Bella Steel

Quilt Studio Table

2009-08-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

My wife needed a work table in her quilt studio. Nothing we could buy new or used would fit right or be strong enough to last a long time, so I built this one.

The legs and cross members are 2x1 inch steel tube with 3/4" square pickets, welded to a frame of 2x1 inch tube that has 16 screws into the top.

Top is 1-1/4" solid laminated oak, 73-1/4" wide and 25-5/8" deep. Table is 34" high.

Frame acid etched, sanded, primed and painted with Rustoleum Hunter Green. Top treated with wood oil.

It is very solid and stable, and she liked it so much, she had me make a second one.

Screen Print Heater Stand

2009-08-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Steel stand for a screen-printing shop. The rectangular box section on top is a heating element for drying screen prints on t-shirts as they come off the press.

The base has a head that swivels 360 degrees. The knob in the middle of the post is for height adjustment. The legs also have height adjusters on them.

23rd and Flanders, Portland

2009-01-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

This building is at 23rd and Flanders in Portland. I built all the railing inside and out, several steel stairs, and the architectural elements seen in the center of this picture.

There are apartments or condos on the third level of the building. Two steel security doors with electronic locks keep the residents safe. This is one of the steel frame stairs with concrete treads.

Ramp and other railing at ground level.

East view. Each residence has a balcony with steel railing around it.

Interior shot of stair railing. Railing is steel pipe and the infill is stainless steel wire. The tenant is Kitchen Kaboodle.

More of the stair railing. The pipe is formed first in the shop. Then it is installed and the wraparounds welded in place. Then it gets painted and the stainless wire infill is installed.
There is a lot more railing inside and out at this building, but it was difficult to get good pictures of it.

Trellis at The Round at Beaverton

2009-01-01T14:10:00.001-08:00

Winter shot of two trellises for The Round at Beaverton. Will have to come back in the summer for a shot of the trellises with vines in bloom.

Detail shot. Simple bent bars welded to crossbars and bolted to the wall.

Red Robin Red Fence

2009-01-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

Steel fence I made for the Hillsboro Red Robin Restaurant over 15 years ago while working at Aloha Welding.

The red paint has faded, but the thousands of little welds have held up fine.

Machine Base

2008-11-03T10:31:00.001-08:00

This is a machine base built for Action Screen Printing in Beaverton. It is roughly 3' wide by 4' long and 32" high. A heat press will mount on top of it.

Detail of base connection bracket and corner joint.

Detail of top corner mounting bracket.

Check out Action Screen Printing's cool website:

http://actionscreenprinting.com/

Center Pointe Vinyl Racks

2008-11-02T14:25:00.001-08:00

Racks ready for delivery. 160 lbs. each. 352 feet of 1" square tubing. Over 650 welds.

Hanging on the walls at Center Pointe Signs in Beaverton.

Loaded with rolls of vinyl. The vinyl is used for sign making.

New Bandsaw

2008-11-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

My new Ellis bandsaw. Well built and, best of all, it's made in America. Ellis machinery costs a bit more, but should last a lifetime.

The business end, where the cutting is done. Works flawlessly so far, and is saving time making good cuts. It also converts to a vertical band saw.

The saw carriage swivels either way for miter cuts, as opposed to bandsaws which have a swivel vise. Saws with swivel vises require more shop space because the lengths of steel have to be repositioned to match the vise angle. With the Ellis saw the steel is always in the same position, saving time not having to move long steel and supports around. The saw swivels on a machined track with bearings, so it is fast and accurate.

Insomnia Door Bases

2008-08-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

Door base cut from 1/4" thick steel plate. The designs are cut out with a torch. The heat warped them so they wouldn't lay flat on the ground. I used heat to stretch and water to shrink the metal, and a little hammering, to get them flat.

Finished product. The Insomnia people like the bare steel look.

Here is how they use them to hold up doors, which are a part of Insomnia's eclectic decor.

Insomnia Light Bar

2008-08-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is a light bar I made for Insomnia Coffee Company in Hillsboro. They have mounted several flexible lamps on it to shine on their work area.

Made from 3/4" square tube steel.

Painted with red primer, and they like it like that.

Visit Insomnia Coffee Company here:

http://www.myspace.com/insomniacoffee

Gazebo - Part 1

2008-08-28T21:55:00.001-07:00

I fabricated the four sides to the gazebo at the shop and then brought them home. Here they are being set in place.

With two sides up I set a header between them, checked for level at the railings and plumb at the posts.

Tacking the header in place before moving on to the next one.

Setting the last header in place. The frame will be very stout once this octagonal ring of steel tube headers is welded up.

Tacking the last one up.

Gazebo - Part 2

2008-08-28T21:45:00.001-07:00

Checking the fit of the first rafter. They look simple, but a lot of math went into designing this roof. If the rafters don't fit right, it's going to be a lot of extra work.

More rafters going up. So far, so good.

Welding is a great way to pass the time.

Everything is fitting fine.

All the rafters in place and everything fit easily.

Gazebo - Part 3

2008-08-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

What's going on up there?

The inspector.

The hole in the center of the roof will be used to mount a weather vane.

Skipping way ahead here. I fabricated the rail sections in place between the rafters.

Everybody should have at least one excellent brother-in-law living nearby. Dwight shoveled out a lot of dirt to make the floor level and ready for a bed of crushed rock. The dirt went around to the front of the house where Becky made a fine raised garden bed. Next year we'll be enjoying a bumper crop of blueberries from that garden.

Gazebo -Part 4

2008-08-28T21:25:00.001-07:00

Skipping ahead again. I've done all the grinding and sanding on the roof frame, scrubbed it with Tide, etched it with phosphoric acid, and primed and painted it with Rustoleum. Here Dwight is slipping in the roof deck boards.

We're starting to get some serious shade inside now, and have learned to take advantage of it.

Looks all decked out from the home side.

Finishing up the last section.

There's that pesky inspector again. The two steel items on the roof deck are the spacers we used between the boards.

Gazebo - Part 5

2008-08-28T21:14:00.001-07:00

Moving right along. Dwight and I are finishing up the roof decking...

...and the decking is done.

Skipping ahead again, metal prep and painting is done and the roofing is now going on.

Two thumbs up from the Fonz... I mean Dwight...

...and the roofing is done. Meanwhile someone sneaked in the swings, some plants, and a little furniture. Well there was a deadline on this job, so it's just like those remodeling shows on television where I can jump ahead to the finished job and you really don't see how much work goes into it. The floor is just crushed rock at this point, and will be finished soon.

Steel Tower at Tillamook

2008-05-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

This is a steel tower I built while working at Aloha Welding. When it was finished it had to be trucked 70 miles to the Tillamook Cheese Factory at the Oregon coast. I stamped the initials of myself and my family in it on the upper crossmember and we took some binoculars to see if we could spot them, but I don't remember if we were able to.