The Day Before The Build

Guys . . . I don't think this is right . . .

T minus 24 hours and in that time we had to have our dress rehearsal and smooth out any rough edges (quite literally)
The morning started with with bolting the frames together and sorting the tubes ready for insertion. After the back frame was complete, we tested the tubes and I don't know about the rest of the group but I was pleasantly surprised to see that there weren't too many that didn't fit. We made a note of the ones not playing fair with the intention of sorting them out later.
The original plan was to get it up before lunch but as with even the best laid plans, it was not to be. So after a quick lunch break, we split into the teams for the build. The stop watch was started and it was all systems are GO!
First up was the bases. These were lined up by using one of the frames and once we were happy, they added the other two. The cross bracing between frames came next and then it was time for the human conveyor belt to make another appearance. 

And then it was up! Just like that.

Nearly there!

This. Tube. Will. Fit.

Once we had finished admiring our handy work, we began to sort out the problem holes and work on putting the inserts into the ends of the tubes. This was simply a case of finding an insert that fitted into a tube and nailing a couple of pins to hold it in place.

That afternoon we were on such a high from actually building it, not very much seemed to get done. However there was the issue of the pavilion having a wobble. A big wobble. This is currently under scrutiny and a plan is being thought up to sort it out. Something along the lines of tensioning cable or metal rods diagonally down the sides of the pavilion.

Never give an angry Welshman
a sledgehammer

Big frame, little frame, cardboard
tube

Death by tube

Waterproofing test of tubes

Another early start in the library for Tube Cubed. After hours of hard work the tube team managed to test the waterproofing for the coated tubes. Coating of varnishes will help the cardboard tubes repel water and will stain the pavilion with a nice earthy brown, fitting right in with the beautiful gardens of Dunham Massey. A little experiment has been done with three one-meter cardboard tubes which were treated with different varnishes and different PVA base applications. Three qualities were tested:

1. Type of varnish (outdoor vs. yacht)

2. Number of layers of varnish

3. PVA base quality (diluted or not)

From the results of the experiment, both outdoor and yacht varnish worked well on waterproofing and gave the same result. Water flowed down the tubes and did not soak into the cardboard. Water formed droplets and slid off the tubes. The number of layers of varnish and PVA didn't affect the waterproofing much in this test. It is, however, important to know that more layers of varnish tend to darken the tubes. We may need to coat the ends of the tubes with more layers in order to protect the weakest points.