Largely in the workshop

I asked the men to try and finish the replacement workbench in the workshop by the end of tomorrow so that was our main focus today.

Bekir drilling a hole

Halil grinds to size

Dipping into the paint

Bekir separates the first batch

Halil splits up the second batch

First of all, however, they spent some time completing the brackets that will hold the stair guides in place. Bekir drilled, then Halil trimmed to size and took the burrs off and then they moved on to painting. This was accomplished by threading a batch of brackets onto a wire and then dipping it into the paint. Once they had a solid covering they stretched the wire out between two poles (and the handles of a wheelbarrow for the second batch) and separated each bracket from its neighbour. Clever time and labour saving effort that.

Halil drilling holes into the frame

Adding more anchors to the feet

Another load of steel is delivered

Getting the sub frame in place

Halil sets to welding

Final task - the painting

The main part of the day was spent in the workshop as I wanted. First of all they drilled out the holes that will be used to afix the work top to the frame. Then we discussed how we would be setting the shelves underneath, including supporting the machines, and decided to go with more steel so they popped down and bought it cut nearly to size. They then cut and welded each length into place before getting started with the metal paint to ensure it doesn't rust. The end of the day saw the table frame all finished and tomorrow they can focus on shelves and tools and power and getting the room ready for me for the weekend.

Rosie watering her raised bed

I'll leave you with this picture of Rosie watering her raised bed. She's doing so well at this and is loving seeing what is growing.

So there it is. I hope that they do get it all completed tomorrow! Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Still working on the frame

I'm camping out with Rosie tonight so I'm actually starting this update during the late afternoon as I won't have time later to write it all up.

Sweeping up the metal dust

Getting the legs set out

Some kind of laser support

Checking it is level

Welding the legs on

Very proud of the 0.0 perfect

The door goes back on

The men were in on time and spent a bit of time tidying up but then I found them stood around waiting for the wind to dry the dew off the metal legs! I pointed out that they could make a start with the legs inside before they were dry and off they went. Today has been a little slower than I hoped as I don't think they'll be done so I'll be without my workbench again this weekend but they have spent a fair amount of time checking levels and trying to get it all totally perfect. At first the laser was balanced on a jar of milk drink, a level and a section of hardboard, but then I went and got a proper tripod and they finally had a stable base to work from. With the legs the correct length they began welding it all together and this took a long time, however by the end they were very proud of then 0.0 on my new digital level. They had had to remove the door into the workshop to get the frame inside and at lunch time they really struggled to get it rehung.

Drilling the first holes

Hammering the anchors in

Perfectly 90 degrees

And also this way as well

End of the day, looking good

With everything leveled out we had a chat about the next step and decided that we can paint the metal with it fixed in place rather than having to lift it all out again however they needed some different special anchors which could be hammered down through the holes in the anchor plate so they popped to the shop very quickly for these. When they got back they were drilling and hammering and getting everything perfect and by the end of today the frame is absolutely spot on. Sadly it isn't totally finished so I can't use the bench this weekend however we have a good plan for next week including painting the frame, getting the carpet done upstairs, and getting the bench finished including embedded saws and storage shelves underneath.

Angela loads manure into her trolley

The last of the humanure is spread out

Angela had a really productive morning as well. She was out early doing short bursts of shifting sheep manure and spreading it on the raised beds, and then moved to the flower beds. This is great, and we can do another lift maybe next week. This will over years improve the soil no end.

Rosie helping with the poles

Rosie hammers a tent peg in

As I've said I'm camping with Rosie tonight so when she got back from school we put the tent up together. It's been really windy today, and it was quite gusty still as we were doing this, but Rosie helped and we have the tent set now.

So there you are. A good day. Thank you for reading and we'll be back on Monday

Framework

It's been another busy and productive day today and the men have made lots of progress, as well as we have as well.

The men working to remove the old workbench

Taking the final bits down

Halil takes the burrs off

Cutting more lengths at an angle

The frame is starting to come together

Here goes the welding

Grinding and smoothing

Working on the legs

Legs all prepared

The first thing the men got stuck into was taking down the remainder of the workbench including removing the table saw. This didn't take all that long and it was funny to see the room empty again. With this completed (and the thick fog that we had this morning had burned off) they headed outside and finished cutting the lengths to complete the frame and then assembled it into the shape required. They popped out and got some magnetic 90 degrees clamps which really helped as they welded it all into place. It took a fair amount of time to do this as they had to weld both sides and smooth it all down very well. With that completed (and we have checked that this large shape will fit into the room through the door! I hope!) they worked on the legs. This involved cutting them to just larger than needed and then affixing some plates to the bottom of each, with four screw holes drilled in.

Rosie in her awesome dress

Rosie reading her book

The day was a very busy one for Angela as she was now working on preparing the strips of material to attach to Rosie's special princess dress. When Rosie got home from school we all worked together to attach the flowers and finally were able to let Rosie wear it and it looks great. Just now before I came up to write this update Rosie was thrown across my chair reading a book - a view I reckon will become very regular in our house.

So there it is; there is the day. A good one indeed. Thanks for reading.

Changing plans work out

It's a late start for the blog tonight, the reason for this delay will be clear as you read. Let's get to it though. It's been a busy day.

Rosie proudly with her umbrella

It rained all last night and even into this morning so Rosie demanded to have her umbrella while I dropped her at school. It wasn't even raining by that point but she wouldn't hear anything about not having the umbrella.

Bekir and Halil start to shift stuff out of the storage

The deconstruction going apace

Half of the bench has been removed

Shifting the remaining bench across

Because of the rain the men were not able to lay the carpet as they need to stretch it out on the patio to cut it and there were puddles everywhere, even though the sun came out relatively early in the day. This meant that I changed plans for today and asked the men to have a look at re-jigging the workbench in the workshop. I'd found that I had placed the table saw to close to the wall to cut a 2.5m long board, and the boards you buy here are that length, so I wanted them to take down half of the bench and then shift the remaining half into the middle. This was accomplished pretty quickly and we proved we were able to fit the length of lumber in that I was hoping for.

The steel is purchased

Cutting at 45 degree angle

It was when we were discussing exactly where to position the remaining half of the bench that it was noticed just how warped the top had become in a few places, mainly because of a lack of support. We spent quite a long time discussing plans and slowly but surely increasing the amount of work we had to do until we ended up with what we are doing; they headed out and bought a load of metal profile and they will make a fully steel frame, including legs, that we can very securely bolt the work surface onto. They managed to get out and back with the steel in time to make a start on cutting it however then ran out of time. I don't know if this'll be finished tomorrow but I doubt it now. Still it is going to be a huge improvement, much much stronger and longer lasting.

A magic trick completes

The flying table trick

There is a girl inside that box!

There she is, climbing back out

We were in a rush as well as when I dropped Rosie at school I'd seen a poster stuck to a tree by where I park that announced a Magic Show happening this evening in town. We decided to go so we headed out, I stopped to get tickets while Angela and Rosie went on to a place for food and ordered and I caught up with them with the tickets. Rosie saw one of her friends in the park next door which was great, and our food arrived in time for us to eat and then get up and over to the venue for the show. It was great fun, really entertaining, though the other people in the venue didn't stop talking the entire time which I just don't get. Rosie LOVED it and danced and cheered and went to the front to get involved and generally had a great time. It was a good show indeed! And that is why we were late and I'm late getting the blog done.

So there it is; a fun day where changes of plans or last minute decisions really worked out. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.