Arched window rail segment calculator

This has been kicking around in my head since a gig where I had to piece together lumber for an arched window.

In this example the curve is bisected into 4 segments. Each partial curve will get it’s own trapezoid of material. You can use trigonometry to find the dimensions of these trapezoids based on your inner and outer curve radius.

In Figure 1, each trapezoid is a piece of an isosceles triangle. Slicing this triangle in half renders two right triangles. We can use one of these triangles to find the dimensions of our trapezoid.

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Restaurant coat closet

It came out looking alright, but some projects you just want to forget. I showed up to the job and was handed a bunch of laminate IKEA panels and a bunch of wood scraps for framing that needed to be cut to size. I asked for drawings and got this:

You’ve got to be kidding me. I asked what the delivery deadline was and my supervisor told me they open for service at 5pm (that day)🤣. I threw it together with what I was given, but the project dragged on for weeks amidst other assignments while the powers-that-be hemmed and hawed over bits of hardware and how access between staff and customers was going to work, none of which had been decided before the initial round of materials purchase.

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Bathroom cabinet replacement

At first glance, this looks like something you’d simply replace with an online order, but the existing cabinet was squeezed between shutoff valves on the left and an external tower style bathtub drain on the right, requiring non-standard dimensions, and the client wanted everything to be plywood (I agree, I hate MDF) and sealed with an oil-based paint, including all edges.

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Random HVAC

Boiler room ceiling grid + insulation. The initial idea proposed by the client was to use foam board insulation, until I realized there was no way to get sheets of the stuff past the maze of pipes.

Before:

During:

After:

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Herringbone tile foyer

Before:

The trickiest part of this one was figuring out the border. Not only were there were 5 doorways, 2 stairwells and an elevator to accommodate, but the location was an odd shape with wide and narrow sections. Herringbone looks weird when it’s in too narrow a space, so after much photoshop, laying out of tiles in different patterns, and sending some snapshots to a friend, I settled on a double border.

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Arched bookcases in oak and ikea

The ask was twin arched bookshelves to go on either side of a bed, like the following reference photo. Howevere these were to sit on top of some existing nightstands.

We started with a couple ikea bookshelves. I have mixed feeling about this. While I think it can be an excellent timesaver to start with factory-made furniture and customize as you like, I personally dislike chipboard and laminate, and I try to avoid them if given the option. Each material has it’s own vibration, some more pleasant than others. I picked up a bundle of oak molding, wide enough to give me a few options for creating the “shell.”

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Turning metal conduit into brushed steel pipe

brushed steel pipe on work bench

I was recently shocked by the price of the brushed steel pipe I wanted for a project. Especially when EMT is so cheaply and widely available.

It’s a slapdash rig involving a couple of wooden plugs on either end of the conduit, one with a furniture bolt for my drill, and a cable pulled taut between, running inside the pipe. You can of course buy big chucks and lathe kits which would work more smoothly — this was a spur of the moment test.

Roofdeck refinish

Before:

After:

The fun part here was coming up with a nimble enclosure to satisfy the OSHA requirement that any exterior work which generates dust be encapsulated from one’s hapless neighbors.

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French door restoration

Is restoring salvage pieces worth the effort? It depends.

What will the final finish be?
↙↘
Clear or transparent varnish or stain over wood
Painted
Ok. Are there a lot of millwork grooves and ridges?
Go for it!
↙↘
Yes
No
Don’t bother.
Go for it!
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Window replacement

Nothing special, just a random story illustrating why this business is really nuts sometimes.

This window couldn’t be cleaned because something had gone wrong with the seal and the debris was IN-BETWEEN the panes of glass. So I ordered a new window.

The guy I hired to do the replacement ripped out the old window and threw it into the backyard. He spent 4 hours trying to get the new window in before throwing in the towel. The old window was in pieces in the yard, and unusable (How I wish I’d gotten a photo!). I wasn’t in town so I called in another contractor I knew to see if he could manage it. He said the window I ordered was for new construction and couldn’t be used as a replacement. I asked him if it could be modified to work and he said he didn’t think so, but he had a buddy who had some surplus windows, a few inches too short, but he could go pick one up and install it. The first guy could do the framing to close up the gap since it was too short for the opening. I said ok.

WTF.

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Display cabinet lighting

Wish I’d gotten a before picture — of the two clamp lights plopped over 2 badly sawn holes in the ceiling of this cabinet. Oof. Here’s what I put together, which was obscured by a large cornice on the façade:

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