projects for work

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • LCHIEN
    Internet Fact Checker
    • Dec 2002
    • 20920
    • Katy, TX, USA.
    • BT3000 vintage 1999

    projects for work

    How many of you do wood projects that help you at work, but woodworking is not a normal part of your job?

    In the past I made fixtures and risers and small brackets for holding monitors and PCBs and stuff.

    A couple of months ago I had a 800 lb. odd shaped reel that was 7' in diameter and about 16 inches wide that came on four flat wood pallets spliced together.
    I needed to get it to my lab which was down several halls, widest spot 40" and shortest door was 90" - no forklift access. The reel had one flange so it could not sit on a flat surface upright. On top of that I didn't want to take up 50 square feet of floor space with it when done so it had to be stored upright when it got to my lab. I built this at home over the weekend and transported it to the office on top of the Durango we use for carpooling:
    Attached Files
    Last edited by LCHIEN; 12-03-2011, 01:18 AM. Reason: fix door height
    Loring in Katy, TX USA
    If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
    BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions
  • cabinetman
    Gone but not Forgotten RIP
    • Jun 2006
    • 15218
    • So. Florida
    • Delta

    #2
    Pretty cool. How did you get it through doorways?

    .

    Comment

    • jdon
      Established Member
      • Feb 2010
      • 401
      • Snoqualmie, Wash.
      • BT3100

      #3
      What sort of lab do you have, that you use a monster like that? Or, if you tell me, will you have to kill me?

      Comment

      • BobSch
        • Aug 2004
        • 4385
        • Minneapolis, MN, USA.
        • BT3100

        #4
        Not really for work since I'm retired, but I've built a couple of stands for the museum where I do some volunteer work
        Bob

        Bad decisions make good stories.

        Comment

        • Tom Slick
          Veteran Member
          • May 2005
          • 2913
          • Paso Robles, Calif, USA.
          • sears BT3 clone

          #5
          Nice!

          Is that the Stargate?
          Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison

          Comment

          • LCHIEN
            Internet Fact Checker
            • Dec 2002
            • 20920
            • Katy, TX, USA.
            • BT3000 vintage 1999

            #6
            Originally posted by cabinetman
            Pretty cool. How did you get it through doorways?

            .
            cart is 36" wide and 7 ft long.
            Reel is 84 inches dia, bottom of reel is 3.5" off the floor. Top of reel is 87.5" off the floor.
            one hallway was only 40" wide clearance.
            Doors you can see in the back are double doors, 90" high.
            Do the math...
            Loring in Katy, TX USA
            If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
            BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

            Comment

            • LCHIEN
              Internet Fact Checker
              • Dec 2002
              • 20920
              • Katy, TX, USA.
              • BT3000 vintage 1999

              #7
              Originally posted by jdon
              What sort of lab do you have, that you use a monster like that? Or, if you tell me, will you have to kill me?
              oilfield equipment. this is an array of all-fiber optic sensors, fairly long and rather stiff since it is inserted into a production oil well.
              Loring in Katy, TX USA
              If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
              BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

              Comment

              • cabinetman
                Gone but not Forgotten RIP
                • Jun 2006
                • 15218
                • So. Florida
                • Delta

                #8
                Originally posted by LCHIEN
                cart is 36" wide and 7 ft long.
                Reel is 84 inches dia, bottom of reel is 3.5" off the floor. Top of reel is 87.5" off the floor.
                one hallway was only 40" wide clearance.
                Doors you can see in the back are double doors, 90" high.
                Do the math...
                Seems like a legitimate question, as there wasn't any math to do. Couldn't assume the doors were high enough, as the math I did up to that point said they wouldn't fit through a standard doorway. But, then you modified the post. So, the "do the math" response seems a bit out of place.

                .

                Comment

                • gsmittle
                  Veteran Member
                  • Aug 2004
                  • 2784
                  • St. Louis, MO, USA.
                  • BT 3100

                  #9
                  Does building the occasional prop for a show count? I've built fake machetes, slapsticks, broadswords, and a Victrola. Way faster to build that kind of thing at home than try to get time in the school's wood shop.

                  g.
                  Smit

                  "Be excellent to each other."
                  Bill & Ted

                  Comment

                  • LCHIEN
                    Internet Fact Checker
                    • Dec 2002
                    • 20920
                    • Katy, TX, USA.
                    • BT3000 vintage 1999

                    #10
                    Originally posted by cabinetman
                    Seems like a legitimate question, as there wasn't any math to do. Couldn't assume the doors were high enough, as the math I did up to that point said they wouldn't fit through a standard doorway. But, then you modified the post. So, the "do the math" response seems a bit out of place.

                    .
                    i realized i did not put the correct door height in the original post.

                    I gave the correct numbers and only wanted you to subtract 87.5 from 90... when i said do the math I meant subtract those two numbers... i wasn't really meaning the snide connotation, sorry.
                    Loring in Katy, TX USA
                    If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                    BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                    Comment

                    • LCHIEN
                      Internet Fact Checker
                      • Dec 2002
                      • 20920
                      • Katy, TX, USA.
                      • BT3000 vintage 1999

                      #11
                      Originally posted by gsmittle
                      Does building the occasional prop for a show count? I've built fake machetes, slapsticks, broadswords, and a Victrola. Way faster to build that kind of thing at home than try to get time in the school's wood shop.

                      g.
                      that's my point - sometimes its easier to do it yourself than to have someone else make it to your needs or specs. And to do it at home where you enjoy using the tools and the tools all work and you know exactly where they are rather than have to scare up the appropriate stuff at the office/work/school, someone else's place.

                      Fortunately I have a work charge card... believe it or not there's $120 worth of casters, wood and fasteners in that dolly. But 800+ pounds rolled around the office hallways like a dream.

                      BTW, we had a fork lift move the flat pallet off the loading dock, to an area with an overhead crane, we then picked it up with the overhead crane and set it on the dolly and tied it down with the straps to the eyebolts I put in the corners. Then I could roll it down the hallways. Nice to have the right tools...
                      Loring in Katy, TX USA
                      If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                      BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                      Comment

                      • wardprobst
                        Senior Member
                        • Jan 2006
                        • 681
                        • Wichita Falls, TX, USA.
                        • Craftsman 22811

                        #12
                        I guess I'm a ringer but I build stuff for work a lot in the shop...
                        Working on old pneumatic players demands that I manufacture parts, as do some other old instruments. I also fabricate some electrical parts for older organs as it getting harder to find replacements. It's a part of my job that I find challenging in the sense that it's difficult to do cost effectively due to the economies of scale. If I can find parts or tools and modify them to suit, that's much more cost effective.
                        DP
                        www.wardprobst.com

                        Comment

                        • atgcpaul
                          Veteran Member
                          • Aug 2003
                          • 4055
                          • Maryland
                          • Grizzly 1023SLX

                          #13
                          Originally posted by LCHIEN
                          How many of you do wood projects that help you at work, but woodworking is not a normal part of your job?
                          Too bad I don't get to charge for it, although, recognition is nice.

                          Originally posted by LCHIEN
                          oilfield equipment. this is an array of all-fiber optic sensors, fairly long and rather stiff since it is inserted into a production oil well.
                          OK, but what's it do? Does it fit on top of a well pipe? Then what?

                          Comment

                          • LCHIEN
                            Internet Fact Checker
                            • Dec 2002
                            • 20920
                            • Katy, TX, USA.
                            • BT3000 vintage 1999

                            #14
                            Originally posted by atgcpaul
                            ...

                            OK, but what's it do? Does it fit on top of a well pipe? Then what?
                            The reel contains a wound up array of sensors for downhole deployment.
                            The signals travel in a very fragile 100 micron (about .004") diameter optic fiber contained in a 1/4" stainless steel tube inside other casings including a 1/2" polyurethane extrusion, so the bend diameter when transported is about 7 ft.

                            THis whole shebang is unwound and clamped to the typically 3-6" production tubing inserted into a well to produce oil and gas. THe sensors cover a range of a few hundred meters and then the optic fiber continues to the surface where it penetrates the pressure housing and goes on to connect to interrogating and readout instruments. The array may be located a few thousand to 20,000 or more feet down and exposed to 200°C (400°F) temperatures and 20,000 PSI.

                            We can measure temperature, flow, pressure and seismic activity. Keeping track of these things as the well ages and is produced from and stopped yields rate of change information that can help model the size and extent and flow characteristics of the reservoir so that plans can be made to maximize the petroleum extraction - as you can imagine only the reservoir is not a hollow cavity but a complex, tilted porous region of rock or sand between non-porous layers of rock so extraction is usually a percentage of the total petroleum and gas... Increasing production by a few more percent is worth many millions of dollars in a large reservoir with a finite life and steadily declining production.
                            Last edited by LCHIEN; 12-05-2011, 09:07 PM.
                            Loring in Katy, TX USA
                            If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                            BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                            Comment

                            Working...