Ok, here goes, i am putting in a above ground pool, 24' in diameter. It hwas 16 posts that hold the sides up. The instructions say to put a patio block at the base of every post. I can do this but i think something better yet is to build a complete base out of 2x8 treated lumber for the entire bottom track to set on. (Like a 16 sided perimeter) What i am wondering is how to divide a 24' circle into 16 equal sections and then find out the angles i need to cut the ends of the boards at so i can lay them flat and screw them together. I have a cad program to use but it just doesnt seem to come out right. The bottom ring of the pool needs to be centered on the 8" wide part of the 2x8.

Thanks
Andy

You would cut the end of each board at 11 1/4 degrees. The pool would have to sit near the outside edge of the flat portion of the polygon and near the inside edge of the peaks (where you miter the boards together).

SolidWorks is probably a bit overkill for something like this... but give me a few minutes and I'll have a screenshot for you.

What you want are the interior angles of a 16 sided polygon.

So long as each segment is the same length, the overall pool-base diamter will not affect the angle. I would not have the 2x8s joint up at the loading point (vertical beam). Rather, they should over lap somewhat, in a side-by-side manner.

I"ll try and find an HTML math example for you...

-edit, I answer one phone call and somebody comes and steals my cheese! :D

Here's what I came up with: The circumference of the 24 foot circle is divided into 16 equal lengths of 4 feet 8.2 inches, with the ends cut at an angle of 11.25 degrees off the perpendicular. Oh, and the 4ft 8.2 inches needs to be down the center of the 2 x 8, after you cut the angle :confused:

Do I win a cookie???

SolidWorks is probably a bit overkill for something like this... but give me a few minutes and I'll have a screenshot for you.

Well soilid works cant be much more overkill than the Pro/Engineer I am trying to use to figure it out...lol. I am having a BIG brain fart on this one today, sorry guys.
Thanks for the responses so far.
Andy

Here's what I came up with: The circumference of the 24 foot circle is divided into 16 equal lengths of 4 feet 8.2 inches, with the ends cut at an angle of 11.25 degrees off the perpendicular. Oh, and the 4ft 8.2 inches needs to be down the center of the 2 x 8, after you cut the angle :confused:

Do I win a cookie???

No because you looked at Proforms paper during the quiz.

Kindly stand in the corner until recess is over.

:D

No because you looked at Proforms paper during the quiz.

Kindly stand in the corner until recess is over.

:D

no way teach he didn't get the board lengths right :p

I want cookies too, so here's some overkill...

The inner angles of this 16 sided jobber are found as...

and the inner angle of a regular n-gon is (n−2)π/n radians (or (n−2)180°/n

For his case, that equals 157.5 degrees, no matter how you cut the wood.
So, if you want to distrubute the angle amongst each board, you take 180-157.5 and devide that answer by two. A la the 11.25 degrees to be taken off of the end of each 2x8. I hope you have a sturdy chop-saw. ;)

But now that gets back to my earlier point of having a joint where your load is greatest, thereby making it not quite "better yet...". So I say cut the 22.5 degrees of of one end of each 2x8 board and have it butt-into the edge of the adjacent board. (for asthetics, you will have to cut away some of the load bearing board that "sticks out" from the perimeter... hint the number there is 22.5 also) ;)

more wood my way, but if you think of from a 16' long standpoint, you will spend the same amount of money base don Andy's 4'8".

:D I dygress. Can one dygress if they can not spell dygress??

I would help ya out, but I have to leave to pick my kid up from daycare..I could of used SDRC IDEAS, Pro-E or CATIA V5...so nanner nanner bo bo!!.. :D of course basic math could do it too, but that's no fun!! 3D models are where it's at! .
Have fun guys :beers:

This is getting good... HA HA!! :beers:

no way teach he didn't get the board lengths right :p

lol and THIS is why I will never be any greater than a TA.

I'll stick to attendance.

Ok... are you wanting all of the boards to lay out parallel? Or do you want them all radiating from the center?

I took it as the second, with all of the boards laying in the same direction.

Here's what I have so far. All I need to do is auto-dimension it to get all of your answers... if this is what you're going for.

http://dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/16186/pooldeck_%28Small%29.JPG

But if you want the radial pattern everyone else is right.


Want the angles for doing it this way?


- Matt

I want cookies too, so here's some overkill...

The inner angles of this 16 sided jobber are found as...


For his case, that equals 157.5 degrees, no matter how you cut the wood.
So, if you want to distrubute the angle amongst each board, you take 180-157.5 and devide that answer by two. A la the 11.25 degrees to be taken off of the end of each 2x8. I hope you have a sturdy chop-saw. ;)


Let's not digress (HA). I arrived at the same figure by taking the angle of a complete circle (360) and dividing by 16, then dividing again by 2, since the 22.5 degree angle must be split between the two ends of each board.

Matt, you way overthough the problem. no cookies for you. :D

If you had to lay a full base of wood, you would simply lay the boards to stick out 3" past the perimter in a blocking style and then just run around it with a chalk line and a skill saw. Kind of like laying a deck, just cut off the finished product and the product of the sums will be much cleaner than the sum of the products. :D

-I need to go home and drink.

Matt,
side note: how big is your monitor? you have more toolbar icons than I have pixels.

Matt, you way overthough the problem. no cookies for you. :D

If you had to lay a full base of wood, you would simply lay the boards to stick out 3" past the perimter in a blocking style and then just run around it with a chalk line and a skill saw. Kind of like laying a deck, just cut off the finished product and the product of the sums will be much cleaner than the sum of the products. :D

-I need to go home and drink.


Damn, I guess it's been a long day for me too :clonk:

Send one of those drinks this way :D

Matt,
side note: how big is your monitor? you have more toolbar icons than I have pixels.


:D It's a 15.4" WUXGA laptop screen.... 1920x1200 :cool:

4'-10 7/8" is what I come up with, total length of each board.

That's with the 24" dia. landing exactly on the center of the 2x8 at the mid-point of the board.

4'-10 7/8" is what I come up with, total length of each board.

That's with the 24" dia. landing exactly on the center of the 2x8 at the mid-point of the board.

so is that distance on the outside edge of the board?

Yes :)

Ok... are you wanting all of the boards to lay out parallel? Or do you want them all radiating from the center?

I took it as the second, with all of the boards laying in the same direction.

Here's what I have so far. All I need to do is auto-dimension it to get all of your answers... if this is what you're going for.

http://dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/16186/pooldeck_%28Small%29.JPG

But if you want the radial pattern everyone else is right.


Want the angles for doing it this way?


- Matt

Matt

Thanks for all the work but all i need is just the perimeter not making a floor with the 2x8. I have gotten more answers here than i ever imagined!!

Thanks guys!
ANdy

I want cookies too, so here's some overkill...

The inner angles of this 16 sided jobber are found as...


For his case, that equals 157.5 degrees, no matter how you cut the wood.
So, if you want to distrubute the angle amongst each board, you take 180-157.5 and devide that answer by two. A la the 11.25 degrees to be taken off of the end of each 2x8. I hope you have a sturdy chop-saw. ;)

But now that gets back to my earlier point of having a joint where your load is greatest, thereby making it not quite "better yet...". So I say cut the 22.5 degrees of of one end of each 2x8 board and have it butt-into the edge of the adjacent board. (for asthetics, you will have to cut away some of the load bearing board that "sticks out" from the perimeter... hint the number there is 22.5 also) ;)

more wood my way, but if you think of from a 16' long standpoint, you will spend the same amount of money base don Andy's 4'8".

:D I dygress. Can one dygress if they can not spell dygress??


I see what you are saying about the load being at every joint. Maybe it isnt as good of idea as i originaly thought, but like you said I can work around it by doing it the other way you suggested.

BTW, I call it Solid-mostly-works. :)


A fun-Solidworks-fact:

Its not exactly bug-free...

BTW, I call it Solid-mostly-works. :)I've always known it as "Sorta-Works"

BTW, I call it Solid-mostly-works. :)

A fun-Solidworks-fact:

Its not exactly bug-free...

Which verison are you running? The version we have in our lab here at school ('05 maybe?) has problems... I have had it crash on me at an inopportune time more than once.

On my laptop, I have SW Premium 2006 and Cosmosworks 2006, and they have treated me well so far... but I haven't gone nuts on it yet.


SortaWorks... lol :D


- Matt

Just remember we are dealing with a circle 360 degrees. take the 360 divide it by 16 posts. You then have the interior angle of each post. Kick it to the left and the right you need to take 22.5 degrees and divide by 2=== 11 1/4 that many have already stated

I am using Solidworks 2005 SP3.0

Apparently we have gotten approval to buy back into the tech support so we can get the latest version again, which will be nice.

Don't get me wrong, I like SW a lot, and I've never used Pro-E, only looked over the shoulder at my buddy's station, but he has used both and greatly prefers Pro-E. So do the 2 engineers in our other office. From what I saw of the older Pro-E I would prefer SW, but I hear Pro-E has gone to a very SW-like interface, and brought the price way down to boot.

Seems every Solidworks SP fixes some bugs but adds others. Probably typical for such a complicated piece of software, but can still be frustrating. I don't think I'd be happy, though, unless I could b**** about Solidworks. :)

I think its kinda funny that the Solidworks logo looks a little bit like it spells "BS".