John's Alu Profile build

[Evengravy]

Some small progress.

After letting the GRFC mortar test cure for a week in situ in my workshop I inspected it for bonding, the very scientific method of slapping it with a hammer was employed. I was mostly concerned initially with whether it would bond significantly to each brick but I'm confident now that it will be perfectly fine in that regard. It's clearly much stronger than regular mortar and I'd expect it to shrink less and be stronger in compression. That's good enough for me to move on.

One thing I realised after purchasing the glass fibre and mixing up this test is that AR glass fibre is recommended as it is suitable for the extreme environment of usage in concrete (general E glass is not as it is attacked by the alkalinity). After reviewing the technical documents from the supplier though it seems that this isn't a major issue for me, luckily. The glass fibre I have purchased, whilst not AR glass, the type I have (E6-CR from Jushi Tech http://en.jushi.com/res/excel88fcd3bf87268a79.pdf) is tested and recommended in both high acid and highly alkaline situations so it should be fine. I note it here for others though, be careful, glass fibre is not all suitable here and go for something that is specified for concrete usage.

Here's a picture of the GFRC mortared test, being reused as a weight. This mortar is tough stuff. I'd like to do some more scientific tests before casting the main bed, I'll get the walls up firstly.



I'm pretty slammed at work but had some time to layout the basic structural outline on my newly concreted floor. Nothing too complex, four bricks, some string and some careful corner to corner measurements to make sure it was square. One of the issues I was having with the concrete floor was it was endlessly dusty, no matter how much it was swept it kept producing more and more dust. I treated it once with a PVA based sealer and water and this has cut this down. I will aim to treat it once more before moving on with the block work next week. This should also help ease my mind around bonding to the floor, I was more than a little concerned that it wouldn't bond correctly due to the dust but I'm told this is a commonly used solution to aid bonding.



Next step for me is to get my workload tied off and begin on this around the 10th.

I've ordered some new motor to ballscrew connectors some months back but they have yet to arrive, if anyone knows of a reliable UK source I'd appreciate it. I'm looking for something to handle 480oz/inch with minimal backlash. 8mm to 12mm. Without a lathe in situ I can't really modify what I have accurately and haven't as yet been able to fully test the new ballscrew install.

Anyway, that's it from me for now, more soon.

[Clive S]

[QUOTE]I treated it once with a PVC based sealer and water and this has cut this down. I will aim to treat it once more before moving on with the block work next week. This should also help ease my mind around bonding to the floor, I was more than a little concerned that it wouldn't bond correctly due to the dust but I'm told this is a commonly used solution to aid bonding.
[/QUOTE

Looking good, I take you meant PVA or even better is SBR

[Evengravy]

[QUOTE=Clive S;117646]

I treated it once with a PVC based sealer and water and this has cut this down. I will aim to treat it once more before moving on with the block work next week. This should also help ease my mind around bonding to the floor, I was more than a little concerned that it wouldn't bond correctly due to the dust but I'm told this is a commonly used solution to aid bonding.
[/QUOTE

Looking good, I take you meant PVA or even better is SBR

I did yea, thanks I didn't even notice that error (edited) it must have been the autocorrect. I'll look up SBR before beginning as I'd like to treat it again if they are compatible with one another. Thanks for the heads up.