Hollander House
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Here is the system with one of the bastard valleys installed.
Please notice the complexity involved in cutting a 35' tapered octagonal bastard valley so that it sits perfectly on 5 bearing points, all while maintaining proper elevation throughout it's length; about as difficult as it gets, I think.
[flash=853,505:3vnuwigy]http://www.youtube.com/v/uoWhR9q5Kdk&fs=1[/flash:3vnuwigy]
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Dear Chuck,
I am sure there are days when you wish you hadn't said 'yes' to the job. Looking on the bright side, any job after this one is going to be a piece of cake.
Keep going!
Regards,
Bob -
We have joked about that exact thing, Bob! I have to think that these bastard valleys are the most difficult single timbers I will ever have the privilege to work on.
And, no doubt, I will be happy when this one is in the done category.
[flash=853,505:125j268r]http://www.youtube.com/v/Wo5Gp3chUmg&fs=1[/flash:125j268r]
[flash=853,505:125j268r]http://www.youtube.com/v/kTZlIQwaNZg&fs=1[/flash:125j268r]
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Here is a ray-traced animation that I rendered in Cheetah3D. It took my 8 core mac 5 days to export this out, and that is without soft shadows, true radiosity, minimal ambient occlusion samples, and no sun light for the interiors (I faked it with a distant light).
I am happy to answer any questions you may have and please enjoy. Definitely choose the 720p resolution option for playback, if you have the bandwidth available.
[flash=853,505:2y61xlke]http://www.youtube.com/v/wtJUq3r-0jU&fs=1[/flash:2y61xlke]
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Took a quick ride up in the man-basket of the Gradall for this one.
[flash=853,505:1xsqwfh0]http://www.youtube.com/v/Oile8fsj0Jk&fs=1[/flash:1xsqwfh0]
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Very cool. I admire the line of work you are in and the results. I am curious why are the cross beams so large in between the bastard valleys?
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Thanks for your kind words and interest!
The cross beams between the bastard valleys are called purlins. The longest one is almost 19' long and, since it has to span that distance unsupported, had to be a 12x10. If we made all of the purlins that size, they would look ridiculously large up towards the peak, so we had to come up with another solution.
Since the bastard valleys are tapered (it reduces form 15" to 12" diameter along its length), we thought that that provided us with a nice opportunity to also reduce the size of each successive purlin. So, the smallest purlin ended up being a 6x7. The effect, when looking up, is that everything you look at is becoming smaller and lighter as it rises towards the peak, which, in turn, makes the 2 11/16" pitched ceiling seem more soaring and uplifting than you might expect.
We also cut a reduction on each end of the purlin before creating the tenon that sits on the valley. Because the valley is a octagon in cross section, where the purlin intersects it, the facet of the valley is actually fading away from the plane of the joinery. We sized each purlin so that its actual bottom is the same height as the bottom of the facet, at that point in the valley length. This made the whole system visually thought out and allows the eye to pass from purlin to faceted valley without a discordant jog in the timbers.
I hope that all made sense; it is a heck of a lot easier explaining design decisions like this with the SU model than it is trying to put it all into words.
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very nice, thank you for taking the time to share both your modelling and construction processes. this is really valuable and i'm sure will serve you well in the future.
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Thanks Stuart, I appreciate the words of encouragement!
This video shows all of the common rafters in the kitchen and bedroom set in space and prepped for scribing down into their final positions.
[flash=853,505:1twfo0n2]http://www.youtube.com/v/gPTbPqg80po&fs=1[/flash:1twfo0n2]
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Very cool! It's great to see the progression from pure digital design, through design development, through manufacturing, and finally on to on-site construction.
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Here we have all of the kitchen side rafters cut into their final positions and installed.
[flash=853,505:23emaebf]http://www.youtube.com/v/Yp1iF06-v1o&fs=1[/flash:23emaebf]
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We are now working on the triple common valley set up, in the shop, that will be joined together with the rest of the frame, outside, once we get as much done inside as is possible.
This video shows all three of the common valleys, already scribed and cut together, sitting on their cribbing, waiting for the next step, whcih will be scribing and cutting in the ridges that will eventually hold all of the valleys up. We use the SU model extensively for these highly complex setups, as the ability to generate reference numbers and cross check information wherever desired is instrumental to efficient progress.
[flash=853,505:n3s7ysb5]http://www.youtube.com/v/dN2X-SWo1lg&fs=1[/flash:n3s7ysb5]
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Once the valleys had been cut together and we verified correct placement in space, we could bring the ridges up, from underneath, the valleys and position them for scribing. Once we ensured that our elevations would match perfectly with the ridges we already have sitting on Old Glory, outside, we could scribe and then cut the housings in the ridges to allow the valleys to sit on the ridges. This video shows the ridges and valleys in their final configuration, ready for us to start placing jack rafters on them.
[flash=853,505:3cs3us4b]http://www.youtube.com/v/mMVh1W3sgBw&fs=1[/flash:3cs3us4b]
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We now have the Garage and Entry jack rafters cut into their final locations. As we have 5 bastard jack rafters on each side, outside, we need to cut the common jack rafters into the valleys, in the shop, to match up with the ones outside.
As this is a complex and precision exercise, we had to fabricate fake ridges, in the shop, to support the jack rafters at the correct pitch, for scribing. This video shows all 10 of them, sitting above the valleys, ready for the scribing procedure.
[flash=853,505:2qq9tted]http://www.youtube.com/v/Zk2eBlMFRos&fs=1[/flash:2qq9tted]
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Dear Chuck,
I do hope you are making some money on this. It seems an awful lot of work. The mon-hours must stack up to something horrendous.
Kind regards,
Bob -
Thanks for the videos and pictures. I'm just beginning to realize that is one sturdy structure!
It's looking good.
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Oh yeah, this is one sturdy structure, no doubt about it! And yes, it has been an awful amount of work, especially since I and one other guy have done about 65% of the entire frame by ourselves.
And I mean the design, the 3D modeling, the renderings, the blueprinting, the shop drawings, the wood procurement, the milling, the layout, the fabrication, the assembly, the crane work, the budgeting, the scheduling, etc, etc...I have to think that this will end up being a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially since it will be awhile before I design something so complex and intricate, unless there is a whole lot of cash available. When you realize that the entire frame has one ridge/peak height and there are 4 ridges, 3 common valleys, and 2 bastard valleys all zeroing out at one post center, it becomes obvious that there was exactly no let up in the perfection needed in the fabrication. With no roof breaks and everything in the same planes, the tolerances were miniscule, even in the normally tight and exact world of timber frames. It makes me tired just thinking about it.
Here is the complete common valley system, just before we took it down and started to cut it into the main frame, which is outside the shop.
[flash=853,505:2hpihipj]http://www.youtube.com/v/Sa8CE7L4zhE&fs=1[/flash:2hpihipj]
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Here is the main frame, with both the Bedroom and Kitchen wings complete. Now that we have finished the valley setup in the shop, we can integrate it into the main frame, which, in my opinion, is the crux move of the entire build.
[flash=853,505:rmqi314a]http://www.youtube.com/v/Ntj7XMPPyW0&fs=1[/flash:rmqi314a]
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