There are many things to consider when setting up a joinery at home. Homework can be
somewhat intimidating, and even professionals find decision making difficult.

This is easy to understand when you consider that, for a professional, their livelihood depends on
production. The faster you are able to get the project out the door, the faster you will get
paid out. No pressure here, right?

The situation is not so critical for hobbyist carpenters, although the level of enjoyment
your experience will be much greater if your work area is well organized. Frustration
experienced in finding your “stuff” is quite irritating.

If you share an area with cars and washing machines, it is even more important to take
care in its design. (Free woodworking design software is available on my website.)

If I had to work in a small space, I would consider a multipurpose tool, such as a workshop.
Actually, before I owned a carpentry shop, I used a workshop owner for several years. A lots of
of my first orders were made on this machine. I just didn’t have room for each
machine available to work wood, nor could he afford them.

Another advantage is that you will probably find a good used machine, bought by someone who thought
they would like to try carpentry. (kind of like those exercise machines, with
clothes hanging from them). These machines can have less than ten hours on them.

On the downside, they require a lot more planning, when switching from a role to
other. I can’t say I don’t prefer dedicated machines, but they require a lot more
space.

Most freestanding home store machines are small enough to stand on mobile stands. This
it will be a great asset in small spaces. You can keep everything against the wall and throw
remove it as needed.

If your space is in the house, such as the basement, you will need to be very aware of
dust and noise. Your spouse will not appreciate all your good projects, if you keep the
children wake up or have a dust trail around the house.

A false ceiling will do wonders to reduce the noise level, as will sound insulation between
the rafters. Another way to handle this is to make early use of the machinery and save the
manual labor for later.

Dust can be controlled by religious use of a dust collection system, even if it is just a
shop vac, hooked on machines. There are several brands of room dust collectors that
it hangs from the ceiling and does very well to keep the air clean.

Try to distribute your tools in the order they are used. That is, an assembler next to the table saw.
makes sense. A scheduler alongside an assembler also makes sense. If you consider the types of
projects you want to do, and the order in which you do it, the layout will be easier to determine.
Electricity is another item to consider, but the use of extension cords will make this not
critical factor. Just make sure the cables are heavy enough for the tool or machine.

Also, the quality of your tools will play an important role in your enjoyment of this hobby. Poor
quality tools lead to poor quality results. It is much better to have some good tools than to have
I have a lot of garbage.

There are many things to consider, but it is better to do most of it before installation, than to have to
change everything later.

The old adage: “There is never enough time to get it right, but there is always enough time to do it again”, is
very applicable here too.