Plan Your Shop Before You Buy
Setting up a shop or adding new equipment? Use our free shop planning tools to make smarter purchasing decisions before you spend a dollar. Check noise levels, find the right belt, and map out your floor — all in one place.
These tools are built for shop owners and fabricators who want to get it right the first time. Whether you’re buying your first Kalamazoo machine or expanding an existing lineup, use them to plan your purchase with confidence.
Why We Built These Tools
We know buying industrial equipment is a big decision. You’re spending real money, and you need to know the machine fits your shop, your workflow, and your team’s needs before it shows up on a truck. That’s why we built these free shop planning tools — to help you evaluate equipment, plan your space, and choose the right consumables before you buy, not after.
Think of them as your pre-purchase checklist:
- Decibel Meter — Will this machine create noise issues in your shop? Find out before you order.
- Shop Floor Planner — Does the machine footprint actually fit your space with room to work? Test it now.
- Sanding Belt Selector — What belts will you need to keep this machine running on Day 1? Get your answer in 30 seconds.
These tools are here to assist you through the buying process — so you feel confident about what you’re getting, how it fits, and what it takes to run it.
How Loud Is Your Shop?
Every piece of equipment puts out noise. Too much noise means hearing damage, and unhappy workers. Our built-in decibel meter uses your phone or laptop microphone to give you a live reading of the noise level anywhere in your shop.
Hit Start, hold your device near the machine or work area, and you’ll get an instant dB reading with a color-coded scale. Save your readings to compare noise at different spots in your shop layout.
How to use it:
- Tap Start to activate your device’s microphone
- Hold your phone or laptop near the machine or work area you want to measure
- Watch the live reading — the gauge and number update in real time
- Tap Save to log the current reading with a timestamp
- Tap Stop when you’re done, or Reset to clear everything
Why this matters to your shop:
- Measure noise at different spots in your shop to find problem areas
- Compare noise levels between workstations and plan placement accordingly
- Use saved readings to document your shop’s noise environment
🔊 Kalamazoo Decibel Meter
Live Reading
Will It Fit? Find Out Now.
You wouldn’t buy a truck without knowing if it fits in the garage. Same goes for shop equipment. Our floor planner lets you enter your room dimensions and drop in any Kalamazoo machine to see how the machine footprint works in your space — before you commit to a purchase.
This tool is designed to assist you in the early stages of buying. Set your width and depth, add the machines you’re considering, and drag them around. You’ll see right away if you have enough room for the operator, material infeed and outfeed, foot traffic, and maintenance access. If something doesn’t fit, you’ll know now instead of finding out the day the machine arrives.
How to use it:
- Enter your room dimensions (width and depth in feet)
- Then enter your machine dimensions (width and depth in feet)
Things to keep in mind:
- Leave at least 3 feet of clearance on the operator side of every machine
- Account for material length — long stock needs room to feed in and come out the other side
- Keep walkways clear for safety and foot traffic
- Place loud machines away from offices and break areas (use the decibel meter to measure noise at different spots in your shop)
A smart shop layout saves time, prevents accidents, and keeps your team moving. Plan it right the first time.
⚙️ Space / Footprint Planner
Find Your Ideal Sanding Belt
Running the wrong sanding belt costs you time, money, and finish quality. Too coarse and you gouge the material. Too fine and you burn through belts without removing anything. Wrong abrasive grain and you’re generating unnecessary heat, loading up belts prematurely, or leaving a finish your customer won’t accept. Our belt selector takes the guesswork out — and helps you plan your consumables before the job even starts.
Answer three questions from the dropdowns — your material, your task, and what matters most to you — and hit Get My Recommendation. You’ll get a recommended abrasive type, grit range, a step-by-step grit progression, backing weight, an alternative abrasive option, and material-specific pro tips sourced from industry abrasive guides.
The material list covers 15 options across three categories: woods including hardwood, softwood, and exotic or oily woods; metals including mild and carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper, cast iron, tool and hardened steel, and super alloys like Inconel and titanium; and other materials including plastic, fiberglass and composites, glass and stone, rubber, and painted surfaces. The application options cover nine real-world tasks: heavy stock removal, weld clean-up, deburring, shaping, surface preparation, general finishing, fine polishing, tool and knife sharpening, and rust or paint removal. The priority selector lets you optimize for belt life, fastest cut rate, best surface finish, or cool cutting and heat control. That combination produces hundreds of unique, researched
Not sure which sanding belt fits your needs?
Just select your material, task, and priority — the tool handles the rest.
Abrasive Belt Selection Guide
Answer three questions about your project and we'll recommend the right belt type, grit progression, and backing for the job.
Need Help Picking the Right Machine?
Talk to our experts — we've been helping fabricators since 1960.