The first step for my shop

[Frank S]

 There is no step like the first step when starting a construction project.
 I've been threatening to get started on my shop for the past 3 years .
 Working out of this is getting old plus when it is hot or cold or the wind is blowing or it is raining I am limited as to what I can get done.
 It is way better than nothing since if it is not raining too hard and the wind is not blowing too hard I can still work. it is much better as a shade from the hot sun than anything else

 So since life on a farm always has more things that need doing than can get done I finally decided that if I just get 1 column standing I will be able to say that I am starting on my shop. So today this happened
 Of course first I had to pull some stumps that had been nagging me for a long time then remove a tree from a fence and remove the fence but those were not going to stop me from my goal. I removed a tire from an old 24.5" truck rim then welded it to the bottom of a 7" sch 80 pipe. the pipe was not long enough to suit me  since it was only 12 ft long I welded a 10 ft section to it then dug the hole with my backhoe . I went down 6 feet deep before I struck hard pan. now  my column is not long enough again I wanted 18 ft walls. I added another 4 ft to the pipe. then hefted it into the ground with my backhoe



 I am not cementing these columns in the ground I prefer to have a large base on them  then back fill with dirt & clay tossing in a bag of portland every few layers adding water  and tamping
 Tomorrow I will try to get my whacker packer running It should run just fine since it only has about 30 minutes of run time since brand new. but I've had it for several years I hope I drained the gas out.

 Now standing tall

[Frank S]

 Once I set up my scaffolding (I have enough to set up an 18 ft high run about 60 feet long so working from a ladder is never in my job description) I will fill each column with sand dirt gravel and used motor oil I have a concrete vibrator that I will strap to the columns to pack the dirt and oil inside of the columns.
 There are a couple reasons for my doing this 1 is it makes them infinitely  stiffer 2 it prevents them from ever rusting out from the inside and 3 it deadens any sound  transmittal should I decide to  add things to them like a thick plate for hammering on or mounting a bench grinder on. also by being stiffer if I weld a pull ring to them they won't have a tendency to  bow, they wouldn't anyway since so much else will be welded to them in the form of building materials and bracing. 

[JW]

The guy down the street from my dads shop, Raleigh Stapleton boats built this awesome structure that was weld together 8in square beams and had a slanted roof made from 1in fiberglass. I wanted it but it could only be moved by helicopter. I was sad to let that go, I had a good piece of land that I sold. So many regrets...     

[Frank S]

 almost 5 years ago now I tore down a 70 x 120 ax 18 ft metal building. I managed to salvage almost all of the  corrugated sheet metal. the trusses had to be cut in half but I have them just need to join them back together  they are very light weight but I figure that I will double them to make stronger ones. They have a 6 ft peak to them so my building will be 24 ft tall at the peak  My plans are to make it 70 wide and 60 long and place my Machine shop trailer along the outside of the south wall then join it to the building this will give me more  much needed room.
 I have about 75% or the materials that I need to construct it but currently don't have any "C" purlins  or enough beams to make the rails for an overhead crane.  With only an 18 ft wall height a full width bridge crane   is out of the question. I could never afford to buy enough plate steel to fabricate an engineered bridge for a 5 ton crane anyway. But I have a 3 ton 30 ft Brick crane and its pedestal that I could make a jib crane out of it which is probably what will happen 

[Frank S]

 The building I tore down some years ago had stood for 40 years then the guy who sold it to my firend decided that he wanted to remove the 2 overhead monorail cranes. the guys who removed them did not care of the damage they were doing to the trusses or take into account that the rails were the only bracing holding the trusses together. about 3 years later ther was a  freakish early Dec. snow storm which dumped 18" of snow over night Very unusual for Texas anyway. The weakened trusses  couldn't take the weight. All it took was for 1 to fail and the rest went like domino's'  My opinion they were undersized for the span anyway. But like I said the building was 40 years old. I salvaged as much as possible for future use  at least that was my plan.
 Today I started to make up the trusses for my shop using the halves and pieces that I have.
 the old building had the trusses on 10 ft centers  so there were several of them. something like 13
 I am doubling them so instead of a single 2 1/2" wide truss they will be 5" wide My building is only going to be 60 feet long but I am going to place the columns on 15 ft or possibly 20 ft centers  but probably just 15 ft.
 By doubling the trusses and welding in more support members and plates they will be about 3 times stronger than they were as singles once I add in the bracing and create a Hero truss tying them from end to  end top to bottom and with horizontal and diagonal bracing they will be stronger still.
  here is truss #1 about half completed



 the final length will only be 68 feet as well not the 70 they once were

[Harold in CR]

Possible.snow.load.that.bad.where.you.are?--Thought.you.lived.in.Texas??

[Frank S]

Possible.snow.load.that.bad.where.you.are?--Thought.you.lived.in.Texas??

A miss conception of Texas weather in this part of Texas at least. On yearly average Texas does not see that much snow we are more prone to having ICE storms. However just this morning not far from me they have 6 to 8 inches of snow it will probably be melted off by this evening though.
 We got nearly an inch of rain yesterday then during the night it turned to sleet it is snowing right now.
 I grew up not far from here and I remember our once in a blue moon freakish ICE or snow storms, 1 year we had a storm that dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on top of 3 inches of ICE.It is not the snow load that does the damage but the weight of the ICE. 1 inch of ICE is like having half a foot of snow. It doesn't happen often and you might go for years and only see a few dustings of snow, then one morning you wake up and find a drift that has buried  your pickup even though the actual amount of snow fall may ot have been more than a few inches.
 But more importantly I want to make my roof and trusses strong enough so if I decide to I can suspend crane rails from them for a 1 or 2 ton bridge crane   

[Frank S]

 Sometimes I feel that it would be easier though certainly not cheaper to build from scratch using new materials.
 I finished #2 truss this morning then started #3 if I were using new materials each truss would cost me between $700.00 to 900.00  each  plus the time to cut and weld everything. At least this way most welds are done I just have to add a few girts and join the pieces together with some additional repairs.
 the truss on the ground was an end truss and had no diagonal bracing or girts  so there was a lot more fabrication to it.

[John Bouchard]

Good you salvaged that scrap when you did  now that metal prices so high its hard to find  so you use what you got.  As far as roof sheathing  old galvanized works great for shedding snow off roof.  It also has that  art-deco distressed  look to it  folks like.

[Frank S]

 I've now finished most of the trusses  think I want to rebuild 1 more to have 5 that wy I will put them on 15 ft centers instead of 20 ft.
 So I need to make 1 more like this one.
 I made it double but also added spacer between the 2 halves and extra stiffeners this is in case later I decide to hang a pair of beams below them for the rails of an overhead bridge crane. It is so stiff I can carry it flat from the center and it does not have any bow to it.

 Since I had another project to do that required me to change my welder over to the duel shield flux core wire I decided it ws a good time to build the Southwest corner column while I had the heavier wire in my machine.
 I had an old 36 ft step deck trailer that I built back in 89 that I have been wanting to convert back to a 24 ft gooseneck so I cut the heavy upper deck off to use the main beams as part of the column in the shop to mount a brick crane on top of
 This is how the corner post turned out.


 To plant the post I dug a 8 ft deep hole 8ft by 8 ft
 Here I am packing the wheels with slightly moist clay and portland cement

 Now back filling the hole in 6" layers then running my plate compactor on each layer which packed them down to about 4 inches.

 Many layers later I have only a few feet left to go

[Frank S]

Many layers later I have only a few more feet to go

The last foot or so is just clay and dirt packed in so that later I can remove it to pour concrete when I pour the slab

 Now I am setting the pedestal for the brick crane
 The crane can lift 4000 lbs in the horizontal position with the hook at the end of the 28 ft boom and 10,000 when elevated to its highest angle. It should prove to be a real handy addition to the shop.
 the way I have it positioned it will have over a 300° which will allow it to swing from near the outside south wall all the way around to touch the wall from the inside
 

[Frank S]

Finally have column #10 in the ground Time to set up the rest of the scaffolding come up with more scaffold boards  Laser line the tops for trimming set some trusses at least 2 so I can add in some wind bracing then set the rest of the trusses and bridge them all together. Plus I need to go to my mine site and excavate another 100 yards of flex base select fill clay to level out the inside floor area then another 4 to 500 yards  raise the outside grade on the south side some sloping slightly away from the building so I will be able to have a hard packed area at least 50 feet wide around the side and back of the building Trucks don't do well in the sandy loam unless it is right after a really hard rain.
 What I really need is to come up with a small tracked loader or tracked skid steer for a while. My old 755 backhoe is just too old too slow and too cumbersome at times when just moving material.
 I have all 5 trusses completed the 3 center trusses are doubled for the possible later addition of a light weight bridge crane the West end truss will be stiffened by x bracing Tabernacle style to truss #2 and will have a I beams welded to the bottom of it for a tri fold rolling door set to allow access to the whole west end of the building depending on which way the doors are rolled, Haven't decided about the East end yet I may opt to only have a 30ft single rolling door or a pair of 15 foot doors to give a 30 ft opening. I may add an 8ft wide 53 ft long mezzanine attached to the top of the container then build a 12 by 40 ft office on top. Or just place my school bus on top and make my office out of it but still add the mezzanine.
   In case anyone is wondering all columns have at a minimum a 24" diameter base welded to them and are from 6 to 8 feet in the ground the holes were dug to penetrate into the blue gray white hard layer below a red clay layer. Since I could not afford to put down concrete footers below each column this became the next best alternative and past experiences show this is often as good if not better than concrete with a few exceptions such as the columns having direct contact with the soil instead of being bolted or welded to a plate secured in the concrete. However these columns are not plain pipe they are oilfield grade tubing designed to be buried 1000's of feet into the earth to last for decades in all types of soil strata I have used the same grades of pipe in construction of both fresh and salt water piers they may eventually rot or rust through but not in my children's and possibly my grand children's life times.AT 64 and half years old if it lasts for 30 years I'll be happy.


Column #10 before complete back fill

[Bruce S]

Nice dog ya got there  .

[Frank S]

Nice dog ya got there  .

Thanks Bruce S; between her and a male from her 2nd litter they kill more varmints than I ever could with my 10/22 or all of my shot guns combined. Only seen 2 snakes this year and every day she and the male drag up something and give it to the pups of her 3rd and probably her last litter The male is getting old enough now that it is either him or her and since there are several other males within a couple of miles I think it is going to be her.   

[kitestrings]

Wow, you got a project there for sure Frank.  Looking good.  ~ks

[Frank S]

Thanks KS; yeah it is a project. Now that I have the columns up I'm getting antsy to start hanging trusses but since the man lift has not showed up for me to do some repairs on it I am concentrating on scaffolding  Erecting scaffolding by yourself is never fun especially having to go 3 sections tall I've been using the boom extension on the forks to lift the sections a lot safer than trying to carry them up and balance my self while trying to heft them in place but it is still a lot of climbing up and down.
 I have some of the columns buried deeper than others so they are a little short some I can cut off to get the height I want but the others I will have to weld on to them  or I will have to settle for less finished floor to truss height that expected.
 Had I done this building like I did all of the pre engineered buildings I have built I would have already had it erected by now even by myself but it would have cost me a few tens or thousands of dollars that I don't have to have done it that way. In the end it would have still just been a big steel box that would do the same thing as this one will shelter from wind rain cold and the sun. If I had sold all of my used materials for scrap it would have only yielded enough to pour concrete footers then I wouldn't have money or materials. Besides I am more of an upcycle reuse type of guy anyway. 

[Mary B]

Any chance of hiring  a day laborer to help? Or are you trying to keep things semi private so nobody knows what you have?

Going to be nice once it is finished!

[Frank S]

Any chance of hiring  a day laborer to help? Or are you trying to keep things semi private so nobody knows what you have?

Going to be nice once it is finished!

Not much privacy if constructing the tallest building for 15 miles in any direction, except for an abandoned cotton gin.
 School's about to be out soon so when it comes to that point I am hoping to hire half the graduating class to help for a few days. That will only be about 4 guys who live in town the rest live out on the farms and will already have more than they can do. But there is no guarantee those 4 don't already have summer work lined up. I have a couple buds and a couple retired neighbors who have volunteered to help but haven't asked them to come over yet. I knd of want to get as much stuff pre prepared as possible so everyone's time won't be spent on menial things.   

[Frank S]

 I can hardly believe it is late September and nothing has been accomplished on my shop since April. Farr too much life gets in my way at times but on a lighter note there have been several significant tool acquisitions and even had to build a monster of a gantry a frame to unload one of them
 

[Frank S]

 Finally getting a little more done on the shop

[hiker]

Nice,,business shop or just private,,?  You always do things in a Big Way,,!  😜

[Frank S]

Hiker I don't know about the big way, but hopefully it will serve my purpose well enough.
 It is just going to be a shop to house my personal projects and machines for now since I'm retired. However I do take in the occasional job.
 I've gone about as far as I can go with it for a few days I damaged the truss which was going to be the middle truss when I had moved it out of my way previously so I have to do a little minor repair to it before I can install it.
 For the past few days I had a window of opportunity that only comes along rarely My friend and his wife are visiting from Connecticut and are preparing to move to Texas so they were busy getting their car and RV registered with Texas plates getting their Texas driver's license so he helped me get the poles topped to a level height then another friend showed up with the 12" I beam and a skytrack forklift so we really got busy for a while.
 He had to return the forklift yesterday evening so that was the end of it for a while but I learned that I might possibly be able to buy the forklift at a reasonable price but I want to get the beams paid off before thinking about that.
 the building is 61 ft long and 68 ft wide my 45 ft house hold goods Machine shop van will be attached to the outside where the scaffolding is now which will give me more room and my 26 ft tool and bolt storage van will be attached to the rear of the building I have a 38 by 40 ft canopy that I might add over where the machine shop van will be located for parking equipment under.
 Additionally I have a large school bus that I am thinking about removing the body from the chassis and lifting it up and sitting it on top of the container for storage. the concrete for the floor is going to be my biggest worry because that is a huge expenditure   

[DanG]

Ooo...  school bus 'sky dome' for the shops second floor office!

Sorry to exaggerate but it might make a nice elevated shop office w/ storage (tornado shelter?) underneath it?

Count me in as tagging along on your project, best outcomes to you!

[Frank S]

It looks like life and climate change is going to be in the way for awhile supposed to have off and on rain for the next couple of days went out in the woods today and hauled a load of deadwood to keep the home fire burning while the thermometer struggles to reach the mid 40s' And I need to get busy rebuilding a pickup engine since I already have it  laying on the work bench and a box of new parts.
 Going to try and order some "C" purlins for next week.
 Might go ahead and build some posts for the lean-to and get that up since I otherwise have all the materials for it

[SparWeb]

Holy #### I missed that monster lathe when you posted it.

[Frank S]

Holy #### I missed that monster lathe when you posted it.

Another small tool I haven't posted or maybe I have but anyway
 I have a drill press I call my 6 gun or 6 drill
 it has 6 3 Hp drill heads with 10 to 14" vertical travel depending on which head you use all have #4 MT it weighs at least 6000 lbs

[Frank S]

Time and life slows progress on the shop but at least I completed the repairs on the last truss and now have it in place
 not having the Sky track or anyone to help install I had to use the fork boom extension I had made for the purpose previously thinking I would have had to install all of them by myself anyway.


I used part of a left over truss as the brace for this one the next day when there is light winds I will install the other half to connect the center truss to the #4 truss

[JW]

depending on which head you use all have #4 MT it

With MT you can Mill.

I remember this guy who got a drill press and had standard taper and he couldn't figure why the drill chuck would fall out trying to mill.

I have done extensive work with the true trace duplicators.

If the mill is fixed a good set of compounds is all you need.

[Mary B]

I have milled with a standard drill press, just have to go really slow. Mostly milling aluminum or brass though, both soft metals.

[JW]

If you have a rotary table you could make magnet rotors easy.

[JW]

I also have some experience with a rotary table indexer that would make the bolt patterns for the hub super easy. There is a index plate that makes the bolt pattern. I know this because I had a plate that was for like 6 lug and we needed 5 lug plate installed. once we had that it was easy to make that bolt pattern. I also recommend taking a peak in the "Machinery Handbook"   

[Frank S]

Went and picked up enough purlin to do a 1/4 of the roof and half of the north wall today

[SparWeb]

Imagine the 6-part harmony you could set up with 6 different size drills chattering through one long bar of aluminum with that gang-drill press!

Of course, nobody in their right mind wants to hear even one drill bit chattering, let alone 6.  Like a thousand fingernails dragged across a hundred chalk boards