[menaus2]

Construction continues into the slow tedious phase of collector pipe and aluminum absorbers. For the back of the absorber I stapled up 3" wide strips of aluminum coilstock. Not sure on the thickness, but good enough I suppose. 8 strips by about 56 feet so about 112 sqft of material.

I'm currently in the middle of stamping out the absorber find & installing them. Helps break up the monotony of either task . The front absorber plates are cut with power shears into 6" x 24" blanks. Then my sophisticated stamping process consisting of a wooden form, 5/8" steel rod, junk boards, mallet and a post pounder. With ever 200 to make total, needless to say it will take a while.

But when the weather is nice, I can install the absorbers. The pex-al-pex doesn't need a perfect level, just a few beads of silicone for good contact & some narrow crown staples does the trick. Just a matter of time, since this is probably the single most time consuming step of construction.