Hobbit themed Teardrop

[yayeric]

Next up was prepping the steel for painting. I was going to sand everything, but the nooks and crannies were a nightmare to reach. I was rubbing my fingers raw and burning through sand paper.

Saw an old sandblaster on a sheld and that puppy up and running. It was still a time consuming process, but everything visible surface was prepped properly

And, apart from the boot trays, everything is ready

Used some hangers and paddles with predrilled holes to make painting easier. Matte black for chasis and interior components, hammered silver for exterior on the trailer body

It probably been sitting for over a week. The hammered silver is done, the black is still curing. I did thin layers this time, so I thought it wouldn't take as long as the frame, so we'll see.

 

[yayeric]

While the paint was curing, I decided to knock out the next big annoying task - prepping yhe exterior wood for varnishing.

When I attached the walnut trim, I left without scraping the excess epoxy off. This was a huge mistake, the is proving to be extremely tedious. I predict 1 hours worth of work is now going to be 2 weeks.

Started off creating the 3rd brake light mount. This only took 2 hrs

And now, I've been stuck sanding epoxy off the walnut, sanding down the drips (without penetrating the fiberglass underneath), and hardest of all is cleaning up the 90° edges.

I've tried various techniques. I started with brute force chiseling, but this tends to leave a moon-cratered surface and fractured epoxy. Fortunantly this didn't extend to my base coat, which likely has to do with the fiberglass

The best removal method for large drips and squeeze out is heat gunning the target area, followed by chiseling. The epoxy rolls up and away like rolling a tortilla, and the remainder becomes hard again soon after - I don't see any immediate structurla problems or discoloration.


It's taken me 3 days to knock out one wall, so about 45 sq ft out of 190 or so. Tedious work, but I like sanding and chiseling so it's still a good time.

 

[yayeric]

Been a minute since I've replied. Between work and 2 school bus conversions I've helped build furniture for, it's been tough to make time for my own project. Getting back into the swing of things

Took a few weeks of tedium with the time I could squeeze in to remove all the epoxy drips and trim up the walnut edges so they get a good soaking from varnish

Once that was complete, I found a plethora of walnut that did not have contact with the birch. I spent event more time sanding these thin voids (My fault, I did too much too fast when attaching these pieces....) Then, using more epoxy mixed with some brown pigment, I filled in the voids.

I also reattached some 'danglers' that broke off when mounting the trailer. Various forms of methods to apply pressure were needed

I also epoxied on the third brake light mount, which also received (4X) dowels to add strength.

And, finally, attached the remaining pieces for the door trim that will fit around the door hinge.
You can see some of the fresh epoxy spills I have to clean up.

Not shown is even more cleaning up of the brown pigmented epoxy. Ugh...... but it's done!


To break up the monotony, here's a cool photo of the trailer lit up in a dark environment. It makes me excited to be nearly done!

 

[yayeric]

Moving onto to the tongue box!

The wooden box I built didn't seem like it was going to work. Very heavy, incorrectly sized, and so on. Just decided to buy a tongue box and be done with it

When I built the tire swivel arm, I figured it wouldn't be a problem to find a tonguebox that could fit.

Taking some measurements.....

I could only find one.... so I ordered it. And they shipped it loosely in a carboard box with a pittance of the thinnest foam available over the lid..... Of course it shipped damaged

Here is the packing material....

It suffered two major drops. Very dissapointing, especially after spending $260 on it. Seemed like a good product otherwise....

I guess I'll make my own. At least I have a good reference piece. Found some free steel, I began to sheer it and bend it

Throw in a couple of tacks.... and it's looking good!

Got some more TIG practice in. I think I'm getting the hang of it.... much more enjoyable than MIG. Looks pretty good compared to the professionally made counter part

Used a jigsaw to cutout the the latch.

Just waiting on some piano hinges to arrive

 

[yayeric]

While in the TIG phase, figured it would be good to tackle the two super-extension drawer slides. They do not have a gas spring like the soft-close slides, so they will not hold themselves shut while driving.

I wanted something that would automatically lock when closed. I wanted to avoid the public bathroom door style that required manual manipulation to open and close. I had some fun building these satisfying spring loaded latches to hold my oven and cooler in place.

Working on the oven, taking some measurements

Buy some metal, draw some lines...

Build all the individual pieces....

Bing Bang Boom, you got a spring loaded latch.

Here it is ready for installation - just needs to get powder coated

The cooler, being much heavier, needed something more heavy duty. Built a gate-style latch

Some of the pieces......

And it's installed. Works perfectly

They make very satisfying sounds =]

 

[yayeric]

Been saying this for a year now, but I'm nearing the end.

I riveted the handles for the boot boxes on

Then I did some hunting for a handle for the galley door. I couldn't find anything I liked aesthetically. Figured I'd make my own, with a corner attachment for extra strength. I was thinking of something shaped like the pillars in Moria

Started by chopping some thin steel. Some simple geometry allowed the 45° ends to be cut right in the middle

To achieve equal spacing in the staggered stack of chevrons, I made some spacers that were 1/8" different in depth.

Drew on the handle where to grind, and took my time using a die grinder

Running a test fit, trying to figure out exactly how to do this...

Welding on the non-visible portions. These will be hidden behind the next stack.

And the hard part is done.

Added on the base for attachment

 

[yayeric]

Looks pretty good when it's attached. The two planes for attachment felt extremely sturdy - should hopefully eliminate any torque

Started finishing up some other lingering tasks. The tongue box needed the piano hinges and the catch for the latch welded on. Both of these were welded on

The pin for the piano hinges became a problem. The heat from the welding caused deformations in both the lid and the body, so alignment isn't that great. The pin no longer fit in, and forcing it in with a drill (spinning helped it glide) caused the pin to break in the middle in two places. I spent the better part of 2 days getting it out without damaging the box. The pin was 1/8" in diameter, so I bought a 3/32" stainless steel pin. Hopefully it slides in easily, especially with the thickness that will come after powder coating

Here's my current to-do list. It seems to always grow once I move onto the next item.

1) Trim and re-weld tongue attachment for spare tire
2) Secure Battery
3) Create pathway from battery to trailer interior
4) Create boot box door strike
5) Build drop-down attachment for galley draw latches
6) Install frictionless sliders for boot box
7) Trim boot box spring latches to size
Install trailer light wire system
9) Prep trailer for varnishing (sanding, cleaning, etc...)
10) Varnish
11) Attach trailer to frame (drill holes, seal, etc...)
12) Create keyhole for a cam lock so the doors can be locked (still considering this....)

And that should be it. Feeling mentally stuck on creating an electrical pathway from the tongue box to the trailer body - unsure of the best method to take. I've never really 'plumbed' before

 

[KCStudly]

Consider Sealtite conduit and connectors. I was able to use a couple of different PVC female threaded connectors embedded into my tongue box and the underside of my headboard cabinet bump out to get a flexible and water tight "pipe" for all of my tongue to cabin wiring... which is everything except electric brakes. Available at big box hardware stores.

 

[yayeric]

Consider Sealtite conduit and connectors. I was able to use a couple of different PVC female threaded connectors embedded into my tongue box and the underside of my headboard cabinet bump out to get a flexible and water tight "pipe" for all of my tongue to cabin wiring... which is everything except electric brakes. Available at big box hardware stores.

Appreciate this, feeling less stuck now.

 

[yayeric]

Working on the tongue box.

Hated to do it, but I had to grind off some of the paint and metal so that the tongue box sat flat

Built a wooden try for the battery. Fits like a glove. Should protect the powder coating on the tongue box interior and on the battery

Since I had some space in the tongue box remaining, there were two spots that could just barely fit two spare coleman propane tanks.

Sizing it up!

Also checking for placement of the arms that'll hold the battery down - can't have those taking over the propane tank's space

Welded on the battery attachment arms ancors (I don't know what to call them). Kinda screwed it up - fortunately only the rear of the tongue box looks funky. Welding in such a confined space as not fun - would have been better to drill holes and fill them in to attach them.

Anyway, was left with less space than I hoped for. Sanded down three walls just a wee bit to allow the propane tanks to fit.

 

[yayeric]

Figuring out how the battery attachment arms are going to fit...... shaded in the area to remove. I took care considering this - the direction of pull will be slightly towards the middle of the tray. This way, it's pulled more downwards and less backwards, which should prevent the battery from tipping

Created a trim guide to remove material. Needed to be be done because a router is the only way to do this without removing anything more than necesarry

Now, working about the wire feed. Following KCStudly's advice.

Created some gaskets using hole saws

Also made some washers out of stainless steel. The hole saws cut the internal circle out no problem, but I burnt through two of the hole saws cutting the outer-diameter. The teeth simply ground flat, not sure what I did wrong. I used the marks I made onto it as a guide and ground it down on a grinder

Cut a hole in a mock floor piece to test the size. The only male-male connected I found was slightly too long, so it needed trimming

And it's a good fit.

And lastly, built the door strikes for the boot boxes.

Where I needed MIG to weld the interior for the tongue box (causing ridiculous warping) , used TIG on these. There was no warping, everything turned out great

Now I'm just waiting on some equipment to arrive. Order a Victron smart DC/DC 30A charger so the battery can be charged from my truck. I need to figure out how to fit that, a breaker and a master on/off switch in the remaining space in the tongue box. Also need to fabricate the battery attachment arms.

Few things left to prior to varnishing
1) Fabricate attachment points for the galley door draw latches
2) Test cam locks for galley door. Drill holes if they work. May require creating custom cams
3) Drill holes for main wire in tongue box and trailer body.
4) Complete galley trays

I think that's it?? We'll see, feel like I'm missing something....

 

[yayeric]

Just knocking out some tiny things...

Made some attachment points for the galley draw latches. This will allow the draw latches to attach to the metal frame

Also ground down my spare tire holder - somehow it doesn't fit anymore...

And finishing up the galley tray holders
Here was the current state of them

Cut the remaining holes out

Router and chisel out some grooves for 'legs'

Glued

Attachment points for the legs so the tray doesn't fly away

And it's done.

Waiting for some supplies to arrive. Got some vents to install on the tongue box so the battery and charger can get some airflow to drain heat. Waiting for the DC/DC charger to arrive as well, going to need to weld on some nuts so it can be attached to the side wall. Few new metal pieces to paint up. Then I think I can start varnishing??? Got a family reunion coming up (Epifanes varnish doesn't require sanding between layers, so I got to time it right), so I'm going to start on the small interior pieces that don't need so many layers for some practice =]

 

[yayeric]

Finishing up portions of the tongue box.

Figuring out the placement for everything...

Easiest way I found to attach the master switch, breaker and DC/DC charger with long weld nuts.
Made some jigs to line everything up

And it's done. Hooray

Working on getting the locking mechanism up and running. First had to drill a hole for the lock.

Tried to use a 3/4" bit, but it snagged and ripped the steel. I see why hole-saws are a thing. Finished up this hole with a die grinder

Used the hole saw for the rest. Easy peazy

To reduce the length of the cam on the cam lock, I extended the length of the handle.

I ran a test of the cam lock, and the entire lock was rotating, not just the keyed portion. I needed to add stoppers on the side to prevent this rotation. This would be a very tiny weld job

Here's the piece that needs welding

 

[yayeric]

Simply turned the voltage very low, and took my time attaching it.

Running a test. Here's locked

Unlocked

Here's the outside view. Seems to work just fine. I'll have to make some custom cams but the lock is done =]