Well it's finally up there. Rescheduled for 8am this morning  ...  and took about 45mins from when the crane got here till it was in place.

Went very smoothly and I'm hugely relieved to say everything lined up perfectly. Only thing that could have gone better was if the bottom edge was in place first.

Because the top edge was lowered onto the supports first  ...  they sagged a few mm and so we had to put pressure on the lower ones for the bottom bar to sit inside the brackets. Very minor issue though.

The rain was a bit of a worry for a while but it held off during the lift and bolting down time. Got my shoes and socks in front of the fire drying out now. The wet grass was the killer.

Oh, and he only charged me $300 cash.  











You can just see the top of the original prototype over on the rhs.


Edited 2025-08-06 10:26 by rogerdw

Fantastic, looks great. We wait for the reports of how it works.
Glad it all fitted perfectly
Pete

Awesome build from start to finish    

Well done Roger congratulations! You seem to be an all round artist, whether it's an inverter or solar heating structure, full marks for presentation & appearance.
Now waiting impatiently for the clouds to vanish for the ultimate test results...

Thanks for the interest and the encouragement Pete. And yeah, it was a big relief to see it all slot together.

Nothing ever happens fast around here  ...  but I feel like I'm finally making progress. Now just need to hook up the fan and some ducts  ...  and transfer the control system over from the other one.

Thanks for the kind words Mike (KeepIS) though don't look too closely at the welds.

And thanks to the other Mike too (wiseguy). I think I've surprised myself with some of the building tasks and I'm sure I could make improvements in any future projects  ...  but still very happy with how it's turning out.

Of course the sun is already out, it only had to rain while we were out there  ...  though what's the saying  ...  if that's the worst thing that happens today  ...  I'm a blessed man.

Roger great to see it went into place nice and easy and when your ready to install the glass tubes hopefully I won't be busy again and I would love to come and give you a hand  

As 2 people would make it much much easier to get them up on the roof as doing it by yourself one slip and ............ ouch

Thanks Bryan, and yeah a real pity he changed the time on us  ...  I was looking forward to catching up again. Hopefully your appointment went well.

I hope to fit the tubes on Saturday as the sooner I can fit them, the less rain can get into the insulation and cause issues perhaps. If you were available sometime during the day would be very helpful  ...  but no real drama. It's something my lad could help with and get him off his computer for a few hours.

Each box of 10 is 20kg if I recall correctly  ...  120kg total of glass. They are well packed, so just need to slide the boxes up on the roof and open them up there.

I pulled a clanger in that I hadn't actually checked to see if I had enough fittings  ...  the cups that locate and protect the ends of the tubes  ...  and the rubber seals that go at the other end. I started this so long ago, I forgot that was something I needed to do.

After I went through the other boxes I found I was still a few short  ...  even if I pinched the ones off the old heater  ...  so I ordered more from aliexpress. I hope they'll be here tomorrow or Friday. If not, I can fit the remaining ones when they do arrive.

Well lets make it a date Roger Saturday morning and I'll get all the stuff done from what the doctor said this morning over the next 2 days.