by yayeric » Fri Aug 11, 2023 6:56 pm
I started designing 1.5 years ago, started building a year ago. Didn't know anything about Carpentry or welding and kept all my notes on graph paper, hand written. It was indeed a lot. The graph paper helped, but it's perishable. It will fold, wringkle, and eventually tear.
Now, all of my information is kept on Illustrator Files. Vectoring all my designs and being able to reference a file with precise measurements (no more ocunting squares on paper) has really helped ease the load on my brain. Additionally, I spend quite a bit of time creating a to-do list for every (arbitrary) phase of construction by considering what I need, writing it all out in a notebook, then reorganizing it in the order they need to happen.
Additionally, I've broken my planning into 'phases'. If you try to plan out 100% of everything in fine detail, you'll forget what you initially wrote down by the time you reach the end. So, plan 'coursely' at first, and fine tune as you move through your build. That's where most of my energy goes. I still periodically think of the future, such as, "Where is my wiring going to go?" now that I'm getting close to building my roof.
For example, I know my roof will consist of a layer of 1/8" baltice birch ribs of some thickness with foam in between, another layer of 1/8" baltic birch, another layer of 1/8" birch with CO2 laser designs cut into them, a layer of epoxy and fiberglass and a few coats of varnish. That's my 'coarse' planning, and gives me enough information for what I need, what I need to consider, etc... My 'fine' planning, which I'll start once I get to building the roof, will include my sky window, wiring location, width of roof ribs, how many roof ribs, amount of foam I need, type of varnish I want, stains, etc.... The 'fine' planning is very hard to do before you start (at least it is for me), but when everything is in front of you and you don't need to mentally conceptualize it, it's easier and doesn't put you in 'foggy brain land'.
A few other tips that I had to learn - I'm a bit of an overthinker, so my planning phases tend to take a while because I'm always wondering, "What am I not considering?". Now, instead of burning myself out by planning every-little-detail, I do a decent amount of planning of 'coarse' planning, leaving that bundle of information as-is until I get that phase of the build. I then consider my 'fine' details until I can't think of anything, then roll the dice moving forward. I can never think of everything, and little mistakes or oversights have all turned out to be easy to fix. Don't let 'good damn good' get in the way of 'perfect'.f
Lastly, I'm a perfectionist and spend too much time trying to get every cut, every measurement, as perfect as possible. Break down cuts and welds into 2 catagories; Course and Fine adjustments. Get close, then fine tune. Don't fine tune from the beginning (unless it's absolutely necessary). This goes for welding, dado's, anything. When I was cutting my dados, I spent a week measuring and trying to see how everything would fit together. It would have been a lot easier if I just 'coarse' cut my female dados smaller than they needed to be, then 'finely' adjust them with a chisel. Would have saved me several days.