The Library Sports Grille & Brewery in Laramie Wyoming is a fun a popular place to eat and have a few brews. It is locally owned and operated and is one of Tom’s favorite places to go. The owners have recently opened up a second restaurant in Winter Park Colorado. The pizza oven there was in need of a new metal box to hold the wood burning fire.
Tom started by getting the dimensions from the previous sheet metal box. Tom decided to build the new metal box out of eleven gauge hot rolled steel. The box also needed to have a handle on the end so that it could be easily maneuvered in the pizza oven. The sides also needed a bit of a taper to them. In order to reduce some of the welding labor, Tom had a sheet metal company shear the tapered sides to the desired angles. The sheet metal company also used a large press break to bend up one large piece of metal to form the back, bottom and front of the box. This insured a nice smooth finish to the metal box.
Once Tom collected all of the pieces of the metal box, he simply had to weld the edges together. He then formed the front handle using a compact bender from Shop Outfitters. The handle is made out of half inch hot rolled steel. Tom added a couple of gussets to firm up the handle.

Metal Handle

We recently received a comment on one of our early tips by tom articles. This article on aluminum cutting seems to get a lot of traffic. It was one of our original posts and contains helpful information on cutting aluminum in a pinch. The article explains how you can use equipment found in any wood shop to accomplish the job of cutting aluminum. At any rate, after several years we received this letter from Don in Florida. Since we are into entrepreneurship, we thought wed go ahead and post! Thanks for noticing our website Don and best of luck with your business!

Hi Tom,

My name is Don McKinney. Our company is Bob’s Saw Sharpening, Inc. I
read your article on cutting aluminum and liked the warning about the
“kick back” . Many people don not realize that when using the wrong
tool for the job could be very dangerous. The kick back comes from
using saw blades designed to cut wood or an improperly designed aluminum
cutting saw. We manufacture a line of blades for this material that
does NOT kick back or grab. Leaving a bur free cut on most shapes
including plate, pipe, window and store front extrusions, picture frames
and even PVC. It’s called the NO-GRAB. It has more of a milling action
than a cutting one. With a wood blade, the more you feed, the faster it
cuts. Our blades offers a controlled chip. The more you feed, it
doesn’t cut any faster!

If your interested, contact me at 1-800-359-2887
Don McKinney
President
Bob’s Saw Sharpening, Inc.
721 N.W. 7th. Ave.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. 33311

Real estate is in the news. There are homes for sale, low interest rates and potential renters everywhere. It may be a good time to look into purchasing investment property. There are a few things to keep in mind while looking at property for sale. A handy way to remember some key ideas can be found in the “three S’s”. Tom suggests considering 1. Site 2. Services and 3. Structure.

Site:
Take a look at the home, condominium or apartment building from the outside. Is the concrete curb and gutter in good shape? Does the driveway need to be repaired? What does the existing landscaping look like? Are there problem trees and/or shrubs that may need to be removed? Is the overall neighborhood a good area? It is important to look at nearby amenities like schools, shopping and public transportation hubs. Also, look at the neighbors adjacent to the potential property. Are there vacant homes or buildings? Are the yards and structures in good condition?

Services:
Another area to closely examine is the public services that fuel the home. How does the water come into the house? Examine the piping in the house and out to the city line. Is the pipe made of copper, pex or is it galvanized? Sewer services will usually be cast iron or clay. Is the servicing sewer line buried underneath the neighbors lawn. If there is a break or a repair needed this could become extremely costly. How does the electric line enter the property? Many older structures electrical panels are an insufficient size. Also, know where gas lines are. What are the phone and television options?

Structure:
It is important to give close attention to the structure of the unit. Take time to examine the foundation. Check for cracking, water stains, flaking and settling. It is a good idea to be familiar with the type of soil the structure sits on as well. Look for cracked walls as well. Do the doors and windows close easily? Where is the furnace and hot water heater located? Is the floor even or are there obvious variations?

A rental property can be a great investment. Just ask a few questions before purchasing.

Tom helped a local contractor build a tornado safe room for a new construction project. The home owner wanted a concrete and steel “basement” located underneath his garage floor. The garage is a 40 X 50 foot structure. The homeowner poured part of a basement in the garage on one end. The idea was to have a concrete slab floor poured over the top of the hole to form a safe room. The steel and concrete floor will enable the homeowner to still utilize the entire garage floor for parking and storing vehicles. The safe room below can be used to store valuable items as well as serve as a place to go in the event of a tornado or other emergency.
As the foundation walls were formed, beam pockets with weld plates were added so that the steel beams would sit flush with the foundation and the bottom of the concrete slab. Steel beams were placed in the beam pockets across the opening of the newly formed basement. The opening was then covered with metal floor pan. The floor pan supports the concrete floor as well as add additional support to the garage floor. Floor pan is generally made out of galvanized steel. The tornado room ceiling will then be tied into the entire garage floor while the concrete flat work is completed. This allows the whole concrete floor the expand and contract over time.
The picture shows one heavier beam that sits perpendicular to the rest of the steel beams. This allows for an opening for a stairway down to the tornado room.
The smaller steel beams are W6 X 9 lbs per foot. The heavier beam is a W6 X 25 lbs per foot. There is a steel post near the end of the heavier beam. As building continues, additional re bar and concrete will be added.
The tornado safe room will be tied into the remaining structure and will be made entirely of concrete and steel. The picture at the bottom of the page is a view with galvanized floor pan covering the basement prior to concrete.
If you are interested in building a tornado safe room in your new construction, it is important to remember that it should be professionally engineered.

Trent, from the local diving club (307 Diving Club), contacted Tom about fabricating a dry land diving board that the team could use for practice.
A relatively new trend in diving training utilizes a dry land diving board. The dry land diving board can be used for the same basic purposes as a trampoline, but with the obvious advantage of creating a more accurate simulation to diving into a swimming pool. A dry diving board is a good tool for beginners as well as advanced divers. The dry board allows the diver to repeatedly practice dive techniques without having to worry about how they might land in the water. The dry diving board can also be made to be portable. Trent will be able to move it around as needed. He even has plans to put it in the park for a demonstration during Laramie Jubilee Days.
Tom built this frame out of 2 X 2 X1/8 inch square tube. The metal tube size is a little bigger than most dry board manufacturers use. This makes for a heavier and more sturdier frame. Tom also added steps at the end of the structure. The steps were built out of 1 1/2 X 3/16 angle iron. Trex decking will be added for the stair treads. Trex will work great because it is waterproof and non-slip.
Trade Tool Innovations wishes the best for Trent and 307 Diving Club! Watch a short video of Trent talking about the dry diving board.

There was plenty of great metal handrail to look at on a recent trip to New Mexico. Tom and I spent most of the day wandering around the Taos area and snapping pictures of interesting custom metal handrail and guard rail. Taos is a mecca of metal artwork and the detail is not lost on a few of the commercial properties located in the town.
We found this example most interesting as it was laced with common objects. The handrail was at The World Cafe and included lots of whimsical items welded into the scrolled metal guardrails. A couple of examples are below. A great online source for metal stair material is Stairwarehouse.com. They have numerous examples of all kinds of handrails, guardrails and even stair treads. You can even view a great do it yourself project online. Another great source for metal stair rail work is Orleans Ornamental Iron & Casting Distributors, Inc. out of New Orleans Louisiana. Tom has ordered several items from Orleans and has had a good experience each time. Orleans Ornamental carries iron castings, aluminum castings, steel forgings as well as castings for furniture and accessories.

Another fabulous looking handrail we saw was located in the Taos Inn. This small stairway in the lobby of the hotel was speckled with chili peppers.
Metal handrail has developed into an artwork as there are more options for design and weld looks. Metal handrail also is a good choice to stand up in all kinds of elements. It can draw attention to a business and add to the overall atmosphere. Something to keep in mind is requirements for spacing metal pickets. Pickets are to be spaced so that a four inch spherical ball may not pass through at any point.
Check with building officials in your area to find out about other codes and requirements.

In this episode of “Sparks Fly”, Tom fabricates small trailers for portable toilets. The portable toilets belong to Honeywagon Sanitation. Honeywagon Sanitation is owned and operated by Heber and Jennifer Richardson of Laramie Wyoming. The red and blue portable toilets are a common scene at construction zones, job sites and special events around town.
Heber asked Tom to design and build small trailers to hook on is trucks for quick and easy transportation and placement.
Tom decided to go with a low start angle, torsion axle. This allowed to trailer to sit low to the ground for ease of use. Deck hight was an essential part of the design. The step up is only about eight inches, comparable to a regular house step. Tom began by finding a light duty tortion axel, about six hundred pounds. This allows the suspension to work in harmony with the portable toilet while traveling down any road, paved or gravel.
Angles were fashioned to act as clips to secure the skids of the portable toilet. A hot rolled steel rod, along with a simple hitch pin fasten on the back of the trailer to keep the portable toilet in place.
Another feature Tom added was an inexpensive folding screw jack. The jack helps level the portable toilet on site, as well as provide for a smooth removal from the truck.
With the completion of several trailers to add to his fleet, Heber is one happy business owner. We were glad we could help. Don’t forget to check back with us, Trade Tool Innovations, for more projects from the shop!

This video shows how Tom built his dream shop/house.  The shell of the building was ordered through Fast Trac Buildings, Inc. in Colorado.  Much of the interior of the shop and home was purchased as was needed through local building supply houses and stores like Builders Square, Lowes, and Home Depot.

The two and a half year project was a life long dream of Tom.  How did he talk his wife into it?  Well, she got her new home for their growing family.

The building is a 60 X 100 structure.  The house sits on the west end and was built three feet lower than the shop to allow for the second story.

The living room has a twenty five foot opening that gives the home a dramatic entrance.   There is an open kitchen with hickory cabinetry, a large eat in bar and a unique spinning pot rack.  The first floor has a large mudroom/full bath, guestroom with private bath and a den/office.  Upstairs there is another open family room as well as three kids rooms along with a kids bath.   The master bedroom and bath is also upstairs.

Tom’s shop is an all service machine shop and houses his tools and machinery.

There really are many possibilities for anyone wanting to design their own metal building house.  It is a great way to incorporate your lifestyle with your livelihood.  For questions or comments, please contact Tom at tom@toolsbytom.com.

Metal Building Patio

Our friends from Summit Structures asked Tom to fabricate this custom metal handrail on location at a new house they were building.  The handrail was built on a radius staircase so it took a little more work than usual to acquire the correct bends. 

The first thing Tom did was to set the upright posts in line with the radius wall.  Next, he bent the square tubing in a radius.  Tom used a Shop Outfitters 238 Ring Roller after a slight modification in the ring roller.  He removed a bushing out to allow the steel tubing to fit through.  He also made some different idler rollers for the ring roller as well.  He was then able to roll 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch square tubing through the ring roller.  He had to make several passes through the ring roller with his square tubing in order to get the desired radius on the steel.  He was only able to bend a little at a time.  An application like this is slightly hard on the ring roller, so anyone attempting this sort of use should be sure he has the machine set properly. 

When building a handrail along a curved stairway one trick is worth noting.  When welding in the top and bottom rails to the upright posts a twist needs to be formed into the rails.  When tubing goes up in a radius it should twist to gain the desired effect when tying the handrail into the upright posts.  Tom accomplished the twist by taking each handrail and placing them into a vice.  Using a 48 inch pipe wrench he put a 6 degree twist into the upper and lower rails before attaching them to the posts. 

Next, Tom welded the pickets between each post.  He purchased the pre-twisted metal pickets at Orleans Ornamental Iron.  Pickets were necessary for the metal handrail because building code usually requires that a guardrail be in place if the  stairway has more than a 30 inch drop.  The metal pickets were first cut to the proper angle and then welded by spacing them so that nothing smaller than a 4 inch sphere can fit between them.

Tom fashioned metal ends to finish off the metal handrail.  The decorative ends were designed to tie in the vertical uprights to the radius tubes that go up the staircase.  Tom used a Shop Outfitters 20/20 compact bender using 1.5 by .25 inch flat steel stock.

The last touch was to prep the handrail for paint.  Tom rubbed the handrail down with acetone to remove a lot of the oils in the tubing.  He then scrubbed the handrail down with a soap and water solution with scotch-bright pads. Finally, he painted the project black.

Most of the metal handrail had to be fashioned onsite.

Tom had the chance to stop and visit with Steve Yuhl of Triton Marine Construction out of Aiea Hawaii on a recent trip to Oahu. Steve and his company, Triton Marine Construction, have modified the TTI Screedright Pro to help them repair bridge decks on interstates.

When concrete breaks out of the decks on interstates the result is a large crack and pothole in the road. Usually rain and moisture exacerbate the problem as well as a constant flow of traffic over the holes and cracks.

Triton Marine uses a mechanical water jet that sits on a pair of tracks to remove damaged concrete off the road deck. Triton Marine programs the osculation and forward movement speed of their water jet. They may remove up to four inches from the surface of a deck that is twelve inches thick. They leave the existing re bar. They will then set up temporary rails or forms for the TTI Screedright Pro to ride on. The rails set the elevation to keep the repair level with the existing roadway. An extremely quick curring concrete is then applied. There is a volumetric truck on site so the concrete can be mixed on site. The concrete is set after only one hour and holds an incredible 3000 psi roadway that the traffic can travel on. This quick curring concrete allows for Triton Marine to work very quickly so that they can get on site, repair the concrete and then open up for traffic in a very short amount of time. Steve was looking for a screed that could strike off a slab in a short amount of time with minimal manpower.

Triton Marine modified the screed in a couple of ways. First, their screed accepts a 2" X 4" magnesium bar instead of the average 2x4. They also fashioned a longer handle bar on the end so they can set the screed on the far side of a 10 foot wide deck and pull across the deck without having to step in the fast drying concrete.

Triton Marine Construction has highway deck repair down to an art form. The next time you visit the great island of Oahu, you can thank your smooth ride to Steve Yuhl and his crew at Triton Marine Construction.