An incredible motorised servery window wins our stainless steel project competition

Edcon Steel is pleased to announce the first-prize winner of our stainless steel project competition – Martin Roberts, with his incredible motorised servery window.

Taking home $500 Edcon Steel credit, Martin used Edcon Steel’s stainless steel 80x40x3 rectangular box (RHS), 20x20x3 equal angle, and 20×3 flat bar in constructing this challenging feature.

Sourcing materials

For such a major undertaking, Martin knew they would need a good supplier, and after finding Edcon Steel, they looked no further!

“Pretty much all the steel we’ve used on the renovations has been from Edcon Steel, and it’s a very steel heavy project!” Martin says. “There’s the structural steel, the decks we made out of steel and there’s steelwork in the roofing design.”

For such a mammoth project, it helps to have people assisting you along the way.

“The team at the Edcon Brookvale store have always been really good, really handy and helpful,” Martin says. “They’ve just been great.”

The project

The major renovation features a number of impressive features, including an architectural steel and timber staircase. But arguably the most striking feature is the large, motorised servery window, which – at 3.6m long – was too big for retail suppliers.

“The only way we could solve the problem was to build it ourselves,” Martin says.

“We weren’t even sure it would work, so we thought we’d just give it a go and see what happened,” Martin says.

Due to the sheer size of the window, Martin selected stainless steel rather than aluminium, due to its strength.

Stainless steel was also suitable as Martin wanted low maintenance steel that didn’t need a powder coat. It also matched the galvanised steel look used throughout the renovation.

From developing the electrical mechanism that would open the window, to prototyping complicated lever systems that would fit in the ceiling space, the project was not for the faint-hearted.

Martin cut and welded the stainless steel himself, which was a painstakingly precise task.

“It was critical that the frame was as square and level as possible, otherwise the window wouldn’t open, or the glass wouldn’t fit, or it wouldn’t seal correctly,” Martin says.

The welding of the larger frame was Martin’s first TIG stainless welding project, so we’re impressed by his results!