What We're Making

[Ronstar]

Nice projects sengsational & Surewhitey!

 

[scrinch]

A couple of years ago we bought a mountain cabin that was built in the 70's by my uncle after the previous cabin at the site had collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow load. Before finishing the cabin, my uncle had a bicycle accident and became handicapped, so some of the final touches to the cabin were not completed. One of these was the staircase to the upstairs sleeping loft. The plans called for a spiral staircase, but what was installed was a steep staircase almost like a ladder.

I decided that my first real project at the cabin would be to design and build the spiral staircase to make it easier to get up-(and especially down-) stairs. The plans called for a 48" diameter staircase with 22.5 degree stairs. This sounded too cramped for a bigfoot like me, so I decided to build a custom staircase to fill the entire 53" x 57" opening with 30 degree steps. I bought some old 2x12 fir floor joists taken from a torn down local mill, and spent a couple of months over the winter making the steps, spacers, and railings for the project. I then set them aside until the snow melted and we could open the cabin for the summer season.

This past week my brother and I opened the cabin, and then spent 3 days trimming to size and installing the stairs.

 

[scrinch]

I also built and installed a small new dock out of a tree near the cabin that died a bark-beetle death and was felled last year. The boat on the right side was a winter plywood/fiberglass project a couple of years ago.

 

[street]

I'm always amazed at the talent this group has, great projects to all of you!

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Nice work Scrinch!

 

[Ronstar]

Nice projects Scrinch! How do those stair treads fasten to that pole?

 

[scrinch]

How do those stair treads fasten to that pole?

There's a 1-1/4" galvanized pipe threaded through holes cut in each tread to hold them in place, and then a 6-1/4" ABS 4" pipe spacer between the treads for vertical support. The spacers also have four 6-1/4" long 1x2's inside them to keep the ABS centered around the galvanized pipe.

 

[Ronstar]

Got it. Thanks.

Great design to make that work!

 

[street]

scrinch >>> thanks for that illustration and workmanship. Very nice!

 

[ERD50]

There's a 1-1/4" galvanized pipe threaded through holes cut in each tread to hold them in place, and then a 6-1/4" ABS 4" pipe spacer between the treads for vertical support. The spacers also have four 6-1/4" long 1x2's inside them to keep the ABS centered around the galvanized pipe.

Very cool! I think you were wise to try to use the entire space rather than the available 48" treads. Even as is, it looks a little towards the tight side (maybe not in person though). You wouldn't want to give up any more space.

Well done.

-ERD50

 

[RobbieB]

That stair rocks! Very cool and very smooth -

 

[Surewhitey]

Excellent work and thanks for the idea. I'll use it one day. I love reclaimed old wood. Just need a planer to bring it back to life.

 

[scrinch]

Very cool! I think you were wise to try to use the entire space rather than the available 48" treads. Even as is, it looks a little towards the tight side (maybe not in person though). You wouldn't want to give up any more space.

Well done.

-ERD50

You're right. Even now it's a little tight. That's why there's no handrail installed at this point. A handrail would push the user several inches away from he wall to the narrower part of the treads while providing the security of a handhold...a tradeoff between greater foot stability versus greater hand security. I'm going to let people use it for a while and then solicit input as to whether they think a handrail is desirable. The handrail is all made, and the brackets are on location waiting to be installed.

 

[Surewhitey]

My second one turned out better. Walnut scraps from a j*b...gonna be gifting these to friends who like to play.

 

[Ronstar]

Not really a difficult piece of work, but I needed a dolly for my Jeep top to be able to move it around the garage. Just raise the top off from the Jeep by hoisting it from the garage ceiling, then drive out, then lower the top to the dolly.

 

[Jerry1]

I used to have a small tractor. I put all the attachments on dollies. There was no way for one person to move them around to store them and then be able to move them into place to attach them. A dolly made it possible. I had a 54 inch roto tiller and a large hydraulic snow plow along with a 56 inch mowing deck. Your dolly looks more professional than mine. Good job.

 

[Ronstar]

I used to have a small tractor. I put all the attachments on dollies. There was no way for one person to move them around to store them and then be able to move them into place to attach them. A dolly made it possible. I had a 54 inch roto tiller and a large hydraulic snow plow along with a 56 inch mowing deck. Your dolly looks more professional than mine. Good job.

Thanks - I agree. I do the same thing - put everything I can on dollies.

 

[homestead]

Thanks - I agree. I do the same thing - put everything I can on dollies.

How heavy is the top?

 

[Ronstar]

How heavy is the top?

90 lbs according to the internet. Seems about right.

 

[sengsational]

Nice job on the game board and stairs and dolly! You make it look easy.

 

[Jerry1]

This is a bit silly compared to some of the fantastic things this group makes, but this is what I made today. After going out and seeing that a rabbit nailed my dahlias, I figured I better make some cages. I looked for something already made, but they were about $25 and small. I made these for about $10 and they are a nice size and stackable. Of course If I pay myself minimum wage, I lost money for sure. However, I did get better/quicker after I did a couple of them and figured out my system.

I made five of these. I used a tomato cage for the frame and chicken wire for the outer netting. To make them stackable, I had to do a good job of putting the wire on the cage tightly. That was harder than I though because the cage is a cone and not a straight sided cylinder.

Three cages:

They stack nicely for storage:

Hopefully, I'll get to see some flowers this year. First time with dahlias.

Not sure about putting a top on the cage but I'm going to secure them better tomorrow. The one stake is not enough.

 

[Ronstar]

Excellent! Those will keep the rabbits out. Great that they’re stackable.

 

[scrinch]

It's great to see the ingenious low-tech, low-cost solutions that you guys come up with to solve problems at home!

 

[teetee]

This is a bit silly compared to some of the fantastic things this group makes, but this is what I made today. After going out and seeing that a rabbit nailed my dahlias, I figured I better make some cages. I looked for something already made, but they were about $25 and small. I made these for about $10 and they are a nice size and stackable. Of course If I pay myself minimum wage, I lost money for sure. However, I did get better/quicker after I did a couple of them and figured out my system.



I made five of these. I used a tomato cage for the frame and chicken wire for the outer netting. To make them stackable, I had to do a good job of putting the wire on the cage tightly. That was harder than I though because the cage is a cone and not a straight sided cylinder.



Three cages:

They stack nicely for storage:

Hopefully, I'll get to see some flowers this year. First time with dahlias.

Not sure about putting a top on the cage but I'm going to secure them better tomorrow. The one stake is not enough.

We did not do something that fancy. We just wrapped the garden with chicken wire all the way around so all animals (including us) can't get in..

 

[RobbieB]

Finished up my carbonator project. This is an aarke version, same concept as soda stream and uses the same bottles and gas cylinders.

The gas cylinders are brutally expensive to refill and have a device inside that will break and destroy the valve if filled too fast. I did figure out how to defeat this and have been filling from a large 20# tank. The twenty pound tank cost as much to fill as 2 (less that 1 pound each) SS cylinders. But the "inverted cylinder" method would not dispense the final 5 pounds of CO2.

This little project fixes that final problem;

I bought a 3 foot braided SS hose adapter and when I drain the last 410 gram SS bottle I'll hook it up to the big tank -