Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Rube Goldberg Lives!

Just a couple of things to share today.  The first is just a couple of pictures to show an inexpensive way to create holders to keep the "glued" tubes aligned while the caulk cures.  It is important to keep them as straight and still as possible during this time, and the more of these holders you have, obviously the more tubes you can assemble at once.


This holder is made of a heavy cardboard tube (I think it used to hold upholstry material) which I cut in half on the bandsaw.

A "foot" was then glued on using hot-melt glue (indispensable stuff). This foot keeps the whole thing from rolling over

This shot shows the tube curing in the holder with a small amount of weight on top to keep the joints seated.

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The first three completed tubes resting in a custom storage box - again just to keep them from any unnecessary damage until time to install them in the frame.


Now for the teased "Rube Goldberg" part of the show.  At some point in the last couple days I began to wonder what I might have around in the way of a turntable that would rotate the cans for me so that I could use both hands to hold the caulk gun (remember the grip thing?) as the caulk is applied.

Erector set motor?  Clockworks mechanism? Then in a blinding flash it came to me - the electric golf cart I brought home from my dad's collection of treasures.  I had brought it in to the shop recently with the intention of seeing if it worked, and if it might somehow be converted into something for the grands to "ride".

 It not only was still operational, but it has a variable speed control that is very useful in this application - one which I'm sure the manufacturer never envisioned!

It is shown here on its side, clamped in the vise, and yet another shop-made can holder temporarily hot-glue tacked to one wheel.

You can see the round tapered wheel glued to the 2x6 platform.  Atop this is glued a vertical support that has a small taper at the top that holds the can steady
 This shows how the can sits during the caulking operation.


A little better view.

















The video shows how the whole thing works.  It allows me to hold the caulk gun much steadier and produce a much better bead of caulk. 

I have found that making up sets of 2 or 3 caulked cans, letting the sets cure overnight, and then assembling the sets into the required column length is much more manageable for me than trying to do the whole column at once.  You may find another process works better for you.

Thanks for looking!

1 comment:

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