I have tripped over things in my 400 sq ft shop since 1992. I outgrew it by 96. Tomorrow I am meeting the realtor banker ect to purchase a new place. The shop is kind of overkill. 53x84 with heat and air. Two air compressors with a dryer and a dust collector, and three cranes, oh and 480 volt 3 phase....now I have to figure out how best to arrange the place. Plenty of room for fabricating, forging, grinding and machining. The building is divided in half. I suppose one side should be forging with everything else on the other side. Any suggestions?

 

Clean and dirty sides; welding, grinding, foundry work, forging on the dirty side.  Machining, benchwork, etc on the clean side.

Of course any good suggestions would be based on what you have and what you do; glass blowing, traditional lacquer work, wood work, precision machining, car repair as well as "Forging"...

I envy you that space! (Of course I have a umpty-ump cousin who has a 100' x 100' shop with a full machine shop and wood shop as well as room to store/work on the combines and tractors.)

TP is right--clean and dirty side.  And while I'm spending your money, you might consider a separate room for an assembly area/cleaner stuff.  Can't tell you how many times a clean bright work area would have come in handy out of the shop to do things like complex repairs on some machine part ...just did one the other day on the lathe saddle with a stack of small pins and parts that would have been nice in a more "dedicated" room than a work table in the main shop area. It also allows you to go back to making dirty work while a fixit is only partially done.

You can also use that room, if designed well, as your tool room.  It's nice to have a lockable separate room for the actual tool boxes of fancier stuff...as well as storage of nuts and bolts, etc that you don't want to get scattered around the shop.  If you have other people working in the shop (and I'm assuming that to be the case due to the size), you really need to add a bit of security to YOUR tools so they don't walk off and you can control who might be digging into them.

Since a big shop can also put you on the OSHA (or equivalent) radar a little more, tank cage somewhere near whatever roll-up door for any "not in use" welding tanks etc.  Plus you should have a flammable liquids storage cabinet.  

Be sure and document a "safety meeting" each month, even if that meeting is only with yourself.  At least around here, that documentation is the first thing that they ask for because inspectors know that instant fine is what pays their salary--almost everyone gets nailed on that.

And of course more fire extinguishers than you ever think you will need.

Gee...spending your money is easy :-) 

Oh...the  other big OSHA gripe is extension cords.  Any fixed machine is supposed to be hard-wired and cannot be on an extension cord or "plug" in theory (without going into details or exceptions).  That one is dumb in my book but to them, it's a place to poke you.  That means good planning on your electrical availability around any machines--don't assume you can just run a "soft" cord the 25 feet to the nearest outlet if some machine itself is bolted down.

I think both the tax man and the electric company will LOVE you  

How do they bill 3 phase power usage in your area? 

Well, how did the meeting go? Set a move in date yet?

We close in mid december. Assuming all goes as planned with the bank. 

Any updates???

Moving a blacksmith shop sucks! I have most of the small stuf. Starting to get the machines moved to thier new spots. This place is cavernous. It is taking some getting used to, but I look forward to it being usable soon. My last move was one trip in a pickup, over 25 yrs ago...

My last move was 1 flat bed semi truck + 3 pallets sent common carrier since we ran out of room---1500 miles and that didn't include the forge, anvil and basic tools that rode out with me so I wouldn't go crazy waiting 7 months for the forge move to happen.

I'm hoping that the next move will involve all the kids and grandkids and leftovers at an estate sale...

I don't even want to think about out next move, I'll probably sell of all but a minimum kit. Looking good Jason how soon till you start getting the floor dirty?

Frosty The Lucky.

My late FIL used to say three moves is as good as a fire.

I was in my first shop for 30 some years. Moved 6 times over the last 10. Final move was complete last December just before winter set in. Moving a shop is a real test of your metal(mettle