A build thread

[meadow street]

Something to house a granny.

starting with preparing the UB bearers.

there are three of them.

the said granny is sick of the caravan in the background !

[Legion]

Stick process?

[meadow street]

Stick process?

yes going with stick Legion.... Lincoln 7018, Hyundai 6013, wia7016 and 6010 so far.

70xx rods with some 60xx for cosmetic patch ups and tacking.

there will be a chance for some fluxcore once I get set up a little more, as

a member has sent me some wire to try on some new equipment.

so I'll definitely post up some pics of that when it fires.

there'll be some small flux core no doubt with thinner gauge materials as the build progresses.

who knows where it will end, but I thought a build thread would be interesting.

the customer (mate) has some fairly unconventional ideas, so hoping for some help from you and others as the thing rolls along.

its in the middle of nowhere!

[Legion]

Looking forward to it!

[meadow street]

When you don't have power or access to a generator, then it's doin' it the hard way....

creek water in buckets and mixing concrete with a mattock and shovel.

Commercially pre prepared aggregate and sand mix makes it somewhat straightforward and in it goes, 1100 down with about 200mm above grade with formwork ( not complete) ..... 600mm diameter holes.

One thing that always surprises me is the way rust appears on freshly ground and welded steel. The site is nowhere near the sea and within about a day there is flash rust all over new areas. Darn.

With a loan of a generator this week I'll brush and rust convert after welding the beams to the pier tops which have been previously levelled and set in concrete........then paint the beams and piers (125nb pipe).

Hopefully welding the beams to the piers will be a breeze. Flat welding, three run two layer. Fresh 7018 (or reconditioned). There will be 300mm of weld on each pier to beam connection - 150 mm each side.

With oversize pier tops, it should make alignment quite precise. The pipe was beveled and welded to 150x150 12 mm plates to receive the bearers which are UB 20018.

here's hoping for good weather

[meadow street]

Everything is going too smoothly...........just waiting for the hiccup.

Welded beams in position this arvo and now waiting for some light tomorrow in order to survey the scene.

three layer welds at 110 amps 7018 Lincoln Easyarc

Ran pretty nice for my standards

[KBs PensNmore]

What are you using to weld with, if you've no power? Can I borrow your post hole digger, it's a ripper.
Kryn

[DaveTTC]

Im surprised it is welded to top of stumps. I would have thought it would be bolted.

150mm weld on each side. Is that specipied or just what you are doing?

Interesting build and I will follow. I dont see a lit of steel used in this application in domestic work.

Nice job so far btw

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[texx]

What are you using to weld with, if you've no power? Can I borrow your post hole digger, it's a ripper.
Kryn

cant be a post hole digger and a ripper as well . two very different tools . and he is using a generator as he has already said in post number 5 .

johno

[meadow street]

Morning Dave,

The welded connection allows me to tweak the alignments as I go, since I will be doing a lot of the work myself. With bolting, I would have needed everything spot on for the holes to align and then bolting down to that. Having such a large pier 140 mm OD and a slimmish beam (99mm) I'm getting away with needing larger plates required to the top of the pier and the bottom of the beam/bearer. A time and material saver, without detriment to function I'm thinking?

The 150 mm each side seems adequate, but not being an engineer, I'm sort of going by intuition ( hopefully over engineering). That's one of the reasons I am posting up here, so perhaps someone might point out any major errors Someone knowledgeable, or with a computer program might even run some calcs for interest sake ??

The substantial joists are going to help with strengthening the system; as well as bracing up top similar to a portal frame design. More details as they come to hand.

Furthermore, I like welding. I've learnt a lot from this forum, so a nice way to reciprocate..........This is essentially my mates project though, so we can guide him as we go along........gotta run now, but more to continue !

[KBs PensNmore]

cant be a post hole digger and a ripper as well . two very different tools . and he is using a generator as he has already said in post number 5 .

johno

G'Day Johno. I saw that, but thought that it was for the grinder, not the welder. When I said ripper, I was referring to it as a "Ripper of a post hole digger"
Coming along nicely there Meadow.
Kryn

[meadow street]

No welding today but did some wire brushing and priming. Should have done that when I had them on the trestles, but you know how things go! Now I'm in awkward positions outdoors Doh! Anyhow, better late than never. hiccup....

Got one beam concreted in and for the first time I used some readily available concrete forms from a local concrete factory as formwork. Seemed to work fairly well, no need to remove anything once set and the reinforced rings are quite neat?

Little bit alternative.....might suit the customer ?

The next welding job will either be the roof trusses, or, the uprights.

im hoping the customer will agree to a braced frame (see pictured), although he wants a curved roof for grandma. I'd be comfortable with a full "bay" being braced, and suitable knee bracing for the uprights on the other axis, but a have a feeling there will be ideas crop up which will foil my want (fingers crossed).

I've added a picture of the surroundings at smoko time which makes working very bearable .......

[DaveTTC]

What a drag. How do you put up with the serenity

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[KBs PensNmore]

Are you working from an Argitek's Drawing or mud map (have a basic idea of requirement)? What are you going to use for the framing and trusses? How do you go with council/shire permits?
Quite a few years ago, I used to work for a company that built transportable steel framed homes, that were bricked once installed on site. If I can offer any assistance please feel free to ask.
Kryn

[meadow street]

thanks Kryn,

interesting to hear your past experience.....

this is is a structure which will probably fly under the radar of a lot of departments. I'm letting the owner worry about permissions and planning consent etc. my immediate concern is making his ideas safe and continuing my learning curve with steel. I am a furniture maker and restorer when not welding for fun or profit

We also don't want granny leaving under a collapsed truss.

I have some drawings from the customer ( ex Canadian ) which I won't post here, but in conjunction with you guys, plus a pro fabricator, rigger and welder I know in town, we are going to be nutting it out. Unfortunately the customer wants to push boundaries which may not sit with some. For example: cantilevered sections and overhangs; minimal truss webbing ( not gonna agree to that without engineering) ; large glass areas etc etc

The design isn't finalised, which by all accounts could end in a stalemate if Professionals aren't comfortable with compromising structural aspects. I have some intuition with structures and basic concepts, just no mathematical or physics nouse (spelling) to prove my approach---certainly not a pro yet : ) ........I readily take good advice on things like this though. It's classed as a small structure in my confidantes eyes and he has worked on big structures and runs a welding business closeby. Good mentor for me I think?

anyhow, once this stage is painted and site cleared I will be discussing the top of this little mushroom of a "flat"

meadow

ps just saw your other questions ......materials since I have a lot of stuff in my collection :

posts 150 x50 (4/5mm)....hopefully truss cords 65x65 heavy since I have this material.......webs 50x50 or 40x40 .......bracing -tensioned rods or tensioned flat bar......top hat batten, 100x50 purlins....lvl 150x80 joists....hardwood and cypress pine.......etccetcetc