#1

[GPW]

Masonry paint , or what we call “Block fill" (?) Is like a THICK primer . I used it on my House and studio (concrete blocks) and it worked super to smooth out the block surface ... Once applied , the surface was easy to paint with only two coats of paint .... Nice !!! Probably would work just fine as you describe ...

[ghcoe]

Today I made some side jigs. These jigs will hold the sides in place as the glue dries. With the GG and GS foaming I want to make sure everything stays in place.

Side jigs

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This is some GS. I had a block of wood on it and it expanded enough to knock the block off. I will say that these two parts are not coming apart again.

Great Stuff

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Jigs in place holding the side.

Jigs and sides

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[ghcoe]

Tomorrow I hope to finish hot wiring the bulkhead and get it installed.

Bulkhead

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[KCStudly]

Great progress. She is looking fantastic! Keep those pic's coming.

[ghcoe]

Great progress. She is looking fantastic! Keep those pic's coming.

Thanks, It is coming along well, at least to the part of the trailer and windows. Have to save some shuckles for that.

The wife has been behind me on this too. That makes a big difference.

I find that I like working with the foam. Just like my planes, it is fun. I love the fact that I am not breaking my back lifting heavy lumber around, I can move a whole side of a trailer by my self. It is awesome......

[ghcoe]

It was raining this morning so I though that I would have to find a place to lay my foam out in the shop to hot wire the next shelf channel. I was looking at the foam leaning up against the back loft and thought hey.

Gravity feed hot wire

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I clamped my guide on and then tilted the foam a bit so that gravity would hold the hot wire jig next to it as it cut down with gravity. On my first attempt the jig kept wanting to lift up and out. I angled the foam a bit more. It still wanted to lift up some, but I did not have enough room to move the foam out more. I just used a piece of scrap to hold down the jig and let gravity do its work. It worked great. One of the problems working with a hot wire is trying to get the speed just right. Too slow and your melting the surrounding foam more than you want, to fast and you are bending the hot wire back and making the cut shallow. I think I will work on this method a bit more in the future.

Channel cut

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After I cut the channels the rain stopped. I cut the bulkhead and the galley sides out. I cut the bulkhead out of the middle so when I put on the galley sides the channels will match perfectly.

Bulkhead cut

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[ghcoe]

before I attempted to install the bulkhead to the sides I figured I should make sure the floor is level where the bulkhead sits. I am not gluing the bulkhead to the floor yet, but I did need it level to make sure the sides were plumb.

Internal frame rail

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I have a big carpenters square that I will be using to plumb the sides. I clamped the square to the inner frame rail and then clamped on a straight piece of wood to extend the squares arm. My jigs I made earlier will hold the walls at the proper distance.

Using a big square to plumb the sides

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I applied the glue in the channel to the bottom and the sides. I only apply glue to the edge of the bulkhead to keep it from building up on the walls as I slide the panels together. I watered the channel and bulkhead good to make the pieces slide together easier. It is a tight fit in some places. Plus the water will make the glue cure faster and foam more to make a nice tight joint.

Gluing the sides

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[ghcoe]

Got the both sides on. Everything was a nice snug fit. My wall jigs are working out perfect. I found one of the walls to be a bit bowed out in the middle. I was able to attach 2x4 uprights to my wall jigs to make the walls straight. Made double sure my walls were plumb with another square and took measurements to make sure all was well before the glue dried.

Sides and bulkhead glued together

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Uprights

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I have found that the foam varies in thickness. It seems to stay within 2" and 1 7/8". Usually it is thinner on the long run and 2" on the ends. Drove me crazy till I figured this out. I think my wall jigs help out quite a bit with this because the slots go up far enough to take a good sample of the foam thickness and make sure the wall is where it should be.

Well that is all I was able to get done this weekend.

[GPW]

Nice weekend’s work !!! Coming along now !!!

[ghcoe]

Had a little time this afternoon to put a roof panel on.

I put my wall jigs on to hold the walls in place and then clamped a 2x4 onto them to make sure the sides were straight and would stay straight during the gluing process.

Side alignment

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Once I got the walls straight and level I applied the glue and placed the roof panel on. I used packing tape to clamp the roof panel to the sides, worked great.

Tape clamps

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Hope to get some galley work done tomorrow.

[pchast]

An unrelated question please...

Where did you source the wire you are using to carve the foam? I've been
unable to identify something strong enough to maintain a dado depth for any
distance. It all bends.

Thanks,
Pete

[GPW]

GH, Nice !!! This is the Fun part where it all comes together...

[KCStudly]

An unrelated question please...

Where did you source the wire you are using to carve the foam? I've been
unable to identify something strong enough to maintain a dado depth for any
distance. It all bends.

Thanks,
Pete

He said it was welding wire. You can get it in many different diameters and is usually sold in small qty's by the pound for not much money (couple/few bucks); something like 2 ft long pieces; ask for TIG wire.

For longer cuts it would probably be better to seek out the thinner nickle chromium, but for short stubby stuff the steel seems to work fine.

[ghcoe]

An unrelated question please...

Where did you source the wire you are using to carve the foam? I've been
unable to identify something strong enough to maintain a dado depth for any
distance. It all bends.

Thanks,
Pete

I am using mig welding wire in .030 diameter. I find that I need a 3 foot section of wire to keep it from ether burning through or getting too soft and bending easy. Too long and you start to slow the cut down.

Hot Wire Jig 1

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I have read where stainless steel welding rod works real good for dado's.

Hot Wire Jig 2

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I am looking more into gravity feeding the cut. It seems work great to keep the cut constant, keep the wire from bending, or getting the foam too hot and melting where you do not want it to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h8EGYTb ... e=youtu.be

[GPW]

George, that’s BRILLIANT !!!