Day 8
Riveting
On the Sunday of the fourth weekend I resolved to blind riveting the frame together so that all tubing except the 1200mm were fixed in place and then they would be bolted into place. This would give the frame increased stability and allow it to be disassembled and packed down. The three short sides would end up being one piece each including the two legs and then 1200mm supports would be removable. With the intention of not fixing down the glass the entire thing should flat pack well.
The four horizontal supports coming into a particular leg were secured tightly using ratchet tie-downs which made sure that the tee fittings were all the way on at both ends while the holes for the rivets were drilled all the way down and riveted. Of all the work done toward the project this was by far the most time consuming with 96 rivets installed and 12 bolts each being drilled first with a pilot hole and then with larger bits up to the desired size.
The product of all the riveting may not be much different visually however it is far more stable than the non-riveted frame and I had no doubt that it would be able handle the estimated weight of 20kg of glass (plus whatever load is added to the table)
Just to show how sturdy the frame is... I took this picture after I had begun to move the frame out of the way so that I could clean up.
A couple of side-by-side shots of the prototype and the frame for the final design side by side.
Before the day was out I had started to mount the equipment from the prototype into the final frame, even if only temporarily until I had devised the mechanisms that would be used to allow for the projector, camera and mirror to be properly adjusted. I also disassembled the prototype and made a smaller mount for the test screen that could hold it in place above the final frame for use in testing different types of glass assuming that I could get samples from a local glazier.
