Sorvan's TARDIS

[Scarfwearer]

I think MDO was not much more expensive than ordinary plywood when I built my box, but it seems to have taken a jump up in price in the last few years. As you say if the texture is thick, it won't make much difference. You can get nice sanded plywood too...

Crispin

[Sorvan]

When I went looking for plywood, the "one side good" plywood (that is one side is pine, sanded smooth with no knots) was over double the cost of quite knotty spruce (who's been a bad boy!) that I bought.

Of course, these prices will vary greatly depending on what market you're in.  It could be that the differences in prices are not as large in your area.

Colin

[Sorvan]

I know a few days ago I mentioned that I should have picked up the faster setting resin, but I think I've changed my mind. 

When I want to glue the pieces together, I:
1) mix up the batch of resin
2) paint some resin on each of the pieces that are being glued together (to hopefully let some of the resin sink into the wood)
3) mix in the filler to get it to the right consistency
4) smear the now filled resin onto one side of the joint
5) clamp together (using my hinges)
6) clean up the joints, scraping off the excess that squeezed out of the top joint, and trying to push some more into the bottom of the joint wherever I can reach.

I just timed myself today.  This process takes me just over 20 minutes in total... and the "pot life" of the slow setting hardener is <insert drum roll here> 20 to 25 minutes.

Maybe I picked the right stuff after all.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to finish the 4th edge.  I was expecting to finish it today, but between my fiancee's laptop dying and going to archery practice, there wasn't enough free time yesterday... if only I had some way to move around in time so I could get everything done...  There's something I seem to remember that could do something like that... oh yeah!  that time turner thing from Harry Potter!

Colin

[Scarfwearer]

Is this fibreglass resin you're using? I don't know much about fibreglass (I can't stand the smell or the itching) but I'm told that it gets most of its incredible strength from the layers of matting that you bury in the resin... The dalek builders use this stuff quite a bit for making those domes, but also for general attachment, like sticking those angled skirt panels together when they're made of MDF, which is somewhat similar to TARDIS roofing. Last time I built a dalek I stuck strips of thin card behind the skirt panels with wood glue to stop the filler falling through. I didn't do it with my new TARDIS roof, though, as the slopes were the last things I added, so there was no way to get inside.

Out of interest I spotted 1.125" thick plywood in Home Depot today, tongue and grooved, used for flooring.

So did you take the laptop to archery practice ?

EDIT: I've noticed that with a time machine I tend to end up with less time, not more... And you wonder why the Doctor is always in a hurry?

ANOTHER EDIT: Who's Harry Potter?

Crispin

[Sorvan]

I'm using epoxy resin.

There are actually several types of resin that people can use with fiberglass.  Basically when we (in North America) talk about fiberglass, we're usually talking about fiberglass cloth or matt that's been embedded in some sort of resin.  I believe in Europe, they talk more about GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) or GRE (Glass Reinforced Epoxy) which is a bit more accurate.

I believe GRP is more common, using a polyester resin to bind the glass.  It's cheaper, it's smellier and I understand that it doesn't bind as well to wood.  So I'm using the more expensive GRE which isn't as stinky, is an excellent glue, is more waterproof, but is also more susceptible to UV light (so I've got to paint it, not a problem).  The epoxy also can't use the fiberglass matt as it has binders that don't interact well with the epoxy.  I'm not interested in a thick coat, so I'd want to go with cloth anyway.

The epoxy is a little stinky, but nothing in comparison.  I'm wearing a respirator anyway (since I don't want to breath in any of the very fine powder that is the filler), so I can't really smell it.

When I eventually cast the windows, I'll have to use the polyester resin (that's been UV stabilized) so that they can handle being out in the sun.

If it costs lots to get the laptop fixed, I'd be tempted to bring it to the archery range as a target, but it'd make more sense to sell it for parts on eBay.  The thing is, I just bought it this year (refurbished, no warranty).  It was cheap, but I figured that it would last for a bit at least. >

Colin

[Scarfwearer]

If GRE is less smelly, that's encouraging; but how about itchiness? - That's been the other big turn-off for me. If there's a way to use these products that's not itchy or smelly I might be tempted to have a go.

I suppose an arrow would go right through it... Old meets new.

Crispin

[Sorvan]

I haven't dealt with the fiberglass cloth beyond purchasing it.  I understand that the itchiness comes from loose glass fibers floating in the air (which I would think would be more likely in sprayed applications or fiberglass mat than woven cloth).  To be honest, I don't remember being terribly itchy when I put more insulation in my attic (dealing with both fiberglass batts and blown fiberglass insulation).  I was, however, wearing gloves, a mask, and Tyvek coveralls (for example, see: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=20046&cat=1).

Spending a little money on protective equipment is always a good idea.

Various manufacturers of resin claim to have less or no smell.  It's something that you'd have to look at on a brand by brand basis.

I should make one further note about polyester resin that I didn't mention before.  From what I've read, there are two types of polyester resin - one that's for fiberglassing and one that's for casting.  The stuff used for fiberglassing doesn't harden in air, so the surface remains sticky (which is great if you want your next layer to really be part of your previous layer).  The user apparently has to add wax to the last coat so that it will cure solid.  Obviously, you don't want to use this for casting parts.  I just thought I'd mention this in case someone's reading my post and wondering why I just don't use one resin for my fiberglassing and casting needs.  Since I read about this, I now understand what happened the one time I tried to cast a part with some resin that someone gave me.  It happened when I was a kid, and I just remember it being stinky and the product being sticky.

Colin

[Sorvan]

All four plywood pieces of my roof are now epoxied together.  All the pieces line up, and there are no gaps on the top and the 1/32" gaps on the bottom side are filled with epoxy.  I appear to have achieved the elusive dream of getting my math and my cuts done correctly... so I celebrated today by making mathmatical errors and cutting wood in the wrong place! :-/

I decided to cut the pieces of plywood and lumber to make the stepped part of the roof.  Things went great until I was cutting the notches in the lumber, when I realized I was enlarging the slot in the wrong direction.  Thankfully, I was making the rise of the step too high, so in the end I just trimmed off the excess (and my roof will weigh slightly less because of it).

Next it's a matter of cleaning up the slots...

and gluing all the step pieces together before attaching them to the rest of the roof.

Colin

[Sorvan]

Today involved a lot of glue.

I started out by gluing (and screwing) the top two pieces of the stepped part of the roof together.  I'm fitting plywood pieces into notches, so I took a scrap piece of plywood to check the depth of the notch all the way along (and chiseled out all of the high spots.  I then smeared piles of glue all over the plywood bit, stuck it in the groove, and screwed it down in a few places to make sure it wouldn't move around.



Let's not fool anyone (myself included), this roof is going to be HEAVY.  I feel like I'm just going overboard, but I can't stop now!  Now that I have a massively heavy roof, I'll have to make a massively strong (heavy) everything else to hold it up!

I talked with my dad tonight.  My mom's coming to visit in February, and he said that he'll pack her suitcases full of wood for me.  Who knows what she'll be wearing when she gets here, but I'll be able to make window frames.  He's also going to send back the router he borrowed off of me.. I guess that'll be my mom's carry-on luggage. 

Colin

[Sorvan]

Well, not much building happening at my place this week.  I'd like to say that it's because Christmas is upon us and I'm just too busy.. but the reality is that I need to adjust my mitre saw to 45° which I've been putting off.  I did try for around 2 hours on Thursday, and while I managed to get it closer to 45°, I also mistakenly adjusted the 90° stop so it's now out.   I also ran out of scrap wood (it's a process of adjust a bit, cut a piece, see if I've made it better or worse, repeat), but today I bought some more.

I did have something nice happen to me yesterday though.  A package arrived for me with a piece of pebbled glass and two handles!  No, it wasn't Father Christmas arriving early, it was TimeGirl being nice to me "the cheque is in the mail" (well, that's not strictly true, but it sounds better than the electronic money transfer is in your PayPal account).


Looking at the labels on the handles made me wonder about something though:

"Liberty Hardware"... could that be American?  It looks so, but after doing a bit of poking around the web, I still can't find anything on these handles.  If anyone wants the info (and doesn't want to squint at the pictures, here's what's written on the labels:

Liberty Hardware ©2003
1710
90/115mm Dual Hole Pull
Solid Brass
P59031Q-PL-C
Solid Brass
781266331281
Made in China

Liberty Hardware ©2003
1810
110/140mm Dual Hole Pull
Solid Brass
P59038-Q-PL-C
Solid Brass
781266331359
Made in China

Colin

[Dematerialiser]

That's a great tip re: the blue primer, Colin - must remember to look for that for my build, especially as mine is an outside box.

Sounds like your build is progressing very nicely - any more photos yet?

cheers
Chris

[Sorvan]

The primer I've seen generally comes in white, but the paint/hardware store that you purchase it can tint it.  There are also primers (and paints) for "deep tint" which lets you put more colour into the mix.  Tinting the primer is a really good thing to do especially if you're using dark or vibrant colours (I painted one of the rooms in my house a vibrant blue and it took 7 coats of paint to cover the white primer - I wish I'd gotten some tinted primer for that).   I just happened to luck out here with finding the right stuff at a used building supply place.

I suppose I could snap some more pictures of my roof.  Maybe later tonight.

Colin

[Sorvan]

So I went downstairs and snapped some more pictures.  Upon returning to my computer, I found a picture that I had taken a while ago.  When I talked about trimming off the excess bits of plywood that hung over the steps, this is what I did:


And now to the pictures I just took, here's a picture looking at the inside of the roof:

And here are two of the outside:




I think that's about it for my roof for now.  I'd like to apply the fiberglass next, but I don't think that'll happen until it gets warmer and I can do it outside.  I suppose I could build the housing for the lamp, but I don't want to attach it until I've done the fiberglass.

The next thing for me to do is set my router up and work on the windows.

Colin

[Dematerialiser]

Looks fanstastic Colin - are you planning to take photos of the fibreglassing process? I'm intruiged about how that works.

And thanks for the extra info on tinting the primer, I'm hoping I can find the same service (or pre-tinted product) in the UK. Of course, at the speed my build is going lately it'll be many moons before I have to worry about painting.. 

cheers
Chris

[cyberleader1991]

I second that, and please take pics of the products you are using and describe how to prepare them... shows you how much I know 

Cheers Tom