Four sides build for Joshua's Tardis

[Thefirsttee1960]

[Thefirsttee1960]

It's taken over two years and counting, and hopefully, done by next summer.
Flat or a sloped roof?
It is a dilemma.

[Teppic]

It's taken over two years and counting, and hopefully, done by next summer.
Flat or a sloped roof?
It is a dilemma.

Sloped. It will help the rain run off better. A flat roof will have any rain sitting on it for longer and increasing the chances of rot.

[Volpone]

Yup.  You gotta have a sloped roof on an outdoor TARDIS.  In fact if I were doing it again, I'd go with the steeper slope of the actual Met box. 

[Thefirsttee1960]

Do you think rubber would help to stop it from rotting on a flat roof?

With it being flat I assume you won't see the rubber being it's black.

If I was to go for a slopped roof, I am not sure how difficult the angle cuts are going to be.
I went into the project blind with no carpentry skills.

[russellsuthern]

Looking good.
If its outside then you'll need a sloping roof and rubber paint in my opinion.
The elements can be unrelenting!
I built mine with a sloping roof and I had no prior woodworking experience.
It's not as difficult as you think.
You could try making a cardboard template first just to make sure all the angles match up just right.
Also, you can paint over rubber paint with blue paint so that's not a problem.
Good luck.
Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Regards.

Russell

[Thefirsttee1960]

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't think of rubber sealant paint, thinking about it, a template cardboard plate makes sense.

Are there any photos on the site of making cardboard telplates? I would assume the angles would change depending on how much slope you wanted.

[Volpone]

I feel like we might have a roof slope calculator laying around here somewhere.  The angles will stay the same for the panels (90 in the center and two 45s) but the lengths will change.  There's a second, implied (or real if you cut it as bracing) triangle underneath where 2 of the angles will change, depending on how steep the roof will be.  But both triangles are right triangles so you can use your trusty Pythagorean Theorem to get your calculations.  (Actually, I don't think that will get the angles, you need to know the angles if you're figuring out the bracing.  But once you know the lengths for sides A and B, you can draw them with the 90 degree corner and then just connect the other ends with side C and get your angles.)

Ugh.  I just realized the path I was taking still won't get you your roof panel dimensions without another step. 

And it looks like the roof calculator went missing when the old board crashed.  But poking around this section should help you find an answer:  https://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?board=80;sslRedirect 

Do we have anyone handy that can slap together a new roof calculator?  After the console calculator went away someone put together an Excel tool that did it. 

I apologize, the people who really put in the work and put together the board have been busy with other things so they pop in when they can but in the mean time folks like me try to keep things going as best we can but this stuff really isn't my forte anymore.  About all I do is tell people how to post pictures and to be nice to each other. 

[russellsuthern]

Angle slope calculators can be useful, but not vital.
I didn't use one.
As long as you know the height of the angle you want and the width of the top a bottom of each "wedge", then working out the length of the sloping side is easy.
As I said, a cardboard template will help you make sure you've got it right, but even then, if you've got it slightly wrong and there's some gaps, filler is your friend...

Regards.

Russell

[Volpone]

Yup.  That's the paradox I left out (because I was already rambling):  It's better to have a sloped roof that isn't perfect and needs some filler in the gaps than to have a perfect 1 piece flat roof.  I mean, I could be wrong on this, but in the dozen or so years I've been here, I've never seen anyone prove it.  Shoot, even little things like the panel trim.  You wouldn't think leaving the bevels off that would be a big deal.  But if you've seen photos of the inside of my box (I added bevels later but started out with flat trim), the water sits on anything flat until it can find its way inside and cause rot. 

[Thefirsttee1960]

Thank you both for your advice.

Russell, did you find the skeleton frame that goes inside to hold the slopes easier enough to do?

Thanks.

[russellsuthern]

Hi.
Yes, much easier than I had originally anticipated.
I'm trying to put a link to my build diary but my ipad isn't playing ball.
If you go to "Russell's hudolin Tardis" in the build diaries, then go to page 8, it will show you the process I used.
Hope it helps.

Cheers
Russell

[Volpone]

Here you go*:  Russell's TARDIS-Page 8

Boy, that takes me back a bit. 

[EDIT:  Interesting!  I hadn't realized you had a flat subroof underneath your sloped roof.  Now I must consider the pros and cons of this.  (I can't even remember how I built my roof but it was all stacked together.  In fact, since I didn't have a working signal lamp at the time, I didn't even have a hole at the top for wiring.  The theory was that it would help keep moisture out.  Boy was I wrong on that.)]

*I'll be a boring moderator for a moment and remind people that it is poor form to jump into someone's thread and say "You think that's nice?  Look at MY project," but in this case the thread starter is specifically asking for build advice from another poster, who is sharing an example of how he solved the problem in question.  I only bring this up in case someone says "Hey! You always scold me when I do this and now you're helping someone else do it." 

[russellsuthern]

Takes me back too!
Can you believe that was back in 2015?!!
Where did that time go?!!

Russ

[Thefirsttee1960]

Hi Russell,
I have looked at your page 8 which shows the roof.
These photos help a lot. I have decided to follow your guidelines and go for a slight slope.
Can you tell me how many inches up from the bottom of the ply sits to where the light begins.if that makes sense
. That would then give me how much slope I would have.
Thanks