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Category Archives: Construction
Geometry and Woodworking
A coworker sent the following link to me about an expanding table this morning. It is amazing. Very clever and beautiful use of geometry. The tables cost between $50K and $95K, depending on size. I guess I won't be buying … Continue reading
Posted in Construction, General Mathematics
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Air Conditioning Math
Introduction I get some strange phone calls. I recently received one from a customer who wanted to know how many "tons of air conditioning" he needed to cool some equipment he had purchased from my company. All air conditioning units … Continue reading
Calculating Drawer Heights
Introduction As you can tell from all the recent posts on construction, I am in the middle of planning some remodeling on my home. One of my projects includes designing a chest of drawers. It turns out that there are … Continue reading
The Mathematics of Rafter and Collar Ties
Introduction As a boy, I remember seeing a dilapidated farm building that had a set of rafter ties in its attic. I noticed that the rafter ties had pulled away from the rafters they were nailed to. The rafter ties … Continue reading
Carpentry Math – Drawing a Circular Arch
I must admit that I find a certain satisfaction in the geometry that pops up in general carpentry. Fine Homebuilding has a nice video on drawing a circular arch that uses a basic geometric construction. This is something that I … Continue reading
Straight, Level, and the Curvature of the Earth
The statement about the curvature of Earth got me thinking. How much does the Earth's surface deviate from a horizontal line over a distance of 100 feet? The contractor's number intuitively seemed wrong because the Earth is round and the deviation from horizontal should be a function of distance. A little math will give me the answer. For consistency's sake, I will perform all computations in US customary units. Continue reading
Posted in Construction
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Carpentry Math - Drawing an Ellipse
Quote of the Day I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. — Calvin and Hobbes Today, I received an issue of Fine … Continue reading
Posted in Construction
Tagged carpentry, elllipse, fine homebuillding
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My Little Gilligan's Island - Part 1 (The Shower)
Introduction My cabin in northern Minnesota is very primitive (the only water is lake water, no heat, no air conditioning, no phone, no Internet) and I do not want to put any money into it until I get my sons … Continue reading
Designing A Stairway For My Cabin
I live in Minnesota, where owning a cabin on a lake in the northern half of the state is part of the culture. Here is a picture of my little piece of northern Minnesota. My cabin sits on a small … Continue reading
Fixing My Stairs Using Mathematics
The Problem I am a VERY amateur carpenter, but I do love to build things out of wood. One particular specialty area of carpentry that I admire is stair building. I consider stair building (along with roof cutting) to be … Continue reading
Posted in Construction
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