Gina's Observatory - The Build

[Gina]

I'm wondering whether to paint the OSB with wood preserver. Would it work and would it affect either EPDM membrane or the adhesive used to glue it on? I would imagine it was alright if allowed to dry well before covering.

[Freff]

Give the supplier a quick ring Gina, better to be sure.

[Gina]

Give the supplier a quick ring Gina, better to be sure.

Good idea Tony - I'll do that

[Gina]

Some progress today :-

1. More green wood preserver applied to framework timbers and roll off running rails.

2. Some of the floorboards' ends soaked in clear preserver.

3. Some floorboards painted with green preserver on one side and left to dry.

4. Noggins and joists that had been treated put in place.

5. Sorting out timber for edges of warm room roof.

[Aoraki]

We both made some progress today then, good news all round.

[Gina]

Yes

A bit more done today. Called a halt now - turned cold as well as windy! Not pleasant outdoors any more. Done some floorboard painting in the big shed but the vapours from the wood preserver get too much after a while. Could do with a fume cabinet or ruddy great stink extractor. Or a respirator! Been doing a lot of the floorboard wood preserver outdoors - I don't think the shed is suitable really.

So progress today :-

1. Applied wood preserver to a number of floorboards.

2. Cut more noggins and applied wood preserver.

3. Fixed some noggins in place with 4" no.10 wood screws.

No photos today - nothing new really.

[Freff]

It's getting rough here again today with high winds and rain.

My main concern was getting the shiplap on as soon as I could. I knew once that was on I could get in out of the wind and finish off the floor and internal framing etc.

I'm still concerned that the roof is still not secure. I'm waiting on my brother to get the steel profile from work, and as it's free I can't pressurise him. His work load has to come first.

I have cut the black poly pipe to run the control cables under the floor, but have mislaid the weld solvent to join them. I was hoping to lay the floor today but that now is on hold until tomorrow.

[fwm891]

Freff - leave the joints un bonded until you get the cables through, If you have any right angles it can be difficult to get cables to worm around corners even if you feed a string/light rope puller through first.

Been there! Its easy enough to reconnect the joints after you have your cables where you need them. If its a straight run then its no problem.

[Gina]

It's getting rough here again today with high winds and rain.

I see No rain here yet - but you're not far away as the crow flies..

My main concern was getting the shiplap on as soon as I could. I knew once that was on I could get in out of the wind and finish off the floor and internal framing etc.

Yes, good thinking. I'm expecting to order my shiplap in the next day or two.

I'm still concerned that the roof is still not secure. I'm waiting on my brother to get the steel profile from work, and as it's free I can't pressurise him. His work load has to come first.

Ah yes. I've got mine tied down with rope! Well, the framework, what there is of it

I have cut the black poly pipe to run the control cables under the floor, but have mislaid the weld solvent to join them. I was hoping to lay the floor today but that now is on hold until tomorrow.

My pipe is white and I'm using push fit with the rubber seals. It's cut to length but not fitted ATM. Going to thread a pull string through it before putting the elbows on the ends and fitting it into the floor.

I have several floorboards ready to lay again once the wood preserver has dried off. Tomorrow if the weather permits. Still some waiting for the second side to be done and even still some waiting for doing the first side. They've all had their ends dunked now.

Similarly for the noggins but a bit further ahead. The obsy noggins are finished and I'm onto the warm room floor. All ends done and now want the sides done and screwed into place.

I'm using 3x2 noggins under the warm room set level with the bottom edge of the joists so that I can fit the insulation board on top of the noggins. That'll save some cutting of the polystyrene. I'll only need to cut it lengthways to fit between the joists. (Insulation sheet is 8'x4'x2" ie. 2440x1220x50mm). So the noggins will serve to hold the insulation as well as stabilising the joists.

[Freff]

Freff - leave the joints un bonded until you get the cables through, If you have any right angles it can be difficult to get cables to worm around corners even if you feed a string/light rope puller through first.

Been there! Its easy enough to reconnect the joints after you have your cables where you need them. If its a straight run then its no problem.

Thanks for the tip Francis. I'm using long radius bends rather than 90° elbows so I don't envisage any problems. I have had a trial run pulling cable through and it feels ok.

[Gina]

Thanks for the tip Francis. I'm using long radius bends rather than 90° elbows so I don't envisage any problems. I have had a trial run pulling cable through and it feels ok.

Yes, I searched around for easy bends rather than sharp elbows - got them from Screwfix in the end. Couldn't find them on any of the other usual web sites. 40mm plastic waste pipe from Homebase locally and approx 90 degree bends from Screwfix with other items.

[pritc]

Going to thread a pull string through it before putting the elbows on the ends and fitting it into the floor.

I would have at least 3 lengths of pull string through your pipe.

Nothing worse than to forget to attach a new pull string when you pull some cable's through....

A YEAR after my build and I have just pulled two new cables through mine (1 x ST4/1 xUSB cable)

And I still have two pull strings just in case I need to add more.

Wayne

[Freff]

I would have at least 3 lengths of pull string through your pipe.

Nothing worse than to forget to attach a new pull string when you pull some cable's through....

A YEAR after my build and I have just pulled two new cables through mine (1 x ST4/1 xUSB cable)

And I still have two pull strings just in case I need to add more.

Wayne

Another good tip Wayne.

I bought one of these cable pullers many years ago when I rewired my house. ELECTRICIANS TOOLBOX CABLE ACCESS KIT DRAW ROD TOOL SET | eBay

I tried it out on 1 1/4" pipe with 90° bends with no trouble, and I'm using 40mm so I should be OK if I get into trouble.

[pritc]

Another good tip Wayne.

I bought one of these cable pullers many years ago when I rewired my house. ELECTRICIANS TOOLBOX CABLE ACCESS KIT DRAW ROD TOOL SET | eBay

I tried it out on 1 1/4" pipe with 90° bends with no trouble, and I'm using 40mm so I should be OK if I get into trouble.

I just use nylon washing line.....

Wayne

[Gina]

Another good tip Wayne.

I bought one of these cable pullers many years ago when I rewired my house. ELECTRICIANS TOOLBOX CABLE ACCESS KIT DRAW ROD TOOL SET | eBay

I tried it out on 1 1/4" pipe with 90° bends with no trouble, and I'm using 40mm so I should be OK if I get into trouble.

I have two sets of those - well one and a half actually, have broken some sections and the ends have come off. Very useful for pulling cables through.

Putting several puller strings through the pipe is a good idea - sometimes the cable becomes detached from the string. Another good idea IMO is to pull two strings through with an existing string before pulling a cable through. That way you maintain the number of strings going through the pipe.

[Gina]

Dry but very windy here today. Fairly mild but the wind makes it feel cold! I'm hoping I can finish off the under floor stuff today. Fed up with climbing over joists etc! Mind you, it doesn't feel quite so cold when you're working almost underground

[pritc]

Yes, I searched around for easy bends rather than sharp elbows - got them from Screwfix in the end. Couldn't find them on any of the other usual web sites. 40mm plastic waste pipe from Homebase locally and approx 90 degree bends from Screwfix with other items.

I used 43mm waste pipe from Wickes.

Cables so far:

4 x USB cable A to A ends

1 x USB cable A to B ends

1 x serial cable

1 x parallel cable

1 x ST4 cable

Thinking about a getting a Hitec DCFocus module...

So another cable required....

Wayne

[Gina]

I used 43mm waste pipe from Wickes.

Cables so far:

4 x USB cable A to A ends

1 x USB cable A to B ends

1 x serial cable

1 x parallel cable

1 x ST4 cable

Thinking about a getting a Hitec DCFocus module...

So another cable required....

Wayne

WOW!!! Is your pipe beginning to get a bit full up?? Maybe the mini gutter down pie and bends would be better

[pritc]

WOW!!! Is your pipe beginning to get a bit full up?? Maybe the mini gutter down pie and bends would be better

Still got room....but it is getting tight.

Cables are snagging now.

When I pulled the last set of cables through,I had to hold the already installed cables to stop them being pulled back in.....

After the DC focus control cable goes in.

That will be all I require.(I hope )

Wayne

[yesyes]

Wayne, wouldn't it make sense to install a USB hub or 2 on the pier end instead of running so many separate USB cables? Or is there a good reason to do it this way?

[pritc]

Wayne, wouldn't it make sense to install a USB hub or 2 on the pier end instead of running so many separate USB cables? Or is there a good reason to do it this way?

I have never had experience using a USB hub.

Never needed to......

Might be a solution.

How does it work??

Does it connect several devices to one usb cable with no conflict??

Wayne

[Gina]

I have never had experience using a USB hub.

Never needed to......

Might be a solution.

How does it work??

Does it connect several devices to one usb cable with no conflict??

Wayne

Precisely that I've use several hubs both powered and unpowered with no problems. If your devices use little power from the USB (or are separately powered) then an unpowered hub is fine. Otherwise you can get powered hubs that use a mains PSU in a plug and a low voltage lead and plug to the hub.

[yesyes]

That's how it works, yes. One cable from the PC to the USB hub. Then you can connect many devices to that hub (depending on how many output ports the hub has). There is usually no conflicts but all devices will share the speed between PC and hub. The max speed on USB 2.0 is 480Mbit/s so that should be plenty.

If you use several USB powered devices (i.e. USB devices that don't have a separate power supply) you would want to use a powered USB hub. Otherwise all devices would nee to share the max 500mA supplied by the PC USB port.

[Gina]

You can also get USB to Serial adapters and I think, USB to Parallel, but not sure of the latter, I've never needed one. USB to serial is used with the "yesyes" Philips SPC900NC webcam LX mod, together with a USB hub to control the webcam using just the one USB cable.

[Gina]

Got a few floorboards down in the obsy - up to the pier so far. Came in to warm up and it had started to drizzle. It's stopped now so I'll be out again shortly.