Shed Designer for iOS and Android

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Stuart

It had to happen some time, (and the sooner the better!) – shed manufacturers are releasing design programs for mobile devices.  So now you can design your shed while in the field, in the train, or anywhere else you have your phone or tablet device, and have a few minutes spare.

Down under, and it is Fair Dinkum sheds who have taken the initiative and have just released an app for the iPhone and iPad, as well as a version for Android (and a web version for Mac and PC for those playing at home (or at work ;) )

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I’ve been playing with the iPad app specifically, which is where the screen shots have come from.  Same functionality for the other versions, just different layouts.

The front screen has a number of pages of information (the green buttons), including info about ShedSafe, bit about the company, links to relevant YouTube videos etc.  On the left side, there is a button to take you through to the shed designer package.

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In this current version of the software, you can design one of the first 4 styles of shed – future updates should include the other two styles, and include additional options for positioning of extensions, lean-tos etc.

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The picture of the shed is not static either – as you’d expect for an iPad (etc) app, a drag of a finger can pan the shed around, get a higher, or lower perspective.

Even for a basic shed, there are huge numbers of variables available, including a wide range of roof pitches, changing the span and length, and colour it all as you like.

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Once you have the shed designed, including options you want (skylights, whirlybirds etc), you can submit to to your local Fair Dinkum dealer for a quote, or “share” it on Facebook, Twitter, Email and SMS.

If your shed has features outside the parameters of the software, the dealers have a more sophisticated version of the package to custom design to your heart’s content.  The app is a more simple interpretation of their full design and engineering software. You get to to control the cosmetic features of the shed, which their design software then uses as the basis of its engineering calculations in order to create fully engineered plans and the quote.

The app is free, so you can download and design your current shed, or your next one.

If you visit their web page, there are links through to the app store of your choice (iOS, Android, or web based version for the computer)

fairdinkum

The software itself has a very consistent look and feel, irrespective of your platform of choice.

fairdinkum2

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Continuing the design process

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Stuart

Working with the Shed A design, I have played around with the proportions, and have come up with a design that increases the floor area from 48m2 to 50.5m2, plus the triangular addition for a total of 55m2 (not counting any mezzanine).  The mezzanine would have its floor at around 3m up, so would only provide storage, not working space.  Even so, that storage area would be another 22m2.  Along with a drop-down stair, it would also need some form of basic hoist to lift machinery up through a trapdoor (presumably nothing over about 50kg). Of course, could go the old school method and have the hoist on the outside at the top-centre, through an upper door, but that would be more trouble than it is worth!

mock

This photoshopped image isn’t to scale, but it gives a bit of an idea, particularly around the back.

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Click on the image to see a larger version.

As far as designs go, this one isn’t too bad to my mind.  The diagonal section runs along the fenceline, the long side on the right runs along the easement.  The easement itself can still be a timber storage, and somewhere to park the trailer.

(For those playing at home, this is the original image that I photoshopped.  I wasn’t aiming for perfection, just a reasonable photo-like result.)

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Stuffed it up!

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Stuart

So there I was, trying to work out the plans for the shed, and things were just not working as well as I expected, and I put it down to the fact the components I was working with on the Grizzly Planner were not to the same size (scaled) as I needed them to be.

But then I tried a major rearrangement, putting the tablesaw down the back of the proposed shed, and couldn’t get it to fit.  Shouldn’t I have a metre clearance?  So I checked my dimensions.  Then checked them again.  And I finally got it.  The shed was drawn completely the wrong size.  The problem with working in feet & inches, is I don’t know what 96″ looks like (or whatever).  It is not intuitive to me, having primarily worked in metric.

So I then redrew the shed to the right size, and then tried placing in the tools.  Everything looked completely wrong – all the tools have just too much room.  How can that be?  Checked.  Double checked.  I think it is right. WHOA!  Awesome!

shedlayout

This wasn’t a serious effort at tool layout – couldn’t get over how much room there was.  This fits all the tools, and still space for more that I hadn’t included in the initial planning from the previous shed.  And there is still the mezzanine :)

Some really interesting progress on the shed front – hope to have an update around the end of the week (or there abouts).

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Pack Progress

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Stuart

So the pack is progressing, even in the shed now.  It isn’t just a matter of throwing everything into boxes (although that would be much easier!) and sorting it out at the other end (that wouldn’t be fun), because like any move, some boxes just don’t get opened again for a long time, until there is something inside that is specifically needed.

Each box is being sorted by category, based on the tool they are for: drill press, Festool, Vac Clamp, spindle sander, clamps etc.  Everything for that tool then ends up in the same box.  Some can be packed and sealed straight away, some are for items scattered all over the shed (deliberately, or otherwise), so they get left open so additional items can be added as they are found.

I’ve gone from having 8 boxes complete, then 16, to having around 40 boxes now packed.  Finally looks like some progress is happening out there!

Along with boxes, I’ve been considering whether there is a benefit to palletising some of the items.  Of course that’d mean hiring a pallet truck, and critically, dealing with a restriction on the path that has a maximum width of 980mm.  Pallets in Australia are generally wider than that, so I’d have to use the Euro pallets, and pallet truck.  Unfortunately, the hire place I rang didn’t even know there were 2 types of pallet truck.

The other problem is the total weight – not for the pallet truck (which typically can lift 2500kg), but to not exceed the load capacity of the truck’s lifting capacity.   The other part of the debate, is whether it is worth the hassle of hiring a pallet truck etc.  Most of my machines are already on mobile bases.  The only two that are not, are the DVR lathe (135kg) and the bandsaw (121kg).  Thinking it is probably good that I managed to get the thicknesser onto a mobile base when I first bought it home (260kg), which would be the heaviest machine I have, followed by the tablesaw (220kg).

Machine weights etc may all seem a bit irrelevant, but as I am getting into the logistics of the move, this is all becoming important.  I have a pallet full of tassie oak, which on it’s own weights about 1080kg!  Might have to split that one between 2 or 3 separate pallets so that it is manageable.

Now I just want to move, get over and past this current stage.  It is a negative phase – the devolving of a working workshop into boxes.  Going from a functional to non-functional condition.

I was thinking while packing (there is a lot of time to think, funnily enough), that you can not move a man’s shed (or a girl’s, for those who have similar pursuits).  A shed ends when it is packed.  It cannot be relocated.  A new shed is then created at the new location, even if it is using the same components as the previous location.

This isn’t the first ‘relocation’ of the shed, although it is the first new address :)

The shed started in a 3m x 3m shed, that fitted a tablesaw, router table (both Triton), and a lathe.  It then expanded by becoming a 6m x 3m, with the 3m x 3m remaining as storage.  Next, that shed collapsed to the middle, and the walls ‘pushed’ out to form the current 8m x 4m structure (and still with the 3m x 3m storage).  So this is, in a way, relocation number 4, and by FAR, the largest!

Very difficult to estimate, but I’d guess a conservative figure of 3.5 tonnes of tools, machines and timber.

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It has begun!

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Stuart

After two solid weeks of painting, cleaning, rubbish clearing etc, I got into the shed on the final day before returning to work (on Sunday) to begin the great pack.

8 boxes later, and you could not see any difference at all.  So on Tuesday night, I tried again and got another 8 boxes packed, and still – hard to see where it all has come from – just an inkling in one corner that something might be happening.

This is going to be an “interesting” experience.

I had a removalist company out to quote on moving the house and shed contents, and the price came in at  (drumroll please), $6200. So that put paid to that idea.  I would rather put $6k into the construction of the new shed (that’d get the electricals well sorted and then some, or pay for much of the slab etc etc).  For that sort of money, I could buy a really good trailer ($2k), and a pallet truck ($400) and still have heaps left over.  If I had that sort of loose change, I could get a pretty awesome setup of Festool!

So onto plan B.  Doing it ourselves.  It may be hard work, but I will be able to remind myself at every step that this effort is saving us a significant penny.

The shed pack will take a bit to get through the place, but with regular trips out there, it should move on at a pretty steady pace.  Now that I know I will be moving the contents, I can adjust my perception on how I am packing as well – more things can just be dealt with at the time rather than having to ensure that it is well packed 100% before the move date.

Still, I think there will be a bit of a shortage of storage boxes in the world by the time I’ve finished!

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A New Tab

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Stuart

At the top of the website, you will see a new tab has appeared – Shed Build. (It may take a little bit for it to appear – the site is quite heavily cached it seems!  Even mine is appearing and disappearing – idiosyncrasies of the web!)

I will use this to capture some of the specifics of the shed design and construction.  New content will still appear here as new blog entries, and then summarised and refined under that tab for prosperity.

So to start, I wanted to look at some of the lessons learned from the existing shed.

With the decommissioning of the current shed in approximately 30 days (a month seems so much shorter when you realise how many, or rather how few days there are, especially if you only count weekends!), I am going to document the process involved in setting up the new shed, at the new location.

The existing 8×4 shed was a great improvement when we built it, but it has been well and truly outgrown  in the past couple of years.  It was as large as I could justify on the existing block at the time.

Looking back through the website, I didn’t realise how long the existing shed had been around – time sure flies! (Built April 2008)

So what lessons have I learned from the existing one, that needs to be incorporated into the new design?

Size:

The current shed is 8m x 4m, with a 2.1m high ceiling (to the lower beams).  Shed width is a critical factor – not just the square metreage. 4m is ok, but 6m would be more desirable.  This allows machines to line the walls (those that suit that location), and still provide plenty of room between them for work, manipulation of stock etc.

Length then is as much as possible for maximum area – the more wall space the better too – I ran out a way back!

Height – 2m is a minimum, but I found I was regularly banging stock into the beams.  2.4 – 3m would have been better (as in total clearance).

Door:

The doors on this shed were a good size – about 2m across (when both were opened).  It would have been better if I hadn’t had to block one of the two for the bandsaw, and would have been preferable if I hadn’t had to consider out and through the doors as space for some of the tools outfeed!

Security:

She’s solid – no doubt about that, and with society as it is, nice to know things are locked away.  However, one point is lighting, which is the next category.

Lighting:

I ran 10x double fluorescent tubes in the workshop, and as there were no external windows or skylights, this was the only source.  These have been good, but more would have been better.  Daylight for example!  With the new shed going to be directly opposite the house, having some windows would be ideal, and the ability to open part of the side of the shed (roller door).  There is a limit of course – the more windows and doors, the less wall space.

Power:

I struggled along for quite a while with power being provided to the shed via an extension cord, but things really improved once I had a decent amount of power bought directly in.

2x 15A, plus 3x 10A circuits.  I made the mistake of using the ready-wired plugs from Bunnings for the 10A supply (wired into the supply by the electrician).  These had their own circuit breaker on each line that was forever tripping.  Running too much on the same circuit, and some being machines that needed the full 10A when under high load.  The circuit breakers on the GPOs tripped at 10A at best, if not before  Normally, circuit breakers do allow some overcurrent before tripping, but these seem to be right on the limit.

You can never have too much power.

Temperature control:

It was always either way too hot, or way too cold out there.  Insulation (and installed during construction) is mandatory!  Additional temperature control in the form of air con or heating would be a definite added bonus.  I tried a gas heater, but that posed a number of problems.  For cooling, I didn’t want to use evaporative – too much cast iron and too much timber to want to change the workshop moisture levels.  When I did give in, it was very ineffective (portable units don’t cut the mustard).  One way or the other, if it is not a comfortable environment, you can loose so much shed time by not wanting to be out there.  Shed time can be hard to come by, and you can’t afford to throw it away because the weather is too hot, or cold!

So that is a first pass – I’m sure there is much more that I can glean from the existing shed to build into the new design.

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Shed Move Part B

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Stuart

The second part of any move is of course the landing at the new location.  Fortunately, this move isn’t a great distance as far as the crow flies, so trips back and forth are not so much the issue.  There is a 6×6 garage at the new place, and although there will be multiple demands on this space, at least the tools will have somewhere to sit out of the rain!

However, that does not solve the biggest problem: the 3mx3m shed may have been big enough when I first started, but certainly isn’t now! (And a 3×3 wasn’t big enough then, but I still managed to have a Triton workbench, router table and GMC lathe all in the same space, and functional.  Guess I have never had enough floor area to be comfortable!)

Where it gets interesting, is where I want to put a new workshop.  The block is triangular, and in the photo, there is an easement along the top fenceline.

houseSo the existing shed is 3×3 as I mentioned, and the round shape in the middle at the top is the previous owner’s 15′ trampoline.

The challenge would be to come up with a shed design that suits the back corner, presumably backing up to and against the existing shed.  Not the ideal, but then the ideal would have been a 10 acre property with sheds galore.  This is what I have, and need to work out how to make it work.

The existing shed is 32m2, with a 9m2 shed containing overflow, extra timber storage and the air compressor and 2HP dust extractor.  That is the starting point, and obviously more space than I have currently would be rather useful, given how tight the existing shed has become!

I’m also curious to see if any shed manufacturer is interested in the challenge, especially with the shed being such a feature in every project.  Whatever happens, the development of a plan, and the realisation of that design will definitely be of interest to quite a few readers, myself included for obvious reasons!  Could easily get into ManSpace magazine as well, if the deal was good!

So here is where we start – a satellite view of a relatively empty block behind the house, and a small shed.  Let us see where this journey leads.

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Shed Move Part A

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Stuart

I’m still in denial about the whole shed move.  It is bigger than Ben Hur.  Not only the dismantling and packing (that is relatively straightforward), but the two issues I really see are the moving of the large machines (simply getting them from the shed to the front of the house is a mission), and what happens at the other end (Part B!)

The rest of the shed pack is a matter of keeping things organised.  Dismantling the dust extraction system etc is all easy enough (go the power screwdrivers/ Festool CXS!), but even books do not pack neatly into a few boxes, so I can’t begin to imagine how many boxes the shed will take (and just how much out there won’t fit a standard box!).

I also have the plan (desire) to keep the shed functional until the last minute – something about keeping a certain website running :)

Anyone been through a significant shed move before?  How did you manage the process, or was it a matter of chaos in, chaos out?

As someone recently suggested, I am expecting to discover some tools that I have forgotten I had, timbers I have lost track of, items I have been needing and not been able to find, and all the other mysteries of shed life, and those shed gremlins and their hiding spots.  No doubt the shed gremlins will also be hard at work during the establishment of the new shed, and some things will struggle to make a reappearance at the other end.

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Storage Wars

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Stuart

It is proving a very busy end to a very busy year.  Turns out, preparing to move involves a lot of work (not unexpectedly).  Sorry if I’ve been a bit quiet here – been packing.

We’ve been moving things as they are packed into a storage unit (and thus the title of the post for those unfamiliar with the A&E channel on Foxtel).  Like a shed, just neater (and more costly per square metre in the long term).

In the meantime, I have also been planning the layout of the new house – scale drawings, and it is really looking like my original concept of using the double garage as a shed for a while until I sort the shed out, is not going to be the most practical option.  Based on that, I will need to solve the shed (or lack thereof) issue as quickly as possible.  It will definitely be interesting to then layout a new shed, and I’d love to get right into it, but at this stage I don’t even know what shape, or area the shed will have.  That may sound strange – sheds are normally rectangular, rectangular or….rectangular (yes, some are square, but that is a subset of rectangular).  The area on the new block where the shed will go is triangular, so either the shed will mimic the block shape, or will be made up of a combination of increasing sizes of rectangular sheds joined together.  Definitely will be talking to some suppliers to see what may be possible.

I finally found a few minutes to open the boxes of Nova accessories that arrived just before Xmas – a grinder that attaches to (and is powered by) the Nova Comet II lathe, and a Titan chuck.  The grinder attachment is pretty cool, whereas the Titan is simply awesome.  It makes the PowerJaws look, well, like the 50mm jaws that come with other chucks!

We’ll be having a look at that shortly, as well as a dado blade from Amana Tool / Toolstoday.com

Busy start of 2013 coming, but I will be endeavouring (as in not promising!) to get back to the ideal of a post/day.  Need some more videos as well!

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Stu’s Shed is moving!

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Stuart

Sorry about the delay in posts in the last couple of days, but I’ve been a bit distracted.

Just to add to workloads, early in the new year we are relocating (confirmed today), and Stu’s Shed will be relocating at the same time.  Just what I need: more work!  What this will mean for the physical shed is a bit unknown – at the moment the new property has a 3mx3m, and I just don’t see downsizing from 41m2 to 9m2 is a viable option!  So the 36m2 double garage will have to do until a new shed can be built.

There will be some good out of all this I’m sure.  I will be aiming for the new shed to be closer to 60m2, and with greater head height than current.  A lot of the ideas over the years can be built in – better dust extraction concepts, better layouts (in general, and also for filming), better storage.

One thing I am trying to ignore at the moment though – just how do you move such a significant amount of machinery?!!

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