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However, at the beginning of a project, they see some pretty heavy use as you make your stock straight, flat, and square. And since boards run though each machine in about the same direction, it makes sense that they should be near each other, too.

If you position them along a wall under a lumber rack, like you see in the drawing above, the setup won't take up much space.

Now you might think this arrangement looks awkward. But unless your jointer is very wide, you still have good access to both tools.

SHAPING & DRILLING TRIO

The trio of power tools you see in the drawing below may seem to be an odd mix. But there are a couple of reasons why I like them to be positioned close together.

Working Together. First, each of these tools works well placed against a wall. And since the router table is usually lower than either the band saw table or drill press table, I position the router table between the other two. The advantage here is that the router table can serve as a handy worksurface for holding parts or accessories while I'm working at either the drill press or band saw.

I've even used the drill press table as an infeed/outfeed table for the router table or band saw.

you can lower drill press table for router table

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(You can lower the height of the drill press table to provide additional clearance for working with large pieces on the router table.)

Depending on the size and shape of your tools, you may need to do some tweaking of this arrangement. For example, I will usually reposition the router table away from the wall slightly to provide enough clearance to tackle most router table tasks.

Mobile Bases, There may be times when this three-in-a-row arrangement doesn't work. So I've added a mobile base to the band saw. By making this tool mobile, I can pull it away from the others to create plenty of clearance at the drill press or router table — or more importantly, when working with long stock on the band saw.

Instead of seeing tools as standalone equipment, think about how they're used and the type of work you do. In the end you can save space, time, and trips across the shop. If you're like me, after doing some tool shuffling and creating one or more of these tool groupings, it will feel like you have a whole new place to work. And in my book, that's a good combination. A.

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