School Project

William Gomez and Camilo Castro were assigned a project by their teacher at the public school to build a picture/pen holder from wood to be given to their mother for Mother's Day.  The project came with some specific dimensions and instructions which were duly noted by William and Camilo.  They came to me for help in completing the project.

They also had some discretion in the materials and methods used to build the picture/pen holder.  Camilo chose to build his from one larger solid piece of wood, and William chose to follow the teacher's suggestions for gluing together smaller blocks of wood.

The boys started by cutting out the smaller blocks for William's approach on the table saw.  They got to see the benefits of using a fingerboard and also clamping a block to the fence for making blocks all the same length.

Camilo Castro ripping a small board using a featherboard while William receives the other end.

William cutting the squared up board into blocks of equal length.

The boys got some help from Anderson Mora in sanding the pieces of their project:

Anderson Mora hand sanding the little blocks for William.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any more pictures of their work except the finished product from Camilo, as shown below:

Camilo's finished picture/pen holder.

Arc Welding Classes

After finishing the greenhouse project at the end of March, I began to hold consistent classes with the older boys teaching them how to weld with the electric arc welder.

We started with classroom type instruction covering the electrical circuit and its measurements, the welding equipment, and of course welding safety.  We spent two, one-hour classes on these introductory topics.

Then I began allowing the boys to try their hand at striking an arc and making a bead.  I introduced them to the various types of welding electrodes (welding rod) and we how to select the best rod for the job.  They learned how to adjust the welding machine to the situation and the type of rod being used.

William Gomez welding with two other boys observing.

 They had the usual problems that beginning welders face, rods that stick to the work, difficulty holding an arc, moving the rod too fast to make a nice bead, etc., etc.  But they learned how to correct their technique and avoid these problems, too.

Fabian Perdomo (left) and Anderson Mora (right) checking out their practice beads. 

Anderson cleaning the slag from his bead.

Once their practice plate was full of welding beads on both side, they had to grind them flat to be able to continue practicing.  So the boys would take turns welding and grinding their plates.

William Cruz grinding his practice plate flat.

Most of the boys loved the hands-on nature of the work and conquering their fears of a process that is fiery and that can be scary.

After only 5 weeks of instruction, many of the boys were anxious to try their newly developed skills on a project, which you will see in the next post.

Rabbit hutches

We wrote a few weeks back about building new apartments for the laying hens, and well, the rabbits also find themselves needing new quarters because of their expanding population.  We have five pregnant rabbit mothers who are needing a place to take proper care of their clutch.

So we got busy with the boys to prepare four new hutches to meet the demand.

Anderson Mora cutting 1/4" plywood to form the sides and end of the hutch.

Johan Egson Fonseca cutting the entrance hole for the hutch.

Arley Rocha, right, preparing the pieces for assembly while William Cruz, left, secures them with the pneumatic staple gun.

 

Sebastian Avila uses screws and a drill to assemble the hutch.

The finished hutches before they left the shop. 

Fortunately, when the baby rabbits were born, their mothers had new hutches to protect them in, so they all survived just fine.

The Door - And We're Done!

Even while the crew was working on installing the sides to the greenhouse, Grant and the boys were busy in the shop building a suitable door for the greenhouse.  We wanted the door to be wide enough for a wheelbarrow to pass, tough enough to last a while, and nice looking enough not to ruin the look of our project.  Here's the story of what we came up with...

William Gomez (l) and Alexander Garcia preparing scrap plywood sheathing to cover the door frame.

We started by dressing up some of the eucalyptus 2x4's to make a frame for the door, complete with diagonal bracing.  Then we found some thin plywood that we were able to salvage from some old shelving, which worked well to cover the skeleton of the door in a way that will be more durable than covering it with plastic.

Alexander Garcia trimming the thin plywood sheathing with the circular saw.

William Gomez attaching the plywood to the door structure with screws while Alexander waits his turn.

We were going to leave the door as it was after assembly, but then decided that a coat of paint would really dress up the result and help protect the wood from the weather.  So we used some leftover paint from another project and turned the door into the same green color we hope the thumbs of the people that walk through it will have in the operation of the greenhouse.

The painted door ready to install.

The diagonal bracing as well as the large size of the door made it pretty heavy, so we figured we'd need some stout hinges to support it.  Welding together some 1/8" strap and the sleeves I bought for the job we made some hinges that should do the job nicely.

The homemade door hinges after a couple coats of epoxy paint.

Once our shop work was done, it was finally time to install the door on the greenhouse on March 29th.

Henry Rairan adjusting the drill while Johan Egson tightens a lag bolt.

As usual, we had some adjustments to make during the installation, notably shaving the side of the post for the  middle hinge, since the post was bowed.  But with the help of a trusty drill and a handful of lag screws, the guys got the door hung and it looked just about perfect.

l to r, Leonardo Guzman, Henry Rairan, and Johan Egson pose proudly in front of the newly installed door.

Another bit of framing to seal the area above the door, and we could celebrate that the greenhouse was FINISHED!  After two months of construction effort, the job was finally done.  Praise the Lord!

Actually, the green thumbs at the farm (Leonardo's sisters Alejandra and Angie) had jumped the gun on us and had already begun planting vegetables inside before the door was attached.

The greenhouse was so warm and cozy inside, even without the door, that the plants came up from seed in just three days.

A view of the completed greenhouse at the end of March, 2011.  We thank the Lord for providing the materials, the wisdom, and the people to make this project possible.  May the fruit of this effort be healthy vegetables that bless and nourish his people for years to come.

Thank you, Lord!

Enclosing the sides

Adding the sides to the greenhouse turned out to be fast and easy, once we figured out the design and got some mesh to provide an option for ventilation.  The plants growing inside chew up the carbon dioxide in the air pretty fast, so we had been told we need to provide some mechanism for allowing air to circulate, otherwise the plants would be starved for this vital gas.

We started by stringing cables at designated levels along the length of the greenhouse.  We used a come-a-long to tension the cables and then attached them to the posts with fencing staples.

Anderson Mora (l) and Fabian Perdomo tensioning the cable with a come-a-long.

Einer Posada stapling the cable to a post while Anderson Mora helps.

The next step was to begin attaching the plastic and mesh, starting from the ground up.  Above the first 90 cm high strip of plastic we attached a 90 cm high strip of plastic mesh.

l to r, Henry Rairan, Leonardo Guzman, and Gonzalo Osario attaching the plastic mesh.

This work was straightforward, it went quickly, and we could sense that we were nearing the completion of the project.  We were encouraged and smiles began to break out as we could start seeing our goal in sight.

To finish the sides, we installed curtains of sheeting over the plastic mesh, so that the ventilation could be controlled.  The curtains can be closed at night and on cold days, and opened when there is enough heat inside to allow ventilation.

By March 24th, all we had left to do was to install an access door, hallelujah!

Building chicken apartments

We recently were able (by God's gracious provision)  to restock the chicken house, this time with 150 laying hens, a 50 hen increase.  Because of this increase in the flock, we now needed more spaces for the hens to lay their eggs.

I call the nesting boxes "chicken apartments" because we have built them in two-story high banks of boxes that look similar to bookcases.

Enter boys with boards, hammers, nails and a desire to build something useful.  Here's their story...

Camilo Castro (l), Arley Rocha (center), and William Cruz (right) nailing a trim board onto the chicken apartments.

They started with some 1"x12" eucalyptus boards that we purchased and cut them into the appropriate lengths, then nailing them together.

The boys found, though, that one of the final boards was so hard, that they kept bending the nails trying to get through it.  So, we pulled out the drill and showed the board who was boss!

The chickens need to feel secure and cozy in their apartments, so we found some old plywood to provide backing for the nests.

left to right, Einer Posada, Anderson Mora, and Fabian Perdomo attaching the plywood to the back of the apartment complex.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the finished product, but the chickens have been very happy with their new apartments, nonetheless, and are laying upwards of 140 eggs per day.

Greenhouse ends and gutters

By the end of February, after finishing the roof of the greenhouse, we were hopeful that the hard part was over.  But, sadly, we were wrong!  We still had plenty of hard work left on this project.

The roof is on, but there is plenty of hard work left

So, we began forming the gutters and closing in the ends of the structure.  We found these efforts to be tedious and time-consuming.

Paul Stockley working to form the central gutter.

Paul took on the challenge of figuring out how to form the gutters, which turned out to be a little tricky, especially in the sequence of stapling the plastic together at the end of the structure.  

Roof and gutters in place

Covering the apex shapes at the ends of the structure also proved to be difficult, working up in the air, attaching plastic to the structure that wasn't all in the same plane.  But we managed...

Apex of the roof area now covered

We added some new framing on the ends of the greenhouse to support the plastic.  We could have used cable for this purpose, but the distances between posts was less than three meters and we still had plenty of 3 meter long 2x4's to work with.

Leonardo Guzman nailing lathe to attach plastic sheeting to the end framing, while Henry Rairan supports the framing inside and Johan Egson (red coat) looks on.

The cloudy and rainy weather during this period didn't help our enthusiasm for getting on with the work, there are always things to do in the nice, dry shop!

North-western end of the greenhouse nearing completion on March 8.

With weather delays and other distractions, we didn't fully enlose the east end of the greenhouse until March 14.