4R8's "Round Thing" (rolled steel section yard feature)

[4R8]

Here's one of my recent projects which is nearing completion. The "thing" itself is complete but I still have a few finishing touches on the deck below to complete.

Not sure where to start on this one......

Background: My partner and I were standing in the backyard after the realization that it resembled some kind of sandy wasteland with a medium to heavy coating of things that once had a purpose but had fallen victims to our two canine friends. One a Staffordshire cross Rottweiller, the other a Boxer cross Rhodesian Ridgeback.
Ideas on what to do with the yard were being put forward when she mentioned me possibly building some form of "feature" to put above another outdoor dining set. The "thing" was born.....

Let the photos flow

All the rolling was done on a roller I got from ebay some time ago as kind of an impulse purchase. It came with a large selection of dies both round and square. Round to 3" and square to 2". I built a cart for it which it sits in and allows a spot for the dies to live.


a few shots of the material rolled, two sizes was used in the project.
50x50x1.6mm SHS and 25x50x1.6 RHS.




For anyone wondering, when you roll a square or rectangular section (not draw bend with an internal die) the profile changes slightly.



More in a minute

[doubleboost]

Hi
4R8
Nice looking bender
I like the look of that pickup as well
John

[4R8]

Rolling this piece caused one of the standard dies to fail. The perimeter pieces were already complete so the dies had done a fair amount of work.



That gave me an opportunity to turn up a steel unit to replace the cast one that had given up.


The original idea was for a large, simple flower. 5 full petals with 5 part petals in between the full ones, if that makes sense?
after rolling the piece above for the center I decided the flower was not going to cut it. A challenge of both the machine use and my artistic abilities was in order. Here's what came about.






For reference on size, the above fence is 1.5m tall

For installation, i wasn't sure on how I wanted it to sit or where the supports should be situated. All I knew is I didn't want it flat.
Also that I like to (don't ask why) do things myself, I needed a way to get this in the air myself. I came up with the use of some pipe which i notched to allow the round thing to slide through while setting up and also hold it to the supports.




Once I was happy, I cemented the posts, trimmed them and added the top plates to allow it to be bolted, rather than welded






I'll put a couple of photos up in a few hours of the deck which now resides below later, They still need to be uploaded.

[EdK]

[4R8]

As promised, a quick few of the deck below which consist of a UB (Universal Beam {"I Beam}) main frame with 140x45mm cca pine Joists.
I went with the steel because steel is what I do. Well actually, to allow the frame to sit lower to the ground and not worry too much about rot due to limited airflow below.
The deck itself is Jarrah.



Prior to trimming, here I used the roller again to radius the edge piece


Rough cut around the edge and put the old table on it for a look. Still need to finish and seal the edges

[stevec]

4R8, Jarrah is a wood I've never heard of before is it native to Australia? Is it like mahogany?
Looks beautiful!

P.S. shouldn't you be 4IS8?

[4R8]

(07-28-2012, 06:34 AM)stevec Wrote: 4R8, Jarrah is a wood I've never heard of before is it native to Australia? Is it like mahogany?
Looks beautiful!

P.S. shouldn't you be 4IS8?

Jarrah is the name used here in Australia but is actually called Eucalyptus Marginata. Funny you mention Mahogany as the appearance can be quite similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_marginata

I must admit you've lost me on the 4IS8??

[stevec]

4R8, Ya I thought it looked like mahogany, thanks for the wiki link, interesting.
Excuse my feeble attempt at humour, I thought 4R8- four are eight- four is eight.

[DaveH]

Jason,

That is quite splendid, very artistic

DaveH

[doubleboost]

Jason
I dont think it will blow away in a hurry
Even my wife likes the look of it
John