Friday again Folks! 

 

Here "Two Weeks From Anywhere" I've been helping our neighbor Bruce with getting a Cupola built for the original part of the old school building to provide ventilation for the second floor, and attic. I've only got time to post a couple of W.I.P. photos we've got to run shortly. I'll post more photos later.

We won't get much done on it today, rain on the way. We added a temporary plywood top to keep the incoming rain from getting into the electric fan after these photos were taken.

 

BTW all but some roofing sealant and a can of "Great Stuff" came from "Curb Shopping" 

 

So, What's on Your Weekend Agenda? 

 

 

Edited June 28, 20242 yr by Larry Buskirk

Good day for us yesterday. Marie made her 6 week visit to the surgeon and was given the all clear to resume (slowly) her life. Best part was they allowed her to quit wearing the back brace (which was a royal PITA) that she's had on for 6 weeks. I'm still trying to understand the costs of such an operation (screws and rods between L2 and l6 (?). Here's the insurance settlement....notice the small difference between what was charged versus what was paid.

Continue shop organization.  As said before, so much crap, so little unused space. Got a bunch of stuff ready to move to the shed. Another bunch goes on the "to the dump" pile.  That run will be made Monday.  Sometimes, there's good lumber somebody's tossing. Might get lucky.

 

 

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

Sometimes, there's good lumber somebody's tossing.

  Why buy lumber when you can find it for "Free"? 

Edited June 28, 20242 yr by Larry Buskirk

Yep that trip to the dump and sometimes bring home more than I took. I have cleaned out a drawer or two but have not gotten into the shop clean out earnestly as I might need that someday. 
 

new to me laptop went black last night so had to take it in. Going to gun store shortly to see if they will buy parts from DIL’s dad. Working on a box got AAW exchange and on a spiral hollow form at the lathe.

Gotta pack up for an Easy Wood Tools demonstration, at the Harrisburg PA Woodcraft store, on Saturday ( @Jordan Martindale ). Still working on those rolling pin blanks for the local woodturning club workshop- need more materials for the inserts. 

 

@Fred W. Hargis Jr, good to hear about Marie! Thank goodness for insurance!!

Been another busy week with some accomplishments between rains, heat and humidity. It's hard to believe June ends Sunday.

 

Plan to finish mowing today if the rain holds off. New carburetor for mini-tiller is supposed to be here tomorrow; hopefully I can get the garden areas cultivated once the tiller runs. Need to complete my PHD's (projects half done) on remaining raised garden beds, clean-up of blackberry patches, material clean-up & disposal of playset as well as a couple projects the Mrs. has commissioned.

 

Meeting up tomorrow evening with wife's niece and her husband for dinner while they're passing through from Pennsylvania. Sunday AM, church services.

@Larry Buskirk...excellent progress on the cupola. Cool addition to a great old building. Reminds me of my earlier years when our county had schools in each of our small towns. I graduated HS from one of them. Our Senior class was 29. It was a K-12 and yes, there was more than one room.

 

@Fred W. Hargis Jr. So thankful to hear Marie is doing so much better. Prayers she continues to strengthen and return fully to regular activities. Seeing her bill looks very similar to mine 3 years ago. I was fortunate; no out of pocket for extended hospital stay or back surgery and only a small portion for 3 months of PT rehab. 

I might get to the Drafting table  in a little bit...resting up the Left leg...Trip to a yard sale and to Wall E World about done the leg in for a while...

 

Trying to draw up this..

Called a Mitered Half Lap Joint..the show face looks like a normal Miter joint..until you look on the other face..and it looks just like a half lap joint..

Should fun to draw up?   Then..a joint I call a Bridle Joint.....and then a couple Mortise & Tenon Joints...Maybe a Dado (hand tool version) later...Right now, I seem to be maintaining a "B" Average on the Grades...shoptime tomorrow?

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

Continue shop organization.  As said before, so much crap, so little unused space. Got a bunch of stuff ready to move to the shed. Another bunch goes on the "to the dump" pile.  That run will be made Monday.  Sometimes, there's good lumber somebody's tossing. Might get lucky.

 

 

A friend of mine says "Never underestimate the value of enclosed space."  He grew up on a farm  

2 hours ago, Gerald said:

Going to gun store shortly to see if they will buy parts from DIL’s dad. 

 

If not, you can try these guys:

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/sell-your-parts

I've never sold to them but I've bought from them some old parts I never expected to be able to replace.

Worksheet #3 has arrived..

Never was much of a Draftman..Tremors in the right hand just don't help...

Joint #8..you see these a lot on those semi-circle, 3 legged Tables...where the bowed apron comes around and passes though the front, single leg...Bridle..as in what you use on a Horse...NOT a Wedding Table...

On had room on the worksheet for 2 wood Joints..

finished this today.

 

when my late wife Linda was going thru chemo, the retail cost of her treatment over the course of about 15 months totaled over $1,300,000.....our cost was a small fraction of that thanks to insurance.

 

dump box for 2 gun matches, this is the 5th (and last) i've made for the range.

4 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

@Larry Buskirk...excellent progress on the cupola. Cool addition to a great old building. Reminds me of my earlier years when our county had schools in each of our small towns. I graduated HS from one of them. Our Senior class was 29. It was a K-12 and yes, there was more than one room. 

 Not too shabby for using "Curb Shopping" materials. 

Another one of those "Throw Away The Square Projects!" 

 

Had to build it out of square to match the sort of square (+/- 1/2") 47" galvanized sheet metal hip roof that goes on top, along with the out of square hip roof that was on the building. It does make a difference in the way things fit switching end for end on both the fan mounting box, and the Cupola frame. 

Can't tell it from the ground, where we stand on the building roof is about 3' above power pole height. 

Seems to have made a pretty good difference temperature wise on the second floor, and a big difference in the attic. 

Edited June 28, 20242 yr by Larry Buskirk

for those wondering about my decorating sense/carpet selection, the dump box is 24" wide, and i found 24x24 carpet squares at HD, but they come in a variety pack, 10 carpet tiles to a box, and you get what you get.  I had 4 leftovers from prior work, so that's why they look "unmatched".  but they'll work to keep rifles and pistols from getting scratched up during a match.

A few of the W.I.P. photos of Bruces Cupola.

 

The 26" "Curb Shopping" fan we used and the mounting box we made. The box is roughly 30" sort of square. 

The "Rough" Cupola framework we built and painted on the ground, then hauled up on top of the building. 

The base is roughly 40" sort of square by 4' high. 

Did my best to keep this guy busy. 

So, we could get them put up. 

It was getting a bit late last night and the galvanized hip roof needs a bit of hole patching before we can install it, so we covered the top with a half sheet of plywood because we were warned about today's mostly all-day rain. 

Maybe sometime tomorrow. 

 

Edited June 29, 20242 yr by Larry Buskirk

13 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

A few of the W.I.P. photos of Bruces Cupola.

 

The 26" "Curb Shopping" fan we used and the mounting box we made. The box is roughly 30" sort of square. 

The "Rough" Cupola framework we built and painted on the ground, then hauled up on top of the building. 

The base is roughly 40" sort of square by 4' high. 

Did my best to keep this guy busy. 

So, we could get them put up. 

It was getting a bit late last night and the galvanized hip roof needs a bit of hole patching before we can install it, so we covered the top with a half sheet of plywood because we were warned about today's mostly all-day rain. 

Maybe sometime tomorrow. 

 

 

Nice work on the cupola.  I've built a couple (windowed, not vented) and they are non-trivial to do!

 

Some friends of mine were building a garage and asked me to come over and help them with something they didn't know how to do yet.  In the course of conversation, I told them "square is overrated", and though those guys forgot the context and why it is that square is nice (often very nice!) it is not required in my opinion for construction work - can't see square from the ground or 50 feet away usually!  It sure makes the rest of the job easier if you can start out square and plumb, but if it's not you can still get it to look great with some effort!

10 hours ago, JWD said:

 

Nice work on the cupola.  I've built a couple (windowed, not vented) and they are non-trivial to do!

 

Some friends of mine were building a garage and asked me to come over and help them with something they didn't know how to do yet.  In the course of conversation, I told them "square is overrated", and though those guys forgot the context and why it is that square is nice (often very nice!) it is not required in my opinion for construction work - can't see square from the ground or 50 feet away usually!  It sure makes the rest of the job easier if you can start out square and plumb, but if it's not you can still get it to look great with some effort!

 

Thanks JWD.

 

When Bruce told me what he wanted to do I had to talk him into putting the fan above the roof. 

He said I've got this all figured out and would rather put the fan inside the attic.

I asked him how he was going to get it up the roughly 15-20' from the attic floor to the peak without being able to get a ladder into the attic and also be able to service it.

He replied, "Well ah,  I hadn't thought of that!" 

We also cut a couple of holes in the duct work that supplies the ceiling heat registers on the second floor so that we could put a fan over them and pull the hot air that builds up into the attic so it can get pulled out by the roof fan. The windows on that floor are too low for window fans to work effectively.

Seems to have made enough of a difference in that it is much more tolerable in the upper levels. Before it would get to the point you didn't want to stay there for very long. 

 

Bruce is trying to avoid having to put in A/C.

Quotes he's been getting are near the $100K range because the electric would also have to be upgraded to handle doing so.

 

The heat is a boiler system that we basically rebuilt two years ago for around $3K worth of steam valves, traps, and piping after he got some similar quotes on replacing the system so there is only air ducting in the original part of the building through a heat exchanger. The piping for the late 1950's addition run through tunnels under it.

(Fun finding some of the valves/traps/etc. for that 70-year-old system but found them and now have spares.)

 

I've done quite a few jobs where you have to judge by eye, and basically have to forget about using a square, plumb bob, & level.

If you do use them, for one reason or another something just doesn't look right. 

 

 

 88° outside and it appears that the ventilation system is working at keeping the inside temperature much more tolerable. 

All windows in the building are closed and I don't feel that wall of heat when going up to the second floor like before. 

Going to see if we can cut through the original building roof into the attic over the 1950's addition.

The addition roof overlaps the original building roof. 

 

 

1. hire crane

2. borrow large, heavy safe/large weight

3. suspend safe over roof

4. drop safe onto roof

5. enjoy your new hole in the roof (be sure to record all this for youtube, so you earn some money to fix all the damage under roof)

 

people have no imagination anymore....