Hubris!

So, this morning I posted about cutting the flat sections for the sloping roof. I also started the post with the thoughts that I'd probably make a hash of it and have to start again.

However, by the end of the session, I was once again flushed with success - so far, my trials and tribulations have been more tribulation than trial!

That is, until now!

Having cut my roof sections, I set about working out precisely how I was going to mount these onto the roof assembly. My first task was to screw some batons around the inner edge of the roof for the root boards to rest on - I could always remove them later if they weren't required.

Having done this, I once again took my roof sections and put them together on the top of the roof assembly, but this time in more or less their final positions.

This time, they didn't fit!

Now, it turns out that my roof assembly isn't quite as square as it should be. Oh, length and width are both fine, but obvious it slightly more diamond shaped than it is square, but not by much - across one diagonal it is around 60.2" and across the other it is more like 60.75", but if it were perfectly square, it should be 60.64" across both diagonals.

Now, when I was building the roof assembly I was very careful with my measurements, and I also measured the angle at each corner as I assembled it to make sure it was at right angles, but somewhere along the line it's drifted out just a little.

I know that this isn't an exact science - it's almost impossible to be absolutely 100% precise with your cuts on the table saw, and each time you cut you're losing about a quarter of an inch of material. When I made my roof panels I tried to take all this into consideration, but I failed to consider that my roof assembly wasn't precisely square, and because it wasn't precisely square all my guff about Pythagoras theorems and whatever can be thrown right out the window!

The original instructions called for the construction of a set of interlocking cross beams, and I'd decided that this was going to be too hard to get right. Well, it turns out that it's probably too hard to get the roof panels properly aligned without it!

You see, if I create the interclocking cross beams and mount them in the roof assembly, I can then lay a board over each side and mark it up from the underside to show where the cuts should be. It shouldn't really matter then that my roof isn't 100% square, since each panel will be custom sized for the side it is due to fit on. So it apart from the creation of the cross beams themselves (the construction of which I need to ponder some more before I start on them), it should actually be easier to get the roof panels right than my fancy mathematical methods. Curse you Pythagorus!

So, this leaves me somewhat wiser that this morning, but the project has actually suffered its first real setback as I'm in a worse position now than I was this morning. Why is worse now? Well, this morning I had 4 birch ply boards to make the roof panels with - now I just have some firewood, and I've got to go buy some more ply!

That'll teach me to try and deviate from the instructions I have. If this doesn't work though

Oh, I should probably add that I spent about an hour and a half trying to trim the boards I'd already cut to make them work, but I'd get 3 fitted pretty much perfectly, and then end up taking too much of the 4th and having to start again. After about three attempts, I noticed my roof sections getting flatter and flatter and in a moment of frustration tried to make a cut on the table saw without first having marked out the line - which was pure folly was the resulting cut was nowhere near where I expect it to be! C'est la guerre!

Just a reminder that the title of this post is "Hubris" which means overbearing pride or arrogance, and summed up nicely by "pride comes before a fall" which I think is rather apt at present!