16.10.2021

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Saturday 16th 44F, overcast with sunny periods promised. The sun broke through but it remained rather cloudy at times.

I had better be careful how thin I make the bottom, draw slide support forms. The drawer slide, fixing screw holes are widely spaced and few in number. Particularly on the thinnest, telescopic section, of three. So a reduction of one screw, per slide, due to inadequate material to seat in, could be a problem. 

The resulting forms tapered from 20mm to 65mm with 20mm clearance for the drawer slides. Sawn out of an off-cut of 50x75/ 2"x3". 

I may duplicate these forms and stack them vertically. Glued and screwed, the upper layer can be bolted to the GRP shutter cover. This will avoid conflicts with the drawer slides. Angle brackets will join the forms to the shutter ribs. 

I went ahead and added the drawer slides to the timber forms. The slides were slightly too long for the spacing between the shutter ribs. I shall have to notch the inner ribs to make room for the extra length. The ribs will not be much weakened and the notch will be invisible. If I notch the outer ribs then I would need to cover the gap. 

For the moment I just loosened the bracket bolts. The timber forms and slides have a slight dihedral. I can fix this when the tension has gone.

Or not. Let's say I take a wedge shaped slice off the straight edges of the forms. Making the thick ends slightly thinner. Then they will follow a straight line. I cannot add to the thin ends of the forms because there would be no room for the slides. There is too little room already.

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