Saturday, September 30, 2006

Cupola Framing Starts

Here's a section view of the cupola's vertical framing members. Each one consists of two lengths of pressure-treated 2x4 beveled at 22 1/2 degrees then glued and stapled together.


In general, I like to take measurements from assembled workpieces. By doing so, I can always test what is rather than what ought to be. In this case, I dry-assembled the vertical framing members in place on the sill so I could find the exact distance between them. Next week I'll be making louvers that fit in the spaces between the vertical members. The outside dimensions of the louver frames will have to fit just about perfectly, so I took plenty of time getting this dry assembly just right.


One of my coworkers, Wayne, saw the framing members standing upright on the sill and wondered if I was using some kind of mental telepathy to make them stand up so straight. In fact, they're just squeezed together with a band clamp and spacer sticks. I love band clamps; when assembling frames, there's nothing better because they automatically distribute any minute error equally across all the joints. Plus, they're relatively inexpensive.

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