitoring a shop, so maybe I can finagle a shop floor diagram and then recreate it in Vizio to avoid showing anything proprietary.

@Tonytn36 Haha my wife's family lives in England, mostly in 400+ year old homes. The only thing they ever use for floor plan is "as measured," cause it probably wasn't square when built and sure as hell ain't square now (they don't say "ain't" there, though)
 
Cutout squares in small scale of the footprint and working areas of your machines and arrange them on the table. Real easy to play with different designs.

One other thing to add, if you have any surface grinders keep the spark side away from other machines. And keep bench grinders on the other side of the shop if possible.
 
@Spyderedge Thanks, I have done that before with graph paper particularly for small layouts. In this case it's got to be digital, though. I'm following what I've seen as the industry standard for shop floor monitoring software dashboards.

@solidworkscadman I also prefer 3D, but for this exact project I'm going 2D. The majority of monitoring software I've seen uses 2D layouts. The thing I'm actually exploring here is extracting data from multiple CNCs, sensors, etc., so I'm trying not to deviate from what people are used to seeing from their shop floor monitoring.



Big thanks to 4GSR for connecting me with some old shop diagram files, just what I needed.
 
Before we relocated this shop I actually built balsa-wood and paper scale models of the machines and used 1/4 inch desk-blotter grid as the floor. At the time you could buy plastic models of all kinds of machine tools, but they were a tad expensive. But real or onscreen, 3D is best, as you can easily see potential clearance or ergonomic issues.

Today if I had to model machines in Solid Works I'd print the little buggers. That could turn into a really fun time sink...
 
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