Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am just in the planing stages yet just getting my ducks in a row i guess you could say. I think i am going to build the Benroy from the free plans on this web site. Anyway I run a printing press and can get used printing plates for free! They are aprox 46"x56" I would like to use them for my roof but I would have to crip them together to get the length I would need. Any suggestions how to do this?

Thanks to all, Steve W.

How about two sill plates that you could sandwich two sheets together between to make the bends.

Hmmmmmm Paul you might have something there! And maybe some silicone calk over the seams?

wingrydr57 wrote:Hmmmmmm Paul you might have something there! And maybe some silicone calk over the seams?

Personally, I would use an adhesive instead of caulk. It would cost a lot more money, but be permanent. An auto body supply shop should be able to recommend one that would work with aluminum.

Of course the silicone caulk would probably work wonderfully.. we each have our own ways of overbuilding.

I would overlap them and use blind rivets, with a polyurethane sealer in between the joints. If you seam over a roof spare you can screw the joint instead of riveting. Just overlap about 2".

Follow the link in the first post of this thread: http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=48102

Lots of good info there.

Bill

parnold wrote:

wingrydr57 wrote:Hmmmmmm Paul you might have something there! And maybe some silicone calk over the seams?

Personally, I would use an adhesive instead of caulk. It would cost a lot more money, but be permanent. An auto body supply shop should be able to recommend one that would work with aluminum.

Of course the silicone caulk would probably work wonderfully.. we each have our own ways of overbuilding.

Paul,

Was I close to you when I passed thru Newark, NJ a few years ago?

Mike...

mikeschn wrote:Paul,

Was I close to you when I passed thru Newark, NJ a few years ago?

Mike...

I live about an hour north of Newark, and work about 20 minutes east of Newark. It's not a very pretty place... lol.

could you not get them welded together at a welder? I have seen them weld pretty thin sheets of aluminum at the welder I use. Patrick

Help me out....I'm clueless...just how thin are those sheets?... that most likely would be important...I need to be edumacated...Doug

doug hodder wrote:Help me out....I'm clueless...just how thin are those sheets?... that most likely would be important...I need to be edumacated...Doug

Pretty darn thin. At least when I was in printing 20 years ago, the plates we used were pretty thin, but the presses I ran used much smaller plates.

The ones I'm familiar with were thinner than flashing.

I overlapped my aluminum using lap joints with 3M 4200 adhesive/sealant between the sheets. I have one seam at the front of the teardrop, one on the roof, and one on the hatch.



The seams are located at the spars. I used some temporary screws to hold things in place until the adhesive set. The screw spacing is 3" on center.



Later, I removed the temporary screws, injected the holes with 3M 4200 using plastic syringes, and then installed permanent stainless steel washer head screws. I don't have a good picture of this. Here's the best one that I have.

The printing plates are fifteen thousandths of an inch.

Depending on what you print, you could get a real awesome effect by placing the plates with the image facing out! Now that would be unique!