what I made today...(no not a fuckup, like most days)

So I know I bang on about what I do day after day, and many of you very politely nod and listen.

So today I thought I'd make a little photo story of my working day. Only four pictures, which just goes to show how little I did today.



it all starts at 0545, when my alarm goes off...

Yes, I get up around six, and it was pissing down this morning, so I got all done up in my waterproofs and pedalled to work. I love my bike.

Then my boss-man, SiBorg, gave me my new contract (cos I finished my last one last night)

And this is what he gave me:



On structural engineer's drawing of the staircase I am to make balustrade for. This drawing tells me almost nothing that I need to know. The two important things are that the going of the stair is 250mm (that's how 'long' each step is) and it gives me the height from sea-level of the ground floor and the first floor. From this I can deduce my rises (the height of each step). This does, however, mean I have to trust that this drawing is what is actually on site. This drawing has "Proposed" stamped on it. This is not a good thing.

I also got this:



Which shows me roughly what I am meant to be providing for this staircase. It doesn't give me any measurements though, sadly. Just a vague visual clue to the fact they want glass in some places, wall brackets in others.

I begin to do the maths to work out things like the angle of the stair and the height of the balustrade etc.

I realise that SiBorg hasn't ordered enough stainless. I speak to him about this.

Repeat the step above about three times, as I slowly work through each stage of the drawing.

I have to make some wild guesses about certain things. Most of them I have to make a best guess, but give us leeway to change things if we run into real issues.

I begin to draw out the stair to the correct angle/measurements/heights etc. This is the only thing I have to give me a clue how to build what I'm trying to build.



The only way we have to work anything out is to draw it actual size on our benches, in chalk. It's really not the most hi-tech solution. In cases like this, where I have no information, it's quite difficult.

But at the end of the day, I hope that what I've made will somehow fit what is on site:



Only time will tell...

Does this bring any understanding to anyone? The thing you have to remember but try not to think about when you're entrusting your life to something maybe seven or eight stories high that someone like me has built is that none of us in the yard have ever had any sort of training on how to read technical drawings or anything. We just get given that stuff and it is assumed we will understand it. It is also assumed that we will pick up anything that is against building regs or is structurally unsafe etc. And no, we've never been formally taught any building regs either.