CNC Build: The Bed and Breakfast at 4 years and 40,000 miles

[RandyG]

8,000 views! Thanks everyone!

Stay tuned!

I check a couple of times a day on each build I'm following, I have many long and uneventful days. Thanks for the entertainment.

[capnTelescope]

Thanks for the entertainment.

You're welcome. Here's some more.

As promised, I did another loose assembly in the garage, for hatch inspection and 'splaining.

It's held together by 4 screws and 2 clamps.

Here's why I was ready to boldly go. (I'm now really glad I didn't. You'll see why in a minute.)

The hatch skin will be flush with the outer profile and between the two outer walls. I will trim the hatch skin to the opening, so it should look perfect when done. If the router doesn't slip...

So I start out by attaching an oversized skin to the hatch frame, as dramatized in this obviously staged photo.


I then come back with my trusty router and trim bit, and trim the skin using the galley opening as a guide:


so that the hatch skin is flush with the outer profile and between the two outer walls:


Here's why I'm glad I didn't just forge ahead:

The bottom edge of the hatch should meet up with the bottom of the floor (the plywood peeking through at the bottom). This is for weather sealing as well as clearance for slide-outs in the galley. I think I can just trim the hatch frame bottom and add a piece. Or cut a new set of hatch parts.

[KCStudly]

Any idea what went wrong?

I had one of those lost moments with a dimension yesterday, but fortunately it went the other way and I had to trim some off. Still don't know what I was thinking.

[capnTelescope]

Any idea what went wrong?

It looks to me like it was made according to the drawing. GIGO.



The bottom of the back end might end up looking a little strange. OTOH, I guess this means that the rest of the part must be right.

For some reason, I had a hard time visualizing this area. I see it better now.

[aggie79]

Cap'n,

I can commiserate with your situation. The hatch bottom to teardrop and/or teardrop floor detailing through me off. So instead of worrying about it, I left the floor short, built the hatch, and then extended floor and built the rear roll pan to fit.
Take care,
Tom

[capnTelescope]

Cap'n,

I can commiserate with your situation. The hatch bottom to teardrop and/or teardrop floor detailing through me off. So instead of worrying about it, I left the floor short, built the hatch, and then extended floor and built the rear roll pan to fit.
Take care,
Tom

Thanks, Tom. That just helped the light bulb come on, however dimly. I haven't cut my floor to length yet, partly for just this reason. Ditto for not starting the trailer. My first thoughts are to make the trailer about 6 inches shorter than the floor for front & rear roll pans, then improvise front & rear.

I just love these cliffhangers. Everybody stay tuned!

[capnTelescope]

You may remember (it's been a week) that I needed to extend the end of my hatch down another 3/4". Of course, nothing is that simple. Because I had beveled the end piece to match the ribs, I needed to cut some more off before I could add material. I thought I could do it on the table saw by shimming things just right, but that didn't work out. When you have to use 2x4's as "shims," you just shouldn't go there. So I didn't. I fired up my power plane that I got from the clearance rack at HD, moved outside, made a bunch of chips, and got 'er done.

I'm not gluing on the new piece until I decide how to do the aft rollpan.

That was last week. Then off to Galveston to celebrate an early Mother's Day this past weekend.

Today, I went to Metals4Me. I mean Metals4U, but the steel is for me, not you. Anyway, I scored the steel bits I need for the trailer frame. Got them into the TV without too much overhang, and got it home.


I'm happy to say that driving at this stage, you can't even tell it's back there. 244 pounds and counting.

Once the trailer is built, I can start really assembling.

Thanks for stopping by!

[capnTelescope]

Work proceeded on the trailer frame, as today was Small Pieces Day. I went to TechShop and made 4 corner gussets and 10 cabin bolt-down brackets.

I got to use the big horizontal band saw and the little drill press and the pretty big pedestal grinder. Big cool toys!

After that, it was time to do a little weld practice. This time, I ground a weld prep on the test piece, reducing the edge thickness to about 1/16", and ran a weld bead. On visual inspection, it was obvious that the weld hadn't penetrated 100%. That done, I put the weldment in a vise to see if I could break the weld. Using a pair of vise grips, I bent the weld-up back and forth several times. The steel bent but the weld didn't break. It's the top weld in this pic:

The torture test was something like the trailer falling off a cliff and rolling down the hill.

I hereby second Tony.Latham's certification of my welding ability.

Here's a closeup of the weld:

There's good penetration away from the corner, but not in the corner. Any opinions?

Thanks for stopping by!

[capnTelescope]

More preliminary work on the trailer frame today. I got six 1/2" holes drilled in the 2 side rails, 3 in each.

That may not look like much to you, but let me tell you! These holes are for mounting the Timbren suspension. Three 1/2" holes per side, and you can't just eyeball the location. No, the 1/2" bolts just fit through the holes on the part, and TechShop's drills (and mine) go up to 1/2" and not a bit more. So the holes have to line up pretttty good. And, the first one I drilled started about 1/8" off the centerpunch. Time to use the suspension as a drill guide.

So picture this in your mind (You'll have to, as there's no other picture available--my hands were full): an 8-1/2 foot piece of 1 x 3 steel tubing with a 45 pound Timbren unit c-clamped somewhere near the middle. So I have to get this 70 pounds of off balance awkwardness that doesn't lay flat in any direction up on this drill press and somehow drill three holes that have to be located real close to what the drawing says. You might recall a couple of times from earlier in the build where I showed the world that making to print hasn't been exactly my strong suit.

These two pictures are a dramatic re-enactment of the story so far:


Black objects on a black background photographed at night. Reminds me of the days when I worked on other people's cars for a living. I was always looking for black objects in dimly lit places. It made having a $125 flashlight seem sensible...

But I digress. We're not done here yet. By the time this story is finished, you are going to think 6 holes was a pretty good day's work.

The first hole was drilled with the side rail in a vise on the drill press table. Nice and stable. This vise wants to orient itself in the table's T-slots so the part points at the column, which would make sense most of the time, but no bueno this time. With the Tibmren clamped on, no way is any part of this going to clamp in the vise. Especially with the part where I want to drill. Fortunately, I found the most important tool in any shop... a couple of 2x4 wood blocks. One got used on the sawhorse to get the rail almost level, the other went into the vise (now turned 90 deg to its natural position) and set so the Timbren would locate the rail under the drill (in/out) and "all I had to do" was move the rail left/right to locate the hole-to-be under the drill. Gravity and the drill press would do the rest. What could go wrong?

Let me add here that the weather here today was warm, with the humidity in the 90's. And the A/C in the metal shop can't keep up with the overhead door that gets opened to let the likes of me in with their big pieces of material. So I could have worked up a good sweat just standing around. But I'm not standing around, I'm wrestling with 70 pounds of awkwardness, so the sweat's just pouring off.

Fortunately nothing did go wrong. I got the last five holes drilled without incident and declared it to be beer-thirty.

Thanks for stopping by!

[KCStudly]

Is it Monday morning, cuz I have some advice?
Option (A): Careful layout. A tiny tippy tap prick punch to see if you hit the mark; if not you can "push the prick" around by angling the punch in the direction you need to move it and hit it a little harder... it will move. Once you have the mark where you want it, plumb the punch up and hit it hard a couple of times to get a really positive starter. Drill small and work your way up; the little drill stays put in the big deep prick mark (innuendo NOT intended).

Option (B): Take a piece of scrap metal, clamp it to the Timbren and drill the pattern (a transfer punch is preferred, then enlarge the prick mark from that with a standard center punch); now you have a more portable drill jig. Then take the jig and clamp that on your steel (mind your orientation), then drill.

Hope that helps you and others in the future. Day late and a dollar short, I know, but it is good to see you making progress.

[capnTelescope]

...

Yeah, like you said. I had a nice big carefully laid out prick mark (Innuendo not intended here, either. Nope. Not one bit. What innuendo? What?)

Shoulda started smaller, etc., but it all turned out OK in the end. The Timbren made a good drill guide. And I'm rehydrated.

I still have the stabilizer jack mounts to do. They would have made good practice pieces. Too soon old, too late smart.

Hope that helps you and others in the future.

Too late for me, but I second the thought for others.

[Breytie]

Too soon old, too late smart.

Aint that the absolute truth!

[tony.latham]

Bro:

Does that Tacoma tailgate have any new drain holes in it?

Me? I've just finished my round-to-rectangular inlet for my Thien top-hat seperator. It'll fit under MY Rockler wall mounted dust collector. Sheeeesh.


Tony

p.s. Your welds are fine and your shop is too clean.

[capnTelescope]

Too soon old, too late smart.

Aint that the absolute truth!

Hey, Breytie, I just wish I'd said it first. I read your build thread. When you say "a lot happened since my last post" I know what that can be like. Hope it's and not . Get back to your build soon. Thanks for checking in.

Bro:

Does that Tacoma tailgate have any new drain holes in it?

Me? I've just finished my round-to-rectangular inlet for my Thien top-hat seperator. It'll fit under MY Rockler wall mounted dust collector. Sheeeesh.


Tony

Hi, Twin Brother from Another Mother. Will wonders never cease?

The tailgate looks like someone opened fire at me.

Have you seen my thread on Thien's website? I posted results of the my first bucket emptying on there a while back. Results were amazing.

p.s. Your welds are fine and your shop is too clean.

Thank you. I'm much more confident in the welds after the torture test. I only clean up the shop for pictures!

[tony.latham]

I saw that Thien thread but oddly didn't put two and two together. I posted pictures of my round-to-square fiberglass intake build here: http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=1117.0

I'm working on a circle cutter jib but won't be able to start cutting for a week or so.

Tony