Let's dig a really big hole

Everything is coming together nicely now.  With the launch date set for midnight, I now have time to concentrate on where we are going to live.  Like many great adventures, this one will have a very humble beginning.  A very large hole in the ground…

Cutting away the concrete floor around our exploratory hole

Before we could build anything in the loft, we had to dig the compulsory wine cellar.  It’s simple logistics.  We started with a small 4’ x 4’ exploratory hole to find out what was lurking beneath us.  Much to our surprise, just 60 year old dirt.  Good, hard-packed dirt at that.  Good news for us.  We then cut away the floor to bring our dimensions to the full 9’ x 12’ and started digging.  Lot’s of digging.

Getting close to our final depth of 8 feet and sizing our rebar... and yes, that is a toilet... it will be moved.

Add a 45 mil flexible liner and final rebar, then pour the floor

The finished product!

Add some rebar, and several yards of concrete, and voilà!  This is as far as it will go for now.  We will run pneumatics for the trap door, electrical, and venting for cooling and call it a day.  This will be framed over so we can begin construction on the loft and I will revisit it at a later time.

Launching New Years Eve!

Snapshot of the BigDNYE fireworks from my building last year

After careful consideration, I have decided that Studio #217 will launch at exactly 12:00 am on January 1st, 2013.  There will of course be a party, a toast on the rooftop at midnight, and a very expensive fireworks display (compliments of the City of Dallas and American Airlines Center).  As many of you know, the studio has a court-side seat to BigDNYE (keep in mind that countdown clock is now Studio #217’s launch timer).

Building new window coverings for the studio

It gives me time to concentrate on building out the studio, acquire new materials, and build a portfolio. And just as important, it will give me enough time to complete the loft.

Down on the Floor

Quick trip to the local architectural salvage place this week landed me some new flooring for the loft!  Reclaimed from a farm in West Texas that was built in 1901, this old growth pine was milled from 3”x12” barn wood.

3,000 square feet of quarter sawn old-growth pine flooring for the loft

The flooring is quarter sawn into 9” planks which means I will have some really exciting grain patterns and uneven staining throughout.  I can’t wait to get enough time to test a few pieces and get a feel for how it will look once it’s laid down.

Now if we can just get around to building the loft...

About that Jointer…

Just have to figure out how to pick the thing up.

We took delivery this week of the one of the final big pieces of woodworking equipment in the studio, a massive 16” Jointer from my friends at Laguna.  It’s a beautiful tool, with plenty of horsepower and surface area to handle some of the larger material I plan on using.  Only one problem…  when I designed the original shop layout, I used the shipping dimensions for the machine… As it turns out, a 16” Jointer requires an additional 18 inches of extra space behind it once you assemble the fence.  Who knew?

Notice the fence is pulled all the way forward.

Undeterred (which is code for I have no other place to put the thing and had already dropped power to it) we simply punched a hole in the wall.  Actually worked out pretty well...

Get this trimmed up and it will look like we designed it that way.

We will get this trimmed up and it will look like we designed it that way.

Yes, it is that large...

Then Mr. Bill went all Vanna White and spoiled the moment...

Our New Band Saw

Our new Band Saw

If you are new to the blog, then you need to keep reading to appreciate the fact that we have been staring at our new band saw for over a month without being able to power it up because of the lack of electricity in the studio.  Oncor finally made it out Thursday morning to install our new meter. The electricians started putting fuses and breakers in within an hour. So it should be no surprise that while the HVAC guys were on the roof setting up the air conditioning for the studio, we had already begun playing with our new band saw!

The final adjustments before Oncor energized the studio!

One of these goes to the band saw... we're not sure which one...

Like any new toy, the first thing you have to do when you get a new band saw is to see how thin you can slice veneer.

Showing off my band saw skills to Chelsea and the kids

I like this new saw...

100° F = 100 Degrees of Fun!

It’s been hot… really hot.  The average temperature in the studio has been hovering around 100° F, and it’s just getting hotter outside…  We have been working diligently to get the HVAC installed over the last several weeks and finally got our 3-phase power enabled yesterday!  It is an entirely different world in the studio now.  No more stifling heat, no more noisy industrial fans, we can actually hear Amos Lee now, and we don’t feel like we are going to pass out from heat exhaustion.

What an adventure this has been.  It all started when we designed the exposed duct work to run WITHIN the trusses instead of underneath.  This meant we had to make some structural modifications to the steel work in the building, but the aesthetics and functionality make it worth the effort.

18 inch duct doesn't fit through the steel...

As you can see, the 18 inch ducting doesn’t quite fit within the trusses, so we knew we would have to reconfigure the structural supports.  Just to be safe, we reinforced the joists with some simple framing while the work was being done.

A few temporary supports (just in case)

With the supports in place, we began moving steel around to accommodate the duct work.  This involved a lot of cutting.  Once the ductwork is in place and the inspection complete, we plan on coming back and re-bracing the trusses and removing the temporary framing.

Lot's of cutting!

New runs for the duct work

A straight shot down the hallway of the loft

With the duct work being configured inside, we waited patiently for a window in the weather that would allow us to open up 4 foot holes in the roof and get a rather large crane in the dirt alley way behind the warehouse.   On Wednesday morning, we were able to pull the trigger.  The units showed up 30 minutes before the crane was in position and we were ready to go!

New ACs!

Not ideal weather for this kind of operation...

Last unit being lowered into place

A week later the internal duct work was complete, everything was wired up, and a few days afterwards we finally had power to the units.  Now we have 16 tons of HVAC and life is wonderful once again!

The final duct work

Our New CNC Machine

With the studio coming together nicely, we went ahead and asked Laguna to ship the new CNC machine last week.  At 14 feet long and weighing a couple of tons, it was quite an adventure squeezing it through our loading bays and rolling it around the studio floor.  The process began when Steve called us from Laguna and sent us this picture of the machine being prepared for transport.

The new CNC at Laguna being prepared for transport

A day and half later, a semi pulled up in front of the studio with the CNC, and 30 minutes later, our rigging company pulled up their semi with a 35,000 pound capacity Versa-Lift.

One very LARGE lift

Knowing the CNC was wider than the loading bay, we had come up with a few strategies for getting it into the studio. Among these was a 9 foot shelf on which to lift the machine like it was being presented on a platter (my favorite) and a boom arm with rigging from which to hang the machine and swing it into position.  In the end, we settled on simply lifting it by 2 legs from one end and driving it into the loading dock.

In the end... the simplest approach is often the best

Tight squeeze

Just about the time our blood pressure started to drop to normal...

This is a real testament to how rigid Laguna makes these units.  At 14 feet long, the frame didn’t even budge.  Once in the warehouse, we found it surprisingly easy to roll the unit around the floor on 40,000 pound industrial skates until we got it in its final position.  Now, Chelsea is waiting patiently for us to get our 3-phase power issue straightened out so we can power it up!

Chelsea waiting patiently for 3-phase power...