JamesF's observatory build

[Astrokev]

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I just had a quick search on Amazon for brushes I can use for the EPDM contact adhesive and throw away.  I found a set of 3/4", 1", 1.5", 2" and 3" brushes for £1.85 including delivery!  How is that even possible?

James

?. Can't complain there!

freezing here too and raining most of the afternoon. Decided to just stay in the house until it stops - probably Monday I reckon. Hopefully it'll start to warm up next week, but I'm worried I won't be able to get the adhesive on fir quite a while.

[Davey-T]

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I just had a quick search on Amazon for brushes I can use for the EPDM contact adhesive and throw away.  I found a set of 3/4", 1", 1.5", 2" and 3" brushes for £1.85 including delivery!  How is that even possible?

James

You may end up with a hairy roof and bare brushes 

Those little foam rollers work well for smoothing it out after larruping it on with a brush.

Dave

[Astrokev]

1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

You may end up with a hairy roof and bare brushes 

Those little foam rollers work well for smoothing it out after larruping it on with a brush.

Dave

I gave up trying to use a roller when I did the warm room and just used a brush (which I then binned). It's just so damn sticky! (Mind you I did do the warm room in summer and it was baking. The adhesive was drying almost before it left the brush). 

[Davey-T]

2 minutes ago, Astrokev said:

I gave up trying to use a roller when I did the warm room and just used a brush (which I then binned). It's just so damn sticky! (Mind you I did do the warm room in summer and it was baking. The adhesive was drying almost before it left the brush). 

Damn weather, it's either too hot or too cold, I once worked for a kitchen company that supplied white carcasses with every kitchen, a gallon of Evostick and sheets of laminate to stick on all the sides that showed, a nightmare in summer and winter, the only plus side was getting high on the fumes 

Dave

[JamesF]

I bought a few sets of the brushes.  I can use them when I paint the frame with Hammerite as well.  I think I have enough rollers at the moment.

James

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I won't say slave labour, but the living standards are usually lower, and they are machine made in the thousands, 24x7 excluding 'public' holidays.....

[Gina]

Only fit for single use and throw away anyway!  It's pointless buying decent brushes for that task - a few stray hairs won't matter.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Gina

[iapa]

10 hours ago, JamesF said:

Ooooh, but it's cold out there today.  Mostly due to our more common wet and warm south-westerly winds switching around to the north and dragging air down from the Arctic by the looks of it.  Out of the wind it's probably not that bad, but we have absolutely no shelter from that direction.  I've just come inside to get my hands warm again and have that tingly-fingered feeling

There's little I can do given the temperature (and the forecast of rain for this afternoon).  I've removed all the clamps and screwed down the bits of roof rail that I couldn't do last weekend, but other than cutting and fitting the last 300mm sections that may well be it for the weekend.

James

 

Dunno what you mean by cold, but we had 22mph winds with a 5C temp at the time you posted.

[JamesF]

It's taken a while, but my OSB is allegedly going to arrive tomorrow.  I'll believe it when I see it.  It's very tempting as the forecast is for a relatively warm and sunny day to take some time off tomorrow and get the roof frame painted so I can get the OSB in place.

James

[MCinAZ]

4 hours ago, JamesF said:

It's taken a while, but my OSB is allegedly going to arrive tomorrow.  I'll believe it when I see it.  It's very tempting as the forecast is for a relatively warm and sunny day to take some time off tomorrow and get the roof frame painted so I can get the OSB in place.

  How do you attach the OSB to the roof frame? Will you be using self-tapping screws driven in from the top, screws coming through holes in the framing from the bottom, or something else entirely?

[JamesF]

2 hours ago, MCinAZ said:

  How do you attach the OSB to the roof frame? Will you be using self-tapping screws driven in from the top, screws coming through holes in the framing from the bottom, or something else entirely?

Close to the first option :)  I have some countersunk screws on order that are self-tapping, but also self-drilling so there's no need for a pilot hole as would be required for a normal self-tapping screw.  It's a bit of an experiment as I've never tried them before, but our builder has used them for attaching timber to box-section steel lintels so I can't see why they wouldn't be suitable for this.

James

[Davey-T]

2 hours ago, JamesF said:

It's a bit of an experiment as I've never tried them before, but our builder has used them for attaching timber to box-section steel lintels so I can't see why they wouldn't be suitable for this.

What works really well for those is a battery powered impact driver drill, you need decent quality self drills though or they just snap off.

Don't know how thick the steel is but you may need a pilot hole, best experiment on an off cut.

Dave

Edited November 1, 2018 by Davey-T

[JamesF]

I think everything I need to get the top of the rolling roof sorted is now here.  Unfortunately however, work interfered with real life today and I didn't get the chance to go out and paint the frame so I'm not sure how far I'll get this weekend.  Rain is forecast from about 9pm tomorrow until past dark o'clock on Sunday, so time looks like it will probably be quite limited.

I tested one of the screws on a bit of scrap from making the frame.  No pilot hole, and not really even any significant pressure required...

Hopefully that will do the job.

James

[Dr_Ju_ju]

…. and the OSB turned up ??

[JamesF]

It did indeed.  At long last.  They were most apologetic.

James

[Stub Mandrel]

A two by six foot sheet of OSB has appeared on our dining table with no explanation.

I was beginning to think it was yours, James.

[JamesF]

22 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

A two by six foot sheet of OSB has appeared on our dining table with no explanation.

I was beginning to think it was yours, James.

I was starting to wonder if there was a national shortage of OSB or something

James

[Alan White]

3 hours ago, JamesF said:

I was starting to wonder if there was a national shortage of OSB or something

James

No, just in Wiveliscombe-ish! and that has now ended too.

[JamesF]

I have about two thirds of the painting done, but whilst the forecast is not for rain until after dark today the sky has looked very heavy and ominous all morning.  I came in for lunch and when I went back out there was a heavy drizzle that has made the remaining bare metal too wet to paint

If the drizzle stops there might be sufficient breeze to dry the steel, but I'm not hopeful at this point.  Time to find some other jobs to do and hope the forecast for tomorrow is unnecessarily pessimistic.

James

[Gina]

Wet here too.  Started just after I got back from shopping at our local farm shop.

[JamesF]

At the moment the forecast for tomorrow is definitely improving.  Even this evening has been nowhere near as bad as forecast.  Good job I warned my daughter that if the weather was dry then I wouldn't be putting her shelves up

James

[JamesF]

Ok, so perhaps today's forecast wasn't wrong   There was drizzle all morning and it is now raining heavily.  No further progress this weekend.

James

[Gina]

Been raining quite heavily all day here in spite of the local forecast saying it would rain later.  Having the Met Office only 20 miles away has done nothing - they still don't look out of the window!!

[Guest]

On 02/11/2018 at 17:29, JamesF said:

I think everything I need to get the top of the rolling roof sorted is now here.  Unfortunately however, work interfered with real life today and I didn't get the chance to go out and paint the frame so I'm not sure how far I'll get this weekend.  Rain is forecast from about 9pm tomorrow until past dark o'clock on Sunday, so time looks like it will probably be quite limited.

I tested one of the screws on a bit of scrap from making the frame.  No pilot hole, and not really even any significant pressure required...

Hopefully that will do the job.

James

These self tappers look the business James, impressive. I would be testing their torque strength before staring the job, screwing some through your boarding into the steel box section and testing what setting on you drill drives them into a flush seating level before snapping if they snap at all ? ?? but then you're probably way ahead on this idea ?

Edited November 4, 2018 by Guest

[Astrokev]

2 hours ago, Gina said:

Been raining quite heavily all day here in spite of the local forecast saying it would rain later.  Having the Met Office only 20 miles away has done nothing - they still don't look out of the window!!

Don't wish to rub it in but we've been blessed with 2 dry days in a row over here in the east ?  Don't feel like I've maximised the opportunity though