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Revlac

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Joined: 31/12/2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 1153

Posted: 02:29am 29 Jun 2025

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Quote In hindsight I should have made the corner mounts the same as the rest ... would have been so much easier.

I have learned to do this sort of thing without having to line up bolt holes, while suspending the large solar mount frames (done 4 of them now) the last one was 12m long, always use angle or channel and U-Bolts or welded studs, just some method (the frame can sit in) that doesn't require lining up holes, I lifted the frames with the Excavator and bolted the frames to the mounts, had to do the last one with no help from anyone and I had it bolted and secure faster than I could undo the 4 chains that I lifted it with.

The other Bonus is the Excavator didn't drift out of place like the old one did back in those days of fun.

Good luck with your install, be nice to see it up there working for you.

Cheers Aaron
Off The Grid

rogerdw
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Joined: 22/10/2019
Location: Australia
Posts: 906

Posted: 04:38am 29 Jun 2025

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Revlac said just some method (the frame can sit in) that doesn't require lining up holes,

That there is wisdom! Wish I had realised that before.

I have actually marked it all out and drilled the holes now ... and am pretty comfortable that they are correct ... though I'll have egg on my face if they are wrong. But it has taken a lot of time getting them correct.

I took a long length of timber up on the roof and pressed marks into it from the heads of the studs.

Then I drilled my first hole in the frame and worked from there, triangulating all the distances and transfering them over. Was especially nice to see a third angle cross over the centrepoint of another two marks ... gives me a lot more confidence.

Revlac said The other Bonus is the Excavator didn't drift out of place like the old one did back in those days of fun.

Haha, that could be tricky and dangerous too I imagine. I had enough trouble this morning with the trolley jack sagging as I was trying to level the frame out. I had to support the frame from the ends so my timber would fit across underneath to transcribe these holes ... so the frame was drooping in the middle pretty badly. Would have been easier with some help ... but it's less drama by myself. I had my young fellow up on the roof yesterday holding the tape measure but he isn't fond of heights and I didn't fancy dragging him out again to help.

He did spend a couple hours up in the ceiling with me yesterday and hopefully learned a bit ... and was helpful passing me tools and bolts etc.

Thanks for the well wishes ... and yes it will be nice to see it working after all these years.
Edited 2025-06-29 14:47 by rogerdw

Cheers, Roger

rogerdw
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Joined: 22/10/2019
Location: Australia
Posts: 906

Posted: 01:54pm 13 Jul 2025

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Well I finally got the end cowls from the young lad who was bending them up and welding the ends in. He did a great job and they fit well. One overlaps on the outside of the main cowl and the other fits inside ... to help prevent water creeping in on the downward slope.

He suggested rivnuts to attach them, so I bought a cheapie set from Supercheap ... and they also worked well. Coulda saved 20 bucks from aliexpress but a bird in the hand ...

I lined up the inner 90 degree duct inside the outer cowl for the hot end and filled it with fire resistant expanding foam. It didn't work all that well but I got the job done and it's still all lined up.

The cold input end required a lot of space to be filled ... and so I thought I could do the bulk of it with just normal polystyrene foam, which we have a great stack of from the previous owners ... and then finish off any small gaps with expanding foam.

It turned out that I was able to fill the whole thing really tightly with the foam sheets, so didn't need the expanding stuff.

I've test fitted the ends a number of times ... and I dread the thought of fitting them on the roof ... having to feed the ducts through the Dektites first ... but I'm sure it'll work okay.

This is the cold duct 90 degree input. I had found the short 250mm spigot and plate in the local scrap yard for $10 and I fabricated the rest.

And this is it safely encased in the end cowl. I probably should have had the cowl made much smaller but that would have required a fairly complex shape and fabrication ... so it's huge and matches the other end.

And this is the hot air outlet all lined up ready to be "encased". You can see the rivnuts and they seem very solid.

And now fitted to the end ... along with just some of the excess expanded foam. Half filled a garbage bag with it all.

Bit of a mess, but I've vacuumed it since and looks a bit more respecable now.

Should also look a lot tidier once I peel off all the protective covering from the stainless ... but figure I should leave it there as long as I can.

Edited 2025-07-14 01:03 by rogerdw

Cheers, Roger

Godoh
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Joined: 26/09/2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 531

Posted: 02:23am 14 Jul 2025

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Looks great Roger, that is one big project. I hope it does the job you want it to.
Pete

rogerdw
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Joined: 22/10/2019
Location: Australia
Posts: 906

Posted: 01:28am 15 Jul 2025

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Thanks Pete, it's slowly getting closer. I do wonder now what I was thinking back then to take on such a monumental project ... but the fact that the smaller prototype worked so well ... and is still working to this day 5 winters later ... I'm positive it will pay off. Either that or I'll end up with egg on my face and a sizeable ding in my wallet.

I've had to learn a few new skills along the way and do stuff I've never done before ... but so far that has worked out okay, other than being agonisingly slow.

Cheers, Roger

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