OPT LASER Added To The Fray!

[Joe Jones]

Sweet new geny Joe, hopefully insurance kicked in for that, and good luck with the hunt!

I did not make a claim on the insurance. Lightning is "An act of God" that is not insured. The $13.7K came out of my pocket.

But I WILL check with my insurance agent anyway. Since I no longer insure my home with State Farm, I doubt they will pay on a claim of a lightning strike some five years ago, that has JUST NOW been resolved.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

Nope. Not covered.

Joe

[acourtjester]

Best rule is always report things when they happen. A lightning strike should be covered. My late cousin made a claim for his computer blowing up due to lightning to both home owners and the UPS unit. Both paid

[Joe Jones]

The OPT LASER finally arrived yesterday.

Now things are going to get moving.

Joe

[plasmanewbie]

The OPT LASER finally arrived yesterday.

Now things are going to get moving.

Joe

Pics Joe, pics!

[Joe Jones]

They will come soon. I just dropped off a friend at BNA to fly back to Arizona after a brief visit. We got a lot done. New furniture in the two guest bedrooms ... some major purging of STUFF that has been accumulating here ... prepping for a winter roommate who arrives tomorrow ...

The laser head is MUCH larger than I anticipated. It is about double the size of the X-TOOL laser heads in all three dimensions. I have to figure out how to mount this onto the Samson 510 table, and trigger it with the controller. Then I will have a 5x10 30 Watt laser table that I can run with DesignEdge software I really see a lot of fun ahead with this one!

Also, many other things have arrived, and I am working on getting them to where they need to be, get them OUT of their shipping boxes, and setting them up on the second floor of the FrankenBarn which will be my new LASER floor right after the guys fully spray foam insulate the upper floor and attic level on December 8th through the 12th. There is a LOT of foam to apply, about $14K worth

I hired four young workers with strong backs who will arrive on the 7th, to help me move EVERYTHING out of the ground level workshop to the concrete pad outside, and cover it all with plastic for a few days so the foam guys can insulate the floor beneath the second level. Each level is 1,920 sq. ft., and they have the walls of the 32x60 building to do, as well as the entire roof beneath the barn tin. The contractor anticipated 2-1/2 days of spraying, but he doesn't work on weekends, so Friday, then Monday and most of Tuesday...

Then the four guys will return to bring EVERYTHING back into the shop again.

A local pallet manufacturer helped out. I offered to BUY or RENT ten "old used pallets" so the guys could pile things onto them and let me take them outside with the forklift. This will save about 200 feet of walking for every item! Instead, he GAVE ME 13 pallets that I am just STUNNED to see. Practically new, 4x4' pallets that will work very well!

I also bought a large 1,200 sq. ft. roll of 6 MIL plastic so everything can be covered to hopefully protect it all from the rain, and several rolls of Gorilla Tape to secure it all.

Once the floor is insulated, everything will be taken back in, and all of the laser stuff will be moved to the second floor and/or the attic level. I have not decided how I am going to set this all up, but I did buy three 6" ducting fans that I can use along with ducting and etc., to get all of the smoke and fumes out of the building when I am running the lasers.

Too bad this is all happening now. I do not have time to set up to cut a boat load of laser crafts for a Christmas Craft show. Next year will be great, though!

Joe

[Joe Jones]

I have a very bad back. I DO NOT do heavy lifting. I needed to move about 70 boxes of 12"x24" floor tiles to the basement level of the FrankenBarn. They will be used in a future project, and I wanted them out of the way. So I built a plywood slide with side rails from the ground level, down the wooden staircase to the basement level, with a gentle curve at the bottom and a flat segment at the end for the boxes to come to a rest. It was crude, but it only needed to last 20 minutes, right?

The first box of tiles (60 pounds each ) rode down the slide just as I had planned. However, due to the friction of the cardboard box against the raw plywood, the box stopped four feet short of my intended point, which meant I would have to manually DRAG all 69 remaining 60 pound boxes the additional four feet to where I could lift them off of the end of the slide to stack them. This seemed like a LOT of extra work. These boxes of tiles only need to lose 14 feet of elevation, after all.

So I found this can of spray silicon in my shop. Just an ever-so-light coat of spray on the plywood slide, to reduce the friction a bit ... That should do it!

The second box of tiles came down the slide at 200 miles per hour and didn't stop until it punched a hole straight through a couple of 2x4 wall studs and broke five of the eight tiles into pieces after crashing into the concrete wall beyond the end of the slide.

Boxes 3 and 4 produced identical results, however box #4 got some air and BOMBED the gentle curve at the bottom, punching through it like a Bunker Buster. Now it became apparent that I needed to ADD friction to this slide, to slow down the remaining 66 60-pound boxes of tiles. We switched to individual tiles, figuring that we could open the box at the top of the slide, and place the tiles onto the slide one at a time, with the rough bottom side facing down, which would certainly overcome the tiny little bit of silicon I had applied to the raw wooden slide, RIGHT?

The first single test tile passed my head at the speed of light and exploded into shards against the concrete wall. So the rest of the tiles are still on the pallet at ground level, and I am rethinking this whole thing. Would acetone REMOVE the silicon and restore the friction I need for speed control? Do I have to completely rebuild the slide with new plywood?!?

I REALLY do not want to have to carry 4,200 pounds of tiles down a flight of stairs!

Joe

[acourtjester]

And another episode of "As the Stomach Turns" tune in tomorrow and see what other things can happen in the FrankenBarn. And the forecast is showing Tornados likely for the next 24 hours.

[djreiswig]

Maybe roughen it up with a sander? Or stick some grippy safety tape in strategic places. Might still have to sand the plywood to get it to stick. Or staple some carpet to the bottom. Tilt the end of the ramp uphill?

[Joe Jones]

And another episode of "As the Stomach Turns" tune in tomorrow and see what other things can happen in the FrankenBarn. And the forecast is showing Tornados likely for the next 24 hours.

I admit I did not plan the ramp well. I thought, "I'm just going to slide some boxes down a 16" wide plywood ramp to the lower level, where they will stop at the place where the boxes will be stacked and stored for a future project. How difficult could THAT be?"

I didn't realize I have developed a new WEAPON!

Joe

[Joe Jones]

And another episode of "As the Stomach Turns" tune in tomorrow and see what other things can happen in the FrankenBarn. And the forecast is showing Tornados likely for the next 24 hours.

I have honestly thought about cutting a rectangle out of the floor at a place where I can build a dumbwaiter. I can place a load (a box of tiles, for example) onto the dumbwaiter, and lower it to the basement level in a controlled manner, using a simple electric winch motor.

The thing that REALLY irks me, is that the "wheelchair lift" (read: Elevator) will not be completed for many months yet, but I still need to move a lot of STUFF to the basement level NOW. I know you say, "Hire help!" but that is not really an option, as discretion must be exercised here. I do not want "casual labor" to make a mental note of what is being moved where. The last time I hired casual labor, two of my new trailers were stolen the following day.

Joe

[acourtjester]

Joe climbers use a "Safety Rope" when they rappel down a hill, stop throwing caution (tiles) to the wind.

[Joe Jones]

Joe climbers use a "Safety Rope" when they rappel down a hill, stop throwing caution (tiles) to the wind.

We considered many quick options, such as a wooden platform with a rope, and using my riding lawnmower to move toward, and then away from the door to control the decent of the platform, but this would require THREE people, one to load the tile boxes (and MANY other items) onto the platform, one to unload it at the bottom to stack the boxes off to one side, and a third person to drive forward and backward on my mower 175 times! The boxes of tiles aren't the only heavy, bulky things being taken down there.

No, I am going to design and build some awesome dumbwaiter that can handle the job.

Joe

[Joe Jones]

Four younger, stronger workers came here to empty my shop for the spray foam insulation. They lowered the tiles to the basement level for me using the sandbag method, with me at the top, and three guys on the stairs, and one at the bottom. I placed a box of tiles onto my rickety ramp and slip it down to guy #1, who passed it to guy #2, etc. At the bottom, the strongest guy lifted the box of tiles (59 pounds each x 72 boxes!) and stacked them off to one side. Mission accomplished!

Joe

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[AREA]

Nice Joe and looking good. Nice to have some strong young help around

[Joe Jones]

The 10,000 WATT 240VAC 35K BTU electric heater arrived today. I am going to plug it in and see if it was worth the price. I need to get that top floor and attic up to a comfortable temperature. It is no fun working up there in a SNOW SUIT!

Joe

[weldguy]

Hope it does the trick Joe. It's been brutal cold the last week around here the last week, tolerable now but that was bad.