MJLorton Solar Power and Electronic Measurement Equipment Forum
New proof of concept ideas, projects, inventions => New proof of concept ideas, projects, inventions => Topic started by: kibi on August 13, 2012, 05:56:57 PM
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I have been living in my current home for the last 12 or so years. Tucked away at the end of the garden was an abandoned shed. My landlord (Alex) who lives abroad had a great deal of his things stored inside. As we never had the keys for this shed, we never paid much attention to it.
Recently, Alex was in the country and dropped by to collect a couple of his things. Unfortunately, without our knowledge, the roof had gone in many years ago it would seem. About 10% of the roof remained intact and most of the contents has been ruined.
We reached an agreement where I could use the shed provided I made repairs to it and store whatever was still in good shape.
This suits me because my workspace has expanded over the years to the point where some extra space would be most welcome. It may seem crazy of me to invest my own money in someone else's property, but I will save money by not paying for off site storage anymore. My return on investment is about 8 months.
So, lets get set to work.
Quite a mess, it'll only get worse though. Alex put polythene on the roof perhaps in some sort of panic.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/001.JPG)
Inside is pretty bad and even with no roof, it stinks of rot.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/002.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/003.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/004.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/005.JPG)
Upon removing the contents I found one of the walls had split from top to bottom. I pretty much pulled the whole wall down and built it up again from the ground. I put steel reinforcing band between each course.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/006.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/007.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/008.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/009.JPG)
Now it's time to get a new roof on. The entire roof had to be removed as the joists, although in not too bad a shape, were under spec'd. The joists really need to be 50x100mm treated timbers with 600mm centres. I also went for 18mm ply, expensive, but necessary in my opinion.
The old timbers are removed and the floor cleared. I had some much appreciated help from my brother and my friend Chris.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/010.JPG)
Now we have to get rid of loads of plants that have grown through the roof over the years.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/011.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/012.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/013.JPG)
Finally, the timber delivery arrived at 3pm. I had to get the roof on the same day because rain was forecast for the Sunday.
Roof timbers going up fast.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/014.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/015.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/016.JPG)
Now the ply goes on top. As a side note, if you ever have a project that involved driving a lot of screws, do yourself a favour and get self drilling Torx head screws. They save a great deal of time. No cam-out at all. My local store stocks a wide variety of the Paslode ones. They are more expensive, but well worth it. A great deal cheaper then buying a Paslode nailer ;)
Note that the correct tongue angle when performing this task is vital :)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/017.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/018.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/019.JPG)
Now the boards are screwed down, the surface needs to be swept and prepared for the one piece EPDM rubber roof.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/020.JPG)
The rubber is laid out and here I am applying the glue.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/021.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/022.JPG)
Just before dark, the roof is complete.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/023.JPG)
The next day I put up the roof trims and guttering.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/024.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/025.JPG)
So now, it's time to get the inside done.
I applied a liquid DPM (damp proof membrane) but I didn't get on with it much so I put polythene down on top of it. I then put stud work on the walls and floor to hold the insulation in place.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/026.JPG)
The insulation arrived on time. I went for high performance Celotex PIR insulation boards. 50mm for floor and walls and 75mm for the roof. This stuff is manufactured locally, some of the boards were produced just days before by the date code on them.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/028.JPG)
It's pretty easy to cut and install.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/029.JPG)
I used odd planks of wood from the ruined flat packed furniture to make the floor. I just trimmed the rotten ends off of the pine sheets to make a good solid floor.
The floor is mostly complete, just the odd shapes to be cut and screwed in place.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/030.JPG)
That's my progress so far. The next thing is to put a decent door up.
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Nice job Kibi, reusing the old blocks and putting the needed brickforce in as well. Probably your patch is stronger than the rest of the shed. Good idea to insulate the roof and floors as well, should be nice and warm in winter and cool if there ever is a hot day there. Are you going to put a window in to get natural light , and a nice insulated door?
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I've done away with the windows, more hassle that they're worth. During winter it will be dark 95% of the time I'm in there.
I'm going to build a staunch door and insulate it with Celotex. I made a mis-calculation and have ended up with two full sheets of Celotex.
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What light and power are you going to put in? I would think a nice 4mm cable buried in conduit and then a separate mains breaker, ELCB and sockets along with a 1.2m double flourescent fitting will make it nice.
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As soon as the ground is clear I'll be able to dig a trench for the services.
I need 4mm armoured cable for power, single mode fibre for data and an alarm cable. I'll then run spare UTP as space allows.
As for the lighting, I don't know yet, probably go with home brew LED. My electronics bench already has home brew LED lighting, I'll probably do the same above the machines.
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50mm PVC waste pipe is ideal for this, as you can run all of the data cabling in one conduit, and a separate one next to it for the power cabling. UV resistant and after you seal the joints waterproof.
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Ja, my boet and I was just discussing this. It would seem that 40mm or 50mm is the way to go. Leave a draw wire in place in case you need more in the future.
I may also be necessary to put an earth rod down.
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If you put earth rods down connect them to the earth point with a 10mm cable, and cover the joint to the rod with grease overwrapped with first some broad tape then a layer of self amalgamating tape. That will not corrode through easily. Put 2 draw wires through extra, and when doing bends use large radius bends so that it pulls easily. Cheap dishwash liquid on the cable helps with the pulling.
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Thanks for the tip with the earth rod. This earth also needs to be tied to the house earth so that the cabling doesn't conduct any currents produced by differing earth potentials (lightning for instance).
Only one draw wire is necessary if you are disciplined enough to draw a new one together with the new wire you are pulling through. If there is not enough space for a new draw wire then you don't need one, you need a new conduit :)
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2 draw wires means you have a spare in case the one breaks during pulling, or comes detached............
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Good point, I like your thinking.
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Yeeee Ha! Brilliant project Warwick! Thanks so much for sharing the details. I look forward to seeing how this cozy "nook" / Kaya is going to progress.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Just saying............ You know how you get experience............
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Yes I do. Now knowing the advantage of having two draw wires, I could now run a single one and watch something go wrong right away - guaranteed :)
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At least you can get to the conduit. I had a problem with a conduit that had a leakage to earth that eventually went hard short. Buried under 30cm of reinforced concrete, and it had rusted through somewhere. Went surface mount with the new cable........ It took the plumber who repaired a drain in that floor 2 days to make the hole with a jackhammer. Good thing though is that half the bricks he used were in the dug out sand under it. Bad is that the bricks were there in cement mix.......
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Running fibre links reminds me of another little side project that I really must get on with.
My old, excellent, never crashed in it's life, Nokia IP330 router (running pfSense) needs to be retired. It's AMD K6 450MHz CPU can only route traffic at 35Mb/s ish (without IPsec). My provider has recently and apologetically doubled our connection to "only" 100Mb/s (downstream) with a promise to give us the full 120Mb/s within the next 3 months. I'm going to need new hardware to cope with this. I might commission my idle HP DL360 into service for routing tasks. I'll have to check if the the network interfaces in this machine are vLAN capable and check out it's energy usage first. The Nokia is really noisy, but reasonably efficient.
However, the workshop comes first :)
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I have made a little bit more progress.
I've got a much better door on now. It still needs to be insulated, but I'll do that once the latch and maglock are fitted.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/031.JPG)
I've also got the sub-floor complete and most of the plasterboards up. Oh yes, I also cursed each and every one of those Phillips head plasterboard screws, every single one cam'd out unless a metric kiloton of pressure was applied to the back of the driver. Rubbish screws, worst invention ever.
Please excuse the noise on the below picture, I quickly took these photos with a telephone.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/032.JPG)
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Certain of them are utter shite, but the ones I buy at Pelican MIS are great, each box of 1000 comes with a bit to use, and I find them so useful, in that they can even drill into 1.2mm steel without a pilot hole ( though if you use a regular drill to drive you snap the head off flush) and they work well into thinwall studding.
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So, finally there is some power in. Not very much power because I still need to get the rest of the RCBO's.
I dug a trench for the power cable and put the earth rod down.
Here is the 1.2 metre earth rod smashed in and a 10mm cable attached.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/033.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/034.JPG)
Then, as SeanB suggested, the clamp is covered with grease, a finger from a rubber glove goes over that and then self amalgamating tape over the lot. This prevents corrosion.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/035.JPG)
Now, if there are any Health and Safety police about, please do take the day off. I am well aware that my board looks poorly installed, but is not complete by any stretch of the imagination. It is working for now and it is providing protection and has only got to run a lamp for the moment.
I plan to mount the Consumer Unit on a hinged board to that I can bring the cables in and out from behind it. This also makes it easier to perform modifications in the future.
All it has now are a 100A incomer and a 6A RCBO. The incomer is what was supplied with the Consumer Unit, the cable is protected appropriately at the head end.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/036.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/037.JPG)
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If I come to your house I will sleep over in there. Nice looking job, looks a lot better than what it was before.
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I managed to recover sufficiently from my hangover today to put the worktops on.
The work cannot be completed today because my saw blade is dull.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/038.JPG)
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Tungsten carbide tipped blades are the best to buy. I only replace them if they get chipped due to hitting a nail or two thousand. The one chipped blade I have reserved for working with aluminium extrusions and drywalling steel. It also does duty as the saw that gets used for roughing work, or for doing doors. Not worried about chipping the blade further, and they last a long time, much better than HSS blades. Stay away from the cheap diamond blades, they are complete and utter shyte, only good for a few quick cuts on soft wood. most of the time i am doing shutterply, or chipboard/supawood.
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Hats off to you for all the great work...and I would second Sean and say I would happily bunk up in the Kaya.
I saw the pictures of the earth rod and the sensible input SeanB has made about protecting it....so I thought I would show you what happens if this simple process is not followed....the neglect falls squarely on me....so I will have to make it right soon...
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Aside from anything cable way too small.......... With an earth rod the cable needs to be a little thicker, the wire to the earth rod must be equal to the wire to the panel, and run in as straight a line as possible to the rod.
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Sure, all of these factors could explain your earthing troubles.
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I think Martin's problems are more to do with old wiring, and steel conduit that has corroded underground. I have had the same, proved with the insulation tester that I bought, and disconnected the wiring concerned and ran surface wire in it's place. no way to replace conduit buried in a half meter of concrete short of using a jackhammer.
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Aaaah...one piece of info I failed to included....this earth is not connected to our electrical system. That earth / nuisance tripping issue is related to unbalanced neutrals or some leakage on the lighting circuit. I'll cover this topic when I talk about the install.
I had this earth rod installed for my HAM equipment but it has not been connected yet.
I see your last comment SeanB and I we might have moisture in the walls or roof causing some of our issue....I hope not. The electrician is about to arrive to investigate....
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I am busy with the Ham license as well, applying to write this year.
As to the earth tripping on lights, i will give you some scenarios.
A light in the garden with moisture in it, or a cut in the cable due to a careless gardener.
An exterior light with moisture in the fixture, or damp inside.
A switch for the outside lights that gets damp due to either ingress via the wall or through the fitting itself.
A ceiling mounted unit which is full of water.
Sensor light that is wet inside - especially if you buy the ones from Makro/Game/Builders. They need to be sheltered and waterproofed more than you think.
Weather side wall with water ingress into the conduit, probably at an elbow or a junction box.
A few starter tips for you Martin.
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Thanks SeanB!
You are spot on...and a few of those did apply!
We seem to have the leakage issues resolved....now just need to get the solar wired in through a transfer switch....cross fingers it'll all be done on Monday.
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Those tips are from experience, the only one i did not give was old wire with gutta percha and cotton insulation. I have seen cheap ass rewires where they replaced only the live wire and left the neutral to cut cost.
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Right, tea break is over, time to get back to work.
So, today I used this:-
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/040.JPG)
To make this:-
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/041.JPG)
Which is needed to accommodate this:-
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/042.JPG)
The above is a Vent-Axia heat recovery ventilator. With no windows and the door likely to be shut tight throughout the winter months, ventilation is required. Vent-Axia claim an efficiency of 87% heat recovery on this unit. This is a 24V model with two speeds. High speed kicks in when the built-in humidity sensor detects an excess of 60% humidity. De-humidification is a by-product of it's heat recovery process.
Here I am in the process of wiring up the electrical outlets. There are 11 double outlets around the perimeter of the workshop. You can never have too many outlets and I have never quite figured out the point of single outlets. They are all wired back to the board in a ring main configuration via a 16A, 30mA RCBO. Plenty of power.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/043.JPG)
The board is looking a lot better now. I have a light switch on the right and on the left is the SMPS for the ventilator.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/044.JPG)
The worktops are now even more of a mess, but this because I have had to sweep and clean the floor in preparation for the next stage.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/045.JPG)
Some of you may notice that the ventilator is mounted at a bit of an angle, this is to allow the condensate to run outside of the building for obvious reasons.
I shall return with progress of the next stage sooner rather than later. We have been taking advantage of the good weather lately and have lit multiple fires on which to cook meat :)
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Hopefully the Braai was not American style, with burnt meat. I hear there is boerie shop in London, run by an ex SA guy. Apparently makes a good one.
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Hopefully the Braai was not American style, with burnt meat. I hear there is boerie shop in London, run by an ex SA guy. Apparently makes a good one.
No, we braai correctly. Steak must not be on the fire any longer than 2 minutes per side, then it must rest for 5 minutes. Boerie is hit and miss. There used to be a butcher down the road from me run by Fazel from Cape Town ek se. He made good stuff.
Now on to todays work. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked because I was instructed to install a curtain rail and some blinds. ::)
I've put down 6mm sheets of XPS insulation.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/046.JPG)
Then the underfloor heating mat has been rolled out on top. There is 5 metres of mat with an output of 700W.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/047.JPG)
That's all for today, hopefully I'll get the flooring down tomorrow.
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That is one 5 star jondolo you are building there!
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Ja, for sure. You could even sleep in it in winter time ;)
Flooring is down now and the worktops have been completed. Now I just have to sort out some overhead cupboards and then the machines can move in.
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Nice storage boxes that you are using there, mine are mostly marked Clover and Dairybelle. All you need to do now is charge rent and let it out.........
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Over the last couple of days I have managed to complete the flooring. That was a bit of a nuisance because I finished all the packs of flooring and needed one more board to complete the job. >:( Luckily my local Wickes had a smashed up pack in stock for £3. :)
I have then knocked together some shelving from yet more ruined furniture boards. It was lucky that my Bosch blade finally arrived - ebay ::). I bought a cheap blade in the meantime which managed to do one cut and then on the second cut sparks started flying off of it!!! That blade is now resting nicely in the bin. The Bosch blade made a nice job of the worktops which have also been completed.
Lastly, I have moved my little machines in and bolted them down. They are only babies, nothing like Robrenz' machines, but they get stuff done well enough for me.
(http://www.kirbyw.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Images/Kaya/048.JPG)
I now have to get on with getting the data cabling run down.
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I have got the cabling in today. I have the internet in the workshop!! 8) In fact, I am making this post from the workshop over my new singlemode fibre link :)
Anyway, enough of that. I used 50 continuous metres of 25mm crush resistant flexible copex. Now because it is one continuous length it posed a challenge to get the cables down it. One would use a cobra, but I didn't have access to one, so I came up with a plan.
Very specialist tools are involved here. ;)
You need one of these:
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/050.JPG)
One of these:
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/049.JPG)
and errr... one of these these:
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/051.JPG)
Yes, that is a tampon which I have modified with a bit of tape to maintain it's structural integrity. The tampon will be the mouse. You tie the tampon string to the ball of string. Then you connect the other end of the copex to the vacuum cleaner and switch it on.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/052.JPG)
The vacuum cleaner end was in my workshop and the open end was lying on my driveway. The copex make a loud screeching sound probably caused by the air rushing past the ridges in it. When I got to my driveway the postman was standing there with a very concerned look on his face :)
I offered the tampon up to the open end of the copex and wham, it shot up the tube faster than Usain Bolt. Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, when you buy a ball of string, it is not necessarily one complete length. As the string shot down the copex the loose and went hurtling down too with much string remaining on the ball.
No big deal, the tampon and string were waiting for me at the other end and I just tied the loose ends together and it went well on the second attempt.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/053.JPG)
I pulled one CAT5e cable down first and then with that pulled 1x Singlemode fibre cable, 1x alarm cable and 2x CAT5e cables as spares for whatever happens in the future. I had room for another two CAT5e's, but I only had two boxes of cable on me.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/054.JPG)
So, there you have it, all up and running.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/055.JPG)
There are still lots of odd jobs to do before I am completely finished. Once I have improved the security on the workshop, I'll move all my electronics stuff in.
I'll keep this thread updated as and when any major improvements take place.
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A tip for next time is that you do not need the tampon. The twine will go through with just the suction from the vacuum alone. I have done this using a pipe, a length of string and an air compressor, using a t piece to feed the air in and the string in the other side, the flow after you have pushed in a metre or so will pull the rest along with it.
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Oh cool. Thanks for that, i'll remember for next time. I never thought that just the string would work.
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The guys blowing fibre use this method, a lot less stress on the fibre when blowing it as against blowing it with a parachute pulling on the end.
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Aaah....but the tampon method put a big smile on my face!!! :D
Thanks for all the updates and brilliant posts Warwick....and SeanB.
Cheers,
Martin.
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I have been pottering about in the workshop getting a few things done. My desk is in, which is nice. I just have to get things organised and in place.
Now, the insulation is performing very well indeed.
The nights have got a bit chillier these days. One night it was 12ºC outside. The temperature inside was 19ºC, great. However, I was inside for about an hour doing a few odds and ends and the temperature rose to 20.7ºC. The heating was switched off, just my body heat was enough to raise the room temperature. I left the light on and went to have my tea. After an hour I returned and the temperature had dropped to 20.1ºC. After that, I was inside for another hour and the temperature went up to 21.4ºC. Bear in mind also that the door has not yet been insulated, so I'll expect even better results when that has been done.
I am impressed with that insulation. It will work well in the winter time.
I will post more photo's when I have got a bit of order inside.
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OK, it's been a while since my last update. I've had to get on with other stuff before it gets too cold, like clearing all the rubbish from the project and performing a major service on the car amongst other things.
Things have been happening and the inside of the workshop is now pretty much complete. I have put up more shelves (no such thing as too many shelves), cobbled together a computer and done some general sorting. I found a faulty (bad caps) 24" monitor on ebay for £20. I have repaired it and I'm happy with it. I just need some decent speakers, those crappy ones are driving me mad. Mmmm, I detect a new project coming over the horizon. :)
I have insulated the door now, so the heating only needs to be switched on for 20 minutes to get up to 20ºC and then the heat output from the computer (80-100W) will keep it up. In fact it will increase. I'm very pleased with the insulation.
So, I thought I'd upload a little 360º photo gallery.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/056.jpg)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/057.jpg)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/058.jpg)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/059.jpg)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/060.jpg)
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Nice change........... When can I move in?
Found a passport last night, from some poor Zimbabwean. Luckily it has a Horror Affairs visa in it showing his employer. Will call them on Monday and see if he still works there, and if he still needs it. Lot of visa stamps in it, he has been all over..........
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Yes...a brilliant setup. Winter will just fly by without you knowing it....enjoy!
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I have reconfigured the desk arrangements and got rid of the rotten table that the computer is on. I just made it up out of 18mm ply. Lekker and strong.
It's cool because now I have more sitting level desk space. The monitor is on an arm that can swing right over to near the soldering desk.
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/061.JPG)
(http://www.wkirby.co.uk/Images/Kaya/062.JPG)
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Very nice........
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Yes, very nice setup.....I might have to take a few tips from your work when I setup my new lab....
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Ahh, new lab! It all makes sense now :)
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;) Yup!
So I will certainly be taking hints from what you've done!