66, ...and in they go.

Before the windows could be installed, the vertical stone rebates needed to be trued and trimmed out with a jamb. The three earliest window openings, which I had constructed prior to the building of my stone saw, were made just wide enough to fit a window in snugly. Subsequently, I realised that a timber jamb would need to be fitted, in order to provide some method of securing the frame. In the photo above, the rebate on the right has now been shaved out to the required 100mm to accomodate a 21mm thick hardwood jamb, with the left hand side waiting to recieve the same treatment. The mortar joints needed to be chipped out before I could rough out the rebate using a chainsaw, with chisels and sanding blocks used for the final shaping. This wasn't one of the most fun, (or cleanest), jobs I have had to endure!

The 90 x 21mm hardwood jambs were glued and screwed to the limestone using 100mm galvanised, countersunk "batten screws". These were driven into pre positioned, Ultra Long RamPlug's, which were glued into cleaned, pre drilled holes using "liquid nails", before allowing a couple of days for it to set.
For subsequent windows I have found that a product called; KF2,  a Polyester Injection System, (picked up from eBay, of course!), offers superior holding power for the screws and I now set the RamPlugs in with this. It is, although, more labour intensive, with a pilot hole needing to be bored, using a masonary drill, into the cured plug.

Working on my own, I was easily able to manouvre the windows around on their sides using pipe rollers, however, getting them up the steps and into the front of the house was going to be somewhat more difficult. To achieve this, I jury rigged an pole, with a swivel coupling, to the scaffold frame. This was supported, using a chain, from a higher level. I positioned it so that an attatched electric winch would pivot between a point above the landing, which was about the same height as my van floor, and the centre of the verandah. This system worked flawlessly and once at floor level, it was a simple matter to roll them where required.

With the bottom of the window frame shaped to fit into the rebate in the stone sill, the plan for the installation was to form a table at sill height, lift the unit on to it, apply the flashings and mounting brackets, locate the timber sill into the opening, then lift the window up into position. What I didn't allow for was the internal stone arch, which prevented the side/angled bay windows from being tilted up in this manner. To compound the problem, after wiggling the window almost into position, I was reminded of another issue.
Some years back, when laying the stone sills for this bay, a stuff up, on my part, had me place them about 10mm too high. This error wasn't picked up until setting out the limestone quoins, which were adjusted to suit, to ensure that the lintels were all level. I had completely forgotten about this by now and, of course, these were the only openings not checked when calculating the window dimensions. So then, of course, the odscenities started!.

Following my 5th attempt, after much planing, trimming, adjusting and swearing, the first window was finally in, but I am more than happy with the result.

To secure the windows to the jambs, I made a number of brackets from 3mm stainless steel angle. These measured about 30 x 22mm and were about 20mm wide. The long leg was screwed through the ply backing into the inner lining and roofing screws, fitted through the other leg and drilled into the jambs, pull the frame firmly into the rebate.
I didn't notice until uploading this image that this particular mount was the one that needed to be rotated slightly, this was to enable a new hole and screw to be drilled into the jamb. With all the refitting of this window, at least one screw had to snap!.

65, Windows, finally getting somewhere!

With a decision made on the glass, I could now make the glazing beads to suit. In the past, for this type of moulding I would make up a cradle to fit inside the thicknesser and run them through one at a time. There was usually a high mortality rate with this process, the rollers,when set firm enough to overcome the friction in the cradle, tended to crush the wood, causing it to curl. A lot of wastage was also normal, with about 200mm of the ends needing to be docked, this being due to excessive chatter occurring until the leading edge of the mould was steadied by the outfeed roller and after the trailing edge cleared the infeed roller.
My newest toy, the sander was pressed into action. I cut a tray, slightly longer than the longest bead, onto which I tacked and glued some sawn wood, of the same profile. The beads, sawn slightly oversize, were then placed in the corrugations and passed through the machine. I could sand six at a time and found the method worked perfectly, with no pieces being rejected or needing trimming as a result.

I produced enough beading's for all the windows, with about an extra 50 for spares, should any be needed down the track. With these ready, more monotonous labour then ensued, with the bulk of them being primed and receiving one top coat, all around.

Next on the agenda was the glazing. For the cutting of this, I stretched a blanket across my work table and clamped on a few wooden blocks, to cradle a large square.
The upper and lower sashes were made to have identically sized panes and I had taken great care to ensure that they were all true and of the correct dimensions. This enabled me to pre cut all the pieces of glass to set sizes.
From the same supplier as the double glazing materials; C.R.Laurence, I also purchased a number of silicon carbide sanding belts to suit my 4" sander. I was rather hesitant to go anywhere near the glass with this machine, as had been recommended to me, but it proved very successful in removing the sharp arris as well as sanding true any mis cut or oversized pieces.
I fitted the glass using a bead of "glazing sealant", a product by ROCOR. This stuff is water based and comes in cartridges, for use in standard caulking guns. It is designed for use with timber frames only. It forms a skin on it's surface but remains permanently soft and flexible. Any clean up of misplaced or squeezed out material is easily carried out by waiting for it to skin and simply rubbing it off. It is also just as easy to clean out, down the track, when replacing glass. It can be a bit hard to source but is available in Australia from Lincoln Sentry. I find it far superior to silicone, which can be a nightmare to clean off.
Once I had the sashes glazed, the outside faces were given another coating of gloss enamel before the final assembly. With that out of the way, the scales were then given a workout. The sashes were weighed and the cast iron weights were cut to suit. They were imbalanced by about 1/2 a pound, to give a slight bias to keeping the sashes closed.
More consideration was given to the provision of parting slips and I opted to fit them. If the idea of double glazing rears it's head again, sometime in the future, they would be necessary to prevent square cast lead weights from interfering with each other. Made from two laminated strips of 3mm ply, I screwed them to wooden blocks fixed at the top of the box's. They are normally poked through a slot in the head and secured by a dowel, but limited space over the windows precluded this method. If not fitted now and installation of them was required at a later date, it would necessitate the complete removal of the windows. After the weights were fitted, the box's were sealed with 10mm ply, screwed to the linings.

Finally, I could start to see some of fruits of my labour, the first completed window awaits loading into my van to be taken down the hill.
The brass latches were purchased via eBay from the UK. This was another typical example of how we are "ripped off" in this country. The total price, (buy it now), including the relatively expensive shipping cost of these items, manufactured by our Asian neighbours, was less than 50% of the cheapest Australian retail price I could source.

60, Joinery, part three, Window frames.

With  the sander up and running I was able to finish preparing the timber for the window frames and assemble the units.

The machining of the pulley stiles proved to be a tedious chore, (most things I start seem to end up this way), each one needing to have a groove for the parting bead down the length of the face and cut outs, with rebates formed at the top ends to accommodate the brass pulleys. Many years back, when browsing through a restoration supplies store, I spotted a fantastic price labelled on these pulleys, I purchased about 100 of them, more than enough for my needs and stashed them away in the shed, below my workbench for "when I get a round 'tuit'"!.
By the time that I had finally commenced construction of the windows, I had forgotten about their existence and was investigating the purchase of more. I received a pleasant surprise when, as I was clearing the shed to create some more workspace for this part of my project, the dusty box was unearthed and it's contents revealed.
One slight issue that became apparent with these pulleys was that the solid axle was held captive by having its ends being beaten and flared outside the main casting. This necessitated the forming of a small notch at the centre of the rebate to allow the unit to be inserted. A trial fitting showed that the resulting gap was quite discrete so I proceeded down this path rather than risk damaging the pulleys with their modification. All going well, time will tell if this flaw in their design was the reason for the cheap price I had paid, not some other structural shortcoming. They seem to be quite solid solid units, being cast from solid brass.

Hidden pockets also had to be cut into the stiles, these being needed to access the counter balance weights, should any maintenance be required. I used a very finely kerfed, hobby saw blade, adapted to fit into a reciprocating saw to make the angled face cuts, this ensured a very neat, discrete joint. To minimise the width of the saw cut that runs along the parting bead groove, I fashioned a jigsaw blade from a section of fine hacksaw blade.
Normally, only the saw cuts  were carried out on manufacture, with the pocket being split out when repairs are required. To avoid the risk of any unwanted damage occurring in the future, should this be necessary, when some form of mechanical leverage would need to be applied from the faces, I removed them now by tapping them from behind.

The pocket piece, when reinserted, is held in place by the stepped "V" joint on the top and 2 brass screws at the bottom.

After having the parting and staff beads fitted , the pockets are well hidden.
When designing the windows, I copied, in general, the construction methods used in the recycled windows that I had restored for my original house, however, a few minor alterations were made from information gleaned from various referencing material. I had considered rebating the stiles into the linings, as appears to have been a common practice, but as my originals, (which I had procured from different sources), were not made this way, I opted away from that. I had also seen old examples of windows constructed using this method, suffering from splitting issues due to the necessary removal and replacement of the staff beading's during maintenance. The benefit of an absence of nail holes was also considered, but this advantage would have been superfluous, as all the staff beads, reveals and architraves will be face nailed anyhow.

The assembled frames, almost ready for painting and the next stage of the fitting of the sashes. To summarise; The stiles, of celery top pine are rebated into and screwed to the heads. They are rebated, wedged and screwed into the Lebanese cedar cills. The external linings, also of celery top pine and the blackwood inside linings are glued and nailed on. The screws and external nails are galvanised and past experience had taught me not to put any fixings into any of the pulley rebates or weight pockets!. Once the cast weights are installed, plywood cover boards will be screwed on the outsides.
Whether or not to install a "parting slip" to keep the weights separated from each other, is one issue which the jury is still out on, I have personally found them to be unnecessary if the windows are plumb and they can be a hell of a nuisance when trying to access the front weight during repairs.
To facilitate the installation of the splayed reveals, when the windows are in situ, I am also considering running an angled groove down the inner linings, into which a tongue on the reveal will slot.
Another issue which has been haunting me is the method of how to actually fix the window into position in the stonework. My head has been tossing around all sorts of ideas for brackets etc., however, nothing real simple has, so far, come to mind.

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.