Prototyping

How I went about it

1. Mockups

   I’ve drawn up so many different versions of my dream workshop, it has literally kept me up at night once or twice… or more. However, I know I have some issues with taking virtual dimensions and bringing them to real-world space, so I cut up several cardboard boxes and screwed them together with some scrap pieces of wood.

   I started with the tools that will be accessible at the top of the workbench:

   • Table Saw: 26 x 22 x 15
   • Miter Saw: 21 x 16 x 36
   • Drill Press: 10 x 18 x 23
   • Router Table: 33 x 19 x 18

   I then made cardboard mockups for my other tools:

   • Planer: 26 x 18 x 14
   • Air compressor: 8 x 20 x 17

   Lastly, I made a box for what I’d like to have accessible on top, and that is the sanding station (24 x 12 x 6).

2. Calculating the dimensions

   Back to high school with some math and some voodoo pythagorean stuff to get an idea of the space I need for my tools to be able to flip or fold under my workbench and allow to come up flat. Since I want everything to be flush with a store-bought workbench, I’ll keep the work surface at 35″ off the floor.

   Table Saw cabinet specs

   To protect the motor and blades, I’d like to flip the table saw along the 26″ width, leaving the 22″ deep and 15″ tall faces to rotate.

   A minimum of 26 5/8″ is required for the saw to flip without issues, allowing 8 3/8″ before the floor.

   Miter Saw cabinet specs

   @todo

   Drill Press cabinet specs

   I’d like the miter saw to take up the least possible space, so I’m thinking the drill press could flip through the side rather than through the front of the cabinet. My consistent dimension would therefore be along the 18″ depth, leaving the 23″ height and 8″ width to spin.

   To allow the drill press to flip, I would need 24 3/8″ of clearance, leaving 10 5/8″ until the floor.

   Router table cabinet specs

   The router table will flip along the 33″ width, flipping along the 18″ and 19″ sides. This requires 26 3/16″ of space, leaving only 8 13/16″ until the floor.

   Planer cabinet specs

   @todo

   Sanding station cabinet specs

   I think a good working dimension for the sanding station is somewhere around 12 inches deep, 18 inches wide, and somewhere around 6 inches deep to allow for a 4″ extraction.

   I’d like this to flip along the 18 inches, so the 6 and 12″ dimensions require a minimum of 13 7/16″ of space to move around freely, leaving 21 9/16″ until the floor.