PreppenWolf
Solar Wizard
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The post and beam is rough cut, true dimension 4x6 PT. I did not personally mill it.
What was your most interesting recent non solar project?
- Thread starter JJJJ
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The post and beam is rough cut, true dimension 4x6 PT. I did not personally mill it.
PreppenWolf
Solar Wizard
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- Oct 10, 2022
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Inside walls and one exterior wall completed. Need to build the inside benches for each side this week. Blueberry is getting close to piglets and Smudge isn't far behind. But it's usable now and they've already moved in.
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Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Spent last weekend working on our front deck. I stained it about 5 years ago with semi transparent stain, but it has deteriorated over the last few years from lots of foot traffic, pets, rain, snow, sunlight, etc.
It's a 8x16ft deck, and it also had 6 beams that were in bad shape that needed replaced. I changed out 3 each of 2x4x8 and 2x6x8's. Got those put back on and did some painting on Saturday evening of the rails, and did the horizontal surfaces Sunday.
I used solid stain this time so hopefully it'll last longer than the last application. I used up one gallon on the deck boards, steps and posts/rails, but still need to do the support posts. Last time I was able to paint just about all of the structure with one gallon, but this stuff is thicker so I guess there's less to go around.
It was supposed to be a tan like color but ended up looking more copper-y or pottery orange like. Not really pleased with the color but my wife likes it so I guess that's important.. I think she's just happy the deck doesn't look like crap now.
I had to tie up our dog Sunday night so he wouldn't track his paw prints on it, and he's shedding like crazy, so I didn't want black hairs embedded in the paint. Of course now he's back on it and I'm sweeping off his fur off it.
I'll try to post some pics of my work when I'm done. My feet and toes took a beating from all the stooping and squatting I had to endure while painting, my big toes are still hurting..
BTW I had to trim off some of the 2x's and used our Metabo miter saw out in the shed which I just wired up to our inverter. It handled the cuts with no problems. Pretty cool..
It's a 8x16ft deck, and it also had 6 beams that were in bad shape that needed replaced. I changed out 3 each of 2x4x8 and 2x6x8's. Got those put back on and did some painting on Saturday evening of the rails, and did the horizontal surfaces Sunday.
I used solid stain this time so hopefully it'll last longer than the last application. I used up one gallon on the deck boards, steps and posts/rails, but still need to do the support posts. Last time I was able to paint just about all of the structure with one gallon, but this stuff is thicker so I guess there's less to go around.
It was supposed to be a tan like color but ended up looking more copper-y or pottery orange like. Not really pleased with the color but my wife likes it so I guess that's important.. I think she's just happy the deck doesn't look like crap now.
I had to tie up our dog Sunday night so he wouldn't track his paw prints on it, and he's shedding like crazy, so I didn't want black hairs embedded in the paint. Of course now he's back on it and I'm sweeping off his fur off it.
I'll try to post some pics of my work when I'm done. My feet and toes took a beating from all the stooping and squatting I had to endure while painting, my big toes are still hurting..
BTW I had to trim off some of the 2x's and used our Metabo miter saw out in the shed which I just wired up to our inverter. It handled the cuts with no problems. Pretty cool..
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Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Looks good, I imagine the piggies will like it. Are you going to paint/stain it and run power out to it?
PreppenWolf
Solar Wizard
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I'm not going to paint or stain it for now. Maybe next year between piglets. My plan is to run power in the fall before the ground freezes. I need to finish this project so I can get back to finishing my shooting cabin which is 80% and I want to be done before the snow so I can shoot and hangout through the snow.
SoggyShoes
Solar Enthusiast
I have to stip and repaint our fence in the next few weks.
I laughed about you dealing with your dog. When we last painted the fence, our dog "helped". At some point I noticed trees, bushes, and even a my truck had tail height stipes of stain! Plus, there were tail height streakes on the fence. I should have known, as that dog had a tail that was perfect (height & power) for clearing anything off a coffee table or nightstand.
Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Heh that's funny. Yeah I had to power wash the deck beforehand because of all the accumulated animal fur in the cracks, nasty! You can still see some fur hanging down underneath the deck, yech..
He's also super stinky, he wallows in who knows what, and he sleeps under our old house. My wife was tired of inhaling his funk when we let him in house for treats so she had me put a harness on him and she walked him over to the creek for a bath yesterday. He did not like it, but it had to be done.
Here's a few pics of him in the winter when he still had most of his fur, he's a border collie red heeler mix, which means he's super hyper. He's also aggressive and very fast, when he gets after something he's off like a bolt. But he's a horrible watchdog, never barks at strangers.
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SoggyShoes
Solar Enthusiast
Good looking friend you have there.
With that mix he probably herds everything and everyone!
Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Yeah he's a good dog, and pretty smart. We've taught him a few commands, and I'm kinda training him to catch things. I'll tell him to sit and catch little kibble bits and he usually does. I've progressed to squeak toys, he usually catches them mid air. He's a big jumper, likes to jump on new people which is embarrassing, he won't do that with me, but does to my wife some.
He actually doesn't herd people or critters much, despite his lineage. I think he's got a bit of beagle in him, because he bays like one when he barks.
Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Some pics of my work. I built the gate out of 2x4's and 1x1 bannister posts. I attached it with two large hinges and a latch. It's sagging because the post it's on has gone off kilter. The deck was originally built about 20 years ago and has a bit of sag and sway to it. I'll probably have to re-post it in a few years.
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Subdood
Photon Wrangler
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Keep it up, you're motivating me... Mine has been seriously neglected...
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Subdood
Photon Wrangler
That's not neglect, that's "patina"...
At least that's what I told my wife.
She didn’t agree.
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Yea, I don't think I'd get away with a coat of clear coater sealer no matter how 'rustic' I thought it looked.
Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Looks like you got a lot of work there, your deck looks bigger than mine, I don't envy you, Your rails still look pretty good, tho.
My left foot is still aching from all the stooping/squatting I had to do. Add onto that I spent a couple hours on my haunches last Thursday rigging up an RV plug for my cousins over on their homestead. At least they have power now, and can turn off that annoyingly loud generator.
Owww..
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Yea, just needs a weekend of TLC .
When I bought the house (in the winter )the previous owners were kind enough to have sealed the deck with that rustoleum coating crap, I wasn't able to get a great inspection of it because it was covered in snow... That spring I nearly put my foot through one of the boards thanks to the rot they so kindly covered up...
I replaced 60% of the joists, replaced all the 4x4 posts, they anchored so greatly with about 40# of concrete just below the surface, with 6x6s and 4x6 and added some additional beams while I was at it.
Then I replaced all of the decking and railings ... I was staining it every year but life happens....
It's been moved up on the list of priorities because some of the boards are pulling up (the joists I didn't replace). I'm really leaning towards picking up a HVLP spray gun and back brushing it after a skin some new lumber to those joists and zip everything back down.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
I'd hate to be the spotter inside hot attic for half an hour.
fmeili1
Solar Addict
I've received all the components and developed a schema to convert the manual awning to a powered one.
This schema uses the integrated parking switch inside the wiper motor to let the ESP8266 controller be able to count every full rotation. This is accurate enough for controlling the awning. As an additional protection, two micro switches will prevent the awning from destroying itself even if the ESP8266 controller will go mad and the motor won't stop (by disabling the H-Bridge in the motor controller). The micro switches are only able to switch 0.6A with 12V so it's not possible to connect them in series with the wiper motor. The inrush current of the wiper motor is >=15A, the idle running is 1.15A and I'll find out the amps under load when moving the awing, after installation.
I think the code will be easy to implement with the ESP8266 controller. Just 3 GPIO's to read the status of the switches (manual in, manual out and inside the motor to count the rotations) and two GPIO's to write high or low to tell the motor controller if it should turn left or right. I don't want to control the speed with PWM, instead I'll use just high for turning the motor on and low for stopping it because the H-Bridge inside the motor controller can work from 0%-100% PWM duty cycle.
Points to note::
One pole of the motor voltage is always provided by the case of the motor. So depending on the running direction the case is either +12V or ground/negative (this must be taken into account if the motor will be mounted at a metal bracket which may be electrically connected to other parts - in a car, the case will always be ground!). Also the black wire on the motor is originally connected with a screw to the motor case - this has to be disconnected to make the internal parking switch a dry contact switch!
Part list, total is < $70
1x wiper motor (OE 85-387) : 19.42
1x motor controller (BTS7960) : 7.99
1x manual left/right button : 12.99
2x micro switches (NC) : 1.99
1x 12V/30A power supply : 20.33
1x 12V/5V buck converter : 2.90
1x WeMos D1 Mini, ESP8266 : 3.00
The awning could be controlled via the two manual buttons which should be located right under the awning and remotely with the ESP8266 module (via WiFi and MQTT) with smart home integration. The awning should automatically slide out if the greenhouse get hit by full sun and slide in if too high wind speed or if no sun.
I'll try to build it over the next couple of days. Looks like a fun project
PreppenWolf
Solar Wizard
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Haven't finished up the Farrow Huts yet. The pigs moved in and I'm giving them some time. Moved over to working on the shooting range cabin. Doing electrical work tomorrow for the panel and indoor/outdoor lighting.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
That is some really nice looking work.
crossy
Solar Addict
Yeah, I thought for one moment that was the farrowing hut and thought "lucky pigs", then it clicked that it was the shooting range cabin
PreppenWolf
Solar Wizard
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I definitely took some short cuts in some areas, like its not on a real foundation, just PT based up on blocks on top of a prepped rock bed. I'm working up to hopefully building a full house at some point in the future and with the guidance of a buddy who is a house builder I've learned a lot about the process and importance of the order of operations/plannning.
The deck looks out onto my range and will have shooting tables eventually. The cabin will be used for my training classes year round. I currently have the classroom up in my garage loft. It's a nice space but I'm trying to separate the business from the main house slowly and return the loft to a fulltime fun space.
The cabin will have its own offgrid solar before winter. For the summer/fall I have a generator hookup out back and a nice little quiet 800w gen to power lighting in the interim.
The deck looks out onto my range and will have shooting tables eventually. The cabin will be used for my training classes year round. I currently have the classroom up in my garage loft. It's a nice space but I'm trying to separate the business from the main house slowly and return the loft to a fulltime fun space.
The cabin will have its own offgrid solar before winter. For the summer/fall I have a generator hookup out back and a nice little quiet 800w gen to power lighting in the interim.
Built myself a energy monitor for the house distribution panel looks a bit like a bukkake party with the solder mask but better safe than sorry with the humidity here. First time reprogramming modbus addresses so I could use identical products on the same UART left expansion available incase I want to record the shower circuit and outside lights but all the socket circuits and AC circuits should be covered next job is to fit a battery version to the main overhead line that passes our well pump but that's for another post.
Ps sorry for the potato quality photo, phones not the best in bad lighting.
Ps sorry for the potato quality photo, phones not the best in bad lighting.
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