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40x40 shop made from oilfield casing

Jhjones84

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Joined
Jun 12, 2020
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1970
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Bridgeport wv
Not sure if anyone would have an interest in a build thread on a cheap steel frame shop but here it goes.

Plan is 4.5” .250 wall casing for the frame and 2 7/8” tubing for the trusses. Going to drill piers and put weld plates in the concrete to weld the casing to. Will just be a gravel floor for this year till I can save enough to pour concrete for the floor.

So far I have $400 in 10 42’ joints of the casing and $600 in 50 30’ joints of the tubing.
 
I’m notching the legs then running a joint across the top to tie the legs together. I’ll run a piece of channel across the top of that so I have a flat place to weld the trusses to.

Going to prefab the walls on the ground since I won’t be able to handle this stuff without a forklift. I’ll borrow a telehandler from work to set everything once it’s all fabbed and the piers are poured.
 
Sounds cool. What's your truss design? I'm picturing top and bottom tubes with diag bracing between like a bar joist would work well.
 
Sounds cool. What's your truss design? I'm picturing top and bottom tubes with diag bracing between like a bar joist would work well.

Haven’t quite decided yet. A lot of people just do a lean to style single pitch, which probably is easier. I really like the parallel chord scissor truss design to give it more headroom for a loft. I’ll burn that bridge whenever I get to it though.
 
I agree, single pitch will be way cheaper and all around easier to fab. Just do taller walls to get headroom. Tube trusses will look bad ass, I'm trying to think how I'd cope all that tube easily.
 
You can buy these guides at a welding shop or even amazon to make the notching easier. They do saddles, 90s, 45s, and 22.5s.
After torching it takes a couple minutes with a grinder to clean them up to get a tight fit. I’m using a short cutoff piece to get the fit pretty close.

I’ll take some pics tomorrow of the one wall I have done already. Hardest part is getting the legs square and plumb when you’re working on the ground. Ideally I’d use some pipe stands but then I run into the issue of handling the casing on and off the stands. If I remember right this is 15 pounds per foot so not exactly light.
What I’ve been doing is welding the first one on the header, then using an angle finder to set the next ones.

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Is that something readily available to buy used or do you have an in somewhere?
 
Maybe cut a v notch in some wood blocking and lay a few pipes across, shim them up into a level plane making a nice flat work surface. Usually I'll do that with some I beam to make a flat surface.

I get decent pricing on roof deck and siding. I can get you my pricing when your ready if you don't have a relationship with a supplier.
 
Is that something readily available to buy used or do you have an in somewhere?

Depends on the area. Closer to oil fields the easier it is to find. The company I work for plugs old wells so that’s where the casing came from and a buddy of mine works for the place the tubing came from. There’s resellers that will buy it direct then mark it up and sell it on Craigslist or Facebook.
 
Hell yeah, post up pics as you go. I was actually considering doing something similar for a storage building I have planned for the distant future, but ended up just buying some appropriately sized I beam instead.
 
Maybe cut a v notch in some wood blocking and lay a few pipes across, shim them up into a level plane making a nice flat work surface. Usually I'll do that with some I beam to make a flat surface.

I get decent pricing on roof deck and siding. I can get you my pricing when your ready if you don't have a relationship with a supplier.

Thats a good idea.

There used to be a scrap yard around here that sold reject metal roofing and siding dirt cheap. Was perfect for this kind of stuff but they’re no longer able to get it. Whenever I figure up how much I need I’ll get with you on a quote.
 
Hell yeah, post up pics as you go. I was actually considering doing something similar for a storage building I have planned for the distant future, but ended up just buying some appropriately sized I beam instead.

I beam would be easier but I got this stuff so cheap i couldn’t pass it up. Originally was going to build out of wood, then I priced it out and noped the fuck out. They want $90 for pressure treated 6x6s right now. I’ve got $40 in each joint of casing and can get three 14’ posts out of each one. Only trade off is it’s a lot more labor intensive doing it this way.
 
I have access to a ton of tubing and drill pipe up in Morgantown. I'm interested to see where this goes.
 
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Here’s a picture of the first wall. This one and another just like it will be the sides. 10’ spacing on the posts. The front and back walls won’t have a post at the ends since they won’t be supporting as much weight. I’ll just notch the header to fit the side walls headers and weld it solid.

I’ll probably end up running a joint from front to back as a support for the trusses. May have to build a truss underneath to carry the weight better but I’m really trying to do this without having any support posts In the middle of the shop.
 
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Cutting it to length with the harbor freight porta band. I’ve always had a rule to not buy anything with a motor from there but this thing has really surprised me. The variable speed function doesn’t work right, anything under full power won’t turn the blade.
The blades they sell for them seem to be pretty decent. I’ve made 10 cuts so far and there’s still plenty of life of the teeth.

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With a 40' span there should be no need for middle posts if you design the truss/bar joist proper. If you do the single sloped roof make your second wall taller to get the pitch. Then have the other two walls with an angled top pipe. 2' deep bar joist welded from pipe would probably be good on 4'-5' centers guessing your snow load.
 
Are the recycling casings magnetized? If so, are they weldable?
 
Are the recycling casings magnetized? If so, are they weldable?

Hmmm, I wouldn't have worried about the magnetized piece. I would assume it's ok from that standpoint. My concern would be around working with the stuff. It ranges from fairly mild steel to very very hard. The metallurgy and heat treating both change the harder you get. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this!
 
Are the recycling casings magnetized? If so, are they weldable?

Slightly magnetized but doesn’t seem to be an issue. I’m using a Lincoln ac 225 buzz box right now though. When I go to set them in place they’ll be welded with an sa200 so if need be I’ll just wrap the leads.
 
Slightly magnetized but doesn’t seem to be an issue. I’m using a Lincoln ac 225 buzz box right now though. When I go to set them in place they’ll be welded with an sa200 so if need be I’ll just wrap the leads.

I'd heard magnetism could interrupt the process before and certainly when I've hit my magnetized square, the results are explosive. :homer:

I looked up "wrapping the leads" and found there's evidently a regular, known solution for this issue already. Learn something everyday.
 
Should be some good weather coming up this week, going to get back to building?
 
Should be some good weather coming up this week, going to get back to building?

Got the second wall built yesterday. It’s been super busy at work the past couple weeks plus the crappy weather we’ve been having has slowed me down.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to connect the front and back walls to the sides. Idea I have is to not use a leg at the ends of the front and back walls and just notch the header to fit around the side wall header and leg. Only issue I have with that is making sure it’s square and the fit is right.

Also thought about doing a leg at the end and joining the two with flat steel. Would make it easier to square up once I start erecting the walls. Picture two straws side by side.
 
Got the second wall built yesterday. It’s been super busy at work the past couple weeks plus the crappy weather we’ve been having has slowed me down.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to connect the front and back walls to the sides. Idea I have is to not use a leg at the ends of the front and back walls and just notch the header to fit around the side wall header and leg. Only issue I have with that is making sure it’s square and the fit is right.

Also thought about doing a leg at the end and joining the two with flat steel. Would make it easier to square up once I start erecting the walls. Picture two straws side by side.

The notch would look best, but what about a bolted connection there. Short stub welded on side wall with flange connection will be easy to assemble.
 
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