Greetings all! The steel which constitutes our main structure has arrived and is patiently waiting in the yard to be cut. The arrival of the steel was not without drama with the truck driver backing into the gate of the shop. But the steel was offloaded without any further problems. Though I have always known that steel is heavy I never truly comprehended how heavy it is until yesterday. As Pastre and I moved the steel into tidy stacks next to our welding area the crushing weight of this steel became more and more apparent to me. These 6×6 steel tubes are serious structural members. Luckily, after our engineer ran some numbers we were able to downsize the thickness of our tube from 3/8″to 5/16″. I can’t imagine dealing with these tubes with that extra 16th of an inch.
Artemiy and I are at the shop now working to get sheets printed which show which pieces are to be cut into what dimensions. We are still awaiting word on the cost of getting holes cut into some of our metal with a CNC router. Hopefully we can get news on that today because we really need to start welding this structure together. I am truly disappointed that the cost of renting a stud welder was so much. I don’t know if you have ever seen one of these things in action but it looks awesome. Here is a video from Nelson, a company that manufactures stud welders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWymKHVABKo However, getting holes which are perfectly aligned and bolting through is probably a more exact method of construction for us. Oh well, stud welding will have to wait another day.
The weekend should be filled with lots of steel cutting and hopefully some welding. Check back with us on Monday for an update.