Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Just a thought ... NOT the corrugated stuff , but the kind that comes on the back or writing tablets ~ 1/16â€

i thought of cardboard in the beginning because there is a guy that built his out of carboard. he epoxied his though. but it is strong, he can stand on it. (if i remember correctly that is). it was a real nice one.

can you only get thses sheets via online? or locally? i have never seen sheets of cardboard in a store in my lifetime.

Look for box manufacturers/suppliers in your area. Where I live, we have a manufacturing plant. They have a warehouse across the street from the plant that sells to the puplic. I know I can buy any standard size box and flat sheets of corrugated. Don't know about the fiberboard, but I suspect they would have some as they also make those boxes as well.

Bill

You’re not going to find this locally unless you contact a local paper supplier .. I used to get it to back my watercolors , at a big art/frame warehouse in town (wholesale) ... As I recall it believe it was called gray chipboard .. came in big sheets and different thicknesses ... The really thick stuff was like Iron (Strong) , but heavy too , relatively...
It’s not expensive , but you have to shop around , some places charge much more than others ...

Here’s the typical art store chipboard , and sizes/thicknesses http://www.utrechtart.com/Utrecht-Chipb ... 85.utrecht ... a little small for our needs , but you know it comes bigger , like Bill said , the box makers probably eat up a lot of that stuff making boxes, like cereal boxes ... just printed chipboard ... It’s out there ... another Quest ...

So, from what it sounds like, this stuff comes in grey, maybe white? Perhaps you can paint your foamie in any color or design you wish and then epoxy over that? Attach and anchor your walls like Mike did, an inside band of fiberglass or canvas at the wall/floor joint to add a bit of structural strength and you could be on to something? OK... who's gonna try this????

Mel, it's like we've opened up a giant can of worms ... So many ways a Foamie can be built , it'll take years and years to test them all ... A virtual Pandora's box of little Foamie trailer ideas ...

Cardboard just seems like a good idea to throw in the mix... in the past, we've built quite a few thin cardboard covered foam wings , and their strength and durability is quite remarkable ... covered with poster board ...

I worked on a printing press once and the card stock came in 4 x 8' sheets. interesting idea about skinning. I'd been considering using laminated corrugated cardboard for stringers, frames and interior units - very flexible material and multiple layers are incredibly strong. I was wondering about laminating them between foam slices, precut to the shape that I wanted and then hot wire cutting the foam. I still have to do some research about their weight vs torsion box construction (I'm thinking that 1/8" ply will probably work better though) but talk about a free material! here's a link to some structural uses

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2011/12/ ... ks-of-art/

I'm really enjoying this site - thanks everyone.

Allan , Yes , cardboard is an often ignored material , Usually just tossed away , hopefully re-cycled ... But it can be used (as you’ve pointed out) for constructing many things ... We know how to make it waterproof ... That’s always been the big obstacle , now managed.
I’ve been following a fellow that for many years has made planes out of cardboard .. http://feltondesignanddata.com/ ... a quick read will convince most anyone of the possibilities and handling methods of this material ...

Just a thought ... cardboard in the middle of foam does very little , as that area feels none of the tension compression forces , as it would on the outside of the foam ... so as far as making it stronger , it doesn’t do much between the sheets ... On the outside (as a skin) it makes the whole structure very strong ...

Ever wonder what an unfinished cardboard teardrop would look like...

Here ya go, Andrew's Pico in cardboard!!!

Mike...



Just for fun, here it is in Aluminum...

It sure would be possible to build the Entire cabin out of cardboard (corrugated) It would be plenty strong , if engineered correctly, and Thrifty ... Not that I didn’t have that idea all along , but I hesitated to mention it because I felt it would bring “howls" from the Peanut Gallery ... Most people feel corrugated cardboard is just “packagingâ€

Corrugated cardboard..... sure!!!


Mike...

Corrugated cardboard is a very good example of extreme engineering. Using minimal materials in a well designed configuration to give the maximum support. Stripped to the minimum! The cost savings in material and shipping weight in our international markets has resulted in a material that is much more than 'just a box'.

A friend of mine used to make strip canoes that were works of art. I never minded spending hours at a time in the bow of one of his canoes paddling into a headwind in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Studying the wood patterns that Marty chose was interesting.

One night around the campfire I asked about building materials. He used cedar stripping with carbon fiber for the last coat on the bottom. Marty told me that the cedar did nothing more than support the fiberglass. He said that he had always wanted to make a canoe using the Sunday Funny Paper between the fiberglass. He said that it would be just as strong and durable.

No reason not to use cardboard or corrugated paper for a core.

My only question about corrugated board is how it would hold up against being dented. That problem should disappear with a epoxy skin or other "hard" coat but with a "soft" exterior coat might be a problem... Any thoughts??? I think a paper board would tend not to dent...

I think my wife (not a good engineer) would shriek if I told her the exterior skin was cardboard. We're already having discussions about using a 2.5 oz fiberglass as the "sock" on Road Foamie She'd rather use 6 or 8 oz.