Today I started the construction of the gantry crane, which is really two gantry cranes that will be used in tandem to lift the boats, one at a time.
Initially I started cutting on the pile of planks, putting two spacers under the plank being cut.
The jig I made last night worked very well and allowed me to make the cuts with ease.
The first two planks were cut like this, but I found that this was a bit too low for comfort and decided to use the work horses instead. The planks would only get lower as each one was cut.
A lot more comfortable.
At the end of the length cutting phase, these are the results:
These will form the four legs, consisting of three pieces, one long and two short.
These are the feet upon which the legs will rest, consisting of three pieces for each foot.
These will be the diagonal braces between the feet and the legs, each brace consists of two pieces, one long, one short and there are two braces per leg.
These are the cross beams at the top of the gantry, two on each gantry.
All of the pieces except the cross beams will be cut lengthwise in half, which will be the next task after a break.
The cutting was easy due to the circular saw jig.
This was the hardest part, getting the metal straps of the ends of the planks. It took as long to do that as it did to cut the planks. And there’s more to come !
Time for a cup of tea.
After a break I started on cutting the timber lengthwise.
An hour later I had a stack of cut timber almost ready for the construction. I say almost as the diagonal braces need the ends cutting to 45º. But I needed another break before I tackled that task.
Time for a cup of tea.
The foot braces were cut on the table saw with the blade set to 45º. Once set up this didn’t take very long to get through both ends of the sixteen pieces of timber.
All sixteen pieces cut.
This is how they will be when fitted. A pretty close fit. Good enough for this project.
Now I am ready for the construction which is tomorrows task.
Time for a(nother) cup of tea.