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.