[meteorite-list] A box to put my meteorites in...Part two

From: Dave Mouat <dmouat_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:59 2004
Message-ID: <3F73253C.1336A55C_at_dri.edu>

Rob
That was an excellent story. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Now, if
you take Tom's advice, and start making these for a living (let's say you reduce
it to 1 month from 2 months and 1 week), you should be living high off the hog
at about 10K a year!!
You'd make a lot more writing!!
Dave

Rob Wesel wrote:

> Build it myself. I needed tools, I did own a few wrenches, however.
>
> Table saw, a must. Also a miter saw, sander, air compressor and finish
> nailer. Wood, screws, glue, nails, wires, glass, paint and Band-Aids.
>
> After assembling all the tools and reading how to use them, I made the first
> cut, a 7 foot by 4 foot piece of MDF that would serve as the back. More cuts
> came and things assembled rather smoothly. An eight inch off here, a
> sixteenth there, not much to worry about over the span of 7 feet.
>
> 7 feet is a very long span to install shelves so I divided the case into 4
> compartments, each roughly 20 inches with adjustable shelving.
>
> Soon the skeleton was constructed, ready to paint. Exterior was not an
> issue, black was decided long ago. The interior was a different story. I
> finally decided on a shade of yellow to add contrast for both light and dark
> colored meteorites. I have an eye for detail and the paint was the second
> worst part of the whole project. In the end, the exterior is exactly 10
> coats deep and the interior 5, taking into account texturing the whole
> thing. Let me take a minute to praise the virtues of texture paint. This was
> my best friend, a simple spray-paint application that hides every surface
> flaw! Not to mention that when painted satin black it exactly matches the
> texture of a standard riker mount box. I played with color, texture and
> finish a lot, hence 15 coats of paint in all.
>
> Next stop was the doors. I spent hours looking for the straightest wood to
> build door frames, took the best of the lot. Sadly, there was still too much
> bowing to the wood to make a frame that satisfied my eye for detail. I was
> this far in and was disappointed but ultimately decided to have them
> professionally done. The frames needed to be thin, maximum glass, and no
> cabinet builder could make them less than 2 inches thick all the way around.
> I decided on a frame shop. Paint was the second worst part of the project,
> frames were the worst. Four frames were made, three were crooked, seems they
> had the same issues. A poster frame chinches up and straightened out when
> you clamp in the backing, no backing on mine, only glass and that would not
> be enough. The guy at the frame shop was excellent to work with, he sent the
> three back and made a special note emphasizing straight wood. They came back
> straight. I was ready to go. Time to get a visual of the case with what
> would be the doors after a trip to the glass shop. Oops, they took my
> measurements as interior, not exterior, so now my 37 inch doors had a 37
> inch opening and a 39 inch overall which would be fine but remember that
> eight inch off here, a sixteenth there, not much to worry about over the
> span of 7 feet, well worry about it now. I needed a little buffer to hide
> the off square and off angle areas. I went back to frame shop, again they
> order four new doors, and all four were crooked. A month had gone by in the
> process. They guy refunded my money and politely bailed, suggesting a
> competitor that had their wood in stock so errors could be quickly resolved
> and the wood could be hand selected. I went to this place and 24 hours later
> they had perfectly straight, correctly sized frames. He did work hard on it
> and I gave him a nice size Canyon Diablo for excellent customer service.
>
> The glass and door installation went well.
>
> Form had been achieved, now function.
>
> The case has a false top. Within the false top, only 4 inches deep I
> installed an intake fan in one end compartment and output in the other end.
> The real top has holes to allow the air to move through. All the
> compartments have air vents running through them so the air gets completely
> circulated. I sided with aesthetic on the vents so the airstream is linear
> versus a S-curve which would be more conducive to airflow dynamics. As the
> air passes through the top it goes through an electronic heater and
> dehumidifier. Four halogen lights were wired in on a remote control. The
> airflow and dehumidification are always on but the lights are at my command.
>
> Taking no risks, each compartment has its own VCI emitter as well.
>
> The case was built airtight, everywhere wood touches wood, it has been
> glued, then nailed, then caulked.
>
> So there you have it. Airtight, dehumidified, heated, corrosion inhibited,
> air circulated, halogen lit, remote controlled, UV protected, wall mounted,
> thin and big. A HEPA filter was installed for style points and later removed
> as it cut airflow too much. A RH of 31% is maintained.
>
> Time spent, 2 months 1 week. Time planned, 2 years. Time wanted on frames, 1
> month. Total cost $959.46 and I keep the tools. Looking this bad-ass,
> perfect materialization of my vision built by my own hands, priceless.
>
> One mixed blessing...it's full.
>
> One reality check, the Trading Spaces guy could have done it in two days.
>
> Have a look:
> http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q52422106
>
> --
> Rob Wesel
> ------------------
> We are the music makers...and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
> Willy Wonka, 1971
>
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Received on Thu 25 Sep 2003 01:26:20 PM PDT


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