Gary Aurora – Shop Tour
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This week’s Shop of the Week is from Gary. Gary is as much of a nut about video and computers as I am, so his shop tour is in video form. Very cool! So enjoy this special Shop of the Week feature! Thanks Gary for sharing your space with us.
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Love it! Nice to see a woodworker doing well in a small space. I really like those hanging boxes Gary built for brad nailers and woodworking magazines.
When I watched the video, it seemed to end abrubtly. Was that all that was uploaded, or did something conk out?
great use of space. i like it. my favorite part is your nailer / sander / router storage shelves. how tall and how deep is each one? i’m gonna build some.
nope thats it. The edit was just a little tight but he completed the thought. :)
Great shop and love the video he sent in, but one question that immediately popped into my head right away way “how does he keep the dust his system doesn’t suck up from getting all over his computer equipment?
Even a little bit of wood dust would play havok with a keyboard so I sure hope he’s got a protector sheet over that puppy or something in such small quarters.
Not that I condone this behavior, but I have had a computer in the shop for almost 2 years. Once in a while I blow the dust off it but thats about it. I realize part of this has been luck, but I consider the computer to be “sacrificial” anyway. The shop is a great place for a computer that you dont truly rely on.
Gary, I really love your shop and the video was great, You have given me many inspirational ideas. A few questions: you seem very well equipped but did not see a thickness planer , did I miss it ?
Also, how do you deal with the humidity and other weather issues both with wood storage and equipment / rust in a garage shop like that in Florida ?
Nice set up. One idea for air conditioning is to vent a portable air conditioner/heater/dehumidifier into your attick. I am in the central valley of California where it often gets into the 100s June – Sept. It also gets down to the high 50s with the Delta Breeze coming in from San Francisco Bay. My portable is rated for 500 sq. ft and is okay in my 24×24 shop/garage. It would work well in your shop. I don’t know if it cools off in Florida at night, but out here we use whole house fans. I have a 16″ attick fan (Home Depot) that is temperature activated and I also have it wired to a 12-hour whole house timer. I turn it on at night so cool air is sucked into the shop at night. It also has the effect of blowing out dust.
Nice Shop. Dustin I’ve had an computer in my shop for about 6 years now and my keyboard works fine in fact the whole computer works fine. I have no dust collection. I just blow it out every once in while. Claude
All that natural light from the windows is nice.
I really envy your Jet Table Saw set up with the double router tables…very cool. ( I really need to invest in a nice cabinet saw!)
I recently added a furnace with A/C in my shop and it has been money very well spent, I encourage you to make it a priority you won’t be sorry!
I’m also crammed into a one car garage area so I’m always interested to see how others cope with it!
Great video! No suggestions, but love your set up. I am currently medically hampered, so my work space is very curtailed, as is my work. Thanx for sharing & good luck.
I agree great video, and the gun cabinet is great, what a great mistake. I’ve seen computers just about everywhere including the heat and dust of the Saudi desert where after a week you could dump out about a 1/2 cup of sand. They worked great. If you use your compressor and give it a good spray after a lot of sawdust production you should be fine. And great use of small space and believe me I know small space. Great little shop thanks for the video.
Gary, a very good option for heating and cooling your workspace would be a ductless heatpump. They are very affordable at the size you would need http://www.acsuperstore.com/store/LGMINI05.html .
Do not, under any circumstance vent a conditioner/heater/dehumidifier into your attic space. It could be disastrous in almost any climate in the US, but in Florida with the high humidity you experience, you would definitely regret it. Regarding the Ductless Heatpump, read up on the installation. I think you’ll find it is a fairly easy DIY project and it shouldn’t cost more than $200 to get the unit commissioned by a local HVAC company.
Mark, thanks for posting it brother! Thanks for all the great comments guys – I had a blast doing the video! (yeah, I did botch the end a bit – not my best work by any means) So to answer a couple questions – indeed, no protection on the computer, and as you guys stated, they are a LOT more durable than you think, although I do hit it with my vac, and compressor when I have them out. The humidity is a bit of a problem, but I keep the cast iron protected very well between Table Saver and Rennaissance wax. That is another major reason, besides comfort I need to do the AC though – humidity control. Tim, great idea on the attic setup! AC is becoming a priority – hit 96 today!!! Thickness planer- good point – I’ve got a 12″ Delta that Iocked up on me, so I’m looking into getting it reworked (in the other garage). Brian – my nail gun cubby measures (usable space) about 11″ deep, 11.75″ tall and 36″ wide. Thanks again guys!!
Gary A
Thanks Vic – you’re right – going with a mini-split ACunit really would be the ideal setup for what I’ve got to work with. Definitely quite a bit pricier – but a much cleaner, efficient system. I know the attic setup would only work with some creative heat exhausting – I do have really good ventilation up there….but its not my first choice.
Hey Marc FYI… the links associated with these repsonses open webpages in the same window as TWW… IOWs users navigate away from your site. Makes it hard sometimes to get be home… home being my favorite wood whisperer page.
Thanks Tim. Its alright though. Not sure I can do much about it. Its just the default way the blog software handles links. I have never really seen a setting that allows me to force all links to open in a new page. The reason that works on all my other outbound links is because I hard coded it to work that way.
Besides, you should have no problem getting back to TheWoodWhisperer.com since its your Home Page, right? ;) lol
Thanks for the heads up man.
Gary,
Nice shop tour and great use of space. Have you considered using the space above the hanging storage box? Is it possible to access the space that is high above the box with the pull down?
Indeed it is… front and center.
To Tim: Just use Firefox and right-click on the link will open it in a new tab. So you still can read TWW and have the new link waiting for you.
Cheers.
My bad: I meant middle-click instead of right-click.
How do like the Harbor Freight pin nailer?
Hey Rich – yeah, unfortunately the pull down stairs are a bit too far back and to the right to have them do double duty over the nail gun/drill/sander cubby area. I’m definitely going to build out more storage over that area. My original plan was to do a whole “hutch” type wall on that entire wall, but the more I thought about it…that is likely where I’ll end up dropping the AC unit…and because of my “screw up” that became that storage unit, that shifted me from the original plan of building one whole piece….now it’ll be somewhat modular. Its unbelievable what a huge difference getting all of my nail guns and drills, etc has made!!
Richard – the HF pin nailer is great….does a nice job countersinking without denting much (folded piece of paper over the workpiece, end you see nothing)..for like $25, when I was running a little tight on cash…that thing works out great. There is no safety, and the trigger is very sensitive…so you’ve just got to keep an eye on where it is!
Nice tour Gary! Love the efficient use of space! As for A/C, I would suggest a portable stand alone unit. They can be vented out one of the windows and usually come with a piece that can be fit in the window that the hose attaches to. I had one and it worked OK in a 2 car garage but it would do very well in a single car garage space. It would be the fastest way to get A/C in your shop!
Hey Gary,
Heard in the video that you live in Tampa and I have been looking for a fellow woodworker around my area! I’m up in the New Tampa area, Hunter’s Green to be exact. I’ve somewhat solved my AC problem by purchasing a 12000 BTU rolling AC unit for Sam’s Club. It’s pretty decent… I did have to put a 4 inch vent hole through the concrete wall but just stuck a dryer vent on it and it’s good to go. If you’re interested in checking it out just shoot me an email to josh@boddiford.com. Hope to hear from ya soon.
Hey Gary, just wanted to say that I love your shop. I have a small space as well, which I share with my car =o). I have been looking for a nine workbench/ assembly table that I can move around (as space is at a premium), and I fell in love with yours. I heard on the video where that you had got the planes for the table from somewhere, but I couldn’t catch where. I was wondering if you could tell me where you got the planes, so I can steal your the table for my little shop =o) thanks a ton.
Ray – it is from ShopNotes…i just pulled it out…Volume 15, Issue #90: http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/090/ It was my first project like that, and the ShopNotes instructions, cutt diagrams, etc were awesome!
Thanks so much Gary, I’ve just placed my order for volume 15 with ShopNotes and I can’t wait for it to arrive so I can get started =o)