Rattle_snake's Speed Metal Garage - 34x40x12 shop build

rattle_snake said:
Yes, I hate fixing fences. Had to do that **** as a kid in the rain.

'No-climb' style wire fence is popular for horses. They will rub on it, perhaps kick the **** out of it. I recently added an electric tape at butt height so they won't touch it. Then started to fix all the missing stays. It's much cheaper than doing 4 rail of sch 40 pipe. Another option is all electric, as steel isn't cheap.

Ya, looking back I was glad I did the build. Now I'm old(er) and the same work would cause more injuries. My neighbor hesitated, that was 14 years ago. Price went up, like 2x.
Click to expand...
Same.

Was gonna add a couple strands of hot wire on top to try to keep predators out (mountain lion is a regular visitor to my property, plus the usual coyotes and bobcats), and the bleating satans in. Was curious how well it survived angry horse kicks because, well, they're assholes.

Same. Stupid me got frustrated with the county. Wish I had just pushed through since they're even more frustrating now.
 
If kicked the no climb will eventually break at the poles. We have only one horse that does it.

elect tape I put up recently. t-post clips on the no-climb.
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Shop with boat gone. Haven't really put much thought or time into how to arrange things. Will need more power outlets and maybe air drops along the north wall. I made the systems expandable, but still a fair effort.
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Quad and my dad's bike accessible through the overhead door. Wanting to add a door opener on this door.
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So much room for activities....
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Installed another jackshaft opener on little shop door.
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Some things are not perfectly matching have to work on that.... And the door seals are trashed already.

I set the open limit to only 8' instead of all the way up. This leaves some of the door weight vertical to keep tension on the cable. The other door goes all the way up and eventually needed spring loaded bumpers to get the door started down.
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Bought some storage/org stuff. More drawers. Move everything around until I can't find anything.
Found a used HF tool cart on fbmp for 1/2 price. Bought some cheap new basic tools for the cart. Wrenches, screwdivers. Moved some commonly used items to it as well.
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Trolled used toolboxes for awhile. Use is material storage. Loom, shrink, wire, HW. Lots of junk priced near new. HF 44 base cab is $700. With top chest and tax about $1100. I found a similarly sized box at HD for half that. 42" x 24" deep.
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Moved mill and put the new cabinet next to the others. Made a silly sticker.
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Tried to get a used 46" workbench with drawers. Instead found a $50 36w 30t 18d metal cabinet with doors. Beat it back into shape and put rivets in key places to keep it sturdy. Added some angle iron in a few places and leftover casters.
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Reinforced the top to mount the chop saw to.
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Moved wood working tools into it that were scattered all over.
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Rearranged the north bay with mill added. Decided to place the machinery in one long row, and be able to walk around both side. Infrequently used stuff in the center. Plugged in the equipment with existing cords and receptacles for now.
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Picked up a set of skid steer forks. I figured I would use them often and went with the quick connect deal over the clamp-on-bucket type. Also get full FEL lift capability with weight in closer.
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Can remove the forks and use as a chain hoist, trailer ball, ect.
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Something to trip over.
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Continuing to take inventory and putter on the CNC router project. Starting with the Z-axis so I can figure out the dimensional overhead for table size.
I have two z-axis options. A build myself from raw parts or this premade deal. It is has some limitations but still a easier starting point. The router doesn't need initial height sensing like a plasma. This unit had IHS travel and a switch. So I deleted it and fastened the ball screw to the actuator to make it solid. It has a simple DC motor with in-line limit switches. Removing that and going to use a stepper with limit inputs instead.
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There is an existing bracket to hold a plasma torch with a spring loaded safety. I removed that to use just the base plate that fits the z-axis. But the hole ID is too small for the router body. Found some tooling to fix that.
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Opened up to 72 mm. Could have just made a ring to bolt the motor to this bracket. but...
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There is a clamp to hold the router motor. Don't need the flanges so cut them off. Smooth casting.
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Now attach these together.
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Drilled the 5mm threads out to 5 mm holes and tapped 5 mm threads into the clamp.
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mock-up of the z-axis. Stepper isn't a direct swap will have to machine the top plate. The rewire the limit switches as just sensors and not gate the power to motor.
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Seems like a lot of overhang. That plate isn't going to be very rigid, it will make life hard on the tools.
 
Yes lots of overhang. Working with what I got. I didn't design or buy any of it. It was all free. Sat 10 years at a buddy place now it's on my floor.

My idea is to put the gantry in between the z-axis and the router motor, if it will fit. Then linear rails above and below, probably y-axis ball screw on top. Then the offset is minimal.

Main use is 3/4 MDF to build speaker boxes. The accuracy will far exceed my expectations or needs. Can it be better? Sure. Would it matter?

If I were to do it, I'd just buy a CNC router not build one. Now I have room for one and a pile of parts so going to enjoy the project.
 
You'd be better off flipping it around to bolt on the plate. Then attach the slide to the gantry. The Z axis motor will go up and down then, but that's just some cable managment.
 
Thanks for the idea. My brain would have never got there.

Evidently the design was supposed to have 2 z-axis, one for a plasma and the other a router on same gantry. So I'm undoing that to router only. I basically drink beer and stare at the parts.
 
Well regardless of how I attach the cutter moving forward with stepper conversion of the z-axis. The 24V DC motor had a gear reduction box and an offset mount pattern. So nothing lines up.
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Opened up the pilot hole to 38 mm for the Nema 23 motor and tapped four holes to 5 mm. Sticking with communist threads for consistency.
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The unit came with limit switches, but wired in series with motor power. Not sure how you back up after hitting limit since circuit is open at that point. The full motor current runs through them which has issues, including inductive dump/back EMF hence the diodes to protect the switch contacts from arcing every time motor stops. These steppers have two pairs of winding so the switches can't easily be reused in same way, however wouldn't want to anyhow. Better to use them as a sensor not a blocking device.
Repurposed the 4-pin connector for the limit switches. Removed the diodes and soldered the wires back together and put the cover on.
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MIG welder cart, version 2.0. Perhaps I should have just bought another HF side chest, but not perfect. Tool tall, and series 3 is slightly different than the series 2 I have. So I went the SS outdoor BBQ drawer route for 1/2 the cost, or something like that.
Velvor triple draw insert.
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Built a chassis similar to the other. Kept the rails wide to make base wider. Probably should have made it narrower. Though opposite about the other that is that way, so who knows. Always a better way.
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3" metal casters in rivnuts.
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Contemplated methods to make an outer box around the drawers. Something manufacturable.
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Used the plasma table to make simple straight cuts on a whole sheet of 16 ga I bought many years ago. Saving for something. I cringe to know what it would cost today. Bent all four edges in the brake, to make the sides.
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And now a double wall 3 drawer roller chest/cart thing.
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Bottle loop on the back
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Sent out to paint (back yard booth) and bake (sun). High 90s, bone dry, windy. Painted the drawers seperately.
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repurposed the torch and wilers holders from the old cart, but mounted them on the welder instead of the cart to be more compact.
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Drawers are stout enough for 25+ lbs of wire.
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Added a black rubber strip to the drawer pulls like the other blue cabinets.
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Not semetrical, but not the same.
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Being horribly impatient I like to rush things to final assembly.
But that doesn't stop me from doing things multiple times.
I went ahead and painted the weld cart before committing to a method to secure the machine. Hard to know what is the most-best-est way is until you do it the 2nd or 3rd time.
Anyhow, I decided to put a pair of riv-nuts into the top and bolt the MIG down so I can use it's handles to move the entire rig. While I was there the top has marginal paint so I touched up the visible area.
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Drilled holes in the bottom of the case not where the 'legs' were to provide room for rivnut. Both bolts are inside the access door.
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CNC table with a y-axis gantry, stepper on both sides.
I made a simple fixed arm to drive the gantry. It works but... seems it would be better to allow movement in the x and z, and only constrain y and rotation.
I assume this has been solved many times with different approaches.

Take one bolt out and allowing rotation of the other
Use a rod end for the top of the arm?
Slots are hard to make tight enough
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