Well that was quick pre-shopping. Boostrap Farmer still has the best poly film price and does free shipping to the 48 states.
$266 - 32x60 to completely cover once
$385 - 32x100 to completely cover once plus re-cover the top/roof and West side a second time in 4-6 years
Who am I kidding? I don’t have a good place to store plastic film for 4-6 years. It would be in a hot shed every Summer.
$266 it is.
I still need chain link fence top rail to make my drop down sides and it’s surprisingly expensive.
35’ long tunnel. Fence rail comes in 21’ lengths. I need two for each horizontal and with the bi-fold door design, that’s 4 horizontals per side. Total of 16 lengths at $30 ea.
$30 x 16 = $480
$150 x 2 for linear actuators = $300
$800 for bi-fold drop down sides
Roll up sides are starting to look pretty good.
2 - 21’ lengths per side
$30 x 4 = $120
$25 gearmotor mounted inside a $18 - 6x6x4 weatherproof junction box x 2 = $76
$100 for misc pieces
$300 for roll up sides ($120 for non-motorized)
OR
New design. Put pivots 2/3 of the way up a 48” tall panel/side so that the 16” top 1/3 tilts in/down and 32” bottom part tilts out/up.
Four lengths of top rail per side plus two linear actuators. $240 + $300 = $540
Anyway
It’s light out. I’m gonna go weld tunnel truss frames.
Kinda warm out there in the sun. Why does all welding PPE have to be black or other dark color?
Had a couple of setbacks.
My mig welder wouldn't weld. It made clicking sounds and the welding wire came out but no power which was also evident by the voltmeter on the machine. Opened it up and rodents had been in there and chewed off some wires. Luckily there was a wiring schematic on the inside of the main cover. Got them all patched up.
I thought I had 5-6 cut off discs but I had one. Had to go to town and get more.
Between the two issues, I lost four hours.
Got two more top center arched pipes to notch, bend and weld to put the peak in them. The entire arch with peak is three 10' sections. Then it's a whole bunch of grinding of pipe ends to weld another 10" arch to each end of the center arch/peak and then add the legs.
(old drawing)
Dimensions are wrong on this. It will be 22 foot wide. Height will be a foot taller. Ignore the truss bracing too. The bottom horizontal will be lower so I can reach it to attach lengthwise lean and lower trellis pipes and overhead micro-sprinklers to. I did the drawing a few years ago and never revised it other than in my head. The truss bracing will be bolted, not welded on. Guess I'll need 8 of those 21' fence top rails for the horizontals and EMT conduit for the angle braces. Mo money. It will still be cheaper than buying a kit.(minus automation:)
I'm cooled off. "Break's over. Back to work."