Basement machine shop? Pros and Cons...

[GummyMonster]

Evening,
So my situation has changed. I've been moving towards setting up my garage for metalwork and for woodworking.
I was going to build a partition and create 2 separate rooms. Mainly to keep sawdust away from the metalworking equipment, and also to make having a really good air filtering and exchange system for just the woodworking side easier.
This would work fine, but involves a lot of work and expense.
However, my oldest son has moved out for college, and my wife wants me to move my office (where I mostly work on firearms), into his old room.
After spending time in it, I realized how big it actually is. There is more than enough room for my work benches, etc from the office, and still lots of room for the benchtop lathe and milling machine.
It would really work well to have both setups in one room.
It also alleviates a lot of expense right now, as the garage would need upgraded heat and electrical to start.
How many of you work in your basement.? Is there any special considerations? Upgraded house insurance?
I have a air filter and exchange system to keep any smoke, vapors out . And I can have a cement, or some type of industrial laminate flooring under the machines.
Looking for a little direction, and possibly some negatives I haven't thought of.
Thanks,
Ken

 

[YYCHM]

PRO - It's nice and warm in the winter

CON - Moving big machines into a basement shop is a PITA
CON - It will eventually get cramped as you accumulate more and more stuff

 

[gerritv]

My metal shop is in the basement and love it. Fortunately there is an outside stairway into the basement.
So far my wife and I (I am73, she is younger) have brought down a 1022 lathe, an Aamco shaper (and then back up again), an early 1900's Cincinnatti Universal grinder (600+lbs) and back up again (thankfully in large chunks), a very heavy metal workbench, 100's of lbs of metal etc.
Some photos of last year's configuration, slightly/greatly improved now.

Derek uses a fridge cart to move stuff down.

I would say it depends in the end on how big your machinery is. I know someone who is moving a Standard Modern 13 into the basement soon, as well as a knee mill. A gantry crane can help, if you have the ceiling height.

 

[PeterT]

More points. Basement machines will make running noise, kind of depends on how many walls, whose ears & their respective hobby tolerance. Check your electric outlets or lack thereof for voltage & amp duty, usually 220v 15A on even lightweight machines. If you angle a machine to go down stairs, make sure & drain the oil (ask me how I know). Depending on size of machines, types of doors, corners etc. some pre-disassembly might be required, which then means re-assembly in-situ. Depending on ceiling height & mill type, head space can get tight so measure mill at full extension including the drawbar extension & think about existing lighting. Generally metalwork smell isn't too bad (cutting fluid, occasional bit of smoke) but its the eyes nostrils of the beholder. If you have a nice floor, it may not stay that way for long. Best is concrete if that's what it is. Factor in storage space for tools, tooling... the necessary stuff that goes along with lathe & mill.

 

[Brent H]

Also remember to account for the type of projects you wish to build- length and weight of stock, weight of final assemblies.

It is great to build a beautiful project but not so nice to be unable to get it up the stairs.

You will also have chips and curly steels to remove

 

[DPittman]

Just like the universe, this hobby tends to expand faster than expected. If you have additional basement volume for that expanse to happen then you will avoid cosmic perlexities. As others have mentioned access to get machinery, material and projects in and out is a major consideration. Dust and chips tend to migrate in all available space. I like to keep a clean work area but keep my house much cleaner than my shop.
Tubalcain is a good example of what can be crammed into a basement and the great things that can come of it.
If you have the possibility of using a garage space for your hobby I sure would lean to that and keep that hobby black hole out in that other universe.

 

[6.5 Fan]

I'm slowly setting up a basement shop, so far a round column mill drill. My daughter and i moved it in pieces. When we built the farm house i insisted the back door line up with the basement stairs, deep freezers, furnace, pressure systems are easier to move. Now just me and the dog so no SWMBO to say no you can't do that.

 

[francist]

I also have my shop in my basement, although in these parts “basements” are typically at grade or a few feet below. So, long flights of stairs into the deep and dark are not a real problem. But, it still means everything has to come and go by man-door only rather than some kind of roll-up garage door which would really be nice sometimes.

I personally am not a big fan of long expanses of bench space. I started working in wood using the traditional one workbench for working, not storing or leaving crap to collect more crap. If it’s not actively being worked on, it doesn’t need a bench. Ergo, I have one open surface for work in each area (machining, wood, weld/grind) and the rest of my space is for tools and machines. They are small, but that means I can have more and a bigger variety.

For me one of the biggest annoyances is ceiling height. The price we pay for our ground level access is typically a 7’ ceiling or just a tad better. I have a chain fall for the heavier machines but it’s pretty comical when the block is just above eye level!

Smells, smokes, noises, dust in the house — well, that depends on who might get annoyed with those. For me it’s a not a concern although shaper chips on the bedroom floor can be a pain.

In short, I think if one wants a successful basement shop it should kept almost as one does the house. I mean, it is the house, just another part of it so keep it that way.

 

[DPittman]

I also have my shop in my basement, although in these parts “basements” are typically at grade or a few feet below. So, long flights of stairs into the deep and dark are not a real problem. But, it still means everything has to come and go by man-door only rather than some kind of roll-up garage door which would really be nice sometimes.

I personally am not a big fan of long expanses of bench space. I started working in wood using the traditional one workbench for working, not storing or leaving crap to collect more crap. If it’s not actively being worked on, it doesn’t need a bench. Ergo, I have one open surface for work in each area (machining, wood, weld/grind) and the rest of my space is for tools and machines. They are small, but that means I can have more and a bigger variety.

For me one of the biggest annoyances is ceiling height. The price we pay for our ground level access is typically a 7’ ceiling or just a tad better. I have a chain fall for the heavier machines but it’s pretty comical when the block is just above eye level!

Smells, smokes, noises, dust in the house — well, that depends on who might get annoyed with those. For me it’s a not a concern although shaper chips on the bedroom floor can be a pain.

In short, I think if one wants a successful basement shop it should kept almost as one does the house. I mean, it is the house, just another part of it so keep it that way.

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Very nice basement shop!

 

[Mcgyver]

nice shop francist

What I did was put the big machines in the garage, and the little ones in the basement. Still ran out of room and both are jammed full. I think I need a 20 car garage

 

[trlvn]

I have one open surface for work in each area (machining, wood, weld/grind) and the rest of my space is for tools and machines.

Very nice! I'm just getting started on a reconfiguration/expansion of my basement shop.

Questions though...do you have a milling machine? Is that a little horizontal mill in the first picture? Just in the past couple of days, I've come to understand space my basic mill/drill needs (~65" W X 44" D).

Do you have a work space for metrology? Aside from the major machines, I'm thinking I need:

1) A space for sanding, grinding and buffing. Preferably at one end to keep the grit from contaminating other areas.
2) Some bench space including the vise. For hand work like assembly, hacksawing, filing, cleaning dirty or oily parts, etc. Probably put the arbor press here, as well? Major tool cabinet needs to be close to hand.
3) Ideally another space for precision measurement/metrology. Surface plate, Jo blocks, height gauge, surface gauges, etc should live here. Ideally need a clean space to work (on clean parts).

Maybe 1 & 2 could be two ends of a longer bench? Dirtier at the sanding/grinding end and somewhat cleaner at the handwork end.

Hmm, maybe 3 should be in a separate room...like my office? Originally, the office was set up with a desk each for my wife and I. Nowadays, however, she has taken over a bedroom and has a desk there for her crafting. That leaves a little-used desk in the office. [Insert evil laugh, here!]

BTW, some houses have a larger walk-in closet than the space that I'm hoping to cram my metalworking shop into!

Craig

 

[francist]

Questions though...do you have a milling machine? Is that a little horizontal mill in the first picture?

Thanks Craig, and others, for the kind words. Yes and yes, that is the little Atlas MF horizontal miller just to the left of the green Keller. I don’t have a vertical mill/drill but I do have a drill press which I don’t think is real obvious between the vertical bandsaw and the outside door on the woodworking side of the shop.

My surface plates (8x12, 12x18) live on top of the red rollaway in my main bench area. They’re at low chest height (rollaway plus two riser drawers) which for the smallish things that I do is fine. I can eyeball the instruments without bending over over to do it. That said, I don’t do enough of it to call the area “metrology”. I have lots of instruments for measuring but no real dedicated space other than the surface plates. They’re covered with 20 mil clear vinyl when not being used that just flops back when I want to get at them.

I think designing a functioning shop is one of the harder things to do all at once. My space has morphed and grown to reflect my interests (er, obsessions) over the course of nearly 40 years. It’s efficient now, but only because I’ve pushed and pulled every direction along the way. The only thing that has really stayed the same is my main bench, and I think that shows for anyone that’s in the space. All things radiate from there, it’s where I am the most comfortable and most equipped with nearly everything important at arms length. Believe it or not, I have 8 functioning vises in the shop.

Another thing that I make use of is an accurate CAD drawing of the space and machines. And not just boxes to represent tools, real drawings that look like the tools or machines because that’s how you’ll know if you can actually use the thing where you want to put it. In a small space, inches can make difference between function or failure. Plus down the line when you want to move something to squeeze in something else it’s a really fast visual to see where you do or don’t have room.

Good luck with the planning, you’ll get there somehow even though you may need to take a couple runs at it. I know I sure did.

 

[YYCHM]

@francist what's the fuel tank about?

 

[Tom O]

Beer keg?
Actually he probably has not converted to natural gas and has a oil tank same as my Dad had in Victoria BC.

 

[YYCHM]

My hobby space is 7.5' wide by 14.5' long

 

[francist]

@YYCHM Yup, 220gal furnace fuel.

 

[Tom O]

Now you need a waste oil furnace and cast some cast iron like Windy hill foundry.

 

[CalgaryPT]

Others have made some great points, PRO and CON.

A PRO that wasn't touched on is proximity to the house/kitchen. It sounds silly, but as you get older you'll find you don't work in one big burst until completion as you may have when you were 20. Instead your projects tend to be multiple intervals interspersed with relaxing, contemplation, research and analysis. So it is nice to be able to just walk up the stairs (be it attached garage or upstairs) to where the real people live, sit down and pace yourself.

CON: If you have a dog, pay particular attention to chips as @Brent H mentions. I have a neighbour who let his dogs hang out in the machine shop (a bad idea). The poor guy sliced his paw open, it got infected, and he almost lost his entire leg. Dogs and metal shops do not mix, and you will bring those chips into the living areas where they stick in the carpet.

CON: Basements aren't a great place for welding or storage of high pressure cylinders and will likely violate your insurance policy. Any hot work such as grinding can be risky as well. If you need compressed air this can be noisy for residents as well.

 

[GummyMonster]

All this input is great. I'm going to move forward with this basement set up.
My current machines are small enough to be carried by my 2 strong boys. The room is at the opposite end of the house from the main living spaces. And I am going to put up soundproof wallboard over the drywal, and on the ceiling, then a plank wall covering. My garage is only 20 steps from the side entrance, and that's where my welding, woodworking, and air compressor will be. I'll run an underground airline to the basement workshop so it's there when needed.
I'm at the beginning of this journey, so projects I'm looking to make will easily fit through walk in doors. If something larger is made, it can be final assembled in the garage. I have a dedicated bench for grinders, sanders and polishing. This and the machines will be on concrete floors painted in quality epoxy type paint.
The rest of the space will have vinyl plank flooring, so will be easy to keep clean. I'll just keep a dedicated pair of shoes inside the door, and vacuum myself off before leaving. This is the first workspace I've set up from the very beginning, so my setup will be adjusted over time.
And the pro about being able to step away and easily go take whatever type break needed is super important to me. I'm still on the long road back from an extremely bad medical condition. I'll be somewhat handicapped permanently. I never know how much energy I'll have or how long I can work steadily, so being able to easily pause is a huge plus for me.
I'm going to try the CAD drawings of the rooms setup, it'll be my first attempt at CAD work, so starting with a basic design will be good.
More questions will follow.
Thanks so far,
Ken

 

[YYCHM]

You've kind of lost me here? You're in the basement now and just moving to a larger basement space?