Roll off roof design... viable or not ?

[LaVey]

The wife doesnt want a static frame in the garden off the shed to support the roll off roof for the new shed/obsy.. so i designed something and made a quick animation to show one of the local chippies when he comes back off holiday next week... thought i'd air it here for some comments....

would this work?

[barkis]

Of course it will work. All that's required, is rigidity where it is necessary, and the ground legs move straight ahead, and don't deviate.

It's a good design.

Ron.

[Parallax]

That's how I constructed mine (although the bracing isn't as sturdy as yours!).

You will need cross bracing at the front as well as the sides.

Below is a view of mine.

Steve

[Mick.G.]

That's a great anim of the obs'y LaVey.

I think Parallax has answerd your question.(To die for, envy)

Mick.G.

[LaVey]

Think I may of overdone the bracing... was worried that the front legs wouldn't be strong enough for the weight of the roof.. but that looks excellet steve, exactly what I'm trying to acheive - back to the drawing board to tidy up the model I think - the roof needs to encompass the framework as you have done.

Any chance you could post a couple of pics of your roof framework/slider mechanism ?

Cheers

Chris

[Psychobilly]

Slick anim Chris

[Helen]

From my experience I'd say keep the actual roof as lightweight as possible but don't skimp on the bracing. Wood is a natural material (and in my case I think it has a life of its own as it seems to be morphing shape!) and so may change as it dries out, settles etc. If you make it as rigid as possible that should minimise the consequences of shape changes! Oh and another lesson, don't make our tolerances very small because of the above - put extra clearance in, you can always add cover for gaps once its all settled (which is easier than chipping bits off!).

Helen

[Parallax]

Chris,

Unfortunately I didn't take many pics, and those that I did aren't very good, but I will try and help.

The first pic shows the runners. This is looking from front to back with the roof open. The piece of angle is screwed to a length of 4x2 which runs the entire length of the roof (I have arrowed this in pic 2). The rear castor is screwed to the roof, as is the 4x2 (otherwise the castor would pop through the roof!). This castor runs on the shed frame. With hindsight I should have fitted a piece of angle here also.

If you are building from scratch (as opposed to modifying an existing shed) then there are a couple of things to note:

1. Use beafier wall bearers than normal - most of the rigidity of a shed comes from having the roof attached to the walls. In our case the roof isn't attached of course.

2. The door of a normal shed extends into the apex. Therefore you wil have to have a lower door.

I hope that helps, and if you need more info then just shout.

(I used 4x2 as that was what my neighbour had lying around. You could probably get away with something less).

Steve

[Coco]

That looks great... I particularly like the last folded down Hip/Apex.. gining you maximum advantage..

Do it!...

[Lester]

Very nice design. Keep the wheel diameter as large as practical and this will make moving the roof easier than wheels of small diameter.

[Bizibilder]

The only thing I would add is that the "little wheels on the ground" really ought to have some kind of guidance or rails to run on. Without them they could cause the whole roof to twist or turn as it rolls on or off - a small stone in the way of those wheels could spell disaster! I realise the roof itself is guided but the ground wheels will have considerable "leverage" to the whole system.

Hope this helps.