The Core
Why We Are Here => Water Cooler => Topic started by: Rupert on June 02, 2020, 06:35:34 AM
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Just thought I would share one of mine, that I am looking forward to, and is a little daunting, as I know there is some time pressure involved... This lockdown will not go on forever, and I will have to start earning.
I am building a garden shed out of old pallets. I bought the wood for £750, thats really cheap in the UK, as it is second hand, I offered a 20% over ride to get it now, and not in 3 months, as demand is high. The base is 4 pallets and the total floor area is 4350mm x 5680mm.
I then bought an old double door and window on ebay, for £30. The glass is blown, but the frame is mahogany.
so its now not a garden shed, but a summer house. I am not a joiner, and not a perfectionist, or artistic, but I do know I can make things sold, and work well, as I am an engineer.
so far I have fixed gutter, rewired bits of the house, taken down trees, but this is my first project after 3 months.Photo of the pile of wood attached
Anyone else with a project they would like to share? (I know Buckworks is building a house :))
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>> Buckworks is building a house
Alas, not yet. We had hoped to have "shovels in the ground" already but with the pandemic situation we've pushed our plans back.
We continue to work on the property, though. Among other things we've planted five kinds of fruit trees in the last couple of weeks.
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>summer house
What are you planning to use for cladding/siding?
>Anyone else with a project
I have finished installing the stainless wire rope tethering system on the 40 pier deck sections. They are now tied in groups of 8 to 5 galvanized helix anchors set in the river bottom. The weather has been absolute crap here and I'm waiting for a nice hot day to finishing the tie-downs on the pallets to -hopefully- hold them from being dislodged in all but the most powerful storms. Another day, maybe two, should finish it.
BUT, during the above-mentioned crappy weather I noticed that the windows facing the river were starting to get damp around the glazing. I knew they were in need of attention, but had been putting it off. They wouldn't hold up through the coming storm season, so I drug out 4 sections of box scaffolding, set it up, and began re-glazing & painting. Ugh!! I'd much rather be building your summer house, Rupert.
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I did a major soundproofing/construction/renovation project that I finished March 9.
As I had leftover material, I did another minor soundproofing project that I finished about a week ago.
Made a little progress on reviving a website I abandoned about 10 years ago that I think might be worth putting some effort into.
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Painted the kitchen cabinets
Ripped out two chicken coops and sold them. Going to put some pavers in where they were to expand our patio. Eventually I will put in a concrete slab and put in a big, covered grilling/eating area.
Planted the garden - Tomatoes, peas, carrots, squash, raspberries, strawberries, and collards.
Looks like we need a new roof now. Will just pay someone for that. But as a result of a roof leak we will need to reinsulate a part of the attic and redo the drywall ceiling in one of the bedrooms and paint.
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This is one I did a couple of years ago. The pallets are up to 5 meters long, and the frame (studs) in the walls are all 2x1 inch. The cladding is 5 inch x 3/4 to 1". So it makes a reasonable shed. Better than the cr*p you buy on the high street here. Or the "garage" a professional built next to it. :P You can see where I ran out of shed paint. Cannot get it now. (Amz from £8 per can now £38 per can... my terms for cannot get it.)
The internal lights and alarm are hubitat driven of course :)
RC.. always great projects... what do the anchors look like in the river bottom?
Planted the garden - Tomatoes, peas, carrots, squash, raspberries, strawberries, and collards.
ditto. The pigeons and rabbits seem to be doing well off them.
planted five kinds of fruit trees in the last couple of weeks.
Always good. We have apple, greengage, and victoria plum. I have a mulberry and a walnut but neither have ever fruited. There are berries in the garden, but I am not sure what as I do not look after them well enough. What are yours?
Unusual to hear of web work here these days Ergo :) For sales or fun/interest?
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>> five kinds of fruit trees
Cherries, currants, haskap berries, saskatoon berries, chokecherries.
And lots of raspberries, which are a bush, not a tree.
No plums or apples yet, but they're on my wish list.
We need hardy varieties, as our winter temperatures can get as low as minus forty.
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minus forty.
Too cold to live.... 8)
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currants
The currants here are growing like mad this year. I can't wait to harvest them. All wild, but now growing in our yard. That will be nice to supplement the elderberries. We harvest quite a few elderberries each year and use them first and foremost in pancakes.
Around here, though, currants are very much a bush. We have three species. For many years, of course, the authorities organized military scale operations to wipe out currants (and most species of ribes in general, gooseberry being the other one that grows like mad here), because of their link to blister rust. The USDA eventually gave up and now they are everywhere again. But there was a blister rust camp just down the trail from here. For 30 years, a team of men spent every summer out there trying to kill currants.
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>anchors
https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Duty-Helix-Anchor-Galvanized/dp/B07CQ6Q19D
Except mine are 5 feet long. Mine are second-hand from the utility companies, so heavier grade, but they look much the same as above.
I screwed them about 1m into the sandy river bottom. They'll hold about a ton each but I'm not expecting that much pulling force from 8 floating pallets even in a hurricane.
BTW, when I was hit by the 2nd storm this spring, I had just started installing the tether system on 5 pallets. One of those did wash overboard and it stayed floating next to the pier and was easy to retrieve.
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Thats a great anchors system, not seen those before.
elderberries.... a friend makes a witches brew from them, thats great for coughs. (Well I think it is, as it makes me feel better having the mix, with hot water and local honey. ) No idea what she puts into it apart from the berries we all have to harvest to be sure of getting a bottle :)
Sues Mum used to make Elderflower champagne. very weak from an alcohol POV, and very refreshing.
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great for coughs
That seems to be all the rage. We were eating elderberries for years before anyone told us about supposed health benefits. We had heard for a long time that they are poisonous (the seeds, leaves, and woody parts are quite toxic, the berries mildly so, but not if cooked.
I am typing this in between flipping my world neighborhood-famous elderberry pancakes.
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>currants
All my life i've thought it was currents, same as water and tricity!
< £750 worth of wood
still much cheaper than buying a kit.
I'm making a vertical hydroponic herb garden :
(https://i.ibb.co/8KHmgsN/20200609-101310.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8KHmgsN)
The brown bits are printed (lid and netpot holders), i never used to enjoy design but i'm getting into it now, Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists at the moment and has amazing features. The boxy netpot holder is the new, non-leak design but it's still too big for my liking.
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This is one I did a couple of years ago.
I'd be very pleased with myself to have built that.
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vertical hydroponic herb garden
love it!!!!
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I have finished installing the stainless wire rope tethering system on the 40 pier deck sections. They are now tied in groups of 8 to 5 galvanized helix anchors set in the river bottom. The weather has been absolute crap here and I'm waiting for a nice hot day to finishing the tie-downs on the pallets to -hopefully- hold them from being dislodged in all but the most powerful storms. Another day, maybe two, should finish it...
Are you a harbour master or something, sounds like a lot to be in charge of ?
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The printed bits kept leaking so decided to just form the holes from the pipe itself :
(https://i.ibb.co/vHMtyDP/herbs.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vHMtyDP)
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>form the holes from the pipe itself :
I like the look of that. How are you forming the indented pockets in the pipe, some sort of heated tool?
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>I like the look of that.
Same, looks great. I'd buy one
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Cool, i'll be sticking them on etsy but they're easy to make.
Yes i cut slits with a chopsaw then used a heatgun to soften the pipe and a solid, 3d-print of a 2-inch netpot as a former.
I'm not happy with the irregularity of the shaped parts, though some people say they like the fact they are all slightly different, i'd like it to be uniform so i need to make a better shaping rod.
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I agree, this is marketable. The question is the price-point.
Rather than all that manual slitting and forming, could you print the standpipe -complete with cupped indentions- in joinable sections? Then market kits with options for added sections/height. This would also aid in breaking it down for a smaller shipping package.
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I agree, this is marketable. The question is the price-point.
Rather than all that manual slitting and forming, could you print the standpipe -complete with cupped indentions- in joinable sections? Then market kits with options for added sections/height. This would also aid in breaking it down for a smaller shipping package.
Yes that'd be ideal, injection-moulding would be a nice option.
The herb testing is going well, i was worried about pH and EC but herbs seem to mostly have quite wide tolerances, though there's no universal overlap, this is basil topleft, lettuce topright, watercress middleleft, chives middleright and 2 new ones at bottom. /edit i think they may both be watercress in the middle.
(https://i.ibb.co/s9YBg3h/9.jpg) (https://ibb.co/s9YBg3h)
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Here is the new shed. moving in next week, as Lucys boyfriend is coming to stay. (Just kidding Lucy if you are reading).
Back to work seeing the old folks fully PPE'd next monday...
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Nice job! Looks nicer than the kits and way more sturdy.
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I'm jealous. Looks great!
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I'm jealous too. Gorgeous!
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Thx :)
Needs more painting on the outside, and the interior doing. I think a bar is planned, and power required for the fridge. Trying to persuade Lucy to paint a big picture (Mural sort of thing) on one inside wall.
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Very nice and solid looking, love those windows :)
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Small tip - instead of fighting with crappy Philips screws, upgrade to GRK fasteners. Yeah, it's 2X or 3X, but they make life so easy
https://www.grkfasteners.com/
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upgrade to GRK fasteners.
Like it... still working through 2 BIG boxes of screws I inherited....
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Speaking of fitting and fastners, for anyone working with plasterboard that hasn't seen these, they are a god-send :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szx7nMRZSIY
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Stuck the herb garden on Etsy, along with some plastic stuff my pal makes : https://www.etsy.com/shop/thingcloud/
It's had plenty of views (page 1 for vertical herb garden and hydroponic herb garden, Etsy SEO is easy!) but no sales yet.
It's time to put 2 x FDM printers, one resin printer, a cheap Chinese laser cutter and a 3018 CNC to work!
I think the herb garden isn't selling because it isn't arts and crafty, i should probably offer it in different colours with nice pots or something but then the price would have to be raised.
Any criticism welcomed, i'm new to all this retailing!
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Made my first sale of a V-Pot, to an American customer :)
I hadn't realised i was auto-enrolled into Etsy offsite-ads so that took a chunk out of the profit, and Royal Mail had also changed their pricing for parcels to the US so that took a bit, plus Etsy commission so it was a tiny profit in the end (10%) but i learned a few things!
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It says $45 in shipping and arrives in 1-2 weeks. That makes it an expensive item, but it's honestly less than I expected. I remember in the early 1990s when my mom shipped a sweater to a girlfriend in the UK and it took almost six months to arrive.
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It was £20 in shipping but i've had to increase it due to RM increase to US which has gone up a third for that size/weight combination.
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Would not go so far as to say project. But I built this for a laugh.
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But I built this for a laugh.
;D ;D : :) :o 8) ::) :-* :) :D ;D
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"built this for a laugh"
Bloody brilliant :)
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I love it. That is too funny
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Sold 3 vpots already, all to US customers and all due to Etsy offsite ads.
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>lockdown project
I recently spent three or four days converting a real fireplace into a fake one. Wood-burning made a mess, so I'd converted that to gas logs seven or eight years ago. But LP bottled gas is also a PITA to keep filled and I also never got used to the faint smell of propane. So now it's l.e.d. fake flames & coals and an electric heater.
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Did your shed made the finals, Rupert?
Impressive finalists revealed for 2021 Shed of the Year competition
https://newatlas.com/tiny-houses/cuprinol-shed-of-year-2021-finalists/
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Damn, I never entered!
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Another lockdown project that did not get finished was a Flyak. Its still in the garage, with the foils unmade. This reminded me of it:
https://newatlas.com/marine/candela-c/
I have a submersible electric motor, and enough resin to make the foils but work and enthusiasm stopped me...
https://newatlas.com/marine/candela-c/