"The X-Cubed" C.T.T.

[zkengle]

I dont know if my stripper is old

Funny enough, I also noticed the same thing: As strippers get older, they get less of a reaction !

Seriously: brilliant work, keep setting the setting the standard that high!

Thanks!!

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

Hey Zach,

You gonna put that 40" TV in your camper?

Bruce

 

[zkengle]

That would be pretty sweeeeeet!!

But no, I only have plans for a 22" since there are a few of them that will run well on plain old 12VDC (no need for their wall plug transformer)

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

That would be pretty sweeeeeet!!

But no, I only have plans for a 22" since there are a few of them that will run well on plain old 12VDC (no need for their wall plug transformer)

Take a look at Best Buys house brand - Insignia. I have one and you can hook it directly into 12v. It only uses 1.6a in economy picture mode. Cheap if you catch it on sale.
Bruce

 

[zkengle]

Sweet I'll have to keep that in mind!

 

[zkengle]

Was camping with the Chesapeake Bay Chapter TearJerkers this weekend and had a great time!! I got home around lunch and decided it was time to install the second 100W solar panel. Took a little longer than I had hoped, but it turned out just as planned. Definitely breaks up the plain white hatch! No worries about theft either. With all the fasteners and brackets and their orientation/position, you'd have to either remove the hatch first or cut the panel off with a saw.

 

[zkengle]

Made some more progress on the stove. Still have some work to do on the lid, but the main part of the stove is pretty much finished. Forget if I mentioned it, but the white is Rustoleum High Temp, and the black is High Temp Ultra.

 

[KCStudly]

Looking good.

 

[bc toys]

be careful driving down the road with that solar panel back there with the reflection going in other drivers eyes you might get stopped for it might need to cover it while driving

 

[zkengle]

Looking good.

Thanks KC!

be careful driving down the road with that solar panel back there with the reflection going in other drivers eyes you might get stopped for it might need to cover it while driving

The glass has a slight texture to it, so it won't be half as reflective as the rear window of a minivan or SUV.

 

[zkengle]

Finished the stove last night! The paint isn't perfect and got a little scratched in the one corner where the lid closes, but this stove isn't a shelf queen and will get used quite a bit. Bring on the bacon, eggs, and hash browns!!

Now I can get back to making sawdust! I still have yet to order the Formica for the countertops, but the electrical compartment cover/headboard is next on my list. Fenders may get done eventually. I kinda like the look without them. The sides just get a little dirty.

 

[KCStudly]

That looks great.

If I were you I would seriously consider taking that to a good old fashioned pinstriper and having him go nuts with the orange color in the white panels. Second choice would be to run some elegant lines around the edges of the white panels ala the early Harley Davidson gas tanks. either would really set it off nicely!

Something along these lines: http://www.thepaintchop.com/

 

[zkengle]

If this stove were in nicer condition (its not bad, but its far from perfect) the old school pinstripe would be pretty sweet! Think I'll play with the vinyl stuff for now and see if I can at least give it a little more orange.

 

[zkengle]

Last night I finally got back to sawdust. Not much, but I had to clean up my mess from the stove first.

Decided to wing it for the electrical compartment cover/headboard/shelf. So far I have the main base, and an angled "cover". The angled cover still needs cut in half. The right half will be hinged at the top and open up to expose the controller for the stereo (the display is really bright at night), and also to provide some out-of-sight storage. The left half of the cover will be fixed in place because it sits over the power center. Each end of the headboard/shelf will have enough open area to sit a cup of water, keys, cell phone, etc. There will be powered USB ports at each end for charging cell phones.

The base (still needs trimmed out for the PD4045 ventilation)....

And the angled cover...

 

[zkengle]

On the last camping trip I noticed some separation at the one joint in the hatch frame. The high force gas struts required to lift the hatch and solar panel were essentially trying to straighten out the hatch and this joint in the soft pine was the weak point. I should have used oak. My fix for this was to reinforce the joint with a piece of 1/8" x 1" aluminum. With tight clearances between the hatch framing and side wall I had to first chisel away the wood where the aluminum goes.

(The joint was a bit bigger than this before I unhooked the gas struts and relieved some tension)

Chiseled out the area

Reinforcing plate installed and first coat of paint.

Its not the prettiest, but it should be good to go!

I also made a cargo rack on the front. Its made from two side pieces that I salvaged from my old roof rack cargo basket. This makes for the perfect place to put my heavy duty canopy frame and camp chairs.

 

[zkengle]

Last night I also painted the bottom section of the hatch black to match the rest of the paint scheme. Today at lunch the paint was dry so I was able to reinstall the latches and continue the pinstripe.

 

[capnTelescope]

I should have used oak.

I confess that I didn't go back and try to find where you made this joint, so I'm going on an assumption here. If that's a simple miter joint, as I suspect, you're going to need some better joinery. I suggest what is often referred to as a "saddle joint."

Quick sketch:

This will give you much greater glue area and therefore much greater strength. The two pieces should fit snugly. It'll take some careful table saw work, but that shouldn't be a big problem for a stepper like you.

I just love these after-the-fact suggestions. Don't you?

Here's hoping your fix holds!

 

[zkengle]

Yup, that's the issue. I figured that joint would take quite a bit of stress, so I backed it up using an over-sized 2-layer laminated cross member, but it just wasn't enough. The pocket screws just didnt have the holding power in the endgrain on the soft pine. If it weren't for my oversized cross member, this joint would have failed much sooner, and much worse.

Hopefully my patch job will at least get me through this camping season. At the end of the season if it still looking like a weak point then I'll just build a new hatch and attempt what you've sketched. Maybe even a simpler lap joint could suffice if I can't get your method quite right.

Live, learn, and enjoy!

 

[capnTelescope]

A lap joint ought to work. Better than what you got now.

 

[KCStudly]

Zach, have you seen the aluminum inserts that capnT has let into his hatch ribs, similar to Grants sandwich ribs? Instead of starting over, if your short fix isn't working you might want to think about something along those lines. Kind of what you already added, except much longer. You could do a dog legged shaped insert that ties back into the rib segments further away from the joint.