Real progress

It’s not much, but it will soon be the foundation for the Little Free Library. I’m wondering if this will be the heaviest little library in the country. The two steel pipes are sunk into the earth (12 inches) and then extend through the 3-1/2” concrete slab. These are the sleeves for the two steel columns that will hold everything together.

These columns are shown below. They’re about eight feet long.

This frame (above) is lying on the ground in its fixture, all set up for welding. The 2 x 4s are spacers. When you use pieces of wood to help you weld, no one will ever take you seriously.

I never claimed to be a welder
This is a good example of why I’m not a welder. In this embarrassing picture, I’ve attached a cross brace to one of the columns.

With practice, I’ll do better. Not good, but better.

The library (newspaper) box
The inside of the box will rest on (and be attached to) two heavy steel angles. I’ll use the existing holes in the newspaper box to drill the matching holes in the angles. The red spray paint marks the steel below (for drilling).

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“Coming soon” sign

Just so my neighbors will stop worrying about what’s going on in my yard, I decided to make a sign to keep them up to date. In keeping with the metal theme, the sign is made of old pipes, pieces of cans, and a broken wind chime. No measurements, no plan—just a thrown-together little piece of art with rough stenciled lettering.

I know my neighbors will rest easy when they see the sign.

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From wheel chair to welding cart

I have a small MIG welder that is just about too heavy for me to lift (80 pounds). Nearby in my junk pile (the yard) was an old wheel chair. Bingo!

This is the wheel chair after I removed the seat and back. It looks pretty fragile, but I know it’ll support a heavy person—so 80 pounds shouldn’t be a problem.

It was just a matter of sawing off the push handles, removing the folding mechanism, and relocating these parts so that the thing looked and functioned like a welding cart—and wouldn’t fold!

I think this steel angle is the only part I added. It’s clamped to the bottom rails to keep everything together while I do some welding.

A few hours later, it’s a functioning cart that easily supports the welder. It also rolls around quite well and the big wheels smooth out rough spots in the yard.

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No news is good news

Making a Little Free Library from an old newspaper box is more difficult than I expected. It’s steel—and that means drilling through metal, welding, grinding, and riveting. It also means threading screws, rods, and holes.

But at least it’s already designed for the task: holding a lot of heavy paper. Newspapers . . . books, it’s all the same when it comes to weight.

So today’s task was installing floors for the upper and lower levels, like a little two-story building.

I had planned on wooden shelves like the one being test fitted on the lower level. But for the upper part I decided to use the very practical floating steel platform that was part of the original equipment.

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If the platform fits, use it
Below is the metal platform on my neatly manicured lawn. Note the two steel tubes welded to the platform. These tubes fit over two smaller tubes and have heavy-duty springs to support a lot of newspapers. When more papers are added, the springs stretch and the platform moves into the lower part of the paper box. As newspapers sell, the platform moves up.

I didn’t want a floating shelf, so I removed the springs for use on the tin man. You’ll see that on a future episode.

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Making a moving shelf be still
All I had to do was make a fixed shelf from a spring-loaded platform.

This cut-a-way view shows how the shelf is attached to the gray tubes. The whole thing is supported by two rusty tubes that go through the gray tubes. The rusty tubes were threaded at the bottoms to accept 3/8” x 24 socket-head screws.

 

 

Four pop rivets attach the front of the shelf to the frame. I mention this because I just got a new pop-rivet tool that makes the job much easier.

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Finally, here’s a full view of the newspaper box on a temporary work stand.

That’s all for now.

Next time (maybe): How to re-engineer a door . . . several times.

Knee surgery and the perils of a simple newspaper box

Knees needed now!

I decided the tin man needed knees. Not real knees that bend, but something that makes us think “knees” when we see them.

I found some child-sized knee pads at a morning yard sale and convinced the seller to donate them for my tin man. Here are the pads before cutting the elastic bands. I’ve shown my 99-cent Harbor Freight scissors, which I purchase by the dozen.

Here’s a knee pad temporarily installed on the tin man’s right leg. I’ll probably cut it down to just the rigid plastic parts and get rid of the trademark. I already think it adds a touch of class.

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The Little Free Library box is born

My plan is to use an old newspaper box for the Little Free Library. I wanted something that would be comfortable sharing my yard with a rusty tin man.

The slanted door opens by pivoting upward. In other words, the hinge is at the top. Pay no attention to the placement of the handle. It’s apparently a cruel joke, just like the Atlanta newspapers.

Why do I mention the door? Because it’s become a real problem. Here’s how it looks when you pull the handle.

And below is the door open to its full height, supported by a rusty lawnmower blade. So what’s the problem, you’re wondering.

The door has a steel frame and is quite heavy. Most people don’t carry  a lawnmower blade everywhere they go (but they should). When this door is released, it drops like a rock and is very painful when when it snaps closed on your hand. Clearly, not a friendly approach to a Little Free Library.

I decided to completely disassemble the box and rebuild it. And like most things I take apart, this newspaper box was tougher than it looked. All the rusted nuts and bolts had to be sawed off or ground down to dust. And when I call the fasteners rusted, I mean really rusted. Some look like pieces of the Great Barrier Reef.

The welded parts were ground with an abrasive wheel and broken apart with a hammer and chisel. Here’s the stripped-down box on a metal table. It now knows who is the boss.

Next: How to install two levels of shelves in an old newspaper box.

Foundation for the Tin Man

A man made of scrap metal needs a good, solid concrete foundation. If you’re following along at home, here’s how it works.

Dig a rectangular hole about four inches deep. Those of you following the previous blogs know this shape to be a right-rectangular prism, or cuboid.

Make a 2 x 4 form to show the concrete where it belongs.

Then, mix the concrete in a red wheelbarrow. The color of the wheelbarrow is important. I’ve had bad luck with green wheelbarrows.

Here’s the right-rectangular prism turned from a negative space to a positive space.

The forms are carefully removed. Don’t worry about the stuff that flowed under the form. It will be covered with dirt and no one will ever know it’s not perfect.

Four bolts are required to fasten the tin man to the foundation, and that means I’ll drill four holes in the concrete before it cures. This is the fancy template I made to position the holes. If they’re not right, the bolts won’t fit through the four holes in the steel base. See?

 

A bolt looks like this. That rusty look is what I’m going for.

 

Finally all four bolts are in exactly the right places. If you’re paying attention you may notice at the upper-left a sawed-off bolt. My fancy template was just a little bit off. A “little bit” is defined as one inch.

New project: Little Free Library

This new project is really a two-parter. It involves a Little Free Library station and a tin man to stand guard.

 

Part 1: A stationary bookmobile

Joan and I are joining the Little Free Library group. We will build a tiny library box (about 40 books) and put in the front yard near the printing press (so appropriate). Anyone can take a book. It's just a source of free books, and it seems like a neighborly thing to do. 

If you're already caught up in the excitement, here's the link to the Little Free Library Website:

 

http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/index.html

 

Part 2: How to scare little children

A strange-looking, robot-like metal man will stand guard behind the library. That's the second project; it will use only (mostly?) old objects and parts and junk—as pictured below:

 

If you look carefully, you can see the tin-man’s supporting stand (from an old drill press) and two tubular legs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome to my blog!

 

This is all about various projects I attempt with a fervor that usually subsides after a few months—or weeks—or days. But the expenses linger on.

My first images are at the left (maybe). The first is a fascinating picture of two fire-ant mounds in my driveway.

 

The second is a picture of a brick foundation wall I encountered while digging a ditch.

Please follow along. I'll try to meet minimum expectations.

James