The
gnomon of the Pinawa Heritage Sundial is
approximately 16.5 ft. along its base and 17.75
ft. high. It is constructed entirely of mild
steel. It rises from the earth on a 12 in. x 12
in. hollow steel section. Above this is a 4 in. x
8 in. hollow steel section. The frame of the
gnomon which forms an angle equal to the latitude
of the sundial's location is constructed of two 6
in. x 6 in. hollow steel sections. The gnomon arm
is approximately 22 ft. long. The gnomon sail
is constructed from 0.5 in. mild steel except for
the four symbols located to the right of the
wildlife symbols. These four symbols are made
from 0.25 in. mild steel. The sail was
constructed by cutting the symbols out of the 0.5
in. steel using a plasma cutter. The 0.25 in.
mild steel symbols were also plasma cut but are
welded to the surface of the thicker plate. There
are two sets of these symbols, one for each side
of the gnomon.
Strips
of 0.125 in. mild steel 3.5 in. wide were rolled
to form a curved surface. These strips are used
to frame the 0.5 in. plate and give it a more
pleasing appearance. The edge of the plate is
stiffened by welding a 1 in. x 3 in. length of
mild steel bar stock to tabs which were plasma
cut as part of the main plate.
When
the construction of the gnomon is complete, the
entire structure will be sandblasted to remove
the mill scale. This will bring all the steel to
a common starting point. It will be allowed to
oxidize and take on the colours and texture of
the rust which will quickly cover all the
surfaces. Unlike paint, the surface of the gnomon
will undergo continuous changes as the rain
paints the surfaces with the rust it produces.
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The
plasma cutting was done by a steel supplier in
Winnipeg, Manitoba specializing in this
technology. They were supplied with an AutoCAD
drawing file of exactly how the steel was to be
cut. This was the file type that all the machines
we checked out required. With this file they were
able to put the drawing in a format which could
be used by their plasma cutter to produce the
final product. Supplying the AutoCAD file took a
little doing. The design studio did not use this
CAD program, however, they could export their
file in the format required. Unfortunately, when
the CAD file was created all the curved lines
were of a type that the plasma cutter could not
use. Fortunately, Fred
Bilsky volunteered to
trace the entire drawing in AutoCAD using only
the line types that the machine could understand.
Just to make sure all was well, Fred and I
plotted out the sail in sections and constructed
a full scale model of the sail on a wall. The
only wall available was one for the design
records vault which was built into the machine
shop and had a flat roof. Fortunately, there was
plenty of space above the roof as the wall was a
couple of feet too short. We finished off by
taping the drawing to a cardboard backing and
supporting it on the roof. Thank you Fred! The
construction of the gnomon was done in the
machine shop of the AECL research facility
located near Pinawa. Other than the welder, the
gnomon was built entirely by volunteers. These
volunteers included Clive
Schultz, Glenn
Graham, Bill
Macdonald, Steve
Berry, Ervin
Hemminger and Carl
Sabanski.
The
sandblasting was done in a parking area just
outside of the machine shop. This process
involved a number of volunteers: Clive
Schultz, Steve
Berry, Bud
Biddiscombe and Carl
Sabanski.
The
symbols in the gnomon are elements from each of
the 12 heritage icons. The icons are an integral
part of the sundial design and are discussed in
the icons section. The icons and sail details
were designed by the artists of Flying Pigment
Design Studio.
The
structural design, including the pile
requirements, was the result of the efforts of Jeff
Harding with input
from FPDS, Garry
Schellenberg and Carl
Sabanski.
Please don't
forget to check out the photographs of the
gnomon.
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These
are the men who volunteered many hours of their
time to construct the gnomon for the Pinawa
Heritage Sundial. l-r: Steve
Berry, Bill Macdonald, Ervin Hemminger, Glenn
Graham, Carl Sabanski, Clive Schultz
This
picture was placed in a glass jar along with a
list of the individual's names and their
signatures. The glass jar was sealed and placed
into the 12" hollow steel section which
forms part of the gnomon base. Maybe someday
someone will discover our little time capsule. I
just hope that they don't break the glass jar!
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