Thread: T-Track, Sail Track, Aluminium profile

Andrew, Hope all is safe at home and workshop.

What about a T-Slot cutter?
McJING Tools Online

Originally Posted by BobL

What about a T-Slot cutter?
McJING Tools Online

Thanks Bob.

Will have a go with one of these and see what happens.

Regards

Bill

We are ok for now, still a large fire in the area but its under control depending on the wind direction. Never seen the town so busy, even the PM was here yesterday. Its a hard decision to make leaving all your tools and machines behind that have taken years to collect and not knowing if you will ever see them again. Part of you wants to stay and defend but with a garden hose and buckets. I don't think it will stop a fire that size if it comes for you but you might just stop a spot fire starting from an ember before the fire gets there.
Its all well to say you will leave early but when it comes to it its a very hard decision. I spent all night hosing everything down and moving stacks of timber away as burnt gum leaves covered my property and even came in under the ridge cap on my shed roof. You keep thinking of more things you can do to prepare at the last minute.

Originally Posted by Andrew from AWC

........... as burnt gum leaves covered my property and even came in under the ridge cap on my shed roof.

Andrew,

You can get specially cut plastic or foam that will fit in between the ridge cap and the profile of you tin roof - Bunnings in Traralgon carry it but am sure places like clark rubber could also get it.

This is specifically designed to stop what you have described above.

Our policy is to evacuate early in the morning on hot days and book into a motel or caravan park - we have done so 5 times this year - we would rather deal with the insurance company than fight a bushfire.

We have a couple of suitcases and a box full of photos and other bits and pieces permanently ready beside the front door - things can be bought again but old negatives and paper photos cannot.

Following 2009 fires our house was okay but everything else wasnt - THANKYOU CFA THANKYOU CFA THANKYOU CFA- we found that the insurance company liked to see photographs of things that were being claimed for - so I'd recommend everybody takes appropriate photographs and has an inventory of shed contents - we now keep those photographs and lists on CDs and datasticks in an envelope in the bank.

Initially the insurance company said they wouldnt pay for all of the fences just the ones closest to the house - we stood our ground on that and they paid, I know that this happened to other people as well. We are not farmers but we do live on 20 acres so that is another thing to watch out for in your policy - are all fences covered ?

Following the insurance companies first offer we put together our own detailed claim backed up with photos and were able to succesfully claim the appropriate amount for repairs and replacement rather than the insurance companies first offer.

We had a tradesman come up to the house one day saying that the insurance company had sent him up to build us a new shed - we asked him to show us the scope of works and he refused - so we sent him on his way and told the insurance company that they had agreed that we would sign off on a scope of works before any rebuilding started.

Following this incident we lost so much confidence in the insurance company that we told them we would organise and co-ordinate any work done and they only had to pay us what was owing.

I think there can be a lot of confusion after the event and the insurance companies can get overwhelmed and get into a muddle - patience helps.

At the last minute the insurance company refused to pay us because we were still owe a little bit on the mortgage. We then paid it right down to only $2.00 owing but they still said that they had to pay the money to the bank instead, the bank refused to write a letter saying that we only owed $2.00 instead they wrote a letter saying they had a commercial interest in the property - I almost went to the ombudsman over that but decided it was easier to close out and finalise the mortgage so that we could receive the payment ourselves. We were keeping the mortgage "open" in case we ever wanted to redraw on it.

Some combinations of banks and insurance companies were able to work well together on this issue, whilst our own particular combination was extremely unhelpful each saying the other was at fault.

So be aware if there is a mortgage on your property, even if you only owe $2.00 the insurance company may insist on paying any claim to the bank rather than to yourself. The insurance company will do a title search prior to writing the cheque to ensure that there is no mortgage on the property.

Summmary

Lots of photos on discs and data sticks at the bank
Inventory of all valuable stuff - ie all gear in the shed - again keep it at the bank
Email backup copies of inventory to friends / family in case bank gets hit as well.
Sign off on agreed scope of works
Dont accept first offer from insurance company if you think it is too low
If you have a mortgage, talk to your bank regarding whether or not they will demand to be paid by the insurance company - get them talking to the insurance company and get this sorted well before you get any payment - its a bad thing to be hit with just before you expect to get paid.

Regards

Bill

Thanks Bill,
You have been very helpful, I appreciate it. You should put all that into a pamphlet and hand them out to those effected by bushfire, I rekon there is more advice in your post than I have learned from any other source or website over the past few weeks. Its all these details that are most important and there is only so many donated clothes and cans of food and visits from the politicians that people can take, information like this is much more valuable, especially when it comes from someone who has experienced it all.
This thread should be up here for ever now so I will refer back to it as needed.

By the way if you need any of the sail track I still have quite a few lengths left (3m lengths), you can have one free of charge if you want to play around and see if its useful. I bought quite a bit but haven't really used much over the last few years. I could put some on my roof rack and meet you at Bunnings one day if your interested.

Thanks again for all your advice and help.
Regards
Andrew

Hello,

Walking through shops and looking at things will jog memories regarding what people used to have.

So go for a wander around Bunnings with a notebook and pencil writing down things that you may have forgotten in your claim.

Wander around other shops as you think fit.

If you use a credit card for most purchases then you might be able to download the records as proof of what you have bought over whatever period of time the records cover.

My wife has lots of little ornaments and souvenirs from holidays that would take me too long to write down every little thing but Id remember them with the right prompts.

If there are gaps in your own photos then get photographs from other people who may have been at your place for a barbecue or birthday or christmas, things in the background will jog your memory.

After the 2009 fires all affected properties were able to access aerial photography flown by the government and put on the web - it wasn't widely know but it was available - this was useful for understanding where fences used to run and estimating replacement costs and just generally handy to have. They will probably do the same again because they are useful to the local and state governments, statutory authorities and utility companies for planning recovery works.

I will keep an eye out and let you know if I hear of it being done again - may be worth asking your local council about.

With respect to the sail track did you manage to use it it anything ? - very cheap compared to T Track but I thought it was a bit awkward to use - I was wondering about trying to either find a cylindrical slug or make one to put in it or simply not bother and just use ordinary nuts and bolts.

Just thought - I could file / grind / angle grind nuts and bolts to fit more snugly into the cylinder - yes that would work well ! Would spread the applied forces over a bigger area Could probably make a jig to do it smoothly. Will cogitate further on this. Sailtrack jigs looking like a possibility.


Regards

Bill

Another thought,

Depending upon degree of fire damage and mess made during cleanup it may be necessary to survey in corner posts in order to re-establish the fence lines - costs would normally be shared by neighbours but if you have boundary corners inside public road curves and maybe other types of land then it is 100% your cost.

This can be very expensive and best to get a quote rather than attempt to estimate yourself for any insurance claims.

Survey control points may have been damaged by the fires and some serious effort may be required to get accurate survey control re-established.

Am posting in public view as this may be useful to more than one person.

Bill

Hi Bill, sorry for the delay, I wanted to post some pics earlier but I took them with my phone which decided to stop talking to the pc. They seem to be on good terms again now

Here are some pictures of the T-track in use, I made a hold down bed for my cnc shark and its come in handy for a variety of other things (ignore the slots cut next to the track, these were already in the scrap timber I used). You can also use mdf or whatever you have lying around or just use thicker material and cut a trench for it to fit in. Standard coach bolts fit, sometimes you may need to file the Zeneth logo off the head but not always. If you countersink the screws properly they shouldn't hit. I never use them to over clamp something but they can take a fair bit of force, haven't ruined one yet and they take all the standard sort of hold downs and knobs available.

T-track (4).jpgT-track.jpgT-track (1).jpgT-track (2).jpgT-track (3).jpg

Originally Posted by Andrew from AWC

Hi Bill, sorry for the delay, I wanted to post some pics earlier but I took them with my phone which decided to stop talking to the pc. They seem to be on good terms again now

Here are some pictures of the T-track in use, ............. <snip>

Thanks Andrew,

Thats a different profile to what Bunnings in Traralgon are currently selling as Sail track.

Will print your photos and go and talk to them.


On another note whats the white stuff that you use to make your router jig and cabinets in the photos ? Is it UHMW plastic ? Why use that rather than plywood ?

and looks like your workshop avoided the the fires ?

Bill

Yea, I've noticed different companies have different profiles they call sail track. The dimensions of the profile I'm using should be in the original posts somewhere near the top of this thread. I doubt anyone at Bunnings would know much at all about it, they probably just order whatever is popular and sells. The white stuff you see is probably part of the cnc shark. The cnc shark bed is made from mdf, flooring chipboard and Vic Ash. I do have some of the white plastic, you can buy it from carbatec but I havent used it for anything yet, its too expensive so I'm scared to cut it up until I really need it. Its perfect for making sliding sled jigs, use it for the bars for a snug fit in the tablesaw mitre slot. If you use timber it will expand and shrink with humidity and the accuracy of the jig will vary.