DanielW
Well-known Member
- Location
- Haliburton, Ontario
Here's my latest hairbrained design: A steel-hoop shed. I bought an old Gleaner F for a couple hundred dollars last year, but didn't really have anywhere to store it. Our main shed is too full of more important equipment, and the pole-barn door is just a little too narrow for the header (which I don't want to take on and off all the time). Because I didn't have much invested in the combine and wasn't sure if I'd keep or scrap it, I just threw some old tarps over the critical areas last winter and backed it as far as I could get it into another shed to at least keep the engine covered.
But this summer I had a chance to use it, and it performed admirably. So I thought it worth getting a proper roof over it. I came up with this design, very roughly based off the old 'Nissen Huts'. For those not familiar with them, they were the sheds popularized by the British in WWI as quick, cheap shelters able to be built with no heavy equipment and using common/cheap/light components. They're the round buildings you see the RAF pilots scrambling out of in all those 'Battle of Britain' type movies. The US military later took the design and came up with the Quonset hut. I always liked the Nissen hut design myself: Not quite as strong as the Quonset, but still a solid design. And unlike a Quonset, you don't need continuous walls (I just used sono-tubes with embed plates on top to weld down to) and all parts are easily replaceable. Plus the designer (Peter Nissen - a major serving in the British army) was also a Canadian engineer. Admittedly he went to what's now the chief rival engineering school to mine. But I suppose I won't judge him too harshly, because my university didn't even exist back then.
I drew the parts up in CAD, had them cut on the plasma table at work, and whenever I had a few spare minutes I welded up another section. There were two knarly, lop-sided pines that had to come down to make room for it, and I was able to mill all the 2X6's I'll need for it from those trees. The little old Belsaw performed admirably. It's the smallest and chintziest of all my old sawmills, but it's the one I use most often because it's so easy for one person to use. I was off work with our new(ish) baby for a few weeks, and you can see my unconventional babysitting methods in a couple pics. Baby (and dog) loved napping outside and watching me work.
Had a couple hours free yesterday afternoon, so I started bolting together and putting up the arches. Only got three (of five) done, and even those not completely. But enough to (I think) prove that my guesstimates for sizing and steel strength work. Very happy with progress thus far, and happy that it'll be large enough to store a few other things that I usually have to leave out as well (backhoe, haybine, bale wrapper, etc.). Overall inside dimn's will be 20' x 40', and made so I can easily extend it in 10' sections in future.
But this summer I had a chance to use it, and it performed admirably. So I thought it worth getting a proper roof over it. I came up with this design, very roughly based off the old 'Nissen Huts'. For those not familiar with them, they were the sheds popularized by the British in WWI as quick, cheap shelters able to be built with no heavy equipment and using common/cheap/light components. They're the round buildings you see the RAF pilots scrambling out of in all those 'Battle of Britain' type movies. The US military later took the design and came up with the Quonset hut. I always liked the Nissen hut design myself: Not quite as strong as the Quonset, but still a solid design. And unlike a Quonset, you don't need continuous walls (I just used sono-tubes with embed plates on top to weld down to) and all parts are easily replaceable. Plus the designer (Peter Nissen - a major serving in the British army) was also a Canadian engineer. Admittedly he went to what's now the chief rival engineering school to mine. But I suppose I won't judge him too harshly, because my university didn't even exist back then.
I drew the parts up in CAD, had them cut on the plasma table at work, and whenever I had a few spare minutes I welded up another section. There were two knarly, lop-sided pines that had to come down to make room for it, and I was able to mill all the 2X6's I'll need for it from those trees. The little old Belsaw performed admirably. It's the smallest and chintziest of all my old sawmills, but it's the one I use most often because it's so easy for one person to use. I was off work with our new(ish) baby for a few weeks, and you can see my unconventional babysitting methods in a couple pics. Baby (and dog) loved napping outside and watching me work.
Had a couple hours free yesterday afternoon, so I started bolting together and putting up the arches. Only got three (of five) done, and even those not completely. But enough to (I think) prove that my guesstimates for sizing and steel strength work. Very happy with progress thus far, and happy that it'll be large enough to store a few other things that I usually have to leave out as well (backhoe, haybine, bale wrapper, etc.). Overall inside dimn's will be 20' x 40', and made so I can easily extend it in 10' sections in future.
