Category: Build Progress

 Today, the first major welding task was done, putting together the 9 pieces of steel framework that will fix the two long side of the box shaped superstructure (the steel I beam pieces) to prevent lateral twisting, as well as providing a fixing for the ridge beam right at the top of the roof that holds the glazing units, plus a fixing point for the ceiling in the upper floor rooms.

Beam-restraint-diagram

In the morning the plates and flanges were welded to the upright parts using a jig so measurements only need to be done once. Then after lunch the parts were assembled and welded into the complete restraint on another jig.

Beam-Restraint-welded-on-jig

Beam-restraint-x-9

On Monday, these 9 cross pieces will be cleaned and primed so that they will survive a relatively short time being exposed to the weather and prevent rust etc.

 This afternoon, more holes were drilled into the I beams, this time, the webbing received dozens of 5mm holes for wood screws to hold more timber in place.

The I beams need turning over and these long chunky steel objects, especially the bigger ones, are very heavy indeed and we couldn’t do it without a handy tool that effectively acts as an extended lever!

Tomorrow, we will work in the workshop as the weather forecast is for heavy rain all day!!

 The task continues to prepare all the steel pieces ready for assembly. Today, the big I beams sitting outside, got dozens and dozens of small 5mm holes put into the top flat flange. This will provide the ability to use ordinary wood screws to hold in place the timber planks that will act as an anchorage for nailing the rafters up.

Small-holes-in-top-flange-of-beams-1

Small-holes-in-top-flange-of-beams-2

 This afternoon, the task of drilling all the bigger holes (13mm in diameter) continued and was finished today, using the hired “mag drill” machine with its core drill bit.

Drilling-both-the-top-plate-of-the-leg-and-the-beam

The core drill bit is actually a circular line of teeth, set in two rows, one slightly lower than the other. Also there is a central spring loaded spike up the middle of the core which is used to exactly position the drill!

Plus also, it is where the oil/water mixture comes down and lubricates and cools the cutting action – very clever design!

But this is not the end of the drilling operations as we still have plenty more holes to do, with lots of 5mm ones to fix the wood parts into place, ready for the nailing the rafters etc. when the roof is constructed.

 Today, drilling and cutting of steel pieces continues with the 9 pieces which tie the front and back beams together.. These are about 2.6m long 50mm square tubes with two holes drilled at each end and the tops of the boxes sliced off to exposed the drilled holes.

Beam Tie Drilled and sliced

To make it easier to make the 9 pieces a jig is made to allow the same actions to be repeated over and over again with consistent results.

The work continued today in preparing all the pieces of steel work, cutting some to the correct sizes, some being drilled with bolt holes and screw holes.

There are hundreds of pieces, some 3mm thick, all the way up to 10mm thick plates, all needing some work on them.

It is a matter of being accurate and taking  it slowly but surely to get all the pieces ready for assembly later on.

Today, now that the steel has all arrived, all cross checked against original order list, the major task of preparing the pieces and practicing the various welds and drilling tasks is being done.

We took one of spare pieces of hollow tube (the 160mm by 80mm size) and a piece of a 10mm plate and welded it on the bottom end of the leg, and then sliced away a small section through the weld to inspect how well (or badly) it went, as you can see in the picture below, it looks very good.

Test-weld-of-leg-plate-join-2

Test-weld-of-leg-plate-join-Weld-Detail-1

Also, the plasma cutter seems to cut the 10mm thick plate fairly easily so this means we can cut the stock size plates to the more desired sizes to fit more neatly on the framework. It is looking all good so far!