iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Solar Kiln

Started by sawwood, July 24, 2017, 10:01:59 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

sawwood


I have a unusual question about our solar kiln. Not sure how long ago we built it, but the bottom
floor is coming apart. It is 12' wide and not sure of the high, How would you tip it over so you can
repair the bottom floor ? We have a Case track loader that we could use to tip it over but not sure
how. Any help sure would be great as I have two loads of White Oak to dry.

Sawwood
Norwood M4 manual mill, Solar Kiln, Woodmaster
18" planer/molder

DYank

Jack it up 2 foot and crawl under and do repair. Block it very good very, very, good.
Dean

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

I would be tempted to consider tipping it on its back (north wall).

Depending on the damage, maybe a second floor of treated wood could be fastened to the bottom and the original floor pretty much left intact.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

scsmith42

Sawwood, back in 2011 I acquired a used solar kiln that a local hi-tech firm had built to dry lumber for an expansion project on their campus.  They were finished with it and wanted to see it go to a good home, but the problem was it was 12' tall and nobody that responded to their Craigslist ad could transport it or was willing to pay a rigger to move it. 

A friend of mine told me about it and I figured that I could transport it if I could put it on it's side onto one of my trailers.

What I did was to add temporary braces inside the kiln, then bolt on some 6 x 6's on the door side.  Lag bolts were screwed into the 6x6s and used as a pivot point on the rub rail of my trailer.

If you use this method for repair you will have the benefit of having easy access to the floor of the kiln, instead of trying to work over your head.  Then again, it may be more work than is justified.


Pix below.

In this photo you can see the bracing that we added to the kiln to support it during tilting and transport.  We pulled one sheet of outer plywood off of one end so that we'd have access into the kiln with the doors closed.



 


In this next photo you can see where we added 6 x 6's to the door side of the kiln.  About 30" above grade you can see some 1/2" lag bolts screwed into the 6 x 6's.  I backed a trailer under the lag bolts and we used them as a hinge point to tilt the kiln on it's side on the trailer for transport.



 


The next two photo's show the kiln being tilted onto it's side on my trailer.



 



 


This last photo shows the kiln on the trailer and ready for transport.



 
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Thank You Sponsors!