…and need to pretty constantly be put back together. A lot of this is due to poor construction in the first place: I never claimed I knew what I was doing. Living here is the very model of learning on the job.
But also sometimes it wouldn’t matter if Leonardo Da Vinci built it, it’s going to fall apart. This morning I took the Jeep into the wash to pick up that one target I put there two years ago.
The target itself, of course, is rusty but otherwise just fine. But the frame…
…which is made of scrounged 2X4s, got floppy and is basically on the ragged edge of simply falling apart under the weight.
So today I’ll take it apart and figure out how to Build Back Better. Maybe I’ll ask the prez for advice.
No, on second thought probably not.
Well, for one thing, the 2×4’s that go up and around should be turned 90 degrees around their long axis. Besides resisting tipping forces better (like wind), they would present less cross-section to oncoming lead. If you do that, and add diagonal braces to each side, it should be fine.
For spending 2 years out in the weather, that ain’t that bad. Considering it’s still mostly held together, I wouldn’t take it apart, just fortify it a bit. Plate across your butt joints where your top cross-piece meets the uprights, and as Steve says, add some diagonal bracing.
Forty-five minutes ago the city’s BIG supermarket was packed with perhaps two hundred shoppers. Then the announcement: “Our point-of-sale system is down; we cannot process any transactions at this time.” I quipped “Let the rioting begin!” while returning my one item to the freezer. Passed a bunch of nonplussed people as I tried to beat the upcoming traffic jam.
At home, I see Joel’s post title “Things Fall Apart” and thought OMG, it’s begun… Oh, wait. Nevermind.
What Jed said. I was trying to keep the weight minimized (engineering training), but adding a plate across the joint works too. The diagonals don’t have to be more than a foot or a foot and a half long and if you keep the uprights as they are, they can just be tagged onto the side surfaces (which line up).
Or, you could go all Burning Man and weld up a dragon out of rebar, holding the target in its mouth…
Robert, if you want to hear about doom and gloom, just follow the “Come and Make It” blog…
https://comeandmakeit.blogspot.com/
Steve W.: Thanks. I think… 🙂
Seriously, I had a moment of “Uh-oh” seeing Joel’s title after my little prepper brain was primed by that recent experience. I mean, people wanted food and couldn’t have it. Dunno the outage duration. Don’t see any smoke column in that direction…
Yep, just nail some triangular plywood plates over the corners and put the thing back out there for another two years.