2012-Spring project

I have an old tube framed tarp covered carport I had to replace. It has seen its better day. I managed to get three years of service out of it, but the wind had tore it to shreds. I started pricing the metal carports. For a 12' x 20'x 9 foot tall with a back and a cheap door they wanted $3300. I decided to go ahead and design and build my own. I started drafting late February and by the end of March I had us complete set of construction drawings and a materials list. Total cost- with the wooden front-double doors is $1600. I decided to use 2.5" x 2.5" square tubing with the wall thickness of .093 for the trusses and the walls. These will be strategically welded to a 3" x 3" square tubing with the wall thickness of .188 , 20 feet long. This 3 inch tubing would be the base that sets on the ground. Because I was doing this by myself I had to build a jig table for fabricating the trusses. To make the job easier, I built a jig square-true 90° that would hold the wall trusses on centerline. It made it a lot easier to clamp the already made wall trusses to the base tube on line, then weld in place. Next, taking all the parts lists, cutting every part I needed to fabricate the framework. Double checking all lenghts and angles and making sure all the parts are there at hand. The weather held out while I was cutting all the structural steel. Using the forklift to handle the structural steel on the saw has to be done outside. This part of the job is bust ass. Now I can move the jig table in the shop and fabricate the wall trusses. Kickback time, take my time, drink my tea listen to my rock 'n roll. Good thing now because the weather really sucks outside. Because this was going to be an all welded joint tubular structure it had to be fabricated level. So I fabricated a large legged angle iron framework as to set the base in and on centerline. Before I know it the framework was done and waiting for the metal sheeting. I chose a 36 inch deep Delta rib 20 foot lengths. This took a little long to do because at that time the wind was an issue. I left the metal sheeting off the bottom on both sides so we could tie to the structure to Drag it in place. Linda got recruited as the navigator. Good teamwork, it went well.