The big metal tubes that we use for the construction of the central spar and the outriggers on our floating tripod base start out as a flat sheet of steel so they have to be rolled into a tube. We have this machine that does the rolling for us so that we can have a calculated and perfect cylinder.
The problem with working with these large steel sheets is that they are incredibly heavy and rolling the sheets is not the most gentle process in the world. So basically, when a sheet is nearing the end, there is too much weight on the other side and it can make small bends in the metal which have to be fixed later.
To combat this, we have figured out a way to use our overhead crane to support the weight of the sheet. By providing a little bit of support, we can make sure that the metal doesn’t bounce around too much or bend under its own weight. Since the bulk of the weight is being supported by the crane, the actual material is under far less stress compared to when it has to support itself.
This will help our metalworking process move along much more quickly and smoothly since we won’t have to keep going back and fixing the imperfections as we did before. Like our new method for welding, this makes the entire process much more efficient and consistent which means that we can make more homes at a faster rate in the future.
Our team is learning and finding new ways to improve every day and before you know it, building SeaPods and EcoPods will be like second nature as we continue to refine our processes. Thanks for following along and be on the lookout for more updates coming soon.
