Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

GPW wrote:George, that’s BRILLIANT !!!

Thanks.

Test fit of the galley sides showed that the channels did line up well.

Shelves made form left over foam from the roof panel. So far I have not had much foam scrap.

Just did a test fit today before gluing it all up. Maybe tomorrow, still a few things to think about before I make it solid...

Really NICE how everything fits and locks together ...

Dang that Foamie looks sweet, nice build you have going.

GPW wrote:Really NICE how everything fits and locks together ...

Thanks! Really makes everything strong too. It is building in strength and is a lot easier than I was anticipating with the foam.

I am having a lot of fun with the hot wire. The shelves in back were gravity feed hot wired. Starting to get a technique down now.

When I was planning on making a TD years ago I was planning on doing the dado build technique with ply or OSB. I think it makes it look cleaner and makes it stronger.

Strong indeed !! You’ll be surprised of just the strength of the foam box , and when you get it skinned , it’s crazy Strong !!! ... yet Light !!!

Good joinery is always appreciated , whether with wood foam or metal ... I use those dados for my amp and speaker cabinet joinery ... locks everything together ... and Straight too ...

AlgoDan wrote:Dang that Foamie looks sweet, nice build you have going.

Thanks.

Made some spacers for the galley frame rails today.



Found some trim I liked for the rear galley edge. Not sure if it is going to work out the way I want it to yet or not, but hey it looks good for now.



Got the last of the frame rails in place and lowered the body back down onto the floor.

Next I test fitted the galley sides and cut the notch out for the sub roof.



Then made sure stuff fit ok.



And test fitted the shelf trim.



Another weekend done.....

Good weekend’s work !!!

Your making great progress. I like your gravity feed hot wire idea.

Not much happened this weekend. Tried to do the front radius with 1" foam. Looked ok but did not like the way it was bowing in in the middle. Then I realized I was putting a lot of stress on the whole structure with my clamps. Decided I needed to try to kerf to release the strain and made one cut about 1/2 inch into the foam. I tried it under stress because I had already glued it. Mistake! Sounded like a shotgun blast and split right in two.

Well live and learn. Going to maybe try next week kerfing a 2" think panel and see what happens.

George, tricks that work to bend 1” foam around a curve ... Some folks use packing tape bands on the outside to relieve the tension loads on the outer foam surface when bending ... Heating the foam to ~ 190F works too and if you do it right , the foam will adapt to and retain that shape when cooled (foam forming) ... no springback ...
If you plan on doing the kerf method on 2” foam , be sure to read the Kerf thread above ^ and do the math .... that way when the foam is bent the kerfs close together and present a clean solid surface inside ... no big gaps showing... I’ve got a LOT of kerfing to do for the FoamStream ( 10’ long kerf cuts) ... Got the calculations all worked out ... should work fine , even on my 3.5” thick beadboad foam ...

Thanks GPW. I read that. I think the problem was that I started the kerf at the bottom where all the stress was at. Thinking about it now I think I should of started at the top or let the foam relax and started over. I still like the idea of two sheets of 1" with the kerfs towards the center. That would make for less work filling grooves, and sanding.

I just got done making a hot wire jig that will cut five 3/4" inch deep grooves at a time. Gave it a test on a piece of scrap and I think it is going to work great. These jigs take a bit of time to set up, but are easy to do and sure speed things up in the long run.......

I have a tight radius on the back that I am a bit concerned about now. I have a couple ideas for that too.....