Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[chickengr]

not so cold but rain keeps me inside. got some free wood and can't wait to make nests in the run so my chickens stop laying in waterfowl nests.

 

[fuzzi]

Anyone ever make a ladder/ramp from pallets?

I've been thinking about options for my second hoop coop.

You can see the roost in the back.

For the first hoop coop I made an A-frame roost from two pallets. I would like to leave more open area/room in this second coop.

 

[gtaus]

For the first hoop coop I made an A-frame roost from two pallets. I would like to leave more open area/room in this second coop.

Yeah, that A-frame roost in the middle of the run looks like it takes up a lot of space. I was thinking something that you could put up against the side of the run would take a lot less room.

Here is something I found on Google pictures...

Or maybe a thinner ladder type roost, turned sideways, like this...

In either case, I don't think I would want to encourage the hens to roost overnight on those ladders/roosts because the hen on the lower rung will get poo on it from the hen above it. I guess I would suggest making the ladder/roost shorter than the main nighttime roost bar. I expect the chickens will prefer to find the highest roost for the night.

 

[fuzzi]

Yeah, that A-frame roost in the middle of the run looks like it takes up a lot of space. I was thinking something that you could put up against the side of the run would take a lot less room.

Here is something I found on Google pictures...

View attachment 4088557

Or maybe a thinner ladder type roost, turned sideways, like this...

View attachment 4088574

In either case, I don't think I would want to encourage the hens to roost overnight on those ladders/roosts because the hen on the lower rung will get poo on it from the hen above it. I guess I would suggest making the ladder/roost shorter than the main nighttime roost bar. I expect the chickens will prefer to find the highest roost for the night.

The good thing about A-frame roost is I created a brooder underneath it, so the space isn't totally wasted.

I'd like to use pallet wood to save money.

 

[chickengr]

I expect the chickens will prefer to find the highest roost for the night.

agree 100%. once I had 2 level roosts and chickens ont the upper one kept pecking those on the lower one. I had to put both roosts on the same level.

 

[gtaus]

The good thing about A-frame roost is I created a brooder underneath it, so the space isn't totally wasted.

It's a great thing to make something that can serve more than one purpose at a time. Occasionally, I get lucky that way, too.

I'd like to use pallet wood to save money.

Pallet wood is a great way to save money. Probably my number one reason for using pallet wood.

I also like pallet wood for lots of temporary jobs that are not meant to last a lifetime. Sometimes, you only need something for a few months, for example.

I like making concept of proof stuff out of pallet wood. I will build something out of pallet wood just to see if the design works. If it does great, if not, no worries, just tear it apart and start over with a new idea.

I like taking woodworking projects and modifying the plans to work with pallet wood. For example, I found an interesting stackable compost bin design that used expensive cedar planks. Yes, the cedar planks looked nice, but I was more interested in the stackable design. In order to build the stackable compost bin with pallet wood - with different thicknesses of the pallet boards - I had to redesign the method of building it using inside measurements for the pallet wood instead of the original design using outside measurements because all the cedar planks were milled to the same thickness.

At my age, I'm just happy with a completed pallet wood project that might only last 5-10 years. I just don't need something built to last 30 years anymore using expensive cedar planks.

Finally, I also like using something, pallet wood, that would otherwise end up in landfill. The older I get, the more I seem to care about how much stuff I send to the landfill. We reuse and repurpose lots of items here at home, some stuff goes to the recycle bins, but very little of our waste products end up going to the landfill. It has been about 2 years since I sent a bag of garbage to the landfill! We used to fill 2 or 3 bags per week 15 years ago, but slowly, over time, we learned how to eliminate almost all our landfill waste.

 

[fuzzi]

It's a great thing to make something that can serve more than one purpose at a time. Occasionally, I get lucky that way, too.



Pallet wood is a great way to save money. Probably my number one reason for using pallet wood.

I also like pallet wood for lots of temporary jobs that are not meant to last a lifetime. Sometimes, you only need something for a few months, for example.

I like making concept of proof stuff out of pallet wood. I will build something out of pallet wood just to see if the design works. If it does great, if not, no worries, just tear it apart and start over with a new idea.

I like taking woodworking projects and modifying the plans to work with pallet wood. For example, I found an interesting stackable compost bin design that used expensive cedar planks. Yes, the cedar planks looked nice, but I was more interested in the stackable design. In order to build the stackable compost bin with pallet wood - with different thicknesses of the pallet boards - I had to redesign the method of building it using inside measurements for the pallet wood instead of the original design using outside measurements because all the cedar planks were milled to the same thickness.

At my age, I'm just happy with a completed pallet wood project that might only last 5-10 years. I just don't need something built to last 30 years anymore using expensive cedar planks.

Finally, I also like using something, pallet wood, that would otherwise end up in landfill. The older I get, the more I seem to care about how much stuff I send to the landfill. We reuse and repurpose lots of items here at home, some stuff goes to the recycle bins, but very little of our waste products end up going to the landfill. It has been about 2 years since I sent a bag of garbage to the landfill! We used to fill 2 or 3 bags per week 15 years ago, but slowly, over time, we learned how to eliminate almost all our landfill waste.

I remember your posts about the "redesign" due to the variations in pallet wood.

 

[gtaus]

I Messed Up! First(not) Mistake Ever!

Well, I made good progress on my new adjustable height modular workbench for the new table saw I got this winter. To refresh your memory, I have previously built a couple of 2X4 foot mobile modular workbenches out of pallet wood that look like this...

That is just the basic design, I have since upgraded one of those workbenches with adjustable storage shelves in them. The modular concept of these workbenches comes from those holes on the top 2X4 framing. I can line up two benches and bolt them together in any number of ways. Those holes are spaced out the same on all the benches.

The only thing bad about those holes is that I had to measure each board for the holes and drill them out one by one. There had to be a better way. I had the great idea to make a template for drilling my holes. Then I could just slap it on the new board and drill out the holes without having to measure every single hole - which took a long time. I found a scrap piece of wood, measured my holes out, and drilled them out. Looked really good, so I put it to use.

Well, I suspect you know happened... But first, I was all excited and happy about how fast it was to put my new template board on my undrilled 2X4's and drill out those holes. It was just so much faster than having to measure each hole one by one and then drilling it out. I mean, I drilled out the holes in 8 boards with the new template faster than I could have measured and drilled out one board the old manual way.

I put it all together and everything looked great. I was really happy with myself. I cut a lot of time down in the making of the modular workbench. Using a template to drill those holes really made easy work out of everything.

When I lined it up with one of my existing benches, I discovered the drill holes in the new workbench were a good 1/4 inch off, so the holes did not align, and I could not get my bolts through them! So disappointing. After checking out a number of things, I discovered that my template was off and, of course, I had passed that error on to all my new boards as well.

Now I'm trying to think of way to correct this mistake, if I can, or just redoing all that work over again. Thank goodness that I have plenty of other pallet wood to use if I have to redo that part over again.

Anyways, I'm about 80% done on that new workbench and should have some pictures of it in a few days. Currently, it is set fine with half the workbench at full height, and half the workbench dropped down about 12 inches for my table saw. I got it dialed in so that there is about 1/8-inch drop from my table saw working level to the other half remaining outfeed table on the workbench. Perfect in that respect.

Lesson(s) relearned: Measure twice, cut once. Templates can save a lot of time, provided they are correct. Check your work on one board before you drill holes in all 8 boards!

 

[gtaus]

Problems with Ryobi and Home Depot

My Ryobi 18v sliding miter saw is not working right. Still under warranty, I attempted to get it repaired or replaced....

Long story short, Ryobi is giving me the runaround and Home Depot could care less. I lost all day working on this issue and got nowhere.

Too frustrated to post how I really feel.

 

[Smokerbill]

Problems with Ryobi and Home Depot

My Ryobi 18v sliding miter saw is not working right. Still under warranty, I attempted to get it repaired or replaced....

Long story short, Ryobi is giving me the runaround and Home Depot could care less. I lost all day working on this issue and got nowhere.

Too frustrated to post how I really feel.

Slim chance here, but if you used a credit card for the purchase maybe the CC company could provide some help. I know a lot of cards provide extra warranty protection of your purchases. I never used the benefit myself but it might be worth a shot.