The bevels are good thinking.  That said, with the nested tiers, are you planning to do any flashing?

The fit is pretty tight Volpone, paint should seal it. 

Speaking of which, more priming of the new parts, urghh!

Hey Volpone, where do you mean the flashing should go with a nested tier roof?

Hmmm...I don't know.  I just get very paranoid about water intrusion from past experience.  I guess what a person would have to do is kind of the way they do it with chimney flashing--cut a horizontal groove in the vertical part of the stack and drive the flashing into the groove. 

Well, the good thing is you don't need to solve every problem right away--especially ones that might not even be problems.  You've done a really good job waterproofing your wood and providing ventilation.  My TARDIS has leaked for years and years and it continues to stand.  It just bothers my OCD tendencies when I've spent so much effort on trying to make it waterproof, only to see damp timber every time it rains. 

Anyway, I forget, were you going to fiberglass the roof once you got it up?  That would make flashing a moot point.  No way for water to get through a skin of glass fiber reinforced resin. 

I think I'd be smart to fibreglass it since it's only going up once. I'll see how lucky I am getting my hip angles cut flush. If it's super tight, I may be OK. The real trick will be getting tier three and the roof on once tiers 1 and two are up. But I'm playing with an idea of setting a sawhorse up on the high ground and pushing the full roof along planks resting on the horse and the sign box and get it up once. Makes doing the gap stopping at the column Ls harder. I'll glue up T2 to T1 tomorrow and start cutting T3 and see how it fits.

We went to the garden centre today and I'm fried. But I did get two unearthly succulents for a TARDIS edge planting. The landscaping part is going to be fun.

And, as any of the outdoor builders will tell you (even if some of us fail to practice what we preach) regular maintenance and inspections are key for outdoor TARDISes.  Because if built right, they hold up to the elements.  Until they don't.  And a shot of caulk here and a touch of paint there is far cheaper and easier than having to do extensive repairs.  "A stitch in time..." 

I'm mad keen on the 34 minute animation called The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse on Apple TV. One line in it: "Asking for help doesn't mean you are weak. It means you refuse to give up."

Rehanging doors using butt hinges opening inward rather than the good idea of the two-way in-and-out opening cabinet hinges, which already started to bend and rust, I realised how hit and miss door hanging can be. Frustrating!

So I used that word: Help! And Susie came to my aid to hold them in place while I got them screwed in. Two heads and four hands are better than being stubbornly unsuccessful.

Yes, TARDIS  doors are meant to open inward, however impractical that is if this were a shed. It's not. It's a time ship.

This also lifted the doors around 7 mm as they were catching the floor when open.

I also sanded the putty, re-primed the sanded corners and put in five screws per side, completing Tier 1 and 2 of the roof joining.

Yes I did catch that the middle hinges were at different heights. Fixed. Getting ready to get the rest of the roof and lamp done.

First day back on the table saw in far too long. I love that tool. I cut my bevel for Tier three of the roof as well as an inset notch to receive the bottom lip of the pyramid ply. All at 15 degrees rather than the low 11 or 12 most plans use. I saw a few members say they wished they went to 15 so I'm doing it. I have a big lamp block for my 6" fresnel so the receiving edge of that will limit the height at slope.

The photos show the cutting order for my method. First is the end of board 19 mm on the 15 degree slope. The cut includes the saw-blade kerf. My stock is 33 mm thick. Where this cut goes doesn't have to be exact but I gave enough room for screws.

Next, the second cut is 19 mm including the kerf to remove the notch in at 15 degrees.

Third cut is to make the outer 15 degree edge bevel of Tier 3. This is set at your plywood thickness which meets the edge bevel at the same angle.

Seems to fit the ply well. Before cutting my pyramid ply, I'll check to see if I hit 15 on the nose as that angle determines the shoulder angles where the four pieces of ply join. Doesn't matter what the angle is, as long as you plug that number into the formula to derive the right shoulder angle.

Still need to 45 the Tier 3 corners and fit it to Tier 2. I wont put any roof on the TARDIS until the pyramid fits well. The notch allows for glue and screw.

My plan for cutting the shoulder angles is to allow for a parallel line outside the cut so I can use the fence as a guide. Otherwise, the saw angle would see the blade very close to the metal fence. You could clamp sacrificial wood to the fence to allow for accidental contact, but my parallel offcuts are simpler and safer.

I also used my cross-cut sled for the first time to square up the roof block better and it worked. Weird not cutting to the fence.



First end cut



Second notch removal cut on the right and the outer edge of Tier 3 bevel allowing for 12 mm ply thickness on the left as cut 3.

Yay! Roof Tier 3 cut and fit. This one will get inner blocked by screw first. Then I can glue the joins while it's out of the other tiers. The screws, one side removed, should guide it back into square and spacing. This tier needs to be easy to get off or on.

Tiers 1 and 2 are heavy enough. Tier three and the pyramid and center square added could end up stuffing my back. I need that back to clean out my Mom's old home for sale. No injuries or covid allowed.

But I vow to get this box closed in before I do that work.

I had a surprise when the drop saw wouldn't go all the way through the second piece at 45 degrees. What I found was that this and another board were longer than the other two and the head of the saw was butting the longer off-cut due to the low angle. Trimmed it first and it worked fine. But I was waiting for the blade to hit the metal base and shrapnel my face.

It's actually good being paranoid around the woodshop. Makes you stop, unplug, and work it out.

Ordered one of these hole cutters which has a maximum hole size of 20.3 cm. Perfect to get the holes cut in a corflute wall for plastic dish roundel insets. See how it goes. Corflute is a nightmare to cut. This cutter has a shield to keep dust being liberated.

Daylight savings kicked in the night before last and the humans didn't know, just the dog! Good boy K9! That's what happens when you play in the vortex.



Meanwhile, I finished the lamp base with a handhole in the middle by holesaw, and the roof summit square with a matching hole, a 15 degree edge slope to take the top of the roof pieces and a square 1 cm smaller each side so that the lamp base overhangs and sheds water down the slope and not into the joins.

Gotta prime these and Tier 3 but it's already 3 PM, or is that 4 PM. Calling the winter darkness earlier is a stupid idea, especially for dogs who seem to want their dinner early.

Thought I'd drop you guys a line. Bit of a gap since last TARDISing; a friend visiting for a week, planning for a trip during May and even a health scare in hospital. I got serious vertigo which they thought could be a stroke so I had CT and MRI scans which showed no stroke. They did find crusty micro-arteries but that didn't cause my spin. Dimensional stabiliser malfunction, I think. Anyway, feeling better now and I'll soon regenerate into a skinny Doctor and let this fat one go.

But I've gotten back onto the job, painstakingly marking out my roof plywood for the cuts. I'm going to try a cm parallel line cut with the plunge saw, between cross supports on my horse setup. That lets the blade miss the big wood between the horses and keeps the ply stable while cutting.

The reason for the cm overcut is so I can run the smaller four pieces along the table saw fence, allowing for the cut angle of the blade.

Getting exact widths for the base of the triangles was a real pain. I want a perfect 1116 mm on each to assure a good fit on the tiers and a tight join of the 10.5 degree shoulders. I ended up using a plastic sewing tape ruler with my midpoint taped to the ply and the two outside measures followed. Better than a retractable carpentry steel tape measure due to the hook end.

I marked my top cuts based on the width of the centre block edge. I think 'this is the way', to borrow from Mandalorian.

I'll cut tomorrow when the daylight is better.

I'm taking repeat advice and will fibreglass the roof before painting. Watched some good videos, using the fluffy edged glass cloth over the joints and then the neater glass cloth over the planes and over the fluffy stuff. Sounds like a fumey job but I'll regret it if I don't do it. May have to wait til June when I get back. Bummer.



The gap underneath for a shallow drop saw cut.



Markup lines for dropsaw parallel cut and table saw angle cut.



Markup for top cuts to attach to summit square block.



Hungry drop saw on its track.

Those cuts actually worked well but I've run into the autumnal dusk so will do the top of triangle cross cuts tomorrow and the the table saw angles. The 10.5 degree shoulder angles and 15 degree top angle will differ for other base widths and roof slopes. Use https://www.blocklayer.com/pyramid-calculator to determine your particular roof.

Most of the day in town, I picked up my fibreglass cloth, resin and hardener, a resin roller, some powdered filler additive and a cheap squeegee for the roof glassing. Sounds easy enough. But, man, it wasn't cheap. Over $500 for all that, so this better be one super roof.

A baby step but the tops of the triangles are cut and the edges all sanded to the trim lines for table saw angles tomorrow.

This was always a block for me and will be until I see it fits tight. Likewise drilling through the lamp pieces to get the rods through. But face the fear and do it anyway.

I then mowed the lawns.