AdventHousePlans: November 2019

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Illustrated Build for: The Atrium

These are the illustrated instructions for assembling the new Laser Cut Atrium Kit. This kit is cut from 1/8" Baltic Birch Plywood which makes it light weight and easy to assemble with precision tabs and slots.

These following steps show you how to assemble the new Atrium

KIT BLOCKS:

Like many other parts, the Atrium is contained in pre-cut kit blocks. We suggest you keep the parts in their blocks until you need them.

CUT OUT PARTS:

Most of these parts should pop out of their blocks fairly easy. However, for those that are being a little stubborn, turn the block face-down and cut as far through the tabs as possible. Since this is plywood, there may be some places where the laser has not cut all the way through. Take your time to finish cutting through those areas with an exacto knife. Lastly, clean up the location of each of the tabs with the knife or light sandpaper, just to be sure the parts assemble with ease.

INITIAL PARTS LAYOUT:

Once the parts are removed from the block, begin layout as shown above. The 2 back parts are in the middle, the larger frame Portion (the bottom) is at the bottom of the picture, and the smaller frame part (the top) is at the top of the picture.

Begin by laying out where each of the bracing and tabs belong, as shown in the picture. Align the different small brace tabs with their matching hole patterns.

The cross braces down the middle of each of the larger pieces are designed to fit in only one way. The straight pieces will be glued next to the tabbed braces to add additional gluing support.

PLACE THE BRACES:

After ensuring each of the braces are where they belong, we glue them into the back piece. Also add the several cross braces down the middle of the top and bottom frame pieces. Also note the 4 tiny braces (only 2 are shown in the image above) that will go on the outer most front corners of the bottom piece. These pieces will help support the side Atrium Faces.

Also, the larger center brace should be carefully glued together before gluing into its aligned slots on the bottom frame. (make sure they are perfectly aligned when you glue them together!)

TIP UP THE BOTTOM FRAME

With the braces glued in place, you can now tip up the bottom frame and slip into the aligned slots and holes. Do this test fit before gluing. Note the braces that push through the bottom of the bottom piece. These longer tabs will be used to help hold the atrium in place once placed on the top of the Advent House.

Once you have test fitted the bottom piece to the back piece (the picture above has it laying on its back), you can then add glue and apply pressure for a sure gluing hold.

TIP UP THE TOP FRAME:

In the exact same manner as we did with the bottom piece, we tip up the top piece (in the picture, the Atrium is still laying on its back). Align the holes and slots/tabs and test fit. Assuming it fits perfectly, feel free to glue it up.

ADD VERTICAL BRACING:

All of the vertical bracing will need to be glued in sets. Take 2 of the braces, match them up and glue them. Make note – you MUST have these well aligned when gluing them up in pairs!

There will be 9 total vertical braces once they are glued up. After allowing the glue to dry/cure, you'll then want to sand the long face (where the Atrium Faces will attach). You'll want that long face pretty flat to gain as much glueing surface as possible. We use a tabletop belt sander and just place them on the sander for 2 or 3 seconds, just to clear away any irregular surface areas.

You can see that all of the vertical bracing is in. Once you are sure everything fits correctly, feel free to glue.

Once you have all the parts where they belong and it looks awesome – Go to town with the glue. Make sure you hit all the edges and connections/seams, then allow to dry fully.

PAINT ALL THE PARTS:

The structure doesn’t require paint on the inside or the front, but I like to add some just to clean it up a little. Be sure to give a good painting to the backside of the Atrium because it will be the most visible portion of the structure.

The Atrium Faces only need to be painted on one side. Ensure you have them all laid out with as shown above so that you are sure to paint the correct side. You can use double sided tape to hold these faces to the plastic on the tables. (Spray cans can sometimes push those pieces around on the table) Also, you’ll want to be sure you get some paint on the edges of each of the faces since some of those edges will be visible once assembled.

ADD VELLUM: (Minor Vellum Change: 2019.12.06 - Does not affect assembly)

We provide printed vellum so you can easily see where each part is to go.

*** PLEASE NOTE: *** Regarding gluing the Atrium Faces: You want to be careful to keep the glue away from the open 'window' portions of the Atrium faces. You don't want glue pushing out into those window areas.

Add a small amount of CA glue to the backs of the Atrium Faces, then place gently down on the vellum, aligning with the pre-printed marks on the vellum.

Once you place the part on the vellum – DO NOT MOVE IT – or it will leave streaks in the ‘windows’ areas.

Be sure to have plenty of glue on the outside corners of each face, though – as this will prevent the corners from trying to lift later on. Any glue that pushes outside of the faces isn’t a problem since we’ll be trimming off the excess vellum around the faces.

Once the glue is dried, you now trim the excess vellum away from the parts. The easiest way we have found is to lay the part vellum-down on a hard surface (that you don’t mind having get cut). Then use the very tip of a very sharp exacto knife and just run it around the edges. Should clean up really nice. Take your time to clean these up.

Make note that on the center top piece (the narrower piece with 2 holes), you need to remove the vellum from the SQUARE hole and LEAVE the vellum in the ROUNDED CORNERS hole (as seen below)

ASSEMBLE THE FACES: (Minor Change: 2019.12.06 - We now include 'Tabs' as part of the structure to assist in the assembly of the faces.)

Start with the faces on the top. Align the 3 top faces as shown in this image and center the 3 of them together with the outside edges of the atrium structure. The structure tabs (not shown in these images) on the backside will help align the Atrium Faces where they belong.

Once you have the 3 top parts fitting correctly (using the Structure tabs to help align), you'll then add glue to the structure and carefully place the Atrium faces onto the structure.

Reminder: You don't want glue pushing out into the Window areas, so make note of where you place the glue on the structure.

Moving on to the side faces, dryfit the side Atrium Face, using the top back corner tab(not shown in image above) as an aligning reference. Then run a bead of glue up under the top face, and down both the structure, and the vertical brace, as well as on the small corner brace (not shown in image above). You may want to run 2 strips of glue up the vertical brace for the extra holding power.

Reminder: Once you place the Atrium face, you do not want to move it! So take your time to set it in place correctly.

Repeat this process on the other side Atrium Face, then do the 2 front large side pieces in the same manner.

Then add the two small side pieces, and finally the front piece.

COMPLETE!

And it’s complete! The atrium is now ready for display. You can go ahead and add extra glue from the inside if you like, just be sure to not get any glue in the open window areas! Once you have the Tower finished it will sit inside the centered square hole on top.

LIGHTING OPTION:

If you have purchased our lighting kit, or if you want to add LED strip lighting to your model, we have found the layout shown above works very well.

Questions? Please feel free to contact us on our website or our etsy store!

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Fencing Updates! With the new Laser Cut Structure

With the redesign of the structure, we've made changes to the Fencing design. This assembly method is fast and easy - as long as you follow the directions.

The assembled and installed Fencing (unpainted and on a temporary structure)

These following steps show you how to assemble and install the fencing.

KIT BLOCKS:

The fencing comes in 3 blocks, 2 of them have the pickets, 1 of them has the 2 beam sets.

CUT OUT PARTS:

Use a sharp exacto knife to cut the tiny tabs on each of the pieces. Be Careful! This is Basswood (not plywood) and you don't want to break/crack the material. Don't force the parts out of their blocks, cut the tabs until the parts drop/pop out fairly easily.
Then separate the parts out into their 3 groups (beams with no holes, beams with holes, and pickets)

Attach Beams (no holes)

You'll glue the no-hole beams to the faces of the pickets. Ensure they are centered and aligned. This doesn't take much glue - basswood glues pretty easily with CA Glue.

PAINT

Once the no-hole beams are glued on (and dried), put a coat of paint on BOTH SIDES of the fencing. We use a dark green, you can use any color you like. While painting, you will also throw a coat on ONE SIDE of the beams that have holes in them.

Prep for the Magnets

We provide a magnetic installation option. This option protects the fencing from accidental breakage. In the event that the fencing is bumped, or something is dropped on the Advent House while assembled and on display, the magnets will easily pop off and hopefully not break any of the pickets.

** READ through these instructions at least once, then read through again while following the directions - it is imperative that you do these next steps exactly as described below.

Start by using a sharpie (or other permanent marker) to mark either end of the magnets (doesn't matter which end). And from now on - DO NOT remove any individual magnets from this pile/stick until told to. It is ESSENTIAL that the magnets stay in the proper order during installation. Otherwise, you'll get a polar opposite problem and the fencing will repel instead of staying in place.

You now take the Marked end of the magnet pile FACE TOWARDS YOU - And KEEP IT that way. Place the 'non-marked' end of the magnet pile into one of the holes on the assembled pickets/beams. Then use a spare piece of wood/material (or anything non-magnetic) to push the rest of the magnets off that one, leaving it sitting nicely in it's hole. DO NOT let the magnet turn over in its hole. Practice this process a few times before you start with the glue because fixing it later (if installed incorrectly) is a nightmare!

Once you are sure that you have the process down - go ahead and rebuild the magnet pile, keep the marked end towards you, add a drop of glue to the holes in one of the pickets, then repeat the installation process for all the magnets. Once you slide the rest of the magnet pile off of the magnet in the hole, you'll want to use a piece of paper towel to wipe the surface of the fencing to prevent glue build up.

Repeat this process for all of the magnets that go in the holes on the pickets.

As long as you keep the marked end of the magnet pile towards you, and you ensure the magnets don't turn over in their holes during installation, you'll then have all of the magnets installed on the fencing in the correct orientation.

ADD BEAMS TO THE STRUCTURE TOP

While the glue is drying on the magnets in the fencing pieces, you'll now attach the beams (with the holes) to the faces of the roof.

Align all of the 'hole' beams to their proper location on the roof. You'll then run a bead of CA glue along the face of the top/flat roof. Start with the center one, and hold in place until the glue is dry. Make sure the front center one is centered (the 2 ends will hang over just a little) Also, be sure to align the top of the 'hole' beam with the top of the flat roof.

MAKE NOTE - these 2 small side pieces must be pushed FORWARD, up against the front fencing beam that is already glued in place. Pushing this piece forward allows room behind it for the long fencing pieces to fit. Once you are sure you have it where you need it, add glue and hold until dry.

Repeat this process with the other fencing beams. You'll then glue the long front facing beams, then the shorter side beams in place. Be sure to push the longer side pieces forward (just like with the short side pieces).

Glue these all into place and allow to dry.

ADD MAGNETS TO THE STRUCTURE:

This next step takes practice - so before adding glue - read carefully and practice a few times. Once comfortable with the process, and assuming it's working as expected, THEN add the glue. Just like before, once glued - it's a nightmare to fix if wrong.

**** PLEASE NOTE ****
Once the glue is totally dry on the magnets that are glued to the fencing pickets, you must now add the rest of the magnets to the fencing pickets. Each magnet should attract easily since all of the glued-in magnets should be orientated correctly. *** DO NOT GLUE ** these 2nd magnets on.

So now, you'll have your fencing pickets with 2 magnets for each hole location, 1 of which that is sticking out of the back of the fencing picket. You can see this in the image below of the fencing piece that is laying on top of the roof.

Now here is the process you'll need to follow:

First, lay the correctly sized fencing picket on top of the roof, right next to where you'll be gluing it in. As seen below.

Then add a generous drop of glue into all of the beam holes of THAT single fencing piece - NOT all of the holes of all of the fencing.

Now you will align the fencing magnets (the 2nd ones you added without glue) to the beam holes and press the magnets into the holes.

Then, (Quickly) while applying a little pressure into the fencing beam that is glued to the roof, slide the fencing piece to one side. This will separate the 2 magnets and leave the 2nd magnet in the beam hole at the perfect depth. If the magnets try to twist or turn, but it's still mostly in place, simply wipe it gently with a paper towel to make it flat. If something goes wrong, quickly remove the magnets and wipe all surfaces with a paper towel and try again.

*** PLEASE be careful to NOT allow the fencing pickets to glue to the fencing beams.

You'll now repeat this process on each of the other fencing pieces. Make note that the smallest fencing pieces are a bit of an extra challenge (since you can't slide them very far), so practice a few extra times there before adding glue.

And now the whole fencing system needs to be allowed to dry FULLY. Once all of the glue is dry, you will then be able to simply touch the fencing to the roof and the magnets should stay strong enough, but be flexible enough to pop off if bumped hard.

In the unfortunate situation, if any of the magnets got flipped over during install, or installed backwards, and are now repelling instead of attracting, you'll need to take some time to dig the magnet out of the house portion (NOT the picket portion - it might break) and try to make it right.

And it's Done! The fencing is now ready and can be stored safely too.

Questions? Please feel free to contact us on our website or our etsy store!