Construction Update - End of October

Well, I guess I'm guilty of squirrel syndrome. I've been distracted many times over the last month. All have kept me from moving as swiftly on construction as I had hoped. But, I have made progress none the less.

I'm starting with peninsula construction first. As the peninsulas will house the lower staging yards, its the logical place to start. In building the peninsulas, I have to engineer them to support the levels above. And, as important, the peninsulas need to be stable and not move. This is further complicated by the fact that I do not want to have any attachment to the ceiling. Of course, if i cannot get the rigidity I'm looking for, I can attach to the ceiling as a last resort.

Benchwork has been started. I began by building the frames for the staging level. As the steel comes in 20' sticks, I welded the frames together in the driveway and then passed them up thru the window. I did this by myself, so I didn't take any pictures. The frames were placed on the floor in preparation for the cross members.

As you can see the frames are roughed in place and ready for the cross members to be added.


Here are the stacks of cross members and the legs. The legs were constructed with elevator bolts as feet to provide adjustability. They will sit on 3/4" plywood squares. The squares have a 1/16" deep hole drilled with a 1" Forstner bit. This allows the foot to snap into place. I can also later glue the wood blocks to the floor if I need additional stability.













The cross members will be placed and welded. This will provide rigidity and the base for the plywood for staging.






I  began welding the cross members. This was a bit tedious. All are on 18" centers. I'm planning to use 1/2" plywood for staging and 18" should be an appropriate separation to prevent sagging.

To the left is progress on the cross members. The right is another perspective.

You'll also see the fiberglass blankets that gather up any hot sparks from the welding. So far, they are working very well.

Next up was to raise the first 20' and attach it to the wall. With 4 pairs of legs, it was raise a section, then raise the other side. It took a while to get the frame raised to 28". It was a tedious task but I decided that since I was working during the day, I would attack this myself. Once I got it relatively level (the top of the cross members at 28"), it was time to attach to the wall as the initial anchor. I used three 2 1/2" lag screws with washers. I wanted to make sure it would be solidly attached to the wall. I think I accomplished. that.

Next final adjustments to the height and ensure all has been leveled on the horizontal planes. I was then ready to attach the legs.The legs were then checked for square with a level and then welded onto the frame. At this point, the first section of the benchwork is complete. Finally!

Now on to the rest of the peninsula. I installed the next section of the peninsula. That is also strait and will join with the angled section which will connect the helix. It was a task getting it in place. Partially complicated by the fact that I was two legs short. Whoops! Time to make more legs. Not a quick process as that means I need to break down the welder and haul it downstairs. The welder isn't that much of a problem, but the Argon tank is heavy!



Notice the temporary 2x4 leg holding up the end of the peninsula!








I also need to fabricate the next sections of the peninsula, so that what's next on the agenda.