Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

...spent the whole day annealing and bending Al trim of various sorts, and thought I would pass on a couple of tips... I use the candle soot and yellow flame method, I find the combination to work well for me...when sooting the Al, all you need is a VERY LIGHT COAT of soot...a heavy coat will cause you to over heat the Al, causing discoloration if not melting...that is what happened in this pic...both pieces are annealed;


...in this pic, notice that the piece I am working is not completely sooted. I only sooted/annealed those sections that were in the radiused corners of the doors...the area I am working on is 2/3rd done...a slow steady hand is needed and dont let the flame sit on any one spot...keep it moving;


after annealing the piece was kerfed to help it bend into a 4" radius...we used a form to bend the AL;



two pieces of 1x1/2 angle were used to make the door jambs...the inside is mill finished and will have a trim seal on it for weathproofing and the outside is anodized



I have a bunch more pics and will upload them to my WWW picture gallery to-nite or tommorow...will advise
madjack

Jack,
What are those two triangular shaped holes in the lower area of your door?

...first off, that is not a door(now) it is a bending form and the two triangular holes are places for clamps to grip
madjack

Jack, nice idea about the door jambs. It works like the Camp-Inn jambs. How did you attach the two parts of the jambs? I can not see any fasteners. Thanks

..the idea is similar to Camp_Inns, in the pics it is only dry fitted since we haven't applied the Al skin yet...we aill drill thru both pieces and screw them in place...
madjack

..by the way, the trim seal that goes around the inner flange and kerfs is this stuff ;
http://trimlok.com/trim_seal.aspx
madjack

MJ,

That is gonna be one well constructed teardrop! Just how many have you built over the years? Those trimloc seals are nice, thanks for the link.

Earl, this is the first Alligator Tear...but it has been built and disassembled, changed and rebuilt at least 6 time, since we have been prototyping for a possible commercial unit...my partner and I have also been involved in cabinetry, furniture building, machine work, and virtually all other related construction fields literally since birth
madjack

...got the additional pics uploaded to my yahoo photo site(WWW button)...look under annealed and doorjambs...also anyone interested in towing a trailer witha motorcycle, there are pics of a "hidden" trailer hitch that my partner Jim, designed and built for his HD Nitetrain...check 'em out, it's really slick and he deserves a couple of attaboys for the design and fab work
madjack

Hey MadJack- wondering what type of aluminum trim you used on the cabin cabinets? Looks like you routed them and then covered the raw edges with a thin aluminum...can't tell from the pics, but is it just an edge cover, or is it a T shape that will act as a door stike all the way around. I am thinking about trying to find a rubber T-shape or H-shape trim that can just be pressed around the routed opening and provide: (1) a door strike, (2) draft stop (especially for the cabinets that lead into the uninsulated tongue box, and (3) avoid having to do a bunch of annealing for all that small radius trim in the cabin and galley....seen anything that might fit the bill?
Thanks!

greasy, that is not aluminum, it is a plastic "T" molding with an alunmized finsh that was inserted into a slot routed into the center of the openning...we got it from Outwater Plastics thru a local cabinet shop...it comes in many colors and sizes...for stops we cut 1/2 Al angle to the appropriate size....all the doors and cabinet framing were done with this in mind so it works out on the money...
madjack

Good idea MadJack, and of course...love da pics! That is one fine looking Tear! Keep up the great work!

MJ-
I ordered the Outwater catalogue and am trying to get the right Tee moulding for the plywood edges around my cabinet doors, etc... I am using 3/4" ply and am thinking that I want the "Flexible Metallic Tee Moudling"; item # 2490 in brushed chrome (pg 32). Is this what you used? Or did you use the "Flexible Polyethylene Tee mouldings (# 105-679) (pg 28)? Some of the Tee mouldings seem to have some curve to the top of the Tee, while others seem flat. Also- did you use their slot cutter and or notching tool?
Thanks again!

...Greasy, we had a set of slot cutters for the router already so they were used...don't have access to the part # right now but it was a plastic material that had an actual metalic covering...it is basically flat with rounded edges...it shown itself to us to be quite durable....
madjack

Looks pretty darn good Madjack. Never had that good of luck annealing aluminum, but I keep trying.