Cutting corrugated polycarbonate sheet

[EccentricAnomaly]

PPPPS There's a link to my homepage through the little green world icon to the left of this post.

[Antman]

I use a Sandvik 300 fine tooth hard point hand saw

" 14 inch / 350mm  15 teeth / 16 points " is what it says on the side.

Part 300-14-F15/16-HP

Works great on all plastic/ polycarb sheeting. Sharp bleedin teeth though! But if you slip then you have a permanent scratch - on sheet or finger depending on which gets in the way first  - so go carefully.

Antman

[EccentricAnomaly]

Thanks antman. Strangely, I actually have one of those but didn't try it because it's old and blunt. I just tried it on an off cut and it worked reasonably well considering its state so I can easily imagine a sharp one would work well. Useful information to be stored for future reference.

[Paul and Rona]

Hi Ed,
        Enjoyed reading the blog, and am very interested in your results, From the Pictures I could not determine where you are feeding the output into the building, OR is it still in the test phase?

Its especially interesting given my wife and I are looking to buy a similar property on the West coast, Skye-Lewis area

Is it your intent to put a small blower onto the unit ? or would you consider building an even bigger version of it?, seems like our American brothers quite favour the use of solar heated air, however they seem willing to cover the entire side walls of their homes to ensure a very substantial heat gain.

Given the hike in energy costs today, If that beasty of yours works OK and can give a useful input of energy into a home in the North of Scotland it's got to be worth a consideration.......

Be even more interested in how it performs during a typical Scottish winter, when all and every bit of heat is needed.

Regards Paul & Rona

[EccentricAnomaly]

Hi Ed,
        Enjoyed reading the blog, and am very interested in your results,

Minor update: peak seen as it fluctuated up and down on the first sunny morning (at about 07:30 Z, 08:30 BST) was 71°C.

From the Pictures I could not determine where you are feeding the output into the building, OR is it still in the test phase?

That's today's job.

Its especially interesting given my wife and I are looking to buy a similar property on the West coast, Skye-Lewis area

Is it your intent to put a small blower onto the unit ?

That wasn't the initial plan - I hoped that convection might be sufficient but the flow of air out of the top is not that strong so I'm wondering. Perhaps a wind driven vent on the input (spins in the wind and blows air in) might be the way to go. It's not always windy here but it's very rare the air is completely still. Not sure if you can get ones which blow rather than suck.

or would you consider building an even bigger version of it?, seems like our American brothers quite favour the use of solar heated air, however they seem willing to cover the entire side walls of their homes to ensure a very substantial heat gain.

This is not me permanent home, just one I'm renting until I can build something more entertaining. Ideally the main face of the house will face a little west of south with lots of PV and evacuated tubes.  In that case the whole just-south-of-east facing gable wall will be covered by solar warm air.

Given the hike in energy costs today, If that beasty of yours works OK and can give a useful input of energy into a home in the North of Scotland it's got to be worth a consideration.......

Absolutely. Even at the end of April's sunny period the downstairs here was pretty chilly and I was using the heating a bit in May. Some around here keep the peat burner in all year. Even if it doesn't help much in winter (I think it will, at least a bit) then on a high thermal mass house it's got to help quite a lot of the year.

Be even more interested in how it performs during a typical Scottish winter, when all and every bit of heat is needed.

The winter this year was, according to people who've lived here a while, not particularly severe but it did go on a long time. What I did notice was the amount of sunshine - even on days when it snowed there were often short bright periods between the showers. I should have made this panel earlier.

Ed.

[skyewright]

The winter this year was, according to people who've lived here a while, not particularly severe but it did go on a long time.

That was the case here. The lowest temp I have recorded this year was not even close to a record, but there have been loads of people suffering with bursts due to frozen pipes when normally you hardly hear of any. A lot of the problems were in holiday cottages where the long cold spell really managed to soak into the unoccupied fabric of the buildings.

[jackal]

google fein tool - every man should have one

I have one and when I bought I wondered if i'd use it but how wrong was I it is brill but the  blades are expensive.

M