A small set of gates...

[sako243]

Builders showing up unaccounced and not necessarily when I'm in has prompted me to get cracking on a set of gates (or firstly a set of posts for them). Occassionally @8ob does have good ideas, even if he doesn't always follow his own advice (ask him about the leaning tower of Bob...)


That suggestion is a set of rugby posts / H frame for the posts so that the cross-brace ties the posts together as well as serving as a conduit for cables etc. These posts will eventually have hydraulics added to open them automatically but for the moment having something across the top entrance will suffice. The top entrance is the smaller of the two into by place (the bigger one down the drive already has some gates although those will be replaced eventually), bear in mind that small is relative (especially in the context of this place)...

Anyway some steel (4x 7.5m lengths of 150x150x5mm box) was ordered by way of CLH Trailers, I know Chris and Andrew who run it quite well and they're quite happy to order and take delivery of steel for me and I can pick it up at my leisure. This is particularly helpful since last order I placed with Dyfed Steel I was messed around on the delivery a lot. They can also better their price quite significantly because of the sheer volume of stuff they get through and they cut out the middle man usually by going direct to the manufacturer (e.g. Tata). So the 6x6 had a little run down the road (only a few miles) to collect it.

The little tower suffered a bit but everything was nice and secure and took it nice and gentle on the return home. It's been sat around outside for a while but last week finally got off my backside to start cutting them to length.

Rather than trust my measuring abilities I decided it was more sensible to take a length to the entrance and mark it up / cut it there so I could visualise things. Don't particularly want to mess up the cuts since there's a lot of weight and cost in those bits of steel...

I'm always amazed by how much force you can put onto a set of pallet forks (thank you @vwmark).

And I'm certainly glad I upgraded the little dinky Kubota for something a little more capable - saves me manhandling the length into place manually.

Anyway some cutting was done (slightly worrying when an "offcut" is the same height as I am )

And the holes were duly inspected

And I'm extremely grateful for a nice flat floor even if there are no doors on it yet to make it a useful workshop.

And today I managed to find some time to go in and weld up the frame, between the posts is 19ft. Some feet and caps to go on to stop water sitting inside, lick of paint and then I'll figure out a way to get it out of the workshop and start digging up the drive to concrete them in - when the weather improves slightly.

I have inquired about getting them galvanised but fully welded up they'd require a double-dip in the tank so effectively doubling the cost which even before that happened would put it not far off doubling the price of the steel . So paint it is, everything below ground will be concreted in anyway and the stuff above ground will be accessible for touch-up easily enough.

And an obligatory photo - reasonably happy with the way the welds turned out since it's the 4th time I've picked up the stick welder. @8ob - your 20 minute crash course has been very helpful. Still plenty of room for improvement but they're not coming apart which is the main thing.

 

[Mark 2]

I had to a few takes on the forks pic.
Your erection should fly up now welded.

 

[sako243]

I did ensure it was fully inserted before all the way around the house

 

[Bullet2012]

I did ensure it was fully inserted before all the way around the house
View attachment 271943

Looks like you didn’t need to weld anything ! It’s obvious you are a dab hand with the gaffe tape

 

[sako243]

Looks like you didn’t need to weld anything ! It’s obvious you are a dab hand with the gaffe tape

Unfortunately because the (lack of) builders keep leaving stuff blocking access to the workshop and being in West Wales it isn't particularly dry the 2CX tends to live outside. Noticed one day before firing it up that there was a load of water sitting in the air cleaner due to a hole in the top. As I was in a rush to move some stuff around gaffa tape was the quickest solution, and I'll be honest I forgot I did it several months ago.



Once the workshop is sealed up and stuff moved in I do plan on cleaning it off and giving it a decent going over. It's in surprisingly good shape for an ex-farm vehicle and immensely handy to have, pretty much the power of a full-size one but turns on a sixpence and far more maneuverable. They're very difficult to find particularly with the back-actor so to find one local in full streetmaster spec was a blessing.

 

[addjunkie]

an ex-farm vehicle and immensely handy to have, pretty much the power of a full-size one but turns on a sixpence and far more maneuverable. They're very difficult to find particularly with the back-actor so to find one local in full streetmaster spec was a blessing.

I spent months looking for one like yours gave up in the end, ended up with a loader tractor and a digger

Whats that shiney stuff on the workshop floor?

 

[sako243]

Funnily enough I know of another one locally here but needs a bit of work doing to it. One of the front hubs has a smashed planetary gear set. It was actually a consideration because initially the chap who had the one I ended up buying wasn't going to sell it.

All the pins and hydraulics on the smashed hub one were in really good nick with a full set of buckets. The real put off for me (apart from needing work) was I couldn't get it to select drive - almost certainly an electrical issue but meant I couldn't hear / feel what the drivetrain was like.

As I was seriously considering making a low ball offer and doing the work because the 2CX was about perfect for me then the other chap changed his mind and it was a fully functioning machine. The headlights and wipers even worked which is unheard of for an old farm machine.

The only thing I miss / wish I could have is a PTO but with hydraulic pumps for both Land Rovers and the JCB has an auxiliary circuit (electrical issue to the spool valve to sort) it's a slightly moot point for what I want to use the "PTO" for.

 

[sako243]

Well a lick of paint was thrown on them yesterday - bit too cold and paint was quite thick but seems to have gone on damn well despite it. Ironically after coming into the house I found a large parcel by the back door, a small diesel heater, it does chuck out some heat

Anyway after playing with the heater for a little bit then came the challenge of trying to extract the posts


Brute strength sufficed for a the initial bit. Then a little trolley from Lidl was deployed and I could replace my muscles with something a wee bit stronger.

And apologies there are no more photos after this because it got a bit more complicated and I was focussing on getting it out and up to the driveway entrance.

I was half tempted to leave it across the drive to take off people's wheels if they weren't paying attention but I did take pity on the delivery drivers and have dropped a bulk bag of sand from the blasting in the entrance to warn them. If they hit that then it's their own damn fault.

But the posts are roughly in their holes so I can position them and then excavate (likely by hand because there's at least a water main under the drive) the channel for the cross-brace to sit.

 

[wyn]

I like the shed....Is it going to be a workshop?

 

[sako243]

Eventually (sore point dealing with the builders doing some of the work I'm not doing).

Downstairs "clean" workshop, i.e. machine shop etc., upstairs the really clean workshop for electronics and computery stuff as well as an office.

Building behind the 2CX has a old Victorian blacksmiths forge and will be the "dirty" workshop for welding / grinding etc most likely.

 

[sako243]

Well as it decided to dump an inch of snow yesterday I didn't get started on digging out the trench but I did stop to take a picture of what happened in the dark. You can just about make out where the two uprights are, the left one has a cement bag over the top and the right hand has a dog food bag.

Bulk bag to be nice to delivery drivers and prevent them ripping off an axle.

Weather is supposed to be better later in the week and hopefully I'll have got a couple of work items out the way so that I can start digging the trench across the drive.

 

[sako243]

Well I nicked the big kango from the farm and set to on the driveway. Made sure I took the channel deep enough and slid the posts into the slot. Then realised that the two holes in the corners aren't quite deep enough

Decided it wasn't worth the rush getting the JCB back ground to lift them back out as it was going to get dark soonish so that's a job for later I think and then take out the holes a little deeper.

I occassionally get a reasonable amount of water flowing down the drive now the neighbours have built a little berm to stop it washing out their yard so the plan is to reuse some of these drain bricks from the coach-house to form a little channel across the drive to divert it down into the wood. Don't expect it to stop all of it but if it catches some of it at least it'll look nice and reuse some of the stuff from the stables floor (they are deeper than they look - they're full of crap in this photo).

 

[roofman]

Why not throw some ducting in before the concrete incase you ever want to go electric in the future

 

[sako243]

Why not throw some ducting in before the concrete incase you ever want to go electric in the future

Um., there is already a piece of 150x150 piece of ducting in there (well technically it's 140x140mm)

 

[roofman]

Um., there is already a piece of 150x150 piece of ducting in there (well technically it's 140x140mm)

It looks butt welded and if you drill through it wont it fill with water

 

[sako243]

There's two big holes into the uprights. I didn't take a picture before welding them all up.

Haven't cut the access holes into the uprights yet.

 

[sako243]

Just a small update

As the weather was half decent today I had a quick think and then ran down to CLH Trailers again. Making the most of the dry weather I mixed another 10 barrow loads or so of concrete to pour down the other gatepost then quickly tacked the boxtogether to get a rough idea of what it's going to look like height wise.

Then realised I might have made a boo-boo

Luckily on the **** it just fit out the passenger door under the PVC frame that's going in for the glass arch. The main doorway is currently blocked off as the builders still haven't quite finished the stonework above the brick arch (but it is looking much better now).

Then a quick offering up to see the sense of scale

The long term goal will be to get the top one bent into a bell curve so the outer edges drop down to the crenellations on the wall. But for the moment I'm getting fed up people (builders) just driving in unannounced so they'll do and I'll chop it off later and lower it. At least this way the timber won't be wasted.

When I get a moment I'll cut a piece of 50x25 RHS I've got to form a brace across the middle and also serve to clamp the timber in front. Need to see if I'll be able to bend the timber slightly so I can use a piece of flat top and bottom to hold the timber in place neatly.

 

[winchman]

What about the leaning tower of Bob???

 

[sako243]

What about the leaning tower of Bob???

Short version - he couldn't be bothered to put a brace across the bottom to tie the two pieces of steel together because he put such a ridiculous amount of concrete below each post and reasoned there was so much they'd never move. Cue some years later and, yup, you've guessed it one of them is now leaning .

Power of mother nature - I think it's actually the oak tree in the wood behind pushing it over with it's roots.

 

[winchman]

Short version - he couldn't be bothered to put a brace across the bottom to tie the two pieces of steel together because he put such a ridiculous amount of concrete below each post and reasoned there was so much they'd never move. Cue some years later and, yup, you've guessed it one of them is now leaning .

Power of mother nature - I think it's actually the oak tree in the wood behind pushing it over with it's roots.

I think we all have a similar tail!