What?

OK, in my last entry I got all nerdy and had my (pseudo) engineer on, talking about laminates and specialty fasteners and the composite core makeup of melamine. Let’s stick with the shoe niche project, get back into SketchUp and dump the “imagine this problem I’m writing about”.

To the right is the latest version of what I want to talk about. The part in blue.

From my previous entry on getting back to using SketchUp you should be familiar with the brown wall structure. This is the wall between my house and the garage that I plan on knocking a hole into. We’ll double up on the header and sill, providing a nice, rigid support top and bottom, then toss in a couple jack studs for side stability (and to hold up the header).

That brings us to the blue structure … which is the “just fill the hole with structure like you’d find anywhere else in the house” that I referred to yesterday. As you can see, it’s a simply constructed box using 2×4 and 3/4″ plywood. I may not need 3/4″ plywood and it just occurred to me to use 1/4″ to save on weight. That may be the way I go … and I could also ease up on the 2×4″ lumber and use something thinner. I’m not looking to support a lot of weight here. Which is why I can’t just use sheetrock.

Anyhow, this is the idea for now.

I could build the box on the garage floor once I get the exact final dimensions of the hole. I’d then either nail or screw it into the (brown) wall structure, making sure it was snug and level. The plywood siding would provide the majority of support as sheer panels.

The 2×4″ top, bottom, and sides are built-up to take in some insulation (I’ll have the unenjoyable task of cutting it down as most of the spacings are not the standard 15″ width).

I’d then slide in the thin melamine backing. This is an 1/8″ sheet of melamine material that’s not structural. I had planned on stapeling it to the back of the melamine box I’d talked about earlier but now I can just seat it into the back of this box. As a side note, I just realized that the current layout wouldn’t support the left and right sides of this back panel … I’ll want to add a little something to provide something to rest against.

With the back in, I could set in a bottom melamine panel and then support a top panel. Neither of these would have to be tacked or glued in. The side panels I’d add next would either hold the panel down (in the case of the bottom) or hold it up (for the top).

With those in place, I’d add the shelves … which, in turn, would support the left and right sides! I think I can get away without any glue or screws on this final structure! I’d want to be sure the casing around the outside frame covers any potential gaps (that’s what it’s there for anyhow) and is sturdy enough to hold the sides, top and bottom into the hole.

And that’s what I’m thinking about on this project for now. The modeling and thinking have been instrumental in doing this right. Had I started with my original plans I’d have a mess of scrap and need additional costly trips to the hardware store. SketchUp, and working out the problems it’s revealed, have really saved the day.

My Next Project

I’m finding that building out the shoe niche I mentioned in last week’s post is a bit more involved than I’d thought. At first I was just going to have the contractors stub out a hole in the wall and I’d slap in a melamine box. Alrighty, let’s go with that and see how far we get.

As you can see from this picture, melamine is made up of small woodchips pressed together with a binder and then surfaced with a hard, often brittle, laminate. While the edges are protected the panel provides adequate strength and rigidity to be used in a number of applications and hold up very nicely.

As a side note, the melamine we had chosen is surfaced with a slick white layer. This would match the cabinets in the laundry room where we’re putting it and have the benefit of reflecting a good quantity of light, keeping the recess visible when we’re looking for the odd shoe, sandal, or whatever we end up storing in the niche.

But, back to the engineering.

My intention was to use 3/4″ panels and butt join the sides and top\bottom sections, then using a air-driven stapler gun, tag on a thin, melamine backing. I’d carefully haul this section up to the hole, pop it in, and “find some way” to secure it. At the time I was dreaming this up, I did’t know how I’d do it but if I was pressed, I thought I could counterbore the sides, top, and bottom and drive screws into the framing studs.

This “plan” (and the quotes are intentional and appropriate here) has a couple serious flaws.

First, butt joining the sides to the top\bottom means that one of the panels will take a screw directly into the core. And, as the core is a pressing of wood bits, that’s just a stupid plan for anything that will take load. No, correction, that’s a stupid plan for anything. So, I’d countered this idea with using barrel nuts.

Here are a couple of pictures of barrel nuts, both loose and in a wood application:

 

 As you can see, you would drill two holes to place the barrel nut: the first one captures the nut, and the second allows a screw to come through the wood at a right angle and engage in the threaded hole in the nut. Brilliant! Suddenly you have the load being taken up in bearing, rather than relying on screw threads in the melamine chip core.

 This would be adequate but from an overall perspective, still not great. I was additionally considering cutting groves and lips in the sides\bottom\top and creating a box joint to ensure a rigid connection. It would work but would also be a lot of work.

Then I considered the box hanging out of the hole. And this is where my ideas fell apart.

The structure of a melamine box just wouldn’t hold up long, if at all. I could image sagging and flexing of the parts. Anyhow, I graduated to thinking about placing a 3/4″ plywood bottom on the whole thing to act as a large shelf for the box. I even got as far as making triangular “gusset-like” sides to pull the load into the vertical studs. As I continued thinking I realized I was just getting fancy and half-assing a project that would become part of my house.

 Enter my newest idea: just fill the hole with structure like you’d find anywhere else in the house, sheetrock the outside, add insulation, and then pop in the melamine to the box. That oughta work. More later when I have a model and plans scraped together. Not sure why it took this long but it’s fun to do a little engineering … even if it’s just constructing a melamine box!

Like Riding a bike

A while back I was playing with Google SketchUp and found it to be a marvelous tool. It was reasonably intuitive, powerful, and you could have results very quickly. And then my days became busy with other things and I didn’t touch SketchUp for a long time. Well, a week or so ago my wife asked if I’d be ready to make a Christmas present and I realized it was time to brush up my skills again. Happily, it was a short exercise!

I banged out the model for that project quickly (I still have a bit more to do … I want to try playing with the animation as my project has a hinge) and another one presented itself to me: a shoe niche.

A couple years back I put a counter into our laundry room. It was a modest job, everything squared and at right angles. We loved the new work space but while installing it one of the panels dropped and gouged the floor, within the first week of having it a big ding was hammered into the top, and the edge-banding has started to chip and peel off. Time for a replacement.

While we’re replacing it (with a single laminate slab from Home Depot) a few other projects in that room came up. In addition to the counter, we’ll add a sink, replace the flooring, and add another light. And, as the bonus, add a shoe niche. The shoe niche sent me back to SketchUp.

While I usually use SketchUp to get the details right … explicit dimension, work out joinery options, or make sure I understand how to put something together … this time I used it to work through some design decisions.

Here’s what we have now … pretty standard and simple:

And while simple, it sticks out into the room and is somewhat limited on space. We wanted better … and we couldn ‘t find this particular style of wire rack at any of the three big box hardware stores near us.

What we plan on doing is popping a hole through the wall … cutting into two studs and framing out an open box. We’d then create an “insert” melamine shelving unit and pop it in! Enter SketchUp.

Here’s a quick mockup of the wall substructure after we frame out our box:

And with that, I was able to whip out three options:

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

We’re going to go with the first option, Option 1 … it has a 42″ width, 72″ height, and 15.25″ into the wall. This should allow plenty of space for shoes, flip flops, boots, etc. The bottom shelf will be used for detergent and a laundry hamper. With adjustable shelves, it should be a snap to configure things to work out for us.

The other two options had their benefits but suffered in some ways. The middle option, Option 2, was just like Option 1 but is narrower by a half foot. The sole reason for this design is to avoid shelf flex over the 42″ width. While we might get some of this, our shoes are pretty light and I don’t anticipate getting a lot of flex. If we do, I can add a metal stiffening angle to the back edge of the shelves and let that pick up some of the load.

The last option, Option 3, was another compromise to avoid the large span but incorporated back-to-back verticals in the center. This allowed for two twenty-inch sections that would have shelves that could be adjusted independently. We didn’t like that I wouldn’t have a good way to hide the splice down the center. There are ways, just not good ones to my mind.

Now that we’ve completed the overall design, it’s time for the details! And, as it’s been a great tool so far, I plan on continuing to use SketchUp.

I’m thinking about barrel nuts for attaching the side panels to the upper and lower carcase members and attaching the center shelf in a similar manner … it would be fixed.I’m toying with reinforcing the corners with metal angle, either aluminum or thin steel. I’ll just tack on a melamine panel back with a pneumatic staple gun and that should provide a nice sheer panel support member.

I’m worried about it being cantilevered off the back studs. I don’t know how I’ll attach it to the boxed frame. I could simply zip a number of screws through the sides, top and bottom into the frame but not sure if that’s the solution I’m after. Just lacks some elegance.I’m also worried about the bottom panel. I’m pretty sure we’ll be putting a number of heavier items on that shelf so I want to come up with a lower support system. I’ll probably tie into the two severed studs but not quite sure yet what to do.

That’s it! It’s been fun “getting back on the bike” but mostly happy that the tool is easy enough to use that even after months away: I’m able to use power keys, build up the model, and just get ‘er done! I will say that I’m having some troubles, too. When I create a component in one layer, I want to “clone” it and assign the clone to a new layer. It doesn’t seem to be that easy. If you know something that might help me, please send tips\links!

Thanks!

Busy?

I note with some amusement that my got a lot going on post listed exactly three things … the madness!

Still, it feels like I have a lot cooking. Work is taking up full days, I have a number of interests at home (woodworking, computer stuff, Xbox, and Suzy projects), and then there are places to go, friends to see, and things to do.

On the woodworking front I’ve been building a “box” for Spencer. That’s a euphamism for a burial coffin. He’s doing well but the worst thing we can think about is trying to bang out a box if he should get sick. We did something like this for Trout … the box sat around for 6 years or so before we used it. I’m fine with that. Pictures will follow but I’m giving it a rest for right now … the joints weren’t coming together as well as I would have liked and it has a lot of finishing left to do.

Computer stuff is moving my pictures to Flickr and playing with the new Visual Studio. There’s a new beta out there and it’s a deep, fun toolset. Lots to play with.

On the Xbox, I just finished Shadow Complex … a fun little side scroller. I haven’t milked it for all the achievements but will when I’m looking for short little entertainments. David, my nephew, loaned me his copy of Army of Two. While it’s not getting the greatest reviews, the people I know who have played it like it. We’ll see.

As for Suzy projects, there’s always something around the house that could use my attention, a little fixin’, or just help around the yard. And it’s only fair. We have a nice setup and I should have a little obligation there!

But, soon I plan on starting another woodworking project of some Days of Christmas boxes. I’ll leave it at that for a while.

Too much going on

Lots of things are happening and yet, it’s pretty quiet.

A week or two ago Suzanne took me to the Star Wars concert … it was pretty cool. I was surprised at how many young people were in attendance … as in really young, not around during the first release of the films, sort of young. But, there they were and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We had great seats, off the main floor and to the side, but we had great view.

Last night we went to Suzanne’s brother’s house for pumpkin carving. As usual, we all had very nice pumpkin designs and the exection was impeccable. I’ll be posting photos on Flickr but that’s my main job for today … sorting that out.

I’ve been spending my free time either in the garage or playing a bit of Xbox so arranging my Flickr site into something resembling order just wasn’t high on the list of things to do. But now I need a picture of my cat in a sweater and have no idea where I could have it … time to dig through a bunch of photos and create a single shop for all my stuff. Ugh … not looking forward to it.

Just when I thought …

… I was going to be blogging more, I ended up working a week of 15 hour days. Rough stuff but we were shipping. We still haven’t released but close enough that all the hard work is done. Just need to see it go out. And, well, to be honest, it was nice to just R&R with some time and no drama. I wrenched an ankle so I stopped climbing early this year but there was a lot going on at home.

Back now … expect more shortly.

New Quote I found and liked

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.
- From, The Once Again Prince by Irving Townsend

My heart wasn’t in it

It’s been a busy summer and a lot of it fun but I’d fallen on hard times reasonably recently. Nothing you can’t bounce back from but trying stuff nonetheless. I’m hoping it’s behind me.

For starters, I had a great weekend climbing Bonanza Mountain with a couple friends I only see once a year or so, but I twisted my ankle so badly in the descent that I haven’t been out since. Yesterday I did manage a full day at the Puyallup Fair which had my feet tired but not in pain. I’m hoping things are finally healed up.

Then we lost Trout. It was a long time coming and we had plenty of time to say good-bye but that was tough. A good friend for 18 years … hard to put a value or words to something like that.

Then, right after losing Trout, both our other cats, Spencer and Trimble, started having considerable problems of their own! Tough tough stuff. As with my ankle, I’m hoping that’s in the past and we’re on the path to recovery.

But, that leaves me with a lot of things I’d planned to write about. I have a started story about a wedding I attended this past summer, the Bonanza climb, and finally my outing to the Goat Rocks area. I’ll squeeze those in as time allows but I hope I’m back.

Trout, 4/15/1991 – 8/22/2009

Silence is golden

And also a bit curious … what have I been up to for the last month? Lots.

And while I sort things out and prepare for writing a little something up, here’s a picture from my last climb. The thin red line is our approximate route. What mountain is this?