Sunday, July 26, 2009

OK so far

Welded up the first side of the truss assembly this morning. Pulled it off the jig and it held its shape just like magic. It is big and long and rather unruly at only half finished. This will be quite the monster to wrestle up on top of the containers. Should be fun figuring out how to get them in place all by myself.

Done by noon so took the rest of the day off to do laundry and brunch with Chef Ronaldo. Came back home to hang the laundry out to dry and pampered Benita. Spent the afternoon planning the week ahead.

Around 7PM, my new land owner/neighbor Brad stopped by with a gift for the Field Lab - not exactly what I was looking for but damn near close enough. Just another day of everything falling into place.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

ROFL ! that stands for rolling over falling laughing, when I saw the phone booth in the desert.
Doctor who would have a hard time getting into that one eh?

Just a thought about getting the truss on the roof. Make skids leading to the top and hook a rope to the truss. pull from other side with truck. till one side gets on top. then secure it up there with a rope. and do same with other side. or you could just hoist it up with block and tackle.

Bob O said...

Hmmm...interesting problem if you really want to avoid a Teralingua barn raising....

I'm sure you'll figure it out. You seem to have an excellent grasp of physics and engineering.

EvilBunnySlipper said...

Hello John

It's actually very easy....you get 4 inch Square tubing that's slightly longer than the lowest point where the strut will be...Stand it upright(after connecting a Block and Tackle to it) in the middle of the green house. Tie a rope to one end of the strut, starting at the one side of the Greenhouse, hoist the strut up at it's mid point, and let your helper use the rope to guide it where you want to place it. I've seen this get done in a lot of places where cranes just don't have access to the site.

TROUBLEnTX said...

rofl= rolling on floor laughing, lol. kinda liked ur version too.

Anonymous said...

yep that too, but I rolled off the bed and hit the floor. I wasnt effected by drink either. lol

matty1955 said...

Hey John, cool stuff you got here. Looking for property near Santa Fe to do the same operation. Don't have the skills that you do, but working on a container building design. I'm using a truss similar to yours but store-bought used from Big Top http://www.bigtopshelters.com/
Thanks for all the info.I'll be checking in with you from time to time!
Matty1955

rj said...

I would hire a crane for a day and have several helpers/day workers on hand and do the "barn raising". A modern approach to the traditional method of getting big jobs done after all the prep work is ready.

I liked Big Top's page on container based enclosures here

denziel56 said...

nice phone !

i'll be out in august so maybe ?

i'll bring my chain hoist just in case.

later

.b

Ben in Texas said...

Simple quick way to get them all up there,,Hire a Helicopter ,he could pick up more than one at a time and lay them up there,then you stand them up,one at a time and maneuver into place with one helper. Is Rex Ivy still flying down there? Call him.

And your phone, couldn't you run a line out to it from your phone with an off switch inside ,make it functional?

Bryan Park said...

You could...

1. Weld the cross braces between two of the long trusses so that you have a more stable unit.
2. Put the unit in the center of the four containers and raise each end using a come-along attached to the top of a pole stuck in the hole at the corner of the container.

No crane, no helpers, although they certainly wouldn't hurt.