59, Joinery, part two, Sanding.

With all other window parts taken care of, the inside linings were next on the agenda. My ultimate goal is to have all the interior joinery, (reveals, architraves, skirtings etc.), manufactured from Blackwood. In the shorter term, however, unless I can secure a good quantity of reasonable logs for the right price, much of it will initially be of painted MDF.
The insde linings, being a permanent structural part of the window frames, needed to be of blackwood and I sifted through my piles of timber to extricate all of this stuff. Subsequently, after completing the dressing of all of it that I had, I was marvelling at the variety in the colouring of the different pieces when my wife commented. She mentioned that a paricularly large, dark stick, that I had ripped down was originally "bought to make a piano stool" for her. This got the grey matter ticking and the penny then dropped that I had just wasted all my Walnut!
The stock of Blackwood also included some "Black Wattle", a similar species which is rather plentiful in our area. The timber is slightly paler, but the grain is very similar. It is, however, hard to find good straight logs of millable size as the trees are relatively short lived and tend to be more bushy.
As I began to dress of all this stuff, I was reminded of this woods cantankerous nature. It contains a lot of silica which tends to dull blades, any slight pause during machining would burn the surface, grain tearing and furry patches occurred frequently. My previous experiences with it was on lesser scales, odd pieces of furniture and kitchen cabinetry, which, with smaller pieces, was relatively easy to sand smooth. It was fairly obvious that, if I was to continue with it's use, I would need some serious sanding equipment. My initial enquiries had me looking at second hand drum sanders and I made an offer on one advertised in Queensland, subject to reasonable freight costs. The offer was accepted, however, I was unable to find a transport company to deliver it, (to a depot in Melbourne), for any less than about $500.00. The deal fell through, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of a small drum doing all the work. Any stutter in the drive system could potentially still lead to burning of the stock.
My searching ultimately led me to a machine in Brunswick, made by the now, long defunct, Heidelberg West based firm of L.S. Barker P/L, which, at first, put me off due to it's size. It was a large 3 phase "platen-roll" wide belt sander, having an adjustable flat platen or pad mounted behind the main sanding drum. This would ensure a more consistantly smooth flat surface. The machine was also "open sided", this would enable wide pieces of work to be sanded with multiple passes and the reversing of the work. Although the sanding belt was only 15" wide, with the open side and further clearance on the inside, panels up to about 41", (1040mm), in width could potentially be processed. After much deliberation and due to there being nothing else available, a sale price of $1000.00 was  negotiated and my next challenges were then faced.

Loading the machine onto the trailer was no issue using the sellers forklift, however, unloading the heavy beast at my end proved to be more of an issue. The front end loader, which could easily handle the more than 1 ton weight, has been out of action for some time. At this stage there is no light on the horizon for it's rectification so I assembled a gantry over the load using scaffold components. Once winched clear, the trailer was moved out, more bracing was attatched and the sander was lowered to the ground. With it down, my home made, 3 point linkage, rock carrying forks, attatched to a friends Kubota was barely able to cope with with the load, but was able to move it to the shed floor where a pallet trolley could then be used.
Having the Sander in the workshop then enabled me to commence it's restoration. It was the beginning of another very underestimated project that was to consume most of my spare time for the next 5 months.
For single phase operation all the motors and electrical equipment were removed. Replacement motors were sourced and fitted. The switch panel and electrical cabinet were replaced and the wiring was completely redone from scratch. Each of the 3 separate motors had their own issues of new mounts needing to be fabricated and drive pulleys etc. being altered to gain optimum operational speeds.

The main drive motor presented a bit of a challenge. The original, which ran at half the speed of my replacement, was fitted with a pulley which incorporated a brake drum of the same diameter. My original intention was to incorporate an electrical braking system, however, following much researching and testing, I found that it would not be possible using single phase AC motors. This meant reverting back to the original mechanical brake. To enable this I fashioned a new drum from a twin belt  pulley and turned out the center to accommodate a taper lock bush. A shoulder was also formed on the drum center to allow the much smaller drive pulley to push over it. This was neccessary to be able to fit the two of them on the limited length of the motor shaft.

After reassembling the pedal operated friction brake, I then figured that the last thing I would want to be doing in an emergency situation would be standing at the machine, trying to stop it with my foot!. To alleviate this I fabricated a rather convoluted, hinged lever which was coupled to the brake shoe, a trampoline spring was then mounted to apply the braking pressure and a pneumatic ram, scrounged from amongst my collection of  bits, was fitted to keep the brake released. With a simple solenoid valve controlling the air, any interruption to the power supply would allow the air to exhaust causing the brake to apply. This system has proved to be remarkably effective.

 

After an incredible amount of "trial and error", the pneumatic belt tracking system was redesigned. The original belt "sensor" relied on a jet of air passing across the belt's path to a reference port on the opposite side, higher or lower pressure in this port would control a diaphragm which in turn controlled a two way piston connected to the top roller. The angle of this roller governs the tracking direction of the belt.
As effective as this system appeared to work, I found that, no matter how finely I had it tuned, my 10 CFM compressor was unable to keep up to the demand. Another bout of head scratching was required. The solution came in the form of a photoelectric switch, purchased from Hong Kong, via ebay for less than $20.00. This, via some electronic circuitry, (which took many hours to refine!), was connected to a change over solenoid valve which directly operates the two way piston.
Another potential issue was also considered with this set up; any dust settling on the sensor lenses would cause it to malfunction. Again, the grey matter was worked hard to design a blower system to clear the lenses at regular intervals with puffs of air, a continuous blow would have me back where I started with insufficient air supply. Another solenoid valve, with its controls slightly "bastardised", together with a small reservoir and a couple of flow control valves, all fed via a seperate air drier, finally proved to do the trick. This constitues most of the gear connected to the red tubing in the above photo.
Limit switches were also added as an extra safety precaution, should the belt drift too far.

As if the sander wasn't enough of a diversion on it's own, it also gave me an excuse to make a sheet folder, something I had been in need of for a long time. A lot of googling furnished me with enough photo's, from which to base the design. My own slant was the inclusion of an extra angle iron insert under the clamping bar. This could be removed and substituted with different sized and length pieces to allow a limited amount of box folding to be carried out.
With the folder complete I was able to put it to good use, making various missing parts for the sander. This included panels, doors and dust extraction ducting. 

After having a coat of paint slapped over it, my new toy is ready to rock and roll!. The offset section in the front panel was required to provide some clearance for the vacuum ducting. Other minor modifications included provision of longer adjustable feet, this would allow the pallet trolley to fit underneath and the installation of a dial gauge, with associated linkages to accurately measure the sanding depth. A seperate motor is used to adjust the table height and very fine adjustments are easy to achieve using the handle which needs to be rotated about 6 times for every millimeter of travel.

I am very happy with the performance of the machine and the quality of the sanding. On top of the original purchase price of $1000.00, it has cost me about $450.00 for parts and paint. Was it was worth all that time I spent working on it? I would have to say yes. It should more than pay for itself over the duration of my building.

58, Joinery, part one.

Back in about 1997 I was fortunate to procure a number of Lebanese Cedar logs. They were surplus to the previous owners requirements and set me back the princely sum of $50.00, to cover the loading costs.
A photograph of me sawing the largest of these, which was approaching 6 feet in diameter, eludes me at this stage.
The milling of these logs produced more than 5 cubic meters of good timber, enough to make all my doors, most external door frames and all the window sashes and sills. Unfortunatly, material for the window frames was still wanting.

As soon as the timber had dried sufficiently, I machined and profiled all the window material and stacked it away, ready to be used when required.
The flat plywood panels on the doors were going to need a cedar veneer facing and for this I kept aside a couple of thick slabs for conversion. In May 1999, with Tasmania being the destination for the family holiday, they were loaded into the van and taken over Bass Strait. Britton Brothers in Smithton were engaged for the slicing of the sheets and I was more than impressed with the results. The size of my job seemed rather insignificant given the size of their operation.

 

During 2003, in order to weatherproof the rear section of the house, I constructed two sets of French doors including the frames. The arched highlights were installed with temporary panels and will later be fitted with leadlights, the making of those is not being considered until all major structural work is completed.

Fast forward to mid 2011 and my attention was back on the windows. A supply of durable timber was required for the frames. As luck would have it, a friend from work came to the party with his leftovers of Celery Top Pine, an extremely durable timber from the southern forests of Tasmania.. This was the remnants of a supply of craftwood he had been selling following his procurement, milling and seasoning of several logs. The van load I returned home with set me back $800.00 and looked quite impressive but unfortunatly it included quite a lot of rotten sapwood.

Following the machining of this lot I had enough material on hand for all the window pulley stiles and about 2/3rd's of the heads and outside linings. The rippings provided me with all the parting beads and a small quantity left over for some of the outside cover mouldings.
For the balance of the heads I dipped into my supply of Cypress Pine, which I have been milling for my floor boards. For the missing 85mm wide outer linings, however, I was in need of more Celery Top as I wanted to maintain uniformity in the more exposed surfaces. A little bit of research led me to a local supplier, Barwon Timber, who had a quantity of 90mm decking boards. These proved to be relatively expensive, at about $5.60 per meter, but I got what I needed for about $200.00.

...To be continued....

57, Front Steps, part two.

Back to the stairs themselves, next, one step at a time, I set up boxing on the substructure and, again in small batches, mixed enough concrete to form each tread. I concentrated on the upper flight first, as the area below the central landing proved to be of a height suitable for a working platform and about the limit for comfortably pushing the loaded wheelbarrow up to.



The work progresses, most of the top flight is done as well as the side landings.




Ready for the Concrete for the central landing.
Being a typical Victorian winter, (which we hadn't seen for a number of years, owing to the drought!), there weren't too many days that were free from precipitation. This made it necessary to keep fiddling around, arranging temporary covers to work under and to protect the uncured concrete.



With the upper parts done I could then fill in the bottom section. A change of plan, (how unusual for me!), now included outward curves to the lower outer wing walls. This pushed the structure beyond the existing footings. To accommodate this, I excavated more footings alongside, epoxied a number of starter bars into the main mass, heavily reinforced the lot and formed it all together with the lower steps. I don't think that there will be any differential movement.




The concrete structure, all completed, after about 4 months of toil. A tally of the used 20kg cement bags came to 135. This does not include any that may have been blown away by the wind, into the dam or onto the neighbours properties. The conservative guesstimate for the total amount of concrete used, is in the order of 14 cubic meters.
There is much work still to be done, the bullnosed bluestone steps, about 350mm wide and 170mm thick, are yet to be cut, shaped and fitted. This will be done at a much later stage, but, I now have good access to the ground floor, making it a lot easier to work on, for the fitting of flooring, window's etc.

56, Front Steps, part one.

Most of my time from late October until March was spent doing internal work, altering the girls room to give them more space. With this taken care of, and with my holidays approaching in late March, I sat down and came up with a final design for the front stairs for the house. The access to this area has been a bit of a problem during the build, as the ground level at the front lies about 2.3 meters below the house floor level. The original plan was for a single flight but it became fairly apparent that this was not going to be practical or aesthetically pleasing.
My inspiration for the design was from a house that I had previously photographed in Hobart, Tasmania in 2005;



In 2008, when I headed over Bass Strait to purchase my little Kubota mower I relocated the house and gained permission from the more than helpful owner to take a closer look and get some better pictures.
The design, with the incorporation of three landings, resulted in a fairly large footprint and not wanting to risk any future movements to cause any breaking of the, yet to be sawn, stone treads, I over engineered the foundations and substructure.




When my holidays arrived, I got underway. The trenches, I dug by hand to more than a meter deep to ensure a solid foundation in the clay subsoil, the spoil being carted well out of the way to a low spot elsewhere in the yard. A lot of backfill will eventually be required when retaining walls have been constructed, but would be a nuisance and in the way at this stage.


With my intention to mix the concrete by hand, I poured the main footings in two stages. Firstly, I partially filled the trenches, to within about about 450mm of the ground surface, with blinding concrete. Next, I fabricated the reinforcing steel work, bending and welding the 16mm bar into sections ready to be tied together in situ.


As 3 to 4 cubic metres of concrete required for each of the 2 stages of the footings, (blinding and main), sufficient supplys of aggregate, sand and cement were required. I am fortunate, to have in the area, quarries that supply the local Gherang Gravel directly. The gravel, which normally contains a lot of clay is generally used for roads and driveways. However, when it is extracted from the pits, some pockets are found which are free of the clay. This is suitable to be used with only the addition of cement to form a good mix. Costing about 15 to 25 dollars for a loaded trailer, depending on the mood of the operator at the time, it is also very economical.



At the end of a long day, after mixing on my own, over 3 meters of Concrete, the foundations are done!.


Rising out of the ground, more concrete was mixed, this time in smaller doses. I formed a series of criss crossing beams, still being heavily reinforced to ensure the structures rigidity.
The Verandah, I had also redesigned to incorporate a central gable, stepped forward to enhance the whole shape of the structure. This necessitated the rebuilding of a portion of the base stonework to accomodate the offset. To support this work, I formed a heavily reinforced concrete beam, set into the existing wall and bearing on the original foundations.
By now, my holidays were over and the above photo is what I had to show for them!


Stone quoins were required for the offset. This occupied a considerable amount of my time in their preparation, owing to their size and the dressing of the margins.


With the stone ready, I was then able to get on with the job of reconstructing the wall. I used concrete bricks below finished ground level and in the infill area, which will be covered by the steps. Although dismantling already completed work is very frustrating, the existing stonework on this wall was among the earliest that I had laid, therefore it was also among the roughest. So, replacing this with much neater work was certainly a consolation.

To be continued.....

55, Where have I been?.

In the months since my previous post, most of my "computer" time has been spent working on the digitising of my slide collection. This was made possible following my acquisition of a good quality, dedicated slide/film scanner, purchased from the U.S.A. via EBay.
The subject matter of the vast majority of my accumulation of images is rail related, ie. trains!. From an early age I was captivated by the atmosphere of the Australian rail systems, with an ambiance of a working museum along with some fascinating architecture.
As I could see the decline in the network accelerating, it was obvious that the future was not going to be too kind with this part of our heritage. I photographed extensively from the mid '70,s to the mid '80,s, when corporatisation and rationalization took a firm hold and "sterilised" the whole scene. I was particularly interested in the vanishing branch lines, their very nature, through reasons of economy, prevented them from much modernization. My travels, with camera in hand, took me to all Australian mainland states, with the exception of Western Australia, but my heart remained in Victoria. Here, I gained employment with the "Victorian Railways" at the start of 1977 and, with the exception of a sojourn in the Building industry, I am still there, currently working for the current suburban franchise operator; "Metro trains" as a Train Driver.
I regularly upload some of my better pictures to; http://www.flickr.com/photos/24609616@N05/ pending a decision on a more permanent site. Other images, more related to the rail infrastructure, I have submitted to the "When there were stations" site, an ongoing work in progress.
An interest has also been shown to have some included in a couple of publications, the first, soon to be released by Nick Anchen, from Sierra publishing, is about Victorian Enginemen.

A more relevent posting, detailng my progress on the front steps for the house, will be up soon.

55, Sill(Cill)(s) 2.

As fortunate as I was in the procurement of the window sills, (or cills if you prefer to spell them that way, I still can't make up my mind!), I was still left 1 short. This was needed for the side window in the main bedroom. The profile of my sills is a little different to the standard variety usually found in this part of the world. The shoulders on either side junction at a sharp 90 degrees with the upper sloping surface whereas on the common garden variety, of which I also have a small stockpile, they are concaved.
Not wanting to mix and match the sills on the house or cannibalise one of my other ones, I decided to make a new one from scratch.



The smallest stone in my collection with enough length to provide a sill of the required size, was, in a previous life, a capping stone. It came off the abutment of a small bridge located on the railway line near Little River, situated about mid way between Melbourne and Geelong. It was rendered obsolete many years ago when all the bridges and culverts along this line were strengthened, carried out by replacing the steel decks with new steel reinforced concrete ones. This necessitated the removal of the upper courses of stone and the installation of cast in situ concrete bearers.


Firstly I removed the rough back of the stone and then sawed off a slice about 5mm thick, (seen on the bench on the right). This was to ensure the soundness of the block, any unseen cracking would certainly become apparent on a piece this thin. Being happy with the result I then removed a suitable slab, cutting it about an inch thicker than needed to allow for final trimming.

I was a bit annoyed to find that a drill hole had been made into the base of the stone at some stage, for no apparent reason. The bulk of the original block, just shy of 600kg had made it a bit impractical to roll it over for a visual inspection. The hole ran about 3/4s of the way through and my saw cut had passed right across it. Fortunately though, with its angle and depth I was able to locate it within the waste area of the top bevel.


With the block positioned at the correct angle I then proceeded to make consecutive cuts about 1/2 an inch apart to remove the bulk of the waste.


The fingers were then broken and chiselled off.

The blade was then dropped slightly and the face tidied with the blade being moved sideways 1/16 of an inch after each pass.


With the bevel completed, the next step was to form the step to the front vertical face of the shoulders. I removed the bulk of the waste with a small angle grinder and then chiselled the surfaces true. Having completed these I then chiselled out the rebate to house the timber window sill at the top edge of the bevel.


Having all the upper profiles completed, the sill could then be trimmed to its correct dimensions. I started with the front face which received the same treatment as the bevel using consecutive saw cuts to emulate a tooled finish. This process testing out my sanity with a steady, continuous and monotonous 2 hours of back and forth for each face.

The Back, Head and Bed were next, with normal saw cuts sufficing.

The drip groove under the overhang could now be formed, taking care to stop short of the ends.

After some light chiselling to remove the radial saw marks on the seen areas of the trimmed ends it was ready to go!

3 days toil later and it's in its final resting place.

54, Enough scaffold!

Following the purchase of the scaffold frames in February, I received the call I had hoped for in mid March. A scrap metal dealer in Laverton had for resale, a large number of steel planks. The asking price of $400 per 50 2.4meter planks had me making a couple of trips to transport about 110 of them home. These included a number of 1.8m planks, needed to make the correct run lengths. Many of them had seen better days and with a few nights spent in the shed with my welder, I was able to bring them back to a serviceable standard.

Now that I had enough gear I was able to completely encircle the whole house and have enough frames to take me up to final roof height. My tube and clip stuff mainly being used to support the temporary roofing over the work areas.

With the scaffolding taken care of I could get back to the stone laying. The aim at this stage is to raise the first floor walls to window cill height, about 600mm above floor level, around the entire perimeter. This is to allow the temporary roof, covering the ground floor timber framing, to be flashed sufficiently to prevent water entry. It will also, hopefully, enable me to seal the completed work sufficiently to prevent spark and ember entry in the event of a bushfire.













The East wall coming together. The limestone string course had to be stepped and broken, (just visible behind the inclined steel plank,) to allow for the stepped flashing over the existing roof.

For added strength I used a high proportion of full width tie stones for the first course above the limestone string course and reinforced concrete beam.