DigiConSoo

Curved roof assembly fabricated off-site and installed on a house — Curved roof assembly fabricated off-site.

DigiConSoo cuts complex curved framing components — eyebrow dormers, bell curve tower roofs, cupolas, bay and bow window roofs, door canopies and pent roof brackets — on a large-format CNC machine, and ships them flat-packed or pre-assembled to the job site.

Design elements such as curved walls, vaulted ceilings, domes, groin vaults and large coves were historically slow and expensive to produce, requiring skilled labour and a good deal of on-site fudging. Modern engineering and design software moves that layout into virtual space, where it generates 3D models and parts lists that are toolpathed and sent to the machine. Parts are cut to a precision the carpenter cannot attain on site and fit together to build the assembly as drawn.

Structures are engineered in the same manner as a torsion box or an airplane wing, which yields a lighter assembly with a much higher strength-to-weight ratio and allows less material to build a very strong structure.

Better, faster, stronger, cheaper.

Contents and portals

Framing component being fabricated in the shop

Fabrication process

How complex components move off the job site: the argument for specialisation, and what precision framing changes downstream.

The three stages of a job: blueprint, 3D model and finished assembly

Blueprint to reality

The three recorded stages of a job, from finished designs through the 3D model to the delivered assembly.

Prefabricated framing components in the shop

Component catalogue

Custom fabrication and the five stock component categories, with published dimensions and figures.

Bay window roof assembly, one of the elements costed in the worksheet

Cost comparison

A worked comparison across a 26-house development: conventional site labour against delivered assemblies.

Selected project records

Six of the sixteen recorded projects, most recent first.
Project	Location	Date	Category
Annapolis Eyebrow Dormers	Annapolis, MD	September 2016	Eyebrow dormer
Flag Island Eyebrow Dormers	Flag Island, MN	October 2016	Eyebrow dormers
Lake Winnipesaukee Eyebrow Entry	Moultonborough, NH	May 2016	Eyebrow entry
Lewisburg Bell Dormer	Lewisburg, PA	December 2015	Bell dormer
Lake Michigan Breezeway	Frankfort, MI	July 2015	Breezeway
Pent Roof	Gap, PA	August 2014	Pent roof brackets

Full project index

Component categories

Eyebrow dormers: Sized for an Anderson 400 Series window; roof pitch 8/12, 10/12, 12/12.
Bay, bow and box window roofs: Concave hip and regular hip, assembled or flat pack, 72×6 through 168×26.
Door canopies: Zero degree pitch, built-in French cleat, BlueSkin® FR200HT underlayment.
Bell curve roofs: Full round assemblies at 12′ and 16′ diameter.
Pent roof brackets: Straight or concave, with built-in spacing and fascia registration notches.

Reference

Categories: Eyebrow dormers | Bell curve roofs | Cupolas | Window roofs | Door canopies