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Damien
Nott's Magnetic Building Board
Damien Nott has been corresponding with me for several months providing
progress reports of the steel building board he had made. The board
was recently completed and Damien will be using it with his next project.
The steel is painted, but I'm not sure what paint he used. He
mentioned powder coat at one point although I don't know if that's what he
actually used. Hopefully he'll let me know soon so I can pass it
along. I'm also curious about how well the paint will hold up.
Any further information that I receive from Damien will be posted on this
page.
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Text and photos are copyright Damien Nott
After reading Paul’s article
Building With Magnets, I thought to
myself 'Hmmm - that seems like a good idea. No, wait - a great idea!
I’m gonna get me a big piece of steel and use magnets.' At the time I
was working at our workshops, and decided to find an “off-cut” of 6mm thick
steel to use as a building board.
After asking around, I was told that any steel thicker
than 3 mm was stored outdoors and so was likely to be covered in surface
rust, and therefore require considerable “cleaning up”, i.e. sanding or
machining to get the surface anywhere near usable. The other
difficulty, I decided, was going to be the weight of the thing. At
7,800 kg/cubic metre, a piece of steel 1,800 mm x 900 mm x 6 mm was going to
tip the scales at 76 kg — way too much for my poor frail body to carry.
Not sure of what to do next, it was time to consult with the professionals.
After talking to the shop carpenter and sheet-metal
guru, I decided that the way to go was to use a 2mm steel sheet mounted on
an MDF (medium density fibreboard) base 18 mm thick. Once again I
asked around for an off-cut of steel, and was given a piece 2,400 mm x 560
mm x 2 mm thick.
It was a little narrower than what I had hoped for, but
beggars can’t be choosers. I then went to the local hardware store and
picked up a piece of MDF 1,800 mm x 600 mm x 18 mm thick. After
bringing this back to the workshop, I headed for the paint shop to have the
MDF sealed. |
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Below photos and captions are Copyright Damien Nott unless otherwise specified
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This picture shows the MDF (left) next
to the steel. The MDF has been partially sealed with polyurethane - it still
needs a coat or two. The steel has been cut to length (1760mm) and has been
marked for drilling. |
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This photo shows the steel lying
on the MDF - just to give an idea as to what the finished board will
look like. |
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A close up of one of the
corners…
After having the MDF sealed, the
steel was primed and painted white on one side. It was then glued to
the MDF with contact cement, and screwed down along the edges with #6 x
12mm countersunk screws about every 100-150mm. |
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This photo shows the completed
board before I laid it on its table. It weighs 30 kg, and is a little
awkward to move around, but once it’s on the table I don’t plan to move
it that much. |
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Finally, the board on its table,
with some of my magnetic fixtures.
The total cost of the board to
me was around $25.00 Australian. However, I was lucky enough to know
the right people and I got my steel and all the paintwork for free. |
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