Start of something big.....

[wroughtn_harv]

This manlift is more fun than any two rides at Six Flags. There's the sway side to side inherent in the box blade three point set up. Then there's the play side to side and up and down that comes with the sloppy fit coupler insert on the trailer. Add tire flex and two hundred pounds of pure love with leverage and we have in excess of a foot of motion in any and all directions at work while working at it.

I had to jack knife the trailer to get close to the wall to work. The first time I did it I forgot the bleed down on the front loader is only a little slower than the joystick control. I dinged a sheet. If we end up with a sheet extra then we'll change it out I guess.

It really did work well. In the back of my mind was the knowledge that a burst hydraulic hose would take the ride from a thrill to a severe injury in a heart beat. It's definately a one man at a time toy.

[wroughtn_harv]

They pulled me off of working on the building for a couple of days while they power washed and painted the framework. I guess that became a good idea when they saw the used framework against the new skin. It definately helped the overall look.

You can see the modifications I had to make to get the sidewalls from twelve to fourteen feet. The hip roofs at each end will be fun and I'll start them Monday.

[Stampeder]

Harv:

Great to see your postings again. Took a while to read through this entire thread. Really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the book.

A thought about the building clips. Many years ago I was involved in getting the first of the internet going. I worked for the phone company at the time.
One of our marketting guys had a saying at the time which has since proven to be very true about the internet and his saying was "Work locally but think globally". I think that might just be the answer for your building clips. Don't worry about the patent but more about getting your product out there in the market. If you can pop them out locally and use the internet marketting you cut your marketing costs way down. Just a thought. Good luck with them.

I really like your pictures of the horse stalls. Happen to be building some myself and I'd really like some close ups of your securing mechanisms if you have any.

To say I'm impressed with your work on this monumental task would definitely be an understatement. You have a huge amount of "hootspa" to take on something this huge. You're doing a great job on it. Keep the pictures coming. Is the skinning new or was that salvaged from the building? It looks in excellent shape if it was.

Cheers.
Glenn.

[wroughtn_harv]

The skin is new material that matches the other two barns on the place.

It came from Mueller. We got three bids. When Mueller realized they were bidding against other retailers a little magic happened. They got competitive, real competitive. The client preferred Mueller because it was who had supplied the materials for the other barns on the place.

If it had been my decision we would have went with another vendor. That's just me. I don't like Mueller. Some people prefer Walmart over Target and vice versa. I don't like Mueller.

We're setting up to manufacture the connectors and sell them over the internet. Great minds must think alike. We have access to the metal working equipment and it's something my wife and myself can do without any help.

I believe the connector system will change the way stucco walls will be done over time. I also think it has a future in do it yourself small buildings.

The horse stalls were done with oak rough cut lumber and square tubing framing. I used the horse stall formed U channel you can buy at most steel retailers. Eagle Steel (Greenville Steel, Wylie Steel) and I believe King Metals.com carries it. I had to trim the oak planks because they were two to two and a quarter inches thick and the U channel is for finish cut lumber, 1 5/8".

Sliding doors are the only way to go in stalls. They're not opening out into the aisle where they can spook animals nor do they open in where an upset animal can hurt themselves on the door in their stall.

With the slots and bars I use to capture the door then anything can be used to hold the door closed. In the picture at that time all we used was a brass snap as a locator because the door was firmly secured top and bottom and side to side with the slots and bars. The opening into the stall is completely open so neither the animal nor the handler have something to trip them up. It also makes for an easier clean up.

[wroughtn_harv]

The door slides left to open. There is a minimum of overlap on the door across the opening. But that overlap is enough for us to place some tabs that engage brackets welded to the door frame.

If you look closely at the left bottom of the door fully open you will see a tab on the door itself engages the bracket on the door frame. This secures the door so it isn't loose to swing out into the door way if an animal or handler bumps the door.

When the door is closed the same bracket is engaged by a tab on the other side of the door to secure the door so it can't be kicked out into the aisle by a horse pawing at the door. Horses do that. They paw at a door or wall for attention, to make noise, just because they can most of the time.

The second picture shows the tab for securing the door when it's open below the tab that's engaged when the door is closed.

I also used the round barn door track in this installation. I prefer it over the standard square track because it doesn't damage so easily under abuse.

[mjncad]

Harv:

You've done a heck of a job taking a hodge-podge of used framing and making a good looking building.

Excellent work.

[jayste]

Hey Harvey, glad to see you back. Good help isn't easy to come by, huh? I agree with you- they either have it or they don't. That building is coming along nicely and looking forward to more posts.

Jay

[jayste]

I know you've been busy this week with putting the roof on or building doors or.... but I'm bring this thread back to the top just to let you know we're looking forward to the next chapter in this book...with pictures of course!

Jay

[wroughtn_harv]

Originally Posted by jayste

I know you've been busy this week with putting the roof on or building doors or.... but I'm bring this thread back to the top just to let you know we're looking forward to the next chapter in this book...with pictures of course!

Jay

Hmmmmm, I thought someone had stolen the thread......

Seriously, I went back through to page five looking for it because, well, I've got pictures.....

[wroughtn_harv]

The majority of our sheets for the roof are twenty feet and three inches or forty feet and eight inches.

The twenty footers are difficult for one or two men to handle. The forty footers are almost impossible.

So we did some things to help us out.

The backhoe reaches a hundred and twenty nine inches to the top of the forks. Our shortest wall is fourteen and a half feet from grade on the sides but only twelve feet on the front.

So we made a thingy dingy doo.

I drew it out and pointed out the materials. They jumped on it like hens on bugs.

It worked great for the twenty foot sheets after we made a ramp for the tractor along the fourteen foot wall.