Here's my van from Scratch!Aussie Style.

[lukeyslide]

Hello Everybody,

Well this has been along time coming. I have been a member for awhile in the back ground obsorbing all the information I can from the wonderful members on this site regarding building teardrops and tiny travel trailers. I wanted a van that was 10feet long or 3 metres which slid out each end to a 18 footer. Hence user name lukeyslide. Sleeps 4 , has A/C, slide out kitchen eating inside,independent ALKO brake axle and is most of all light to tow. Over 18months of research and seeing how vans in Australia are made anyone with some idea could easily do it. Well close to it. So I decided have a go and do it ,abit the design has changed over these 18 months went to a fold out and now is a full size van 4.1 metres, sorry if its too big but you guys are really the only site out there that do this:). To make the van Light and quick to assemble Iam going to use MONOPAN for the walls floor and roof. 4.5kg per square metre not sure what that is in pounds but its very light and strong.

I have had many people tell me that why am I bothering and that it or I can't do it but I going to give it ago and hopefully come out on top with a van that is strong, light and best of all I built from scratch.

Here goes

Not cad but after down loading the ones on here it was easier to use something from high school, grapics. Size has since changed by 300mm or 12inches


Steel for chassis


Mock placing


Tacks

Started to weld


check square


level( on jack stands don't know how I pulled that off)


Some of my welds




I'l call that square.

Out riggers for wall supports.
Sorry for the photo bomb!

[Woodbutcher]

WOW, nice job. I guess this was not your first welding job! Welcome , and it will be fun to follow along with your trailer build.

[lukeyslide]

Thanks so much. I did welding at High school in tec studies 12 years ago but my current boss says I can't weld. So I did after hours catch up class over 5 nights to get back into it and if the teacher thought I was capable of doing it then I'l buy a welder and practice, practice, practice. So I did and it seems to have worked out. Building the chassis from scratch was the daughting part I have never done this before.Just needed to confidence to do so thanks to my wife. Looking forward to giving updates.

[lukeyslide]

Thanks. Iam still pinching myself, all this planning and Iam finally putting it into motion. I'l try and put as many photos as I can. Last night Photobucket kept dropping out which is quite frustrating.

Cya Lukey

[Shadow Catcher]

As a long time weld inspector on everything from the space shuttle to logging equipment, I gotta say ya done a good job, I have seen pro's whose welds did not look as good.

[Heifer Boy]

Hey Lukey. Nice to see another Aussie on this site and looking forward to following your build. Do you have any sketches of your final design? A slide-out camper sounds really cool and I'm interested in how you are planning to join the monopan panels together. I've had a breif look at it but being a wood and epoxy guy I can't get my head around it. I'm sure you will be showing how it all comes together so keep up the photos and stories. Good luck

HB

[KCStudly]

I have to agree with Shadow Catcher, you welds look really good. I'm a little surprised that you did not grind or flap wheel sand the paint off first. Paint and other coatings make for very nasty fumes while welding and can cause contamination (tho it did not appear to do the later for you).

Nice work! Keep up that enthusiasm, the best way I have found to do that is to put in lots of hours and post lots of pic's. We love da' pics!

[lukeyslide]

As a long time weld inspector on everything from the space shuttle to logging equipment, I gotta say ya done a good job, I have seen pro's whose welds did not look as good.

Well I was not expecting that reply, that means so much thankyou Shadow Catcher.I might look at changing jobs on that response.

Hey Lukey. Nice to see another Aussie on this site and looking forward to following your build. Do you have any sketches of your final design? A slide-out camper sounds really cool and I'm interested in how you are planning to join the monopan panels together. I've had a breif look at it but being a wood and epoxy guy I can't get my head around it. I'm sure you will be showing how it all comes together so keep up the photos and stories. Good luck

HB

Thanks Heifer Boy There are a few of us popping up. I have a few rough drawings but I keep changing my mind. Go with the simple shape or a bit more complex. It can bent and shaped into many ways.Being the first one I don't want to stuff up the profiles and experiment with the monopan as it could be expensive. I may not have explained myself fully. I have designs/ides for slide out/fold out but its a bit too much considering this is my first build. The kitchen on the other hand will slide out from under the bed.Joining methods well there are many wayshttp://www.monopan.ca/about/ I'l be using there special glue,aluminum angle and rivets they supply. The rivets can hold some amazing weight the best ones 1400n pull out. I have some friends who have been there done that on another site and it seemed to work well. Its not a common product so it has been hard to get info. I was considering http://www.Vanglass.com.au but Monopan seems easier to use.I did look at the tried and true method of wood but weight, time and life span has lead me to the later.I must keep remembering to take photos. Once the mask is on its head down bum up.

I have to agree with Shadow Catcher, you welds look really good. I'm a little surprised that you did not grind or flap wheel sand the paint off first. Paint and other coatings make for very nasty fumes while welding and can cause contamination (tho it did not appear to do the later for you).

Nice work! Keep up that enthusiasm, the best way I have found to do that is to put in lots of hours and post lots of pic's. We love da' pics!

Thanks KCStudly my head is not going to fit through the door anymore. The grinding I see your point. I did a bit of looking around and the paint is special, made for welding and grinding is not needed. That is what the supplier said anyway. I did ask a fabricator on what to do which was like getting blood out of a stone. Anyway he said takes too long and if a dirty flap or grinder is used it can contaimentate the weld. I also found with practice blue painted verse bare was easier to weld as I could see the heat line better so I knew to slow it down or speed it up to get better penetration into the metal. This is evident with the white lines either side of the weld.Hours, I would love to put in more hours and photos.I'l try my best.There are more photos to come just take so long to upload. I have spent about 7-8 days so far from start to now over the last couple of months.Just have not had the time to start this thread. November and December have been so busy. But family first, toys later. Though once built it will be more family time in the van.

Cya Lukey

[lukeyslide]

Here's some more progress. Iam going to mount the walls off to the side of the van not on top of the floor. I want to hide the RHS and seal it at the same time. It is dear to buy 75mm X 30mm angle so to fix that I used my demo saw, one of the most useful tools I have and cut a 75 x 50 x 2 RHS to form two 90 degree angles. I did however cut the wrong side of the rectangle so instead of a 75mm coverage on one side its more like 73, due to the curve of the RHS.But once welded when the chassis is flipped it won't be noticed and also hidden behind the walls. Once I cut the RHS it did twist so using 4 of those quik grips, tape measure and level it all came back into shape


Start with this.




end up with this




My Alko axle and wheels

[lukeyslide]

Hello again, Here's a little more progress. Corner steadies are normally welded to the chassis but it makes life hard especially if they need maintenance. So to fix I have dececided to bolt them to some brackets like this

Started like this

75mm x50 mm

Cut and file like this

End up like this.
Now to weld into place and then drill the holes for the corner steadies and bolt it up. It may need a couple of washers either to compensate for the gap.

Cya Lukey

[pappaw]

Oh Babby!, that's Sweet!. Nice garage too.

Cheers

[Junkboy999]

Really nice work so far, definitely a build to follow closely.

Only question I have to ask is, …

Does the little misses know you are using her good patio furniture cushions while you are wielding?

Here's some more progress.....

[lukeyslide]

Oh Babby!, that's Sweet!. Nice garage too.

Cheers

Thanks pappaw. Glad you like it. The Garage well may not be a shed but does me just fine. Its a bit of a mess at the moment sorry for that.

Really nice work so far, definitely a build to follow closely.

Only question I have to ask is, …

Does the little misses know you are using her good patio furniture cushions while you are wielding?

Here's some more progress.....

Thanks Junkboy999 I'l try and keep the photos and updates coming. Truth be known they are from the bar stools and my wife had told me to throw them out as they we looking too old fashion but I could not help my self and keep a couple for my knees when welding.

[lukeyslide]

I have not had much time of late to work on the chassis but here is some progress. I was going to mount the corner steadies on 50x 50 Rhs welded at 90 degrees to the chassis rails and wall support and then the above U brackets welded to them and the corner steadies bolted to the U brackets but after cutting all the 8 pieces I realised it was more then was needed i.e welding and metal. My inital reasoning for it was to have the corner steadies as high as possible under the chassis as the van is low. But it was hard to locate the nut with the crank handle and was not worth all the mucking around for an extra 25mm. So I dececided to weld them to the rails. This brings a problem of upside down welding (well almost upside down welding) so I did a bit of practice and I think it turned out ok.Apart from a weld ( grind and redo) thanks to the hot splatter landing on my arm,bloody hurts its also a mission to upload these photos with photobucket dropping out and sooo slow.
I have also welded the A frame brace in as well.


welded U brackets


A frame cros brace cut pretty close to spot on.


welded in place

[Shadow Catcher]

I use weld through paint when I am working on the Saab Sonett restoration and generally unless you are welding galvanized it is no more dangerous than breathing the fumes from the weld rod or wire. Galvanized is dangerous. I only once have seen a welder suing a true respirator with proper filters in all my years of weld inspection and I know from what I used to hauk up after just being around welding it is not good for you. Sucking rubber (respirator) is not fun but seeing what gets caught in the filter made me a believer.