RE: bat day May 16 Re: Work day May 10th (fwd)

[Kathie Brosemer <kathie@cleannorth.org>]

Neil's message.  Discussion wanted.  Remember to include Neil's email in 
your replies...

k

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 4:40 PM -0700
From: Neil McLean <aurora@bellnet.ca>
To: Kathie Brosemer <kathie@cleannorth.org>
Subject: RE: bat day May 16 Re: Work day May 10th

Apologies for the delay in returning. It was only yesterday afternoon that I
was able to meet with Jim Boniferro, who has taken over from Domtar the
hardwood mill on Third Line and Peoples road. He has agreed to give us a
pile of wood, so to speak.

I have completed for your consideration a draft of the bat house assembly
operations.
I look forward to your replies.

Material list for a bat house.
Given Outside dimensions
12" (+-) wide
13" (+-) tall on front
19" (+-) tall on back
8-12" Deep - variable, depends on the width of the Hardwood boards that I
will be getting from Boniferro Mill works (gratis).

11" x 11" x 1/4" mahogany underlay Baffles  (5 or 6 per house - depends on
depth)
11" x 1" x 1/4" mahogany underlay Baffle spacers. 2" vertical on the top,
and then a horizontal strip along the bottom and notched
Sides will be 1" rough hardwood and will need drill holes in order to accept
screws.
The hardwood boards form the backbone onto which the front and back boards
(really rough spruce)  and the roof board will be screwed.
I believe the hardwood will give the house added durability. (And besides,
its free and it's a good use of material that was likely on the way to the
chipper)
Front and back will be 1" rough spruce. Drill holes needed to prevent
splitting.
Roofs will be 1" hardwood, spruce or plywood (whatever is best given what we
have) and covered on both sides (top and bottom) with a couple of layers of
tar paper.

12 or 14 13/4"  #7 or #8 screws. 2" screws may be better. ??
1/4"staples to apply the tar paper - of which I have some to donate.

Thayers' lumber is supplying the underlay (at cost), and
the rough spruce boards 1" x 6" X 30"   -below cost.

I will get Thayer's to cut the underlay into the sizes we want and the
strips. This may cost $30 but saves our eyes,ears and fingers from possible
injury.
As for the spruce boards, there is still some room to vary on how best to
cut them and that will be best determined after we have picked up the
hardwood and know the dimensions we'll be working with there.

I will pick up the materials on Friday to deliver to the work
location -wherever that is....
Also, picking up from Boniferro MW on Friday. This will be a little more
involved as I will have to pick through pallets of random sized wood.
But it should take a couple of hours or so. Not a problem.

What we want at the end of the work bee.
Minimum 5 completed houses - more as we feel fit.
Remainder out of 50 as kits.

The kits will be ready to assemble with a screw driver, a staple gun and
custom rake. The rake is bunch of sharp nails poking through a piece of
wood. We use the rake to roughen the surface of the baffles. To save our
hands from slivers, I suggest we roughen the baffles just prior to final
assembly.
The outside surfaces of the assembled house should be finished with black
paint - except the landing strip which is on the inside back.

This is how I see Saturday morning.

1 or 2  wood sizing lines. 1 person/line
To cut spruce and hardwood pieces to length

2 Pre finish assembly lines  1 person/line
to collect all the parts into a single kits and to drill holes where needed
to apply the baffle spacers and the baffle blocks to the sideboard insides

3 or 4  painting lines - 1 person/line
to paint the pieces.

As the first two lines have finished, they can move to painting.

I think the bottle neck is the painting. I think two coats may be needed.

For those kits that we assemble on Saturday, it will be easier to paint them
after they are assembled.


Kit assembly instructions.

1. Lay the sideboards up on end so the back is laying on the table surface.
2. Apply the front boards to the sideboards. Ensure tar paper in place
prior.
The tar paper will act as a caulking.
3. Flip the assembly on to the front
4. Rake the baffles to roughen the surfaces
5. Slide the baffles into place.
6. Apply the backboards. Ensure tar paper in place prior.
7. Apply the roof. Ensure tar paper in place prior.

There are more details to be sure, but we won't know them exactly until the
board configuration is confirmed.


An important part of the design is inside the width, which must be wide
enough to allow the baffles to slide into place, but not so wide that the
spacers cannot keep the baffles in place.

There are variations we can play with. For example, if we wanted to spend
the time with the router, instead of applying the spacers, we could route
grooves on the inside of the side boards. I like the design, but I think
that its's a lot of work for the router. If someone is willing to do the
router work, then great! If so, we would change the inside width to 10 1/2
and assume 1/4"+ groove depths. It's a cleaner design, but I did not want to
assume the router duty, nor impose it on someone else.

A table saw would be nice to have. Indeed given a 1/4" dado blade, we
wouldn't need the router.
I have a reasonably good circular saw for cutting the boards. A couple of
saw horses would be handy.
We'll need as well:
	Coffee (if I get my roaster finished, I bring some fresh)
surfaces for setting up the assembly lines and for placing the wet painted
pieces.
paint, thinner and brushes.
5/32" drill bits and electric drill/s.
	music
	cover in case of rain - at last look 60% chance
http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/forecast/city_e.html?yam

Cheers

Neil
Pointe aux Pins
705-256-1493
705-779-3252 home



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