I know there has been a lot of discussion on shaping rooms in the history of sways, and I did do a search to see what I could come up with. While I did find a bunch of great ideas for appointing a shaping bay, I didn’t really find any strict guidelines on dimensions.
My max length is going to be about 11’6", which should be plenty for the boards I make. My max width is going to be about 7’6", and it would a WHOLE lot easier to put this thing together if I can shrink that width dimension down just a little bit. I know to a certain degree, wider is better. But what is the practical limit for minimum width? If I did a 7’ width, minus 6" each side for shelves/lights, minus a 24" board sitting in the middle of the bay, that leaves 24" in which to walk and move around it. Probably not as much as it sounds like, I know.
My current room is 7’3" wide. For me at 6’3" tall it is really confining. Especially on wider boards. I have had to alter my technique to fit the room. My favorite size is 9’ wide.
BUT Im building my shaping/sanding room right now and im only gonna have about 5’8" between shelves, that is absolutely as much room as I could get. I’ll prob be pushing the shaping racks back and forth as I move from one side to the other. Most of the boards I will never be doing anything wider than 24" so I will have at least of 16" on each side to move around.
Howzit shwuz. The thing is what is the maximum length boards you are goin to shape. If you are going to do boards up to 9’ then your length will be a problem . but if the longest board will be less than 7’6" then you can put a set of wall racks at the end of the room and not even worry about having some on the side walls. Your other choice is how tall is the room so you could put the racks higher than you or any one who enters the room and they would be out of the way or is there some where’s else you can put wall racks that isn’t even in the shaping bay.Some times you have to think out side the box . Other than that a good shaping room should be a minimum of 14’ x 8’ and 16’ x 10’ would be ideal, but thats just the size I like. Aloha,Kokua
I did about 15,000 out of an 8’ wide room with 8’’ shelves (almost all shortbards). So 7’6’’ with 6’’ shelves could be managed. IMO 7’ would be too tight, you’ve got to have room to do the job correctly. The last 10 years I’ve been in a 9 1/2’’ wide, very spacious facility that is SO much more comfortable.
I Just kicked my wife’s car out of the garage to do a 10’ 6" . So I’m working with about 16’ x 22’.
Ace, your space seems fine. I wish I had a permanent room. I’ve got to do a little dance with portable lights and moving a sheet of Masonite around for consistent contrast viewing. And cleanup is a bitch with EPS beads and sawdust all over the garage. They get everywhere.
I’ve been using a 8’ wide room with 8" deep shelves for the past couple years. And has been no problem at all. Although my new space is 9.5’ wide and seems much roomer. But I also feel the wider the light are the less they are focused on the board. So small can be a good thing.
My ‘experience’ is 3 years next month, so take this for what it’s worth: shaped, glassed & sanded 54 shortboards in a space 6’ x 12’ - less wide than that considering the lights. The roof is lean-to style and at the highest point I can touch the ceiling with my hand. My ‘shelves’ are about 5 inches or exactly the depth of the sidelights.
This is what I did last weekend to my garage,the space to the right will be the area where my rocker table and vac setup operates.
The front doors to the shaping room and glassing room…still need doors.
6’x 13’ shaping room with 5 1/2" shelf on the left and a 9" shelf partially embedded in the wall on the right,had to take the bottom bulb out of the light because of narrow shelves,but it highlights the dings on one of my old boards fine.Just need 4 more lights now.
so, it seems like the consensus is… No consensus at all! Wider is better, but make do with what you can get, and any dedicated shaping space is better than none at all.
I’m really just glad to not hear “7’ is impossible, your elbows will be bumping into your asshole all day long while you shape”.
I’m only going to be working with eps and epoxy,so venting isn’t going to be a real must for me.The attic access is directly above the shaping room,if I wanted I could run a small duct off of the central heat and air of the house,might take me an hour to do both bays.I’ve also thought about running an exhaust duct out of the bays through the attic to the soffit on the exterior of the house,I have a few old air handler fans laying around.I will try it like it is first though,and if I feel I need the ventilation I’ll do the above mentioned.I’ll prolly do most of my sanding outside.
7’x11’ is plenty of room for shortboards. make your light shelves with 1x4’s and use single bulb fixtures for your lights (i couldnt find them so I just took a double bulb light and re-wired it
longboards will be tight but nothing you cant deal with
i even shaped a 10’ x 30" x 4.5" paddle board in mine and this was reaching the maximum limitations of the room
More questions, but I don’t really want to start a whole new thread.
Anyway, I’m maxing out my available space, thanks for the input on that… So outside dimensions are 8’x12’, interior dims will be that minus studs and drywall.
It’s quite a bit further along now (like roof and walls and stuff), but this is the only photo I have right now…
Anyway, I’m getting ready to wire for power, and I need some idea of how high to put the lights. Also, a friend who welds is going to cook me up a set of racks, and I’m needing some sort of guidelines for height on that as well.
Set up your racks first then find the height that is most comfortable when a board is set on the racks. Your lights should then be set to light up the rails. There is not a set height as it is a preference for the indivisual. You may change them many times until you figure it out for yourself? Some shops that have comuntity bays have adjustable light boxes. Shapers come in different heights just like people.
