Home-made Tools - Hand-powered Sander - Precision Picture Frames

There is a preamble to this blog post which discusses the use of bicycles as upcycling material - a link to it can be found at the bottom of this article. It will also take you to a copy of the film: Home-made Tools - Hand-powered Sander.

 A whole pile of architectural drawings, patiently awaiting frames

Introduction

From time to time I need to cut mitred corners for picture frames. This is something I find impossible to do free hand - if I'm following my 45° line I invariably do not keep the saw cut square to the upper face of the wood. I have a mitre block to aid me in this operation but I never seem to obtain beautifully butting joints. I've seen mitre saws for sale but I dissuade myself from purchasing one as I keep thinking of how little I'd use it. So, when I found myself with the task of making frames, I thought about rough cutting the corner and then achieving the final satisfactory joint by sanding the face to the prescribed finished angle. I knew of powered disc sanders which could tidy up my cutting but I wanted something that would: 1) be difficult for me to 'over do' the sanding operation, 2) be accurate and 3) be cheap.

This led me to think:-

The Final Design

1) a hand-powered machine with 

2) a support table at 90° to the vertical face of the sanding disc and guides attached to this table at the mitre angle of 45° and 

3) to make it myself out of recuperated materials.

Design

My first idea was to mount a disc, with the sheet of abrasive glued to it, to a wheel spindle from a bicycle front wheel. The hub in which the spindle ran was to be fixed to a support. Attaching a crank-handle to the free end of the spindle would enable it to be turned by hand.

The first idea worked up to a point but highlighted a crucial error, it was impossible to mount the sanding disc to the shaft such that there was no wobble (I call it nutation in the film but that is not correct). This was a consequence of attaching a 230mm diameter disc to the hub face of about 40mm diameter.

Developing the design further I decided on using a more robust arrangement for supporting the disc, that is, using the crank assembly of a bicycle and attaching the sanding disc to the face of the pedal crank.

Most of my projects involve the use of untreated pallet wood. Sometimes on my pallet collecting 'runs' I find a pallet with a chipboard top. Now, I do not like this material because of the toxic bonding agents used in its fabrication, nevertheless, being manmade it normally has the property of being flat and the surfaces are relatively smooth. So, provided that the pallet has not been exposed to rain, or excessive loading, a chipboard pallet-top can be used for making the sanding discs.

Fabrication

Ready for deburring

The first thing I did was cut the mechanism (with the pedals still attached) and the lower part of the frame away from the rest of the bicycle. The two horizontal arms that go to support the rear wheel I kept with the mechanism so as to furnish a means of attachment to the sander support. These two arms are at 90° to the vertical face of the chain wheel. The larger diameter downtubes of the frame were cut close to the bottom bracket. After cutting, all the exposed edges were deburred.

The crank levers connecting the pedals to the spindle were then cut, Iusing a grinding disc. 

Crank wheel with crank removed

The lever on the crank wheel side was cut close to the cotter pin, the other was cut longer, as this was to be where the turning handle was to be attached. As I had decided to mount the sander mechanism onto a small wooden pallet, the handle length had to be shorter than the height of the pallet top from its base.

From pedal to handle

At the free end of the shortened lever I attached a wooden handle to enable the crank to be turned by hand.





The mechanism was then screwed to a small wooden pallet, ensuring that the turning handle was not obstructed. Onto this pallet I also attached a worktop of chipboard with a plastic surface (again recuperated from a pallet). 

I had to have two chipboard discs on this sander. The chipboard sheet from which these discs were cut was checked for flatness by using the flat edge of a try-square, although the edge of a steel rule would work as well. 

Once cut from the sheet, both discs' edges were 'cleaned-up' using a router. 


I have received a few comments on the film regarding my use of power tools to produce a hand-powered machine. I do this because filming a project as it progresses, takes at least 4 times longer than if I was just making it and the power tools allow me to finish the projects in my own lifetime. Nevertheless, most of my projects can be undertaken solely with the use of hand tools. As a case in point instead of machine cutting a circular disc, it is possible to cut an octagon using a hand saw and having the same diameter, this would work just as well. As our plans for the future are to be completely off the grid, I intend to reduce the use of power tools but whilst I still have mains power I shall continue to use them.
 

The disc which was to be attached to the face of the crank wheel had a clearance hole cut in its centre to fit over the portion of the crank lever that remained. There already existed 3 holes in the crank wheel that I believed would be suitable for the mounting screws but, finally I drilled three more holes on the perimeter of the crank wheel to ensure the disc ran 'true'.  

The second disc was fixed to the 'crank wheel disc' with 3 screws. Prior to the second disc being fitted I used a PVA glue to adhere a sheet of sandpaper to its outer face. The size of the sandpaper sheet set the maximum diameter for the disc  i.e. 230mm. 

Depending on the thickness of the chipboard it may be necessary to provide a clearance for any portion of the crank lever that protrudes above the outside face of the crank wheel disc. In my case it merely meant cutting a 5mm-deep recess in the centre of the discs' rear-facing surface.
 




I attached two guides on the worktop set at an angle of 45° to the sanding disc face. 

  






Two guides were necessary so that the mitre face at each end of the frame piece could be sanded by the disc moving downwards. 

Thus the sanding disc would rotate clockwise to sand one end and anti-clockwise for the other. If the workpiece were sanded with the disc moving upwards it would 'chatter' and be less precise


Left: Sanding disc rotating anti-clockwise.

Does it work?

 

The results were completely satisfactory. The finished mitre made a perfect corner for the frame

The film and a run down on bicycle upcycling can be found here

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment and/or ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

Cheers Andy

© Andy Colley 2014 

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Heating a Farmhouse with a Wood Chip Boiler Biomass Heater - Taking you through from hedge to hearth.

This is a very interesting alternative energy project in that although it is used to heat an individual dwelling, in this case a farmhouse, it actually lies at the heart of what future energy conversion may be all about. There is a growing sense that energy and food production needs to be based around small communities.

Turning back the Clock

A few kilometres away from us is an organic dairy farm with a fine head of rare breed Normandy cows and from where we get our raw milk, cream, cider, honey, chicken grain and straw. The layout of the farm is the same as one sees in most parts of France, the buildings constructed mainly from locally sourced stone and clay, the extraction of the stone at the time of construction resulting in the formation of a large duck pond. On one side of the pool is the bread oven, still used to this day.The farm, as with our own house, has due to its its construction, a high thermal mass which makes the building warm in Winter and cool in Summer. Traditionally these farms had large open fireplaces upon which huge logs would be placed both for cooking and heating. These fires were fed from timber grown on the farm, and were highly inefficient at around 15%. 

Going backwards to go forwards

The fields surrounding the farm are divided with hedges of deciduous wood. The hedges are trimmed every 15 years and the wood is used for fuel. This cycle has been going on for centuries, maintaining the hedgerows being an essential part of the farm calendar. Traditionally, the bigger branches were cut or split into logs for the fire and the thinner twigs would be collected, tied into bundles (faggots) which could be used in the bread oven. Over the last 80 years or so this latter use has become almost obsolete resulting in most farmers/landowners burning these smaller twigs in the fields where they were cut. This amounts to about one third of the total amount of combustible material being wasted.

The solution Michael and Lydie have adopted is to heat their large farm house using a wood chip boiler, the chips are produced from ALL of the hedge trimmings.

In this part of Normandie, there are hedges of a specific type known as bocages. This is an ancient hedging system, whereby the trees were planted on the top of lines of mounded up earth, lined with local stone. Thus, creating raised hedges and obviating the need for livestock fencing. Many of these, sadly have been grubbed out and flattened over the years but others have been preserved. Not only that but some farmers and homesteaders/smallholders are either replanting them or even reinstating the ones that have been destroyed. They are a haven for wild flowers and wildlife and I'm proud to say that we have one which runs along the whole side of our garden.  If you have ever visited Cornwall or Devon, you will have seen similar beautiful hedge types.

Starting at source

On an appointed day a tractor and chipping unit arrive at the land where the wood to be shredded lies beside the trimmed hedge. On the day when we were there, the cut branches from 200m of hedge were converted into chips in one hour and 5 minutes, producing three large trailers full of fuel, sufficient for 18 months of heating of the farmhouse.

Here is a short clip of the chipper in action from our own files. The complete video of the whole system from hedge to hearth, embedded from our Youtube site will be shown at the end of this article.

The chipping machine, and grab are powered via a power take off (pto) from the transporting tractor. The tractor has to be at least 250 HP to supply sufficient power to chip the larger diameter branches. The machine is owned by farmers in the county who contributed to its purchase. Each farmer pays for the running costs incurred to process his wood. Many farmers are also now collectively producing their own biofuel and the tractor can be run on this.

The three fully laden trailers are taken back to the farm and the contents are piled in a hanger to dry. Michael told us it is possible to let the branches dry in the field prior to chipping, producing fuel that may be used immediately. The big disadvantage to this is that the cutters in the machine wear much more rapidly than when chipping 'greener' wood. So, if you have the space, let the easier-to-process chips dry in an open-sided shelter.

After a few days in the shelter, the chip mound starts to naturally heat up, this heat drives the moisture out of the chips such that after 6 months they may be transported up to the rear of the farmhouse where there is a sheltered area next to the 'boiler room'. This means that the recently vacated shelter can then be used to store straw from the summer grain harvest.

The mound can attain temperatures as high as 80º C and theoretically one could extract this heat via a heat exchanger network to supplement the energy needs. The downside to this is that the drying mound would need to be near to the point where the heat is required, the size of the mound would mean another shelter near to the house. Plus any heat exchanger would be susceptible to damage from the machines needed to transfer the dried chips to their final destination. Additionally, there would be a problem of odour. The vapour that is emitted from the pile has a strong fragrance of alcohol.

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Now we come to the final destination of the wood chips, the boiler. 

The dried chips are transferred to a loading bay in this case it is a corrugated iron sheeting silo of 4m³ capacity. Sited in the base of this is a trough in which a screw or auger operates to feed the chips into the boiler. Two spring arms rotate at intervals to sweep chips into the trough. the arms ensure that no voids can form above the trough. The screw feed and the sweeping arms' operation are controlled by the boiler. 

When we were observing it they were actuated for 5 seconds every 30 seconds. The silo holds enough chips for about 3 weeks in the winter months.

The boiler functions automatically, feeding fuel and adjusting the amount of  air needed for optimum combustion. The grate is emptied of ash which is then transferred to the ash box at regular intervals. There is a heat exchanger sited after the combustion chamber the exterior surfaces of which are also automatically cleaned to ensure optimum heat transfer.

The water heated in the exchanger passes into the coils of a 800l hot water tank. This tank provides the domestic hot water and the supply of heating water to the 15 radiators in the house. Thus the boiler is not running all the time and is re-ignited when the hot water tank temperature drops to a pre-determined point. An electrical resistance in the combustion area is used to ignite the wood.

Depending on the quality and type of wood chip being burned the ash box needs to be emptied at best every 3 weeks i.e. every 4m³ of wood chips, inferior wood such as willow will produce more ash that will require the emptying of the box every 10 days.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Using all of the trimmings from the hedges means that there is nearly 50% more fuel for heating and less pollution arising from burning the residue in the fields.

Locally sourced wood means very low fuel miles contributing to environmental impact of system.

Claimed efficiency of over 90% and low emissions means the boiler compares well with gas boilers.

Smokeless.

Ideal for small communities or a group of homesteads seeking a renewable source of heating.

Machines could be powered by Biodiesel to lessen environmental impact further.

Excellent for co-operatives (shared use of chipping equipment).

Cons

Expensive for small independent user if own production of chips desired.

Outbuilding required for bulk storage of chips.  

Cannot function without electricity.

Initial cost of the system - 25,000 Euros, in some countries there is a subsidy for renewable energy start-up but the cost is still steep, in particular if you are also needing to hire the shredder and/or buy in wood for chipping or the chips themselves.

With the ever increasing price and rapid diminishing of resources, any form of heating which can process a renewable, sustainable fuel is worth serious consideration, especially in rural areas.

Our thanks go to Michael and Lydie for the time taken in showing their system to us and to Mother Nature for providing the wood.

Now, if you'd like to, sit back and watch the film:

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment and/or ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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DIY dry toilet system for 8 Euros or $11 - Part 2 The Cabin

It's been about two and a half years since we set up our dry toilet system in the garden and it was only the other day when I was looking through the Green Lever archive that I realised we had not written a post about the cabin and the seats. These will be long posts because there is a lot to share, so without further delay here is the first, the design, construction and assembly of the cabin (pictured below).

Introduction

We've long been talking about building our own Eco-house. Much of the work we've done in restoring the 300 year old Longère in which we now live, has been experimental in trying out more environmentally-friendly techniques and using ecological materials. Our Eco-house is to be completely off-the-grid including being autonomous with our own water supply. This being the case, reducing water consumption is essential and the biggest consumer of our water is the flush toilet. We also decided to have an extra liquids only toilet in the house and so, except for offering the choice to visitors, our flush toilet became totally redundant. In Setting up a dry toilet, which we wrote back in July 2012, we posted our water bills, showing how our  consumption and thus costs, dropped by two thirds once we stopped flushing. The extra added bonus, apart from feeling a lot less wasteful, is that we can now grow beautiful flowers in what was once some very poor soil!

Design criteria for the whole system

We decided that the toilet would be located in the garden because it would be easier to empty the contents into the composting bin and also, as we spend most of our time in the garden or workshops, muddy boots would not be a problem. Thus, we needed a cabin to house the toilet, a seat and a composting bin. I also wanted a design that could be made in and transported from the workshop. Wherever the intended siting, it is always better to have something which can be fabricated inside in comfort, rather than outside in the rain. It also makes for a practical design if you want to use this system for somewhere such as; your allotment, social garden, a field or even set up a business making them for others.

The seat 
For ease of composting we decided to separate liquid and solid waste at source, hence a dual seat arrangement seemed to fit the bill. Beneath each seat would be bucket. The solid waste would be covered with sawdust after each visit and emptied into the composting bin when full. The contents of the liquid bucket would be diluted with rain water to be distributed around plants in the garden.

N.B. this latter has recently been updated in order to accommodate people who live in extreme climates and the post which covers this update can be found here: Composting urine using a straw bale
 

 
The cabin

Tall enough to stand up in, the cabin had to be wide enough to accommodate the dual seat, with enough 'leg-room' for comfort. It needed to offer privacy and protection from the elements and had to be easily transportable from the workshop to its site in the garden.

The composting bin 

For this we decided to use the same successful design that I came up with some time ago for garden/vegetable waste i.e. horizontal sliding wall planks that allow for ease of access and very easy to transport for assembly on site. For its design and construction see my post: Untreated Pallet Wood Compost Bin

Fabrication of the Cabin

I decided the cabin would comprise a modified pallet base that would be placed on a stone chipping foundation. Corner posts would be fitted to which the framing for the two side walls and rear wall would be secured. The walls for these would be vertical pallet planks slid between the frame wood (very much like the compost bin). On the front elevation would be a pre-assembled panel and a door. Cross-bracing connecting the diagonally opposite corner posts at the top would stiffen the structure and the whole would be covered with a pitched roof .

On one of my regular pallet-collection runs I obtained a non-standard sized pallet 100cm x 120cm this was perfect for the cabin base, the 100cm width was enough to fit the double seat. The first step was to fill in the gaps between the existing pallet planks with planks of the same thickness so as to make an even floor.

Turning the pallet over I then attached planking around the edge of the pallet such that about 2cm of wood protruded all the way around the pallet perimeter. 

Each corner post was made by screwing together two 210cm long pallet planks so they formed an 'L'-shape which would fit against the two outward-facing sides of the pallet's corner blocks. These posts rested on the 2cm protruding wood and were screwed to the pallet blocks. Thus all of the vertical weight of the posts, additional wall framing and roof structure, was supported by the protruding wood attached to the underside of the pallet. The screws merely stopped them from moving around. 

I cut planking and fitted it around the pallet base so as to prevent any openings that a small hen or pigeon would find 'interesting' once the cabin was erected in the garden. This planking furnished the edge upon which the wall planks would rest. 

Planks were cut to length and screwed to the outside faces so as to connect horizontally the corner posts. Six planks were required for each side wall and the rear wall, They would form the retaining rails when the wall planks were slid into place.

The vertical position of the retaining rails were; near to the 'floor', at the top of the corner posts and an intermediate rail at a height such that a standard 120cm pallet plank would be about half way up the width of the middle plank when it (the 120cm plank) was standing on the edge of the 'hen/pigeon preventer' plank. The next three retaining rails were screwed to the inner faces of the corner posts at the same vertical heights.

In addition, diagonal braces were screwed to the inside of the corner posts to stiffen the structure further. A horizontal brace in the form of an 'X' was screwed to the top of the corner posts. This skeleton structure became very rigid with the addition of the 'X' brace.

For the front elevation I made a narrow panel the full height of the cabin from three 190cm long pallet planks. The door was made to fit the space left between this panel and the corner post.

The roof on the first design of cabin was a simple rectangular frame, larger than the footprint of the cabin, to which were nailed broad laths. A heavy-duty tarpaulin was secured to the outside of the frame.

The corner posts on one side elevation were reduced in height by about 25mm so that the roof had a pitch when it was put into place,

Subsequent cabins have had a double-pitched roof requiring the construction of two triangular panels which fit onto the top of the front and rear elevation. Two rectangular panels again with laths nailed to them are attached to the sloping faces and again a heavy duty tarpaulin fitted.

Assembly of the cabin.

Once erected in the workshop and everything checked for squareness the cabin was dismantled for moving into the garden. The frames for the sidewalls were left attached to the corner posts, the position of each plank for the rear wall frame was marked with its' location prior to unscrewing from the corner posts. Hence, there were two frames for the side walls each frame had two corner posts.

The whole cabin could then be moved outside to the prepared foundation of small stone chippings tamped down so as to feel firm underfoot. Obviously, I checked this to be not only flat but also level. 

Portable toilet anyone? Loading up at a Garden Open Day in Normandie

As long as the position for each component is clearly marked, assembly is a breeze, I know this as we have shown this homemade system at several exhibitions in the Region. On one memorable occasion, we displayed the whole system at two exhibitions in two towns in two days!

So now, if you'd like to, sit back and watch the film.



Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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How to compost urine using a straw bale. Dry toilets for all climates.

The Piddleposter

 

A great way to process dry toilet liquid for around 6 euros or 5 dollars worth of materials. 

Whether you're a homesteader/smallholder looking to cut your water consumption or someone who just wants not to have to take off muddy boots when needing to use the bathroom.....

 
...even though the cows may have something to say about you pinching their bedding.

Introduction

 

A few months ago I received a question regarding the practicality of using a dry toilet in a really cold climate.

My thoughts on this are as follows:

The solid waste from our two-bucket dry toilet system would still go into the composter, I would advise the use of larger amounts of straw to act as an insulator as well as furnishing the carbon necessary for the bacteria to work. Even if the temperatures are very low, as soon as Spring temperatures arrive, the composting process would speed up and I would expect after the passage of two years for the compost bin contents to be completely transformed. I would have said that if one already has a climate able to compost vegetable matter/ garden waste then there will be no problem with that of the toilet contents. 
 

 

The liquid waste would probably be harder to dispose. Ordinarily, our urine is diluted with grey water from the house and then poured around the garden. When the temperatures are below zero I do see a problem with the frozen ground being unable to absorb this. Fortunately for us the cold spells do not last too long and normally the soil in the more protected areas of the garden are still porous.

I realise that for people living with longer, colder Winters the liquid waste would become a burden. So, my idea is to make a composter specifically for handling “neat” urine and capable of producing a valuable compost at the end of its processing.

The straw bale composter

Human urine is 95% water the rest is a rich mixture of chemicals the largest proportion being nitrogen. To make good garden compost you need a Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of about 30:1 and so the almost total carbon content of straw makes it an ideal companion in the compost bin.

This is an idea becoming more commonly seen at outside public events as no drainage for the liquid is required. The toilet can comprise of an enclosure with a seat if needed and an appropriately placed straw bale to receive the liquid direct from source.

French designers Faltazi have come up with an easily attached folded polypropylene or stainless steel 'funnel' so as to produce an ecological pissoire. The funnels are pushed into the sides of a straw bale at the appropriate height for men. http://uritonnoir.faltazi.com/en/

My experiment was to make a suitable container for a straw bale and empty the liquid waste from its receptacle onto it every day and see what happens to the urine and the straw.

The Design.

Obviously the compost bin has to fit around a straw bale. The standard bales in Europe are now huge cylinders and are designed to be mechanically lifted and dispersed throughout the farmer's barns. 

The organic farm where we buy our grain for our birds has these same sized home-grown organic straw bales and he uses one each morning and night for the bedding of his 50 head Normandy herd. 

Even so he has other livestock areas where he only uses part-bales. If we give the farmer 24 hours notice he can take a part-bale and re-roll it to a more manageable size. This is so it will fit into the rear of our estate car/station wagon, even then it is still quite a push to manhandle it into place. For 5 euros or 6 dollars we got this bale with enough left over in the deal to keep the Hen Houses supplied for several months. So for a small initial sum you can end up with some great and truly organic compost! You will probably have an organic farmers' register for your area, so check out the dairy or other livestock farms and see what they have on offer. Mixed arable farms will also have straw and again I would always go for a certified organic farm, where you can be assured of them not using chemical sprays and/or synthetic fertilisers.

These bales when laid on their sides in fields will shed rainwater for some considerable time, a desirable feature for the farmer but not for the urine composter hence, the bale has to stand on its end to expose the more porous part of the bale uppermost when in the composter.

 










The link for the design and construction of the compost bin on the left can be found here:
Pallet wood compost bin 


If you've seen my other compost bin design you will know of my sliding wall plank system that I developed to ensure easy access for emptying and the facility to exchange rotten planks with new ones. For the new bin I opted for only the front elevation to be of the sliding plank format, the other three walls were to be pre-made in the workshop. This would still mean that the wall panels would be easy enough to carry into the garden for assembly on site.

The cylindrical straw bale has a height of 120cm. Perfect for my needs as the standard pallet plank is exactly this length.

A waterproof lid fits on top of the container to ensure weather protection.

Fabrication

The three pre-constructed walls were made by nailing pallet planks to top and bottom horizontal rails. The wooden rails of each wall were longer than the wall width. This protruding portion fitted over or under the other walls' rail, a clearance hole was drilled through the two rails and a threaded bar was inserted. Nuts on the threaded bar were tightened once the walls were in position. 
 

On the front elevation of each side wall was a vertical post running from top to bottom to which the spacer rails were screwed and onto these were screwed the retaining rails. The resultant gap between the post and the retaining rail had to be enough to allow the wall planks to pass.

One important point is that the upper rails of the side walls projected beyond the rear wall of the composter, this to provide the pivot point for the lid.

Here is the step-by-step film showing the construction:

All the best and thanks for dropping by. Feel free to comment ask for information and/or share this article.

Cheers, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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