Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

[smeerkees]

Meanwhile i am designing and engineering hinges for the hatch.

Not easy, but with a little luck i will get there.

For now, greets from the Netherlands,

Smeerkees.

[KCStudly]

Screw bushings gets the idea across just fine.

For reference, in the US we usually call them by the trade name "nutsert" as in nut insert.

Build is looking good!!!

[smeerkees]

thanks KCStudly,

Yeah... screw bushings....probably not my brightest moment...
With technical products in the Netherlands the usage of the english name on the package is pretty common.
In this case however the package read: Blindklinkmoeren. Something like rivetnuts?
i could't really find one common name for those type of rivets. Not in Dutch, but also not universally.
Maybe it has something to do with patented names.

Nutsert sounds good to me too!

Greetz, SmeerKees.

[smeerkees]

Hello everybody,

It has been a while since my last update.

I have been busy lately with some other projects.

Thats what you get when friends know you are able to Tig weld stuff....
One of them asked me if i was able to do a rebuild of the gastank of a Harley Davidson.
Uhh, sure...

However those biker boys have no idea how much time and effort it takes to completly rebuild, retunnel, and buttweld a new bottemplate in an existing gastank, re-arrange the complete fillercap part, re-arange the petcock and make and weld in new mounting brackets....

So it took some sweeeeet time, sweat, effort and @#$%%&*@@ language to get it all done,
and i have to say i learned a lot, particularly about buttwelding stretched steel plate , material thickness, and weldersettings.

In the end it worked pretty well.
Oh yeah, and NO GAS LEAKS!

(Oh, and that is NOT my Jeans in the picture, but probably "biker boy's" girlfriend "marking her territory" with that patched little red hart on his Jeans.)

To give you an idea of the result, here are some foto's, if you want to know more, just ask.
However since this site is about teardroptrailers, i will continue.

[smeerkees]

Ok,
some posts ago i said i was designing and building new hinges for the backhatch for the teardroptrailer.
Iam not finished yet, but here a teaser of the work so far.

( I seem to have some difficulties resizing pictures for this site since a computer update.
So let me try some things.
Maybe this works.)

Greetz for today, Kees.

[smeerkees]

Man o man here we go again. (Thanks Puddin from Puddin's fabshop on You Tube)

It has been some moons ago since my last last update but here we are again.

What took me so long? Well uh.... Life!.....

Last time i showed you already a teaser foto from the next project of the teardroptrailer.
The hinges of the hatch.

I wanted to create a system like in cars with a water gutter system.

Not that easy, but the challenge was if i could design and create them myself.

Therefore i used 2 sizes of scrap gaspipe witch fitted pretty well into eachother, and some about 3mm thick strips of scrap plate.

From there i created the pivotpoints for the hinges.

[smeerkees]

From there i took a piece of Tig welding rod to "shape" the bracket like i wanted it.

Remember i had to go around the "water gutter" witch is also not yet designed.
However i think i am pretty close here.
It took some sweet time, and you have to keep in mind a lot of things when "designing".
Like for instance how deep and wide make i the "watergutter" system,
How can i disassemble the complete hatch easy if nessecary.
You want to weld as little as possible on the bended frame tubes because of heat distortion.
You can "design" something but it must be buildable too.
And I wanted it to look a little bit nice too.

From the beginning to the end i changed several (mainly small) things in the "design".

Oh yeah prefably problably 3 hinges. This is easyer when disassembling the complete hatch, however only possible when nearly 0 (zero) distortion and play.

[smeerkees]

From there i made the complete bracket in wood on the real size.
Some of the dimentions are critical, others a little less
On the foto the actual pivot tube is used.

[smeerkees]

Eventually i was satisfied with the result

[smeerkees]

From there i copied the wooden testbracket on a 6 mm thick steel plate, and even here i made some small design modifications.
Oh Yeah times 3.

[smeerkees]

Since i dont have a cnc machine, a plasma cutter, nor a acetyleen cutter,
from there a lot of grinding, drilling, fyling, and shaping.... uh yeah........

[smeerkees]

eventually you are getting somewhere...

[smeerkees]

At last it looks pretty close to me.
Those safetypins however fast to disassemble look a bit to agricultural to me.
Back to the drawingboard...

[smeerkees]

Close up of the safety pin system.

[smeerkees]

I think i can do better. A little bit nicer so you will.