Hi Guys, Been a while.... My shop is nearly done. It still needs a floor. I got a suggestion to install steel in the floor to protect the surface from grouser damage. Anyone know how this is done? What steel to use, and how to install it? Pics would be great, since I've never seen it. Thanks, Ken
I have heard old rail road track just slightly above the surface is best. Do not have them myself or have worked out of a ship with them so that's about all I got. I think the shop Nige works out of has them.
This is the shop so far...
Nice! Turn the lights on, it's dark in there. Lol
Nice indeed. I don't have any experience, but rail road track, junior I beam, etc set just above the surface would work. I would think a piece of track would be harder than standard I beams. Since I don't work with much steel tracked equipment, I might would use bolts or screws to affix a piece of ~1/4-1/2" steel flat bar to the top of the floor. It can be removed or replaced if ever required without much impact to the existing floor.
Another option for someone who does little steel track work but wants to protect floor. Talk nice to guys at the local quarry. Most will have rolls of old conveyor belt they will let you have. Roll it out when bringing the dozer or whatever in and roll it back up and store out back till next time. To keep it from coming unrolled in storage just hammer in a couple nails to keep the end flap in place. Now if you are going to be running a D11 in and out on regular basis I would strongly agree with the poured in place railroad track, may be two for each side!
If you plan on putting any bigger machines in I would stay away from surface mounted flat stock. It will bend and point load the concrete under it causing the same issue as no metal. As stated rubber matting works great. Heavy iron in the floor is a spendy but permanent solution if you run in the same place all the time. For occasional use plank works well. 2" rough sawed hardwood is normally reasonably priced at your local mill and lasts a long time. Sometimes you can get the rejects for little or nothing. It doesn't matter if the edges are not true.
If it was me I would simply use car/light truck tires to protect the concrete.Raised steel will be a dangerous trip hazard and conveyor belting might not be enough protection for the real heavy dozers plus that stuff is heavy as hell. I sometimes use tires on my trailer deck for longer hauls,lots of cushyness plus lots of friction--wood to rubber to steel plus of course the mandatory chaining.
Real nice, I haven't seen a door of that size being pivoted up, that's a lot of weight. See you get max head room with that type door but why not a roll up, maybe take 1.5 ft (50CM)?
The railroad rail works well. Double it for machines larger than 40 tons. It only needs to be a ⅛" or so above the surface. Rail is naturally rounded, I've seen it in shops, it doesn't appear to be a trip hazard to me.
Looks like that door is most likely insulated and only has to seal around the outer edge instead of every couple inches of a roll-up door. We have the roll ups on shop at work and you don't want to work at the end of the shop the wind hits on a -10ºF day! Might not be a major problem in Kentucky, but I'm sure it's important in the "Great White North"!
Good point, my new building (40x64) has 16 foot ceiling and has two 14 high sectional doors (garage type), so I loose two feet
I went with that door for a couple reasons. Its 33' wide. I wanted to be able to run inside with a 30' header. Also I like how it provides a bit of overhead shelter when open. A sectional that width isn't available as far as I know. Plus, the door guys I talked to started to shy away from doors wider than 25' simply because they get too heavy for their own good. On top of all that, they are less money than a sectional door close to that size. Plus better insulated. So, I took a chance and tried two. So far so good. We used tractor hydraulics to power it till the power was turned on.
That's a nice looking shop, I have worked and been in several with steel/rail road rails in the floor. Myself I don't like the rails, steel decking, beams, but it is nice when you have to weld some tie downs to pull on things. If you have a single work station it's great, but if you have to move your large tool box back and forth across a shop it's a pain if the rails go all the way across, plus other shop equipment. The shop at work now 85 x100 with a 20 x 100 carport, we use matting/2x12 planks when needed. The slip and fall is a big issue here with grease and oil on slick steel and raised surfaces. Our risk management did not like the RR rails in the floors when this shop/warehouse was sent to the plans review also and killed the rails.
There are a couple shops here that rail road rails in bedded in the concrete, it did work, but they hated them and didn't do it again in their new shops, in order to get the spacing right for every machine is about impossible, and if you wanted to back several in side by side, and pack them in, the placement was never right was the major gripe I was told. Most around here used rubber belting to lay around the tracks and just track them in and back out again. As for the one piece hydraulic door, they are the only way to go, I love mine and will never have another roll up door even if it were free. They are about zero maintenance compared to a roll up after a few years.
I use the belts out of a draper header when crossing the road. They are a lot easier to swing around by yourself also.
Sounds like I should locate some used belting. Would work for road protection too. I used maple planks one time, tore them up pretty quick. White oak works well.
double
Another thing that works well is adding a metal shake to the concrete. See some examples below. http://www.euclidchemical.com/produ...loor-hardeners/metal-aggregate/euco-plate-hd/ http://www.rocland.eu/en/product/hardeners/111-qualitop-metal.html
WOW. That is a nice shop. Got me drooling. Great job.
I have seen double runs of I beam spaced so that it covers most sizes of track machines pockets inserted between the I beam with tie downs inserted from I beam to I beam works well for tying things down to press large objects.