Thread: Shed build

Originally Posted by node105

A green laser should make this sort of thing just do able in the daylight, maybe. Currently under investigation.

I have a Leica Roteo 35G with a green laser, which they claim gives 400% greater visibility than a red laser due to the sensitivity of the eye to various wavelengths.

There's no question that it's better than a red laser but you'll still be pushing the proverbial uphill to see it in strong daylight. I typically use it indoors and it's great there; for outside use you're either forced to use the receiver (which is just horrible) or wait until dusk. Personally I did all my screeding and levels at dusk or after dark because it was just so much easier being able to see the laser with the naked eye.

Originally Posted by Moph

I have a Leica Roteo 35G with a green laser, which they claim gives 400% greater visibility than a red laser due to the sensitivity of the eye to various wavelengths.

There's no question that it's better than a red laser but you'll still be pushing the proverbial uphill to see it in strong daylight. I typically use it indoors and it's great there; for outside use you're either forced to use the receiver (which is just horrible) or wait until dusk. Personally I did all my screeding and levels at dusk or after dark because it was just so much easier being able to see the laser with the naked eye.

Thanks Moph, I won't be rushing to get a green then; stick to The L2P5 (red) maybe . I did notice the absence of reference to outside use generally in the advertising blurbs. They still seem to be at a premium due being new technology.

Got the beams and joist for the second mezzanine up and tacked in today.
The distance across the (currently) outer joist centrelines is 3600, so Structafloor sheets will fit nicely. I'll leave the remaining outermost joists until the beam to column brackets are in place.

The ends will require 600x2400, so sheets should workout ok. I am thinking about having the outermost (i.e. each side) mezzanine floor panels removable anyway, as this should make ducting for dust collection an easier fit up.

Hi regarding reading red laser in daylight, this may help. When we were setting out our shed a few years ago we found that a red plastic clipboard detected the red laser light in daylight ok. I don't know how that works, red on red but it did.
Cheers,
Geoff.

Boringgoeff: I'll try it out one night. I had pfaffed around with paper and some galv and whatnot trying to see if I could improve the identification.


Reading a bit more on green lasers, I get the impression that they are actually weaker than red, but have a finer line, and of course the colour is more distinctive to the human eye ( its an evolutionary thing), plus think of all those hacker screens on numerous movies, the text is almost invariably green on a black screen ( it's what I use for terminal too).
Leica site: " A true green laser diode costs more than a red one... The state-of-the-art direct emitting green diode technology produces a bright, green line with less “beam speckle” than red lasers ... The green wavelength is 3-4x more visible to your eye than a red laser. This means you can normally see the green laser from a farther distance than a red laser."


Got the back mezzanine joists final welded sides and top each joist end. The Fine switch on the 3 phase CIG Transpak has seized on 3, so have ordered a replacement; the original switch is Kraus & Naimer, still in business!
I had cranked up a bit to weld the columns to the footplates. Backed off the foundation bolt nuts, and jacked up a column at a time 20mm, to do the welding; avoid heat transfer into the footing concrete.

The Structaflor arrived, 3600 x 900 x 22mm red. Couldn't get 600mm width unfortunately, I know it is still listed, and presumably available interstate, but Adelaide being Adelaide... So instead of a neat 4 sheet across, with a trimmed sheet either end, had to cut 3 sheets one at 520, 2 at 600. I had forgotten how heavy sheets were, red 22mm is 50kg per sheet( had used 25mm for the small wood shop I built into the courtyard, but that was 600mm width and 45.5 kg/sheet). Lugged the first one from the front of the house around the front corner, down the side, around the back corner, up onto the lawn/shed level, in 36degC, then thought to myself, self; we could use the engine stand, and go straight through the front door and down the corridor to the back door. top idea, less carrying, one less corner, partial distance in the comfort of air conditioning, all good. Will get a pic when I do the second mezzanine.

Didn't bother to dig out the Festool vac, the pile of sawdust after one 3.6m cut tells the story.
Used a couple of Bessey KR clamps in spread mode to coerce the Structaflor tongue/groove fit.

Had also bought a Magswitch earth magnet, and some new cable. It is the 300Amp model (c. $65). It does make it far easier to move the earth. It did snap crackle and pop a couple of times, when I had connected it on top of the blue painted without stripping back to bare metal. I might get the bigger 600Amp model to see if that is more flexible. Recommended though..

Nice work, thanks for the update. Not very bugler proof ATM is it.
Kryn

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Not very bugler proof ATM is it.
Kryn

Nah, but it has good ventilation!

That is a very substantial shed under construction there, shouldn't blow away in the next big breeze. Your attention to detail with the measurements during construction will pay big dividends in the future, with all bits being square and level.

I and many others are envious of the workspace being created, but as they say, it probably won't be big enough as time rolls by.

Have fun in there,

Alan...

Been screwing down the mezzanine Structaflor using 10g x 45mm wing tens, at 150mm centres. While these are self drilling, it is easier to pilot drill through to the RHS joists (3mm wall). They are also supposed to self cut the countersink, but the Structaflor is a bit tough and some get left a little proud. Have taken to using a countersink on a second cordless drill. 8g might have been a little easier. Phillips head was all that was available unfortunately, just does not have the engagement / drive ability. I did manage to break 2 PBSwiss PH2 drive bits. Main cordless is a 14.4V Fein ABS 14C I picked up in Germany 2 years ago. Structaflor sure does get hot in full sun.

I also lifted and flipped over the back sheet, and routed where the Structaflor sheet sits on the joists, in order to give clearance for the weldment on top of the joists to the beam. The front sheet I left the plastic tongue in place to achieve the same clearance.

Wingteks were $25 for a bx500 from building supplies, as compared to c.$80 from Bundlings. Both unspecified imports of course. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to just as easily get Spax...

I got up just on dawn, and set up the laser to final check the column heights, which I have had growing suspicions were not quite as close as I would like, and tried the beam against a red background as Boringgoeff had suggested. Yellow worked much better. 1) I had a small yellow covered notebook, 2) yellow works well under red paint to give that bit extra lift to rosso corsa...

Mid morning, I decided a datum was required, and measured down from the top of the 3m columns, and scribed a line on each column; low enough for the laser to be below eye height to avoid looking in to it.
The back column on one side turned out to be 7mm down wrt the front reference. I didn't have a laser when the pad was done and the column panels put up. I had used a 2m Stabila spirit level, sitting on some 75x25mm aluminium box section bridging between the consecutive column foot plates. This in conjunction with a Stabila electronic which gave 0, 0.1, 0.1 degrees for the spans between the 3 columns. This seems ok at the time thinking this was getting in to instrument accuracy arena to chase it any further. However, this also represented a cumulative error; 0.1 degree across 2.4m span between columns is c. 4mm. SO while 1-2 was zero, 2-3 was 0.1, and 3-4 was 0.1 - hanging of an already low 3. SO, the laser once finally employed, showed this relatively clearly.

I unstitched a couple of the column to footplate welds and jacked the columns, and packed the gap with 1.5mm or 2mm thick washers as required, so that I could check the beam lines against the scribed datum lines from the column tops tonight. A couple of other columns were temporarily shimmed with washers under the footplates. All has worked out well, the laser beam ( a borrowed dewalt) is 2.5-3mm wide, and it is reasonably doable to align the top or bottom margin of the beam to the scribe line. Bit of to and fro due to if you can see the beam, you can't see the scribe line, but a bit of tin offcut as a vertical wall to shadow the scribe side makes it fairly easy to evaluate. And easier to do than describe! Minor advantages are that the formerly odd couple of 89.9 degree columns are now 90.0, and the 0.1 off flat girts are now 0.0.
Bottom line is, getting equivalence to 1mm can be done, but a clear beam edge is required. I also checked with the laser for a tripod mid pad in both directions, and from the front of the pad, as it is a 180 degree fan type; a rotary would be easier for this, but the fan works fine.


Picked up the Fine voltage switch for the CIG Transpak 225 finally, had to come from New Zealand; $250 . Opened the case and changed the wires over and now have fine voltage control. It makes a difference. Pics attached.


Alan: Not only ventilation but some SHADE at last!

Got some time to move a few bits, and even mow the lawn for the first time in a couple of months.
The frame is partially painted in zinc chromate primer. It will stay that way. Bought a 5L can for c. $65 , thick like yoghurt, I will probably have 4.5 L left at the end.
Finished welding the second (front) mezzanine on the weekend, better welds with the fine control working, even downhill is ok.
Routed for the welds on top of the joists; forgot to route before putting the Structaflor sheet up, again.
One sheet needed a 2 mm trim for length; piece of baclava with track saw. All screwed down.

Had to cover up again with plastic as is is bucketing down again tonight, despite being mid 30's today.
Dragged the cold saw under cover, and starting to put that back together.

Sent my mates up onto the mezzanine, as a weight test, them being much bulkier than oneself.

After finally establishing accurate shimming to get the column heights equal, made shims for the 4 column footplates that required them.
One needed 8mm, and made 2 strips from 75x8mm flat bar.
Two others required 3mm, so 3 strips of 50x3mm flat bar.
One required only 2mm, and so cut some 50mm wide strips from a bit of 2mm plate/sheet with an old Oz made metal shears I acquired a couple of years ago.

I used flat bar rather than squares of 150x150mm, as while the columns could be jacked up 20mm or so, but not enough to clear the top of the foundation bolts to slip single 150mm squares in, even if the bolts were trimmed down to final projection.
After drilling the clearance holes for the foundation bolts, slots were chopped down on the drop saw.
This allowed the shims to be easily slide under the footplates.

In a bit of distraction, and having finished the mezzanines and without material to get on with the bracing, I cleaned up a small shop table that was fairly crusty with rust over most of it, with the addition of caked on oil from antiquity down one end.

It was degreased with cheap can degreaser and hosed off, then attacked with a rotary wire brush mounted on an angle grinder. This combo has always vibrated like crazy, but this one is almost painful to hang on to; no guesses for where Josco stuff is made now.
Once the rust was largely gone it was wiped down with turps followed by acetone, and coated with zinc chromate.

I left the bottom 100mm of the legs unpainted, as I'll get some swivel feet or castors, and this plastic mounting blocks; and weld some square tube inside the angle for mounting.

I have quite a bit of off-cut 22mm Structaflor, so cut some shelves for it on the MFT.
Two coats of Hammerite grey and it's looking much improved. Will eventually find a home adjacent to the drill presses I expect.

I cut a couple of shelves as well for another trolley table ( need to get something for the edges yet), and for the cold saw. The new coolant pump and reservoir just has clearance.

I had also got a small 600x500 table with a 1/2" plate top over a 1/4" plate a couple of years ago for nothing, and thought it would be a good little table to mount my anvil, and a vice, plus to broach for a couple of tinsmith stakes I have.

The top despite being 1/2'' plate had bout a 5mm convex bow in it, and there was enough rust around the edges to make it a fairly unattractive item, despite its utility. It too seemed like a couple of hours spent cleaning it up and a quick coat of paint would be worthwhile.

I decided the flaking rust, would for ever be re-distributing itself over the floor every time it got a hammer blow, so I attacked the welds holding the 1/2" top to the 1/4" under-top plate with a. cutting wheel on an angle grinder, that and a bit of judicious cold chiseling and the first weld was broken.
The second weld released with a pronounce crack. Hmmmm. The third weld released with an even louder crack. It was obvious the top plate suddenly became a little flatter.

It only took about 10 minutes and the top was fully released, and a ruler edge across the top - about 1mm hump!
On lifting away the top plate it was obvious where the tension and bow had come from - rust!
I scraped off the loose stuff, from both surfaces, and did a bit of sick cold chiselling to break away the worst of the more adherent. I'll see id I can borrow a needle scabbier next week.

The net result was 2L of flaked rust - see the ice cream container.
Who woulda thunk?

I cut some more angle for cross bracing for the existing angle iron side frames, but things just wouldn't square up enough. Then I thought to myself, self: there is those 65x35x3mm RHS offcuts from the girts, why not use that?

The top plate cleaned up quite reasonably with the angle grinder and grinding wheel.

Bessey WS9 corner clamps coped with the top frame ok, 1/2mm across the diagonals. When it came to attaching the legs, they the limit for a T-joint is realistically 50mm, so a bit of juggling and eventually all tacked up and square, and final welded. I did use 2 bits of the original angle iron legs, as supports for the top plate. Will through bolt the plate to these. Clamped up to keep the top of the frame and angles in one plane.

I plan to drill the top plate, temporary mount it, and drill the angle iron supports, then finish it up for conversing socket head screws.
Have cuts toe 75 x 8mm flat bar for the bottom of the legs, and predrilled; will tap for 16mm and fit adjustable swivel feet.

Cut RHS ( 65x35x2mm) for 'chevron' bracing for the back and side walls; installed at 45 degrees. Crud everywhere from the drop saw; still haven't got the cold saw back together... The 2mm wall RHS is noticeably lighter than the 3mm girt RHS.
All tacked in and one side welded, will finish the welding tommorrow. I used some Kreg quick action clamps, to hold the sides flush. This worked well.