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Face or back to wall?

I think the size of the space, and what all else you have in it, dictates equipment orientation. For me, I've only ever had small spaces filled with a relatively large amount of stuff, so everything is pushed up against walls so I can move around in the donut hole in the center of the space. Current shop inside dimensions are 11'x21', a single-car garage size. This gives me a walking space of 5-6 feet wide and 14-15 feet long inside of machines, benches, and storage.
 
For retirement we purchased the house across the street, as it has a deep lot. This allowed me to construct a 24’ x 30’ shop off the back of the garage. Such a luxury!
My two main lathes do have room on both sides.
 

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I turn facing the wall. But I sand, sitting in my walker, which is dedicated to a space behind my lathe. So my back is against the wall when I sand. Back issues demand this. Turning enables my hips to move which limits pain and enables me to turn for an extended amount of time. Sanding, on the other hand, prevents hip movement and the longer I stand stationary the greater the pain. So I sit. No pain which makes me a happy turner.
 
I have my back to the wall, where all the tools are. Lathe headstock points at the adjacent wall. It does probably take up more floor space.
It's a personal preference, but the advantages (to me) are:
  • I don't have to reach over a spinning thing to grab tools. Yes - just turn the lathe off. But I don't have to remember that step :)
  • I have the full height of the wall (to the floor) for gouges, chuck shelves, hanging tool rests, etc.
  • I can stand at the end of the lathe for bowl interiors, hollowing, etc.
  • I can move to the back side of the lathe if necessary - I sometimes do this to make a "center-to-foot" cut across the bottom of a bowl using my spindle gouge (lathe runs forward - with this I can get the nose of the gouge into the foot corner.
  • My dust collector nozzle is on a mobile stand, and I can position it or move it out of the way as necessary.
  • I can more easily see shape and form, with the concrete floor as a backdrop (vs a wall of clutter - tools etc).
  • Sweeping is easier as I can get to shavings from all around the lathe.
  • I do IRDs and this gives me space for cameras and monitors - not a thing for most turners, but this is my list :)
  • Visitors have a place to watch and I can keep my eye on what they're doing. I don't like being 'snuck up on from behind' if someone walks in the door while I'm focused on turning.
  • I have a better view, looking at the shop and out the window on the far wall, vs looking at tool racks. And it feels less claustrophobic.
 
Webb Willmott said:
Face, back, or something else? What’s your preference for lathe location and why?
Click to expand...
I carved out a corner of my single garage space. I face the garage door where the morning light comes in. Tools are conveniently hung on the wall to my left, sharpening station is on the narrow table right behind me, and I can just open the garage door if I need to get to the back side of the lathe to clean up or retrieve something I dropped. It works well for me.IMG_6030.jpeg
 
Mine have always been against the wall. It does keep the shavings from traveling so far. Old shop had a lathe room, and it was about 8 by 10. Some times I would have to climb over a pile of shavings to get out....

robo hippy
 
My lathe is at the front of my shop at a corner with me facing the wall but with enough space for me together behind the lathe if needed. Lathe tools are mounted on the wall to my left and a large cabinet on rollers is behind me with access to additional lathe items and sanding supplies.
I located the lathe here since I have a 10’ x 10’ garage door on this side of the shop facing south. It’s easier to remove shavings in this area and raising the door provides great light, even though I have five lights on or right above the lathe. Also, I’m an outdoors person and have to be able to see outside so the door is always up unless it’s 45 degrees or below.
 
If they were my only options I would have it up against the wall. I do remote demos so i need room around the lathe to setup cameras. My current setup is the headstock points at the wall and the tailstock is towards the center of the shop. All my tool racks are on the wall that my headstock points towards.
 
I keep mine facing the large garage door, about 24" back so I can get behind it to clean up. Easy when you can open the garage door and sweep up shavings. Two car garage with no cars.
 
Webb Willmott said:
Face, back, or something else? What’s your preference for lathe location and why?
Click to expand...
I'm currently facing the wall. It's not that bad since all the tools are on the wall I'm facing and a short reach away. The down side is that my back is to the shop entry and I've had a few people surprise me when I'm in the "turning zone". I'm considering switching to be between the wall and the lathe so I'm facing the entry or placing the lathe perpendicular to the wall.
 
Even when I had 11 lathes they all faced the center of the room. The main idea was to allow the instructor to move easily among all the lathes. Now that I'm down to 6 one does face a wall (the one that is for pens). I think I'm going to go down to just 4 as the Rose Engine, the CNC, the lathe engraver and the newest laser are all on their own moveable stands the smallest which is 36" X 24" and the other 3 are 4' X 4'.
 
Mine is in the corner. It was never planned this way, but the shavings are actually pretty easy to clean up here. During turning sessions, I use compressed air to push the pile to the back against the wall. When I'm ready to clean up, I have made a special "pusher" to push the pile to the side where it's easy to shovel up and get rid of....

=o=


20250831_160614.jpg
 
As you can see many people layout a turning area where tools and sharpening are readily available. Regardless of whether one faces the wall or window or the shop, think about what needs to be readily available and where it should go, as well as chip cleanup. Do a physical layout on paper with cutouts of tools etc and move things around, think it through, move things around again, think it through etc, no need to get in hurry with work space layout, it can be a pita to change it all again. I had a lot of practice, workspace layout was part of my responsibility over a 40 yr mfg career. We had many long planning sessions before moving equipment.
 
Doug Freeman said:
As you can see many people layout a turning area where tools and sharpening are readily available. Regardless of whether one faces the wall or window or the shop, think about what needs to be readily available and where it should go, as well as chip cleanup.
Click to expand...
This.
Doug Freeman said:
Do a physical layout on paper with cutouts of tools etc and move things around, think it through, move things around again, think it through etc, no need to get in hurry with work space layout, it can be a pita to change it all again.
Click to expand...
I did this paper layout thing for my new shop while I was waiting for construction to finish. After the framing was up, I went and stood where I thought the lathe should go, mimed some tool reaches, sharpening, etc. The first thing I moved in was the lathe. Stood there again to make sure. After that, I placed the next most important machines, one at a time, in order (bandsaws, bench, storage, 2nd lathe, etc). Moved things in one at a time to make sure the important stuff was in the right place without a lot of other stuff getting in the way.
 
Mine is facing a wall in a small nook in my basement 250 sq ft shop with cabinets behind me. I really like seeing others shops in this post. Thank you
 

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My lathe is at an angle to the wall with the motor toward the wall. This shop is smaller than my others and the table saw and lathe needed very specific spacing to get tge most use out of them and to make clean up easier. My grinder is set away from the tailstock end. Forces me to take several steps to sharpen and that relieves my back pain.
 

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Here’s a pic of the lathe corner of my shop. I’ve crammed all of the standard woodworking equipment into my 400sf shop, but the area around the lathe gets 75%+ of my time.

Key is power, air, and DC drops right at the lathe. All tools are within a step or two. And an additional cabinet for sanding supplies is just off to the right.

Also important is a rest to set my tailstock on sitting on the corner of my jointer at most times. It’s at the same height as the lathe bed and is just a pivot away, no steps. I take the tailstock on/off regularly when turning bowls off of the end.
 

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Mine is 90 degrees to the wall, headstock out.
Tools mounted on the tailstock end of the lathe bench.
Centers & other stuff on headstock end.
Chucks mounted on the wall.
Dust collector behind the lathe.
Everything within easy reach.
 
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