Mobile loafing shed

[wroughtn_harv]

His horses don't seem to quarrel much. It isn't a stall. So initially I don't expect him to wood the interior.

If at a later date he decides to make this into a pair of stalls he can do that himself. The design accomodates using common connectors like Simpson to put in a two by dividing wall and inside panels.

If he does put in a wood interior then we'll have to fabricate a wheel system to have portability. The way that works is one end is lifted up and axle stubs are attached with tires. Then the other end is lifted up and the shed is moved. A hay fork on a three point does this fine.

 

[gsganzer]

I built a 12' x 12' that can be moved. All I did was weld some 2" pipe around the bottom. I just hook it to the pickup and drag it (the rounded edges of the pipe keep it from grabbing). I also put plywood on the bottom 4'. My horses would have a hole kicked in the metal in about a week otherwise. If you plan to drag it, you'll need to put some small gussets on the corners to stiffen the frame.

 

[ges]

Harv,......dumb question but,,..what is the best way (your way) to cut the steel sideing? TIA George

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( what is the best way (your way) to cut the steel sideing? TIA George)</font>

This time I used the torch because where I was cutting is going to be covered by trim. My preferred method is plasma.

I once went in and replaced the bottom eight feet on a twenty foot wall about a hundred yards long. It was in Dallas and evidently they'd recruited their fork lift operators on the Central Expressway. They'd bent up and busted out all along the bottom.

I made a jig that fit the panel and then used my small plasma with nitrogen tanks to supply air for the plasma. The burn mark was less than a sixteenth. But it takes more nitrogen than it does compressed air when cutting with a plasma.

Using a circular saw and whatever kind of blade, steel cutting, reversed plywood, or just straight wood cutting, is too nerve wracking and loud for me. Sabre, jig, and sawsall are too slow. I have both a Bosch nibbler and a Milwaukee electric shear. They have their places where they shine.

But all in all there's nothing like a plasma and a jig for cutting siding slick and fast.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( My horses would have a hole kicked in the metal in about a week otherwise. If you plan to drag it, you'll need to put some small gussets on the corners to stiffen the frame.)</font>

Twelve by twelve is a little small for more than one horse at a time. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif They do have a tendancy to get snippy if they feel crowded.

I don't believe gussets will be needed. If you look close you should be able to see the joints are coped and three sixty welded.

 

[F350Lawman]

His horses don't seem to quarrel much. It isn't a stall. So initially I don't expect him to wood the interior.

Problem is when they kick at anything (could even be a nasty horsefly) and their hoof goes trough the metal, they can remove all the skin on the leg when struggling to pull it back out. I think they call it "degloving", I have seen photos and it is NOT pretty.

Might not be a bad idea to lay in a few sheets of plywood just to be safe, it may also avoid some dents. You'd only need a few sheets to cover the bottom 4".

 

[gsganzer]

There's nothing I dread more then cutting metal siding. Nerve wracking is an understatement, It's more like an endurance test for your entire nervous system. I made a jig that leaves a slot sized for an r-panel to slide through. This way it's supported on the top and bottom and reduces chatter when I cut it with a circular saw. I bet a plasma works slick.

Anyone ever try one of the panel shears that Mueller sells? The only drawback I see is that you have to match the shear blade to the panel type, but must projects are r-panels anyways. I think if I built metal buildings for a living I'd use the plasma, like wroughtn_harv or a shear.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I watched some professional building builders out of Oklahoma cutting in a bunch of windows with a circular saw and a nibbler. As far as I'm concerned it was about as smart as getting your wisdom teeth pulled with anesthetic to save a couple of dollars.

I've seen the sheers but they'd have to be handy and necessary for a grand. Most cuts are on an angle I have no idea how that would work with a shear.

There are plasmas with self contained compressors that will work off of a welder-generator and cut the fourteen gauge purlins and twenty six gauge skin all day long. Neater, cleaner, slicker, faster, has to be worth something.

But heck, this comes from a guy who builds an attachment for his tractor for every aspect of a project. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Last night I got a call that the mobile shed had blown over. We'd put the roof on quick like the other evening and hadn't got around to putting it in place or even ordering the trim for the rake and corners. Bud is up there in Wisconsin visiting family and getting his head straight about why he lives in Texas. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

This is what I found this morning.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

another view

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Lucy sees mud and wants to just sit there and wallow. I've never had anything in my whole life that enjoys just sitting in mud and spinning tires.

We had a front go through this morning and some showers. If I'd tried taking Lucy back there we'd rutted up something fierce and there's always that chance of getting stuck. I hate that.

So I took my wife's Bravada with Smartrak. That's fulltime four wheel drive that's always there. You never even notice it unless you hit the pedal hard and it doesn't spin a tire, just launches. It went in and out of the pasture without spinning a tire.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Nuttin' to it. Outside of some mud on the back overhang you'd never know it's went bottom's up.

This is what I'm doing for the corners.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

from the inside

 

[wroughtn_harv]

outside

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Here's the bottom. You can see how it's designed to be moved easily.

Again, this is without the trim and rake pieces which will make it look a lot better.

 

[F350Lawman]

Looks like a nice simple design, good work.

 

[bgott]

Does your wife know what you were out doing with her car? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Yup.

She didn't think it was a good idea.

But, just figure for a minute.

If I could talk a lady like that to marry me then playing with her car wasn't much of a challenge, right?

You ought to have heard her the time I pulled into a construction site right after a heavy couple days of rain. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Of course my two hours washing the blue thing wasn't near as funny. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Looks like a nice simple design, good work.)</font>

Thanks.

One of the things I like about it is if later bud wants to convert it over to a two stall barn it's easily adaptable.

What some folks don't realize is standard two inch by one inch by eighth inch channel you can find at your local steel supply is a perfect match for two by lumber.

Let's say bud wants a wood divider so the horses can't see each other and is resistant to their kicking. A piece of pipe cut in between the bottom skids. Then he takes a piece of channel and removes a section of side that allows his choice of two by to fit. Say he's using two by sixes. He cuts out a section of one leg of the channel six inches.

He welds the modified channel to one vertical and another piece of channel to the other vertical. He can then slide in two by sixes one at a time and slide them down, one on top of the other until he's got a wall.

The same thing can be done to the existing walls.

 

[cowboydoc]

I'm with you Lawman. It's not a very good idea at all to put horses in a metal barn, shed, or anything in their kicking range. I've heard this story too many times to count that it's just two or one no reason to put wood in. That tin will just about cut a leg off when they kick through it. Always, always put up solid wood where a horse can kick.

 

[gsganzer]

You gotta hate that. I had two loafing sheds on my property when I bought it. One of them blew over in a real fierce windstorm and rolled end over end through a barbed wire fence and ended up in my neighbors back yard. It went about 200 yds.

I plan to anchor the new one using "duckbill" anchors. I can attach the duckbill cable with a threaded eyebolt to the small corner gussets I put in each bottom corner. That way there's nothing for the horses to get caught on (all the hardware's concealed up under the corner gussets). My horses have a knack of getting into trouble. I spent the weekend digging up water pipe and repairing. The horses kicked over a freeze-proof hydrant and broke it off below grade. I repaired that and worked on welding up a stanchion to prevent a repeat.