Thread: Surprise!

Originally Posted by NCArcher

You've got the moustache to be a 80's science show presenter.
"If I was to hit the block with this hammer....what do you think would happen? Let's try it.."

Makin’ a mess of Messel.........?

Originally Posted by NCArcher

You've got the moustache to be a 80's science show presenter.
"If I was to hit the block with this hammer....what do you think would happen? Let's try it.."

Which one??

Nutty Professor.jpgalbert einstein.jpgjulius sumner miller.jpgThe_Professor.png

I was kinda thinking of these guys but I could have sworn Prof Julius had a mo.....'why is it so..'

Curiosity.png

Probably his eyebrows encroaching on his top lip at times gave you that impression.

I’m a great practitioner of the old adage that you can never have too many clamps and so it is unusual that I didn’t have the right clamp for the job? Given the angles involved AND the length of the rails, clamping the joint of the rails to the gate-ends proved a bit of a problem! I solved it by making a ‘yoke’ that clamps around the rails and provides a clamping surface to hold the joint together. I wish I’d thunk of it earlier......

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“Where there’s a will Fletty there’s a way”

I have been the victim of one of those annoying errors that sneaks up on you rather than arriving with a bang. The threaded rod and epoxy joints are all complete and the epoxy has set BUT, in the plan view, the ends and rails have formed a parallelogram rather than rectangle !

Even though it’s ‘only’ offset by about 20mm, it is conspicuous because the curved ends of the table top are no longer parallel, nor align, with the curves on the gate-ends. It will be easy enough to superficially correct it by re-routing the ends of the table top, but I will always know it is there!

I lifted the assembled frame for the first time and the doctor says I will be alright in a week or 2..........?

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A ratchet strap from corner to corner applying a small amount of pressure and a bit of heat applied to the joints with a heat gun may realign it. Two heat guns maybe. One on each end. I have one.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

A ratchet strap from corner to corner applying a small amount of pressure and a bit of heat applied to the joints with a heat gun may realign it. Two heat guns maybe. One on each end. I have one.

Strange you should say that because I’m sitting here on a misty, cold and wet deck thinking;

• but what if I re-rout the table top ends AND IT SPRINGS BACK
• when the table top is on, the space between the rails is well hidden
• the design AND WEIGHT of the table make it prone to racking loads

SO

• why don’t I fix both problems and fit turnbuckled diagonal bracing wires between the rails !

Bunnies here I come!
(except I have to wait for Mrs Fletty to come back with my car?)

Originally Posted by fletty

.....why don’t I fix both problems and fit turnbuckled diagonal bracing wires between the rails !....

Sounds like an old injuneer thinking.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Sounds like an old injuneer thinking.....

Cheers,

I used to be a injuneer once but now I can’t even spull it?

OK, it’s fixed but.........

Like most problems that keep one awake at night, the solution to the alignment problem proved to be disturbingly simple. I bought stainless steel cable, turnbuckles, eyebolts etc to use as the permanent solution but started with NCArchers ratchet strap suggestion. I installed the eyebolts but first fitted a ratchet strap and started to tension it....

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..... the misalignment disappeared with a few cranks of the ratchet ...... AND STAYED THERE!
I now have a dilemma. It seems that I may not need the permanent solution of the adjustable diagonal cross braces and that the bracing provided by the tabletop Z clips may be enough...

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The tabletop now fits as intended but does this actually mean that I have broken the the joints? I am surprised that the epoxied, threaded steel rod joints, had enough ‘spring’ or flexibility to allow the return?
I will probably still fit the bracing in case I have compromised the joints.

Originally Posted by fletty

I will probably still fit the bracing in case I have compromised the joints.

Yeah I would, if for no other reason than to control what varying relative humidity might do to it (esp if the joints are compromised).

Originally Posted by fletty

the misalignment disappeared with a few cranks of the ratchet ...... AND STAYED THERE!
I now have a dilemma. It seems that I may not need the permanent solution of the adjustable diagonal cross braces and that the bracing provided by the tabletop Z clips may be enough...

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It's difficult to see how the movement might have been caused by humidity, especially in long grain and in such a short time. You have some pretty powerful leverage moments at play in the existing rectangle and it wouldn't need much misalignment over that distance to have inadvertently created inbuilt stresses during assembly. I think stabilizing with compression members rather than tension might prove better in the longer term as well as being more sympathetic to the design even though they're out of sight. Of course, both will work.

mick