Hi there.. I live in Santa Cruz and I will be building a 24 foot dome..
can anybody lend me a hydraulic press?
it would cut down on my pressing time soo much!
A drill press would also help..
my email
denizkusef at yahoo dot com.
Hydraulic Press anyone? Bay Area.. How about drill press?
Thoughts on dome building
I have been doing a bit of dome building the last few weeks.
Not quite ready to loan my stuff out (have another whole dome or three to build), but here are some ideas you might find useful:
I used a cheap portable table saw with a cutoff blade to cut the poles. Cutoff blades are about $3 from Home Depot for the 7 1/4" size, and one blade was good for all the cuts for one dome plus the associated rebar.
I bought a 6 ton arbor press from Harbor Freight for $70 (orders over $50 get free shipping, so with tax it was less than $80). Here's the link:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... umber=4711
I have used it to press all the 3/4" & 1" conduit for one 3f 5/8 dome (around 175 pieces with spares). The press has worked great so far is still in good shape, but the press plates are starting to get deformed, so I am now looking for a set of replacement plates. I think these will work:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... umber=6833
even though they are specified for a 12 ton press (the picture for a 12 ton press looks a lot like the 6 ton press except floor standing and probably a bigger bottle jack.
I also bought a 12" drill press (went with Ryobi rather than the Harbor Freight model because Harbor messed up the drill press order and I started to run out of time for a January 10 dome build date, so I picked this one up from Home Depot). It works pretty well, but the one from Harbor looked better for the same $150 price (get the heavy duty table mount).
I used 1 Cobalt 7/16" bit to drill around 300 ends rather than nitride. It worked great until I tried to speed things up too much and dulled the bit. I am now on my second bit and have learned to slow down, use plenty of cutting oil and let the bit do the work. Cobalt bits are about $16 each from a place called Nu Way Tool in Santa Clara; you can probably find a cheaper source.
I then ground & buffed the drill flash away from the holes and rounded and smoothed the tips of the flattened poles so they won't cut anyone easily. I used a Black & Decker table grinder I already had for this part. I have gone through maybe 20% of a fine grit 6" wheel; the buffer wheel is still in pretty good shape. New buffer wheels are about $8 at HD.
My work speed was roughly 10 minutes per pole, based on 1 minute per measure & cut, 1 minute per flatten (x2), 1 minute per hole drilled (x2), 1 minute per end grind/buff (x2), 1 minute to paint, and 2 minutes handling/goofing around. Your mileage may vary <g>.
I am in Santa Clara. If you want to come over and take a look at my setup and share ideas let me know. I could talk domes for awhile. <g>
Not quite ready to loan my stuff out (have another whole dome or three to build), but here are some ideas you might find useful:
I used a cheap portable table saw with a cutoff blade to cut the poles. Cutoff blades are about $3 from Home Depot for the 7 1/4" size, and one blade was good for all the cuts for one dome plus the associated rebar.
I bought a 6 ton arbor press from Harbor Freight for $70 (orders over $50 get free shipping, so with tax it was less than $80). Here's the link:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... umber=4711
I have used it to press all the 3/4" & 1" conduit for one 3f 5/8 dome (around 175 pieces with spares). The press has worked great so far is still in good shape, but the press plates are starting to get deformed, so I am now looking for a set of replacement plates. I think these will work:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... umber=6833
even though they are specified for a 12 ton press (the picture for a 12 ton press looks a lot like the 6 ton press except floor standing and probably a bigger bottle jack.
I also bought a 12" drill press (went with Ryobi rather than the Harbor Freight model because Harbor messed up the drill press order and I started to run out of time for a January 10 dome build date, so I picked this one up from Home Depot). It works pretty well, but the one from Harbor looked better for the same $150 price (get the heavy duty table mount).
I used 1 Cobalt 7/16" bit to drill around 300 ends rather than nitride. It worked great until I tried to speed things up too much and dulled the bit. I am now on my second bit and have learned to slow down, use plenty of cutting oil and let the bit do the work. Cobalt bits are about $16 each from a place called Nu Way Tool in Santa Clara; you can probably find a cheaper source.
I then ground & buffed the drill flash away from the holes and rounded and smoothed the tips of the flattened poles so they won't cut anyone easily. I used a Black & Decker table grinder I already had for this part. I have gone through maybe 20% of a fine grit 6" wheel; the buffer wheel is still in pretty good shape. New buffer wheels are about $8 at HD.
My work speed was roughly 10 minutes per pole, based on 1 minute per measure & cut, 1 minute per flatten (x2), 1 minute per hole drilled (x2), 1 minute per end grind/buff (x2), 1 minute to paint, and 2 minutes handling/goofing around. Your mileage may vary <g>.
I am in Santa Clara. If you want to come over and take a look at my setup and share ideas let me know. I could talk domes for awhile. <g>
"Yes, but is it art?" "No, Art is over there, on the couch."