Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Sidewalls going up

Been working on the sidewalls.  Matte finish panels are really not that bad to work with.  They sand easy.  I have a sacrificial, finishing sander purchased from Harbor Freight to use for sanding the panels.  It uses 1/3 of a sheet of sandpaper and usually takes 2 sheets to sand one side thoroughly.

Basically just knocking the matte luster off each side.


As far as cutting the panels for the 'birds nest' (sleeper overhang), I've run into a kink.  The 45 degree angular cuts needed are presenting a problem.  The circular saw, as with all circular saws, only possesses directional tilt of it's base for setting angled cuts in one direction.  The orientation of the blade to table conflicts with the direction needed to be cut.  I can very easily cut the angle on one side of the panel but not the other. 

To eradicate this altogether, I decided to go another route.  In the bedding area region, where the underside panel will be installed I decided to cut out a swath on the interior of both side panels to accept the underside panel, without using angles here.  I set my blade depth to keep exterior skin intact while cutting the swath to remove interior portion.  Now the panel which will actually serve as my bed can just simply be glassed in without having to use 45 degree bevels. 

The 4" grinder with standard grinding wheel worked well to cut through the polypropylene honeycomb underneath to release the strip.  Then used a flap sander disc on the grinder to clean up the remains of polypropylene.  [always wear leather gloves when using the flap sanding disc, just trust me..it will eat finger flesh with ease]

 
 

Managed to get one of the side walls up and the glassed in this evening.




The weather has been so nice today with nighttime temps around 75-77 degrees.  For now!  A tidbit humid but not too bad, so I decided to work nightshift to accomplish a little more progression.


Now have both side walls up with the appropriate overhang for the camper sleeper area.  Cantilever physics...cut from whole sheets.  I decided to reserve necessary splicing for the sidewalls, towards the end of the camper rather than in the sleep area region.


Awaiting the arrival of some more 1/32" Milled Fibers and Aerosil so that I can move on to the sleep area underboard install.

2 comments:

  1. hey buddy, loving this blog. im thinking of doing something similar, though much simpler, a simple box. probably ill use an an angle steel or alu frame. its for one of these

    http://i50.tinypic.com/264jpqc.jpg

    soon as i figure out where or how to get these panels to Ireland ill come back and have a better read of your peanut butter paste recipe.

    good info, cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brian, thanks so much for your response and for following this project blog of mine. I am so glad that you are, at the least, finding the blog somewhat a pleasure to read and beneficial as well.

      As far as your project plans go, an aluminum frame sounds ideal, would really cut down on overall weight. One of the many reasons I chose the type panels that I did was the gross weight after construction will be much lighter than all manufactured units on the market. Almost 1/4 of their total dry weight.

      I hope you are able to find out how to get the materials that you need to Ireland, logistics is one of the huge issues with attempting to build anything by one's self. Just keep heart and keep at it...calling and emailing..eventually you will get in touch with the right person at the right place. Oft times it really takes some effort but it is worth it when it is all over and the project is being built.

      That is one of the reasons for this blog, is it is a means for me to stay inspired and focused as I compose it

      Thanks for commenting, Chris

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Chris