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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
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