Build Challenge 2016: Bar Mills Dock House at Cundy Harbor

[deemery]

I like the NESL Flamingo Glue and the bottle applicator.  I have a piece of music wire that fits into that little tube that I use to clean out the nozzle.


dave

[Janbouli]

Bob , thank you for the great detail in your build thread, really helps when everything is shown that well.

[ReadingBob]

I like the NESL Flamingo Glue and the bottle applicator.  I have a piece of music wire that fits into that little tube that I use to clean out the nozzle.


dave

Yep, that little tip does require some maintenance to keep things flowing but it's great for getting the right amount of glue exactly where you want it.  I have some very pointy, fine tweezers that I use to pull the dried up glue out of the tip when it starts to clog up. 

[ReadingBob]

Bob , thank you for the great detail in your build thread, really helps when everything is shown that well.

Thanks for the kind comment Jan and thanks for following along!   

[Twopoint2]

Hey Bob

The build is looking awesome. Another great tutorial with a lot of good technique and very nice colors.

[donatode]

Bob I have been following along as always. Just have to say your informative dialog is worth the tuition!!

[ReadingBob]

Hey Bob

The build is looking awesome. Another great tutorial with a lot of good technique and very nice colors.

Thanks Jim!  I really appreciate the nice comments.   

[ReadingBob]

Bob I have been following along as always. Just have to say your informative dialog is worth the tuition!!

Careful.  You're going to give me a big head Donato.  I'm already thinking of doubling the price of tuition.      

Thanks for the kind comments.   

[postalkarl]

HI Bob:

Very well done so far. This is a great looking building that I like a lot. Can't wait to see your finished product.

Karl

[S&S RR]

Bob


Another great build! Your photographs and descriptions of each step are the best I've seen. Thanks again for sharing your builds with us.

[ACL1504]

The Flamingo Glue and metal tip applicator sure does help to get the glue where you want it. I've used nothing else since you gave me the bottle. Thanks again.

Oh, it sets faster than Elmer's Carpenter glue which is another reason I prefer the pink stuff.

Tom

[ReadingBob]

Thanks gang.  Now where was I?  Oh yeah...roofing....

I added the corrugated 'metal' panels to the shed roof.  The shed roof was covered with 3M Transfer tape so all I had to do was cut the panels to length and stick them in place.  I butted the end I cut up against the wall so I wouldn't have to touch up the exposed, bottom edge.


Earlier I had posted pictures of some major light leaks in the floor.  I took care of them but cutting some scraps of mounting board to fit in the space (and around the bracing) and glued them in place.  It wasn't nearly as difficult to get a good fit and drop them in place as I had imagined it might be.


To light up the structure I found that I needed to prep a batch of teeny, tiny LED's with leads.  These will be used in the outside gooseneck lamp fixtures.  Here's how I do it.  The LED's come ten in a pack.  So I first cut 10 pieces each of green and red Magnet Wire and prep them.  Prepping them starts with stripping the insulation off both ends of each piece of wire.  In the past I tried the suggested method of sticking the end of the wire into hot solder and letting the heat burn off the coated insulation.  I found that unreliable at best.  Randy gave me a tip that I found works much better and is way easier.  I gently rub the end of the wire with an emery board to scrap off the insulation.


Next I stick the end of the wire that I stripped the insulation from into a some soldering flux.  This is an old tube from Radio Shack (remember when they actually sold more electronic stuff than phones?) that I've had forever.


Then I apply solder to the end of the wire to tin it.  Twenty wires (10 green, 10 red), both ends.  It actually takes a little time to get these prepped.  I make sure to get a nice clean delineation between the stripped/tinned end of the wire and the insulation.  That's important later on when soldering the leads to the LED's.  I also don't want to leave large globs of solder on the wire.  I want them thinly coated with solder.   


This handy, dandy little LED Wire & Holding Tool is designed to be clamped into a vise.  I don't have a vise on the workbench I use in the house so I tape it to a heavy metal square with some blue painters tape.   


More in a few moments....

[ReadingBob]

Now it's time to start handling the LED's.  They come packaged in a plastic strip with a clear backing.  Carefully peel off the backing to expose one LED and dump it out onto a clear surface.


Again, I don't follow conventional wisdom here.  The LED needs to be placed into the lower clamp on the holding tool.  The recommended way to this is to put the LED near the edge of the workbench, face up, and then, with the holding tool upside down and the upper clamp off the edge of the workbench pick up the LED with the lower clamp.  Instead of doing that I use some very fine tweezers to gently pick up the LED and place it in the clamp.  I actually have one in the tweezers here and you can't even see it.   


Here I am positioning the LED in the lower clamp, soldering pad up.  If the LED flies out of either the tweezers or the clamp I don't recommend spending more than .6 seconds looking for it.     I've never found one.  This was the first batch I've attempted to do in quite some time (and I've had cataract surgery since the last batch) so I was a little out of practice.  The first one flew out of the clamp never to be seen again.   


I don't worry about getting the positive or negative side out when I clamp it, whichever ends up being on the outer edge determines which color wire I solder to the LED first.  Once it's in the clamp I add a little dab of flux to the soldering pad.


I take a piece of the appropriate colored wire (green for negative or red for positive) and carefully clamp it in the upper clamp so the tinned part of the wire is over the part of the LED I want to solder it to while the insulated part is just off the pad on the inner edge of the LED.  By the way, the package the LED's come in tell you how to determine which side is positive and which is negative.  Using the low temp soldering pencil and solder that I got from Slim I quickly solder the lead to the LED.  It's important to do this quickly as excessive heat can ruin the LED.


Next I trim the excess wire from the LED using a pair of Friskar Micro Sheers.  At this point I have one lead attached to the LED and it's less likely I'll lose it.     Next I put it back in the holder but in the opposite direction and then attach the other lead using the same process. 


More in a moment....

[ReadingBob]

Once the two leads have been attached it's important to test it to make sure the connections are sound.  Don't hook it up to a nine volt battery or you'll fry the LED.  Use something like this Intelligent LED Tester to safely test it.


I lost one when it flew from the clamp and I had one that I think I overheated but I ended up with 8 out of 10 working by the time I was finished.  I've been able to get 10 out of 10 at times but it's delicate work so I don't cry over one or two screw ups on my part.   

To make the goose neck lamp fixtures I take some .018 Tubing and cut a piece about and inch longer by gently rolling the tubing under a sharp X-Acto blade.  I don't press down hard to cut through it as that would crush it.


Even so I file the end after cutting.


And use a very fine drill to make sure the end is open.


While taking the pictures to show how I did this I got myself out of sequence a bit.  I fed one lead through the tube first and then the other.


Then realized I forget to feed them through the lampshade (Tichy) first.  D'oh!


You need to feed the wires through the tubing and get them almost all the way through before you start shaping the tubing to the desired shape.  You'll never get them through the tubing once it has some bends in it.  I bend mine around a tool I have on my workbench that has roughly the diameter I need.
 

More in a moment...

[GPdemayo]

Great work on those lights Bob.....I can't think of a way that I'd be able to solder wires on a nano Led.....now there are 2 things that will make a guy go blind.