Operation Top Secret Working in the Shed Without Anyone Finding Out

Varnishing the frames

Over the weekend, we were able to get into the Shed to continue work on the pavilion. And did we need it! 


So while Clara and I were sat behind a craft stall in Prestwich, a group of dedicated volunteers offered up their Saturday to the cause. From what I can gather, it was a great day. The weather was good and there was just the right number of people there to help out. 
They were able to finish coating the inside of the tubes with PVA - some of them had been missed in the first round - and make a good start on varnishing the frames. Inserts were also PVA-ed ready to be varnished. 

ooooh . . . magic

I just wish we were having as much luck with our craft fair. We were all set up but unfortunately, there was hardly anyone there (we found out later that it could have been due to a Christmas fair being held further up the road. Grr) We managed to sell a few of our off-cuts and some of my cards but it wasn't nearly as much as we had hoped. 

Sanding, Snacks and Sunshine

I was able to go and help them on Sunday and although the weather wasn't as nice as the previous day, we still got quite a lot done: all the tubes got varnished and we were able to make a good start on varnishing the inserts. We also varnished all but the un-cut frames - which were due to be done when the workshop opened on Monday morning. 

The binbags made a re-appearance as we
coated the inserts

Just chillin' in a bin . . . as you do

Icky Sticky Stuff . . .

This week has been all about the tubes

Apologises for the very late entry; we have all been so busy with the pavilion. Wednesday morning started with gluing the remainder of the tubes so that we could start varnishing that afternoon. Work went well and we were done soon after lunch so they could be left to dry.

Long days + solvent = crazy students

Meanwhile, Alex and Jamie were on the hunt for varnish. Jamie was enquiring about sponsorship from one of the suppliers but to no avail - the manager was in China. Darn. However, we managed to find a supplier in Manchester and Siobhan was able to go and collect that mid-afternoon. 

We were told that the CNC machine would be free that afternoon so Joe was working against the clock to finalise the CAD drawings to make them suitable for cutting. He and Oli were up at the CAM suite to get that sorted.

I managed to confirm the craft fair on Saturday and to build up funds, Taniya and I planned to sell cards and decorated off cuts at our hall's bar that evening.

 While we were waiting for the glue to dry, the priority was to get the back room reclaimed and ready to varnish in. This involved people clearing tables away, laying down paper and, probably most importantly, opening the large doors at the back.

Nearly there!

Our Tube Forest

We started getting ready to varnish at 4pm and we were done by 6pm. We actually finished quicker than we thought although the back room turned into an eerie – and smelly – tube forest. Donning latex gloves and some rather fetching bin bags protected our clothes and we kept the massive doors open to aerate the room slightly – thanks to Jen for making us take a 10 minute fresh air break before we got too high on the fumes.

While most went home as soon as we had finished, the few of us who stayed behind to clear up chilled out with Siobhan outside the fume-filled room and ate Subway while the room aerated for a couple of hours before the Shed closed for the night. 

All hands on deck

Some of us became very attached to our tubes. . .

Once again, another early start for the Tube Cubed team. The plan was to meet at 8:45 and start the cutting of the tubes. Joe had made a list of the lengths needed so once we had sorted them into the rows and made individual cutting lists. We had three teams up and sawing and were finished soon after lunch time.
As all the tubes were all different we had to measure each diameter individually. This was recorded on the cutting sheets which were kept and Joe was able to make the appropriate adjustments to the drawing of the frame. 

We weren't going to let the guys have all
the fun!

Teamwork was crucial

Once cut, the tubes were labelled with the grid reference according to our drawing and the ends sanded down to give a clean finish to them.

Organising the tubes into their rows was fun. A lot of them were already pretty much together as they were cut by the same teams but we needed to group them together and separate them before we could start gluing.

Someone order plywood?

Whilst we were busy in the Shed, Taniya and Sheel headed down to B&Q to pick up some glue and brushes. Warren, our white van man stole Sam and Panicos to help him collect the 13 sheets of plywood we need for the frame. I was also able to get into contact with the rubber suppliers and ordered the sheet we needed. It was meant to be ready for today. Yesterday afternoon I got an e-mail saying it was ready so Warren, Alex and I headed up to Cheetham to pick it up, making a stop at B&Q to pick up more PVA and buckets on the way back.
We were then able to FINALLY start coating the tubes with watered down PVA as a waterproof  base coat for the varnish - which should be happening today.

Gluing Tubes

Tubes, tubes, everywhere