Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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- 13,008
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- Sevenoaks, UK
Ideal for resting your nuts on.
- Thread starter God mode restorations
- Start date
Ideal for resting your nuts on.
doubleboost
Member
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- 3,897
- Location
- Newcastle upon Tyne England
Better than the scrap man getting them (spanners not nuts)
Blue Chips
Forum Supporter
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- 730
- Location
- Maine, USA
We're building a second garage, and we are now at the point of setting up forms for the footings that will support the foundation walls. The footings will be poured directly against solid bedrock (or 'ledge' as they call it here).
The concrete contractor got started on building the forms for the footings (below) a couple of weeks ago, then had to leave for another job for about a week.
While he was away, I thought I'd do some work on the forms myself to help speed things along.
As you can see, the forms need to be scribed to fit the convolutions in the bedrock. I'm not sure yet if they'll use a concrete pump or if they can get the truck close enough to use a trough, and I'm not sure what the concrete slump factor will be, but in any case I figured that a closely scribed fit would be better than a sloppy fit.
I came up with an idea for a simple device that I thought could scribe the forms quickly and accurately. It’s probably not a new idea, but it’s new to me, as I haven’t seen one like it yet. My idea was for a device that rolls along a track attached to the form. It has a guide tube with a ball bearing at the bottom that rides up and down with the contours of the ledge and scribes a line on the form with an attached marker. I fabricated the gadget (below) mostly from scrap metal I had lying around. There are two garage door track rollers (behind the steel trolley in the photo) that follow the track that I temporarily attach to the form with a few screws. The guide tube can be inserted at either end of the trolley so that both ends of a full 8-foot board can be scribed. I can already see some improvements that I'd like to make, but for the time being, it should do the job.
The marker holder was a bit fussy. I drilled a centered hole lengthwise through a bolt (bored the hole with my lathe) and also drilled and tapped the head of the bolt for a set screw.
I sized the marker holder so that it could hold either the cylindrical metal extension of a mechanical pencil or a thick graphite lead.
The marker holder is shown below inserted into one of the threaded holes in the square tube.
The ball bearing at the bottom of the tube allows the guide tube to roll relatively smoothly over the surface of the bedrock.
Here's the track and my device mounted on a sheet of OSB. You can see the scribed line that I drew with it.
And here's the OSB after I cut the board along the scribed line. It made for a nice snug fit.
Note: The various supports, pins, rebar, etc., will be added after all of the boards are scribed and installed. A perimeter drain system will also be installed after pouring the foundation walls.
Here's another section that I cut this afternoon. It was a virtually perfect fit. I'm quite pleased with my little gadget, and I get faster at using it with each board.
The concrete contractor should be back on the job tomorrow, and I'll educate him on the use of my gadget. I think he'll like it. I hope that we can get the footing forms finished this week, or no later than the following week. After the footings are poured, a set of standard modular forms would then be set up on top of the footings for pouring the foundation wall (or ‘frost wall’ in the local vernacular).
The concrete contractor got started on building the forms for the footings (below) a couple of weeks ago, then had to leave for another job for about a week.
While he was away, I thought I'd do some work on the forms myself to help speed things along.
As you can see, the forms need to be scribed to fit the convolutions in the bedrock. I'm not sure yet if they'll use a concrete pump or if they can get the truck close enough to use a trough, and I'm not sure what the concrete slump factor will be, but in any case I figured that a closely scribed fit would be better than a sloppy fit.
I came up with an idea for a simple device that I thought could scribe the forms quickly and accurately. It’s probably not a new idea, but it’s new to me, as I haven’t seen one like it yet. My idea was for a device that rolls along a track attached to the form. It has a guide tube with a ball bearing at the bottom that rides up and down with the contours of the ledge and scribes a line on the form with an attached marker. I fabricated the gadget (below) mostly from scrap metal I had lying around. There are two garage door track rollers (behind the steel trolley in the photo) that follow the track that I temporarily attach to the form with a few screws. The guide tube can be inserted at either end of the trolley so that both ends of a full 8-foot board can be scribed. I can already see some improvements that I'd like to make, but for the time being, it should do the job.
The marker holder was a bit fussy. I drilled a centered hole lengthwise through a bolt (bored the hole with my lathe) and also drilled and tapped the head of the bolt for a set screw.
I sized the marker holder so that it could hold either the cylindrical metal extension of a mechanical pencil or a thick graphite lead.
The marker holder is shown below inserted into one of the threaded holes in the square tube.
The ball bearing at the bottom of the tube allows the guide tube to roll relatively smoothly over the surface of the bedrock.
Here's the track and my device mounted on a sheet of OSB. You can see the scribed line that I drew with it.
And here's the OSB after I cut the board along the scribed line. It made for a nice snug fit.
Note: The various supports, pins, rebar, etc., will be added after all of the boards are scribed and installed. A perimeter drain system will also be installed after pouring the foundation walls.
Here's another section that I cut this afternoon. It was a virtually perfect fit. I'm quite pleased with my little gadget, and I get faster at using it with each board.
The concrete contractor should be back on the job tomorrow, and I'll educate him on the use of my gadget. I think he'll like it. I hope that we can get the footing forms finished this week, or no later than the following week. After the footings are poured, a set of standard modular forms would then be set up on top of the footings for pouring the foundation wall (or ‘frost wall’ in the local vernacular).
Dcal
Member
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- 4,070
- Location
- Antrim Northern Ireland
I like that a lot and I will certainly steal that idea at sometime in the future.
The bearings must make it so much nicer to use and I'll bet your concreting guy will take it with him.
Do you drill dowels into the rock before placing the concrete?
The bearings must make it so much nicer to use and I'll bet your concreting guy will take it with him.
Do you drill dowels into the rock before placing the concrete?
Wildefalcon
Member
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- 2,568
- Location
- Gloucestershire, England
Impressed! I've no idea how deep the bed rock is here, suspect a LONG way down. Attaching to bedrock sounds brilliant, can't get better.
I used a raft foundation with keyed deep pads for my workshop. And double rebar mesh. Building regulations require that as it's a coal mining area. Still active in some parts!
River estuary typography. I must see if there's a map somewhere.....
I used a raft foundation with keyed deep pads for my workshop. And double rebar mesh. Building regulations require that as it's a coal mining area. Still active in some parts!
River estuary typography. I must see if there's a map somewhere.....
finyuk2005
Member
- Messages
- 785
i bet in the uk they would make you dig that rock out and pour a six feet deep found instead 
i also wondered if you would drill some rebar into the rock just to tie it in?
i also wondered if you would drill some rebar into the rock just to tie it in?
The_Yellow_Ardvark
https://www.death-clock.org/
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- 20,338
- Location
- Going Away.
One of many nice nac holders.
The frame is made from a gas suppression install kit.
The items from many donations.
DAPPH
as dyslexik as I'm daft
- Messages
- 7,489
- Location
- Near to Cross Hands Llanelli SouthWales GB
I've usually used some inch thick styrofoam sheet cut down to below the top edge of the forms to block the leakage out flow and back filled with plenty of topsoil to hold the sheeting strip to the wood .i bet in the uk they would make you dig that rock out and pour a six feet deep found instead
i also wondered if you would drill some rebar into the rock just to tie it in?
I used to use a Jock strapNot a single pipe or cable will be safe in Slovenia from now on....
Blue Chips
Forum Supporter
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- 730
- Location
- Maine, USA
We'll drill holes in the bedrock about two feet apart and epoxy-in vertical rebars that will extend up out of the footings and into the foundation walls. So it will be well tied into the bedrock. There will be a complete system of properly installed rebar reinforcement within the footings and foundation walls. I'll post pictures as it proceeds.
If you're interested in the topography/geology, here's a LINK to a bedrock geology map of our area. The garage site is at 43°54'58.13"N, 69°54'44.93"W, and the bedrock type is:
We could use the topsoil to directly brace the outside of the forms, but we'd have to dig it out again to install the perimeter drain system. Temporary pins to secure the bottom edges forms will easy to install. The stone drills quickly with a hammer drill. We'll be installing styrofoam inside the footings and foundation walls.
£46 in the bin. Another one ordered...
Kram
Member
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- 8,079
- Location
- Sussex
Yes, quite irritated as the only time I cut my gear was once working at night. What happened yesterday is an annoying branch below me so I reached down and cut it but somehow didnt see the bright colour of the line. I only realised when I saw the yellow fluff shooting off!
MetalMonkey
Member
- Messages
- 3,384
- Location
- UK
Bit of heatshrink. Job done.
oldbikedavey
Member
- Messages
- 1,646
- Location
- London, England
Mostly been making an adaptor plate to fix a Lucas button type rear stoplight switch to a Wideline Featherbed frame.
Thought and design evolve proportionally to the time spent cutting bits of cardboard..
Thought and design evolve proportionally to the time spent cutting bits of cardboard..
oldbikedavey
Member
- Messages
- 1,646
- Location
- London, England
You don't want to be doing it wrong.....
Would sta-lok or similar type ends be suitable?
