Took the first step towards building my shop

[Frank S]

Today was dig haul spread pack dig haul spread and pack some more
the process is agonizingly slow but it beats having to do it with a wheel barrow and a shovel
started out with little to no stockpile excavated then hauled about 35 buckets full
dug and hauled another 15 or possibly 20

[Frank S]

A 20 ft container arrived Monday morning One good thing was Bob's day contract had been called due to mud so he got here about 9:30 then the driver showed up around 10 Am. We took him to town to take advantage of the wide flat area un chained the little tractor on the back of his trailer and backed it away from the container then undid the locks holding the container down I used my toe jack to lift the container and place our slide shoes under each corner then Bobe backed his trailer up tot eh side and T boned the drivers trailer with a block of wood between them we winched the container side ways as Bob moved his traler a few inches away from the drivers trailer then I had the driver slowly back up while Bob winched as soon as the container was off of the drivers trailer bob pulled away we moved the little tractor to the front of the trailer chained it down signed paper work and we were ready to take the container to put it on the ground we letf the driver there to finish out his 30 minute break. The driver said he has had containers loaded and unloaded 1000s of times with cranes and large forklifts but never had he seen it done the way we did it and almost never as fast as we unloaded him said once he delivered to a job site and had to wait 3 days for a crane to unload him and there was a rig similar to Bob's sitting there had he known it was that easy he would have hired that driver to unload him.
I told him it only looked easy because we had those slide shoes and the toe jack to put them under the container otherwise we might have damaged his aluminum trailer. He said he hadn't thought about that.
By 10:45 the container was on the ground located in its final resting place





Now that that is done and I have made the end trusses for the lean-to it is time to get some work done

[Crusty]

Yup. Ya gotta live in the Lone Star a while to understand what a scarce and precious commodity water is over much of the state. Don't have to worry much about getting below the frost line either. That ought to provide a robust anchor for an equally robust hoist.

[Frank S]

Yup. Ya gotta live in the Lone Star a while to understand what a scarce and precious commodity water is over much of the state. Don't have to worry much about getting below the frost line either. That ought to provide a robust anchor for an equally robust hoist.

A lot of us out where I am at use a Lone Star beer bottle cap as our rain gauge sometimes takes 2 or 3 rains to fill it
other times I've seen it fill a 3 lb coffee can in an hour or at least before it stops raining.
Other times it will be raining sideways so hard a few miles away that you get drenched with clear sky overhead

[Frank S]

From now on it will be piece meal for the roof the longest sheets I have left are under 25 feet long This would be just about right as the old building I tore down was 68 feet by 120 feet a large part of the roof had caved in due to Ice and snow there was only about 100 feet of one side that the sheet metal was not bent up due to the collapse of the roof I have used 22 sheets on the north side and 9 on the south so that would just about account for the full length sheets I had.
I managed to get 2 sheets down to make a full length run and 2 more for a partial before the cold front started to come in kicking the wind up to some 25 MPH gusts maybe the wind will be more favorable tomorrow.

[Frank S]

More fill and some sheet metal on the West end



As long as the shop is nothing more than a roof over head there is not a lot of need for lighting during the day even once the walls and doors are in place if I were to install some sky light panels most of the time artificial lighting would not be required for most things. except on cloudy and rainy days when there will be limited light from the sun.
However the lack of lighting means daylight hours only and most of the time this is just fine but for those times when something has to go out the next day and it is already sundown.

So I bought a couple of 100 watt ultra thin UFO high bay LED lights to see how much light I can expect to have given that I place 4 or 5 on each of the 3 center trusses about 10 feet apart I could go with fewer larger lights but the fewer the number and the brighter the lights the deeper the shadows are more fixtures affords a better overlap which helps to reduce or eliminate shadowing this is what a single 100watt fixture does

No flash taken 50 feet in front of the shop

No flash taken from the S.W. corner of the shop

no flash looking up at the roof

I think I will eventually have 12 to 15 of these in this section of the shop and 6 in the second section
2100 watts total of lighting in the 6000 square footage of the eventual size of the shop will use less electricity than the lighting I had in my old 6000 sq ft. shop and have twice the illumination I had 15 of the 500 watt halogen and mercury lamps in that shop the energy consumption was around 7.5 KW and only produced around 105,000 lumens of useable light
These things cost about the same as just the bulbs of the other kind of lights plus put out nearly 1.8 times as much light per unit @ only 100 watts power consumption per disk. Additionally I will probably set them up so I have 3 to 6 zones so will only have the lights on that are needed
All calculations are approximated

[suther51]

Frank S, I have been thinking to look at this thread to see what model your ford backhoe is. I just noticed that it is a 755. A freind of mine just bought a 1970's 555 (e?). He is planning on using it for a business he is planning to start delivering amish built sheds. When he explained his intent (using front bucket mounted forks) I advised him that it most likely was not the machine for the task as all the weight would be at the tip of the forks, what ever length he may get. That puts the weight a long way from the front wheels, not to mention the visibility issues of setting a shed on a trailer. I would be interested in any input you may have. The only way that i can imagine this machine working would be for him to use the dolly wheels that are used with the Mule shed moving machines and used the backhoe like a overgrown Mule. https://cardinalmanufacturing.com/
Thanks, with your experience I hope you have some advice.
Eric

[Frank S]

Frank S, I have been thinking to look at this thread to see what model your ford backhoe is. I just noticed that it is a 755. A freind of mine just bought a 1970's 555 (e?). He is planning on using it for a business he is planning to start delivering amish built sheds. When he explained his intent (using front bucket mounted forks) I advised him that it most likely was not the machine for the task as all the weight would be at the tip of the forks, what ever length he may get. That puts the weight a long way from the front wheels, not to mention the visibility issues of setting a shed on a trailer. I would be interested in any input you may have. The only way that i can imagine this machine working would be for him to use the dolly wheels that are used with the Mule shed moving machines and used the backhoe like a overgrown Mule. https://cardinalmanufacturing.com/
Thanks, with your experience I hope you have some advice.
Eric

That was my whole reason for doing away with the bucket and fabricating a fork carriage enabling me to use standard forklift forks.
Also without the bucket I have a better visual perspective of what I am carrying or lifting.
Even at that the loaders on back hoes do not make the best forklifts.
Mine is the 755B with some C model up grades with an operating weight of around 18,000 lbs. Even with that much operating weight and most of it on the rear tires I find that if I am not careful I can lift enough to bring 1 rear tire off the ground so I extend the hoe and swing it if need be to counteract the weight on the front.
I have 1100-16 12 ply tires on the steer and carry 80PSI in them and I have seen them mashed nearly flat with the loads I lift even with the 36" hoe bucket full and extended all the way to the rear as far as it will go the tires will look half flat very dodgy to do any maneuvering in that condition.
Your friend's 555 is a lot smaller than the 755 as well. I don't know what it should be able to lift and carry nor do I know much about the Amish sheds you are referring to but if it were me and I had no use for the HOE I would remove the boom assembly and mount an 8000lb class 3 forklift mast in its stead. or look around for a tractor style forklift such as a Wiggins International Case or even Ford
then he would have something like this but the dolly's under one end would be best no matter what

[suther51]

Thanks Frank S,
Your reply seems to reinforce my gut feeling about the situation. I have not spent much time on machines like backhoes with forks. Most if my time is on 8000 lb class forklifts with a smidge of time with a hyster hs200 in the 12,000 lb class range with 7' forks. My friend is new to this kind of endeavor. I try to guide as best as I can but that is only worth so much. I am afraid he will have to gain his own experience, I just hope it is not too much the hard way. I agree on your suggestion of a forklift but he is intent on a more versatile piece of equipment. My experience with bucket forks is on a much smaller scale but disappointing non the less. A fork carriage certainly would be best but i am afraid that will be a tough sell. Time will tell i suppose. Thanks again, too bad those Mules are so expensive.
Eric
Ps, am enjoying your post on your shop build. Thanks for posting

[metric_taper]

I hope your doing OK Frank. I've not seen an update in 11 days.