This blog documents my studio build started back in 2009. I'm keeping this live for reference as it may help others who are thinking of taking on such a project.
- Details
Having sealed the MDF door panels I completed a number of coats of white satin emulsion over all surfaces over the last week or so. This meant the door was ready to hang by the weekend - which was the task I set myself. In the meantime the compression latches arrived as scheduled. I was considering a number of methods to attach the silicone p-section seal to the inner panel but did some tests using my mechanical staple gun with great success. I had already routed a 20x2.3mm rebate along the edges of the sub MDF panel where the seal is to be attached. I mitred the corners of the p-section proceeded to attach the silicone with the flat section tight against the rebate.
Firstly, I routed out the rebates on the frame for the hinges. I found a strip of thin material and used this to mark the hinge positions using the door as my template ready for routing. I little tricky with the heavy router up in the air but it worked like a dream. I then routed the fillets to sink the hinge barrels into the frame to correspond with the door. I then screwed the hinges to the door using the 4.5x60mm c/sunk screws.
I managed to get the door attached without any help even though it is pretty heavy. Once in the room and with some blocks underneath I managed to manoeuvre it into a good position ready to drill the pilot holes into the frame. A bit of a juggling act with a drill and a screwdriver but all good with just a small amount of effort - it's certainly a relief to get the door secured at least a couple of hinges.
Once all hinges were secured came the moment of truth...will the door close!! Well, no it didn't! But no dramas - just the top and bottom corners of the frame which required a bit of a shave off with the plane. So about 10 minutes later the door closed beautifully.
Prior to attaching I had centralised the MDF sealing panel against the main door and drilled a couple of 6mm holes through both panels to allow for alignment pins to be driven. This makes it easy to attach the seal panel onto the main door when screwed to the door frame. Obviously, I did it in a modular way to cut down the weight I had to handle at once. I drove the pins into the main door panel with just under 18mm protruding into the sealing panel. This worked like a dream as I could actually mount this panel and drill the attaching screw holes with it in place.
Before this I attached some wooden edging strips framed with mitred corners to create a recess for the final door layer, a sheet of 12.7mm plasterboard. This protects the plasterboard edges from damage.
That was pretty much it so I’m now ready to attach the door jams and compression latch and the latch plate.
Photos:
- Details
Over the weekend I continue with the door. Because MDF is not stable to screw into its edge where the hinges are to be attached, I had to create some sort of insert for the screws to penetrate into (heavy door so fixings must be up to the job.) I did consider making some steel plates but in the end I found some scrap plywood which seemed to fit the bill quite nicely. I also decided to make this double thickness to allow a good 30mm of screw into the plywood. It took some time to machine out the slots with the router as to achieve a good 35mm depth the router bit was right on its limit in the mandrel. I then finish the job with a chisel to square off the corners. The plywood inserts were then glued and pushed into position. They were left slightly proud of the surface so I set the router on some blocks and removed the excess nearly flush then finished with the sander.
Only other thing I was able to do over the weekend was to give all of the door surfaces a coat of water + PVA mixed to seal. This was done and left to dry overnight.
Ive just chased the supplier of the compression latch and it won't be for another week so the door should be pretty well ready to be attached by the time they arrive.
So far the 3-ply door laminate is only glued together and although I don't think this will part I intend to add some screws as further security. I bought the 50mm long screws for this purpose. These will be concealed under the 4th MDF layer which has the p-section seal attached.
Photos:
>> Photo, Door Mock-up with seals in place (not fixed) <<
>> Photo, Plywood hinge block glued in situ <<
- Details
Just looked back over this project and it will be 4 years since I started! Probably the record for the longest project of any size/kind. Oh well I'm still focussed on getting the job done even though it has taken so long...
Since the last entry I have covered the corner traps with black cloth. This is actually the remainder of the weed membrane roll for the garden decking. Strange but it seems to have the required properties to fulfill this job, open to air and strong. I have plenty of this so it will meet any further requirements - trapping, clouds etc.
In the meantime I had to complete my latest Open University course (Understanding the Arts Y180) between June - October 2012 so you can be assured that I haven't been doing nothing!! I received my result in November and :-) success!! Back onto studio building. I think it's true to say the only remaining major construction job on this project is the doors, which I intended to leave right to the end. I then realised that I would be better off getting this job done sooner rather than later as it seems to be a milestone I just don't seem to be getting any closer to. After these are done I think you job will be plain sailing.
Anyway, just before Christmas I had 3 sheets of 18mm MDF and 8 heavy duty ball bearing hinges delivered and ordered the compression latches for delivery in the new year. I had pretty well designed the doors already and I just needed to check the dimensions and that the design would work - in theory. Basically the door is constructed of 4 laminations of MDF with a layer of drywall to finish inside the airlock. I had already accounted for sealing of the door against the jams using some silicone 'P' section. I had a ready supply of this at work as we had a job lot that was never used for a project. Handy, so I just figured this into my design. A bit of an unknown but I'm pretty confident this will do a grand job...though we'll see once complete. I'm constructing the inner door only at the moment as it will give me a good reference for the outer door and I can iron out any issues doing one at a time. Up until today I have laminated (glued) the 3 larger layers together and have routed out the hinge recesses.
Photos:
>> Silicone P-section (Door Seal) <<
>> Door laminated together (3 layers of MDF) <<
>> Door Mock-up with seals in place (not fixed) <<
- Details
Wow...where has the time gone?
Again, not much action here for a long while though there has been a little progress made.
As mentioned earlier the extension and re-landscaping of the garden has taken over things for the moment. However, I have now pretty well finished the garden now apart from some minor jobs, so I am now officially back into studio build mode.
Over the weekend 7/8th July I finished work on the corner treatment filling, at least for the ones currently included - this may be added to later. One job I had to complete before this was to change the entry point for the two tubes for the fan inlets. These were too high and were coming in at an awkward position in the rear ceiling/wall trap. I made a couple of offset bends to lower them down to a more desirable position through the rear corner bass trap only. Once done the rest was pretty straight forward - I simply had to refill that space with (MW) mineral wool and cut the triangles for the front bass traps. Quite satisfying when you simply have to cut a number of equal size and shape pieces of MW. This was a fairly quick process.
A couple of photos to show the current status.
Photo - Front traps:
http://album.rubato.co.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-2503
Photo - Rear Ceiling/Wall traps:
http://album.rubato.co.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-2504
That's about it for now though things are finally starting to take shape, more soon...
- Details
Just a brief post here as I have just uploaded a number of new photos. These relate mostly to wiring though there are some pictures of the floor and the room treatments. These can be seen here:
Wiring
http://album.rubato.co.uk/thumbnails.php?album=90
Room Treatment
http://album.rubato.co.uk/thumbnails.php?album=113
Floor
http://album.rubato.co.uk/thumbnails.php?album=114