Resurrection of a CFEI 100 KVA Induction Furnace

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AdeV:

--- Quote from: awemawson on November 11, 2020, 12:16:55 PM ---potential for a disaster (there is an 11,000 volt three phase line not very far behind the workshop on this side) :bugeye:

--- End quote ---

Hmmm - where you see potential disaster, I see potential opportunity :lol: :zap: :zap: :zap:

awemawson:
Ade, I'm ahead of you. When I'd just applied for a 415v 3 phase connection when we moved here, some yellow coated men came knocking on the door wanting to know who owned the land, as they wanted a way leave to re-cable the 11 kV to 415 transformer and the (at that time) bare overhead 415 v 3P cables.

Having just been quoted £7,500 to string a wire from that very transformer to my barn to give me 3 phase in the workshop, I assured them that the land owner would, I was certain, grant a way leave if he got his feed installed F.O.C. And that's how I got a 160 amp per phase 415 volt three phase supply in the workshop :clap:

vtsteam:
Is it feasible to staple the tarp at it's top edge along a long 2 by 4 (while on the ground)? Then maybe roll it a couple turns to make sure of the connection. and then clamp that timber at it's ends to the edge of the roof at either end? I really have no idea how wide these roofs are --- also no good mental picture of what the roofs look like/sizes, etc., so forgive the dumb suggestion (if it is).

If that's do-able at all, you could do the same with the bottom edge of the tarp. That might hold it better in the wind. You could add additional clamped cross battens after (not stapled) between for more security.

awemawson:
Steve if you look at the Google Earth picture that I posted above, the main workshop is about 40 foot square and it’s flanking lean too’s are about 40 x 20 from memory, so it’s a substantial area of roof, but only the end with the foundry abutting the welding shop is the problem despite at least one leak coming from the ridge of the main workshop.

Sadly clamping is off the menu as the roof edges at the ends are trimmed by 90 degree L sections of fibre cement with no overhang and of course the lower edges project over the lean too’s with a very small gap that has been foam sealed.

awemawson:
In the continuing exercise to try and waterproof the foundry building I've decided to re-make all the joins and laps in the roof using a re-enforcing mesh fibreglass tape. Using the same Cromopol compound that has fibres mixed in, the idea is to paint a layer on, embed the mesh, then put another layer on top. Two rolls of 150 mm wide mesh on order, and scaffold boards hoisted ready this morning onto the roof for when it arrives.

Meanwhile I've turned my attention to the roller shutter door. I know that rain has been penetrating under it. Unfortunately the concrete floor slab slopes marginally the wrong way INTO the building at one corner (remember this was laid as a yard not a floor!) resulting in the rubber base seal of the shutter having a harder job to do. To counter this I had hand laid a cement raised kerb for the shutter to close onto, but even so the seal wasn't very good.

I noticed that the rubber of the seal had gone hard over the years, and it's single 'lip' in places had folded under and taken on a 'set' not to return. So this morning a replacement arrived - this time with multiple lips and of course softer rubber.

It just clips on to the 75 mm wide bottom bar of the shutter so I fitted it this morning. It still fails the 'hose test' playing a garden hose onto the shutter but this is pretty severe and it is still sealing to an imperfect threshold.

It's my intention to remove the hand laid kerb with a Kango back to base concrete, and mould a dead horizontal but somewhat wider one (maybe 10 inches) whose top will slope outwards maybe by an inch, and when this is fully set, hand form shallow ramps inside and out from sharp sand and cement so that wheeled 'things' can still move around. This will form a smooth surface for the shutter seal and make any rain that penetrates flow back outside. All a bit of a fag, but it should work.

One issue is that water hitting the shutter currently is entering the top of the seal where it grips the 75 mm bar, and flowing along inside the seal and out at the ends, but I think that this can be solved by using a brush full of the roofing gunge at the metal / seal joint.

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