a shade/rain cover solution for my work area

[cOw]

Yesh....time to get serious!

 

[landuse]

After all that work a little breeze takes it down?? Make us proud and make something indestructable!!

 

[Nodroz]

Lol, you keep struggling with that tarp! Loool
Can't you get some license to build something bigger that will last a few years?

 

[supermanotorious]

well like I said in the post before that tarp was due to go, it was so brittle if you touched it all it would tear, I would like to build something better but need a code expert to help me to maximize the structure

 

[supermanotorious]

did a half@ss job of hanging new tarp because I was tired and it was getting late, there's a lot of banging with a hammer when you add grommets, from punching holes in tarp to crimping the new grommets, it was dark but not too late, just didnt want the nabes complaining

I put the punch from this grommet kit in my drill press, spun it, and hit it with the angle grinder at a 45 degree angle while spinning to sharpen it, made punching the holes much cleaner

if you know of an industrial, half inch hole punch, similar to those that punch paper, let me know, it would make life much easier (and quieter)

double checked with my nabes who is a contractor, he said in our hood, structures must maintain distance of 10' and 3' from property edge, since the other side of the house is at 3' this side has to be 10', any permanent structure would only cover half my RV pad :-/

 

[machinist@large]

I put the punch from this grommet kit in my drill press, spun it, and hit it with the angle grinder at a 45 degree angle while spinning to sharpen it, made punching the holes much cleaner

if you know of an industrial, half inch hole punch, similar to those that punch paper, let me know, it would make life much easier (and quieter)

/

Try sharpening the angle to 60*, use a sanding disk (if you only have a 36 Grit, make sure it's well used), and gently touch the the side of the punch with the rotation of the wheel directed downward from the top of the body of the punch down toward the cutting edge (BE VERY, VERY, VERY GENTLE WHILE DOING THIS STEP;) since we don't know what grade of steel the punch is made of.

A loose rule of thumb from heavy industry; when sharpening anything where you are unsure of what type of steel it is, keep it cool enough that you can touch it with your bare fingers.

If you get it hot enough that the cutting edge starts to change color, you are in the zone where you could be pulling the temper out of the steel, which will ruin the cutting edge.

Now, if you have a knife sharpening stone in the house, use it the same way you used the grinder; as low an RPM for the punch as possible, hold the stone at the same angle and keep the stone lubricated.

When you start, you are going to have the stone grab a lot; that's normal. Until you have some experience sharpening anything like this, take it slow. The focus of the exercise is to refine the cutting edge. When the vertical grind marks start to go away, that's when you really need to lighten up on the pressure you are putting on the stone; the goal is to be able to wipe the wire edge burr off the cutting edge of the punch with just your finger, without harming your finger in any way (should just fall off as dust)

Did I mention that you have to keep the stone well lubricated???

It serves 2 purposes;

1] It controls the temperature of the operation.

2] It removes/ flushes the metallic particles abraded away by the stone.

These tips used in a typical tool and die shop will allow a stamping die to go as far as 10,000 parts without sharpening; actual results may vary.......

Pat

 

[supermanotorious]

got all the grommets necessary installed on Wednesday, instead of punching the holes, I used a razor blade, made an "X" for each hole, folded the four corners back and put the grommets in, I like having that material bunched in there

so I set up a test bench for this amp a nabe gave me and it works great, the new tarp + middle support works great with tonight's rain, no pooling, all drain off!

a few silver bullets plus some redneck ingenuity and I mounted a flood light to the wall with some zip ties

 

[supermanotorious]

crazy storm in Phoenix today, the tarp is moving like crazy, adding the center rail was absolutely critical and will make my tarps last a lot longer, you can see that the wind would pull the back rail forward and bend it, allowing water to pool on the tarp and bend it inward even more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_JguZf6q4

 

[supermanotorious]

believe it or not I literally came to my thread yesterday to see when I got this most recent tarp, I thought about posting to say how well she was holding up, today of course there was (and still is) a nasty, chilly wind storm hitting the valley and even though one of my ropes was too sun worn and snapped it looked good holding up, but I noticed the top seam was tearing...boo-hoo

 

[supermanotorious]

the tarp pictured above hung in (although tattered) until about yesterday, and last night the newest tarp went up

 

[supermanotorious]

new tarp stretched last night, last one didn't last very long, I left the scraps of it over the new one for additional sun protection

I am going to look in to building a free standing steel frame and cover with sheet metal so that I will get past using tarps, its not so much the cost of replacing them that's bothering me, its the effort to put in all those grommets when it's too hot outside to think

this tarp is just in time for the looming monsoon (haboob) season

 

[machinist@large]

new tarp stretched last night, last one didn't last very long, I left the scraps of it over the new one for additional sun protection

I am going to look in to building a free standing steel frame and cover with sheet metal so that I will get past using tarps, its not so much the cost of replacing them that's bothering me, its the effort to put in all those grommets when it's too hot outside to think

this tarp is just in time for the looming monsoon (haboob) season

I can sympathise; it's just to dang hot out...... And don't get me started about work.....

 

[supermanotorious]

well hopefully you're not poking your eyes out when I update this thread, the most recent tarp blew the "F" out a couple of weeks ago but I got lazy and there wasn't rain on the forecast until tonight so I got down to business

I think I've finally figured out the best way to punch the holes for the grommets, sharpen the punch which I did in the drill press and hit with angle grinder, then only punch against soft wood, this way you'll get a clean punch and not dull your punch for quite some time

Hopefullt THIS one is the last tarp, I priced the corrugated steel I want to use for the roof at $200, I'll price out the steel for the frame later

notice the "dead man" cinch system with the brick, highly effective for one man to tighten the perimeter of the tarp

 

[landuse]

LOL. With all the money you have spent on all the different tarp versions....you could have build a steel structure long ago.

 

[supermanotorious]

well Mr Land, sorry for the delayed response but I just ran the numbers, I have spent exactly $185.44 on the SAME tarp(s) just with different grommet configurations and roughly $20 on grommet kits, plus my time

I speculate that my steel structure, which should follow tax returns this year will cost about $600, so if I continued using the tarps, I would get about 6 years covered

LOL. With all the money you have spent on all the different tarp versions....you could have build a steel structure long ago.

 

[fowler]

When useing a wad punch (the hole maker)
U can only punch into soft wood on an end grain

So stand the block on its end and do it like that

That's the only way to not ruin in

A bit late I know

 

[supermanotorious]

good tip