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GlennLever · 10-23-2016, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeOrellana

I work with developing new technology standards, mostly in C and C++. I've headed up the efforts for several industry standards that are used by everything from mobile phones to aircraft navigation systems.

I actually still love the coding, especially the architecture work. It's all the corporate overhead and politics that drive me nuts, and will probably drive me from the industry.

Funny you mention furniture, cwk. I have a friend who writes code and makes furniture on the side. His house is filled with beautiful handcrafted stuff.

If I do jump the corporate ship, I'll probably lean towards doing small scale mechatronic prototyping. Combining mechanical engineering with software engineering. Seems there are a lot of people with good ideas but no way to implement them. The down side is that inventors never seem to have any money...

I done some c++ coding, liked it, but done with it now. i'm so out of touch with it now that I would not know where to start.

Franka548 · 10-24-2016, 06:05 AM

Glenn,
Nice piece there.
Frank

DeOrellana · 10-30-2016, 11:48 AM

Nice to be back home from Korea. After a week full of meetings, long flights and 8 hours time difference going out to the shop is like being at an engineer's spa.

During the entire week I got to leave the hotel twice, and that was to go out to dinner meetings. The rest of the time was spent at the hotel. Don't think business travel is glamorous and lets you see the world...

Getting back to the shop I continued on the powder coating oven. I've had an entire week to think about it - you know those times when your mind wanders off in meetings.

I started with attaching the inside walls to all the panels except the back and the roof. I figure those are easier when the oven is put together. The first one I did was the bottom piece. The floor is riveted in place and galvanized sheet corners are added for support. These will be riveted to the walls once they are attached.

Next I did the same thing with the walls, but the wall only received the angles on two sides. The bottom isn't riveted yet as that will attach the wall and the floor sheet metal together.

The ceiling part I will do once everything is put together.

After that was done, I started adding insulation. The insulation comes from a building that was torn down (=free). I wanted to use rock wool since it is fire retardant, and getting a large supply of it for free and in the right thickness was perfect.

After stuffing in all the insulation, it was time for the bottom sheet to be added. I started with marking out all of the holes and then punching them with a drill punch. I then drilled and put in the bottom row of rivets and then worked drilling and riveting each row up from the center out so that the sheet would end up flat.

The end result is a bottom piece that is well insulated and, to be quite honest, also a bit heavy.

I didn't expect it to take as long as it did, but marking, punching and drilling all of those holes takes a while. All in all I think I spent about 4 or 5 hours on this today. Just another day in shop-paradise

Franka548 · 10-30-2016, 02:52 PM

Looks good Erik, sometimes quality just takes a little extra time.
Frank

GlennLever · 10-30-2016, 04:06 PM

Outstanding will make a great oven

While you have been working I have been playing.

Made these to salute people that work on my forum.

Glenn

DeOrellana · 10-31-2016, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennLever

Outstanding will make a great oven

While you have been working I have been playing.

Made these to salute people that work on my forum.

Glenn

Those are awesome, Glenn!

Franka548 · 10-31-2016, 05:46 AM

Nice artwork Glenn.
Frank

DeOrellana · 10-31-2016, 12:07 PM

More oven work today with lots and lots of drilling and riveting.

Since the oven is rather large to work on, I figured that best place to work was to set it on the car lift.

Setting the walls in place didn't take much time at all. The piece of corner metal held the first wall in place and I could rivet it along the bottom.

After that came the second wall and the back.

The back panel was drilled and riveted in place. This is when I started thinking that if I were to build an oven again, I would probably build it from the inside out.

The top aligned nicely. This is when all the time I spent measuring the squareness of the panels paid off. One side was still off a little, but not enough that it's a problem.

I pre-drilled the ceiling panel, something that I should have done with the back panel also. To fit it in place I first put two sawhorses and then put the ceiling panel on it. Then I took a couple of boxes to press the ceiling in place. Then I drilled the roof section through the holes already drilled in the ceiling.

The interior of the oven is done. Then I realized I forgot to order the sheet metal for the doors.

Deano56 · 10-31-2016, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeOrellana

Those are awesome, Glenn!

Very cool. I can see my six year old grandson saying "I want those papa"

cwk · 10-31-2016, 06:35 PM

Glenn,

Nice work!

I almost expected them to start walking and talking. They look so "lifelike." Or, at least, cycle up and down.

Franka548 · 11-01-2016, 06:50 AM

Nice work Erik, the oven looks very good.
Frank

GlennLever · 11-18-2016, 10:52 PM

What is happening om all the projects?

On the oven make sure you make a provision for hanging pieces from the top of the oven, and a rack for setting a fixture on the floor for doing the wheels.

Glenn

DeOrellana · 11-19-2016, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennLever

What is happening om all the projects?

On the oven make sure you make a provision for hanging pieces from the top of the oven, and a rack for setting a fixture on the floor for doing the wheels.

Glenn

Sorry, I guess I've been busy and have forgotten to update the thread. Update coming.

I plan on having a removable rack for hanging and setting pieces on, so that I can configure it depending on what I'm heating. The first rack will be the part that I cut off the base of the of the oven.

DeOrellana · 11-19-2016, 04:00 AM

Update on the oven:

I finished insulating it except for the side that will house all the electrics. It kind of looks like a giant woolly TARDIS. The rock wool really makes a mess working with, but it's fire proof and more importantly it's free. Fiberglass insulation is even less fun to work with. I also cut the height of the base down to make the oven feel like it's at a better height. The top of the oven is now at eye level, which means that when hanging things in the oven my arm is fairly level.

The insulation is just slightly thicker than the studs. Just enough to make it difficult to put the metal siding on. I ended up strapping a 2x4 to the side to hold it flat while I riveted it in place. At this point the roof panel is just lying on top of it and not riveted in place to keep the dust down. I'm using standard corner protectors on the corners to hide any misalignment between the panels and to avoid having sharp edges on the corners.

Next I riveted the ceiling in place. I recommend that anybody who takes on a project like this gets themselves a pneumatic rivet gut. It gets real tiresome after just a few rivets, and the rivet gun certainly makes things go faster. The box in front of the oven contains the parts from a brand new space heater that I got for about $15 on sale which provided me with a 230v fan motor, a metal fan blade, and a thermistor. The heating elements come from my old oven that died and will be mounted to the back wall. They produce 2200W at 380V, so I'm hoping that's enough. If not, there is space to add two more elements for a total of 4400W.

When I had riveted the roof in place, I niticed that I had forgotten to order the metal for the back panel and the door. My metal supplier doesn't stock galvanized in his regular assortment, but if I'm willing to wait until his next order of sheet metal I don't have to pay extra for shipping and packaging. So I'm waiting until his next delivery arrives before I can finish the build.

To control the oven I've ordered a PID controller and a contactor. I've also ordered high temperature oven lights for the ceiling so that I can see what I'm doing.I still haven't decided on how I will mount the window in the door, but I will figure that out when I get he door built.

So for now I just have this big box taking up space in my shop.