Lifting roof XPStream - making improvements

[Funluvin001]

It's really coming together well!! I bet it's rewarding to see the physical results of all the planning and efforts!!
Keep on plugging away!

[Atomic77]

That video is amazing. What a great concept. I'm impressed!

[Funluvin001]

<< hopes to see some pics of the lift mechanism in place!

For me, this was a bit of a stumbling block in terms of swaying me away from doing something along the very same lines.. I've seen several set-ups but anything that seemed worth while came with a wicked price tag, both in terms of materials and efforts.

Yours sure seems to have a smooth operation! Kudo's!

[OP827]

Thanks Funluvin and yes, she's slowly coming to life!

WOW! That is so sweet.
I must admit I was clinching my teeth expecting it to drive right up into your garage door opener track, but I see you kept it below that. Will you be able to fully extend it inside of the garage once you are at final ride height and the rest of the roof panels are on?

Thanks for kind words KC, and yes I felt WOW big time the moment the concept worked. There is enough ceiling height as you can see, but the garage door and opener will be on the way once the roof panel is installed, so I am thinking of my options so I can continue working inside. If the roof is up and if the garage door is activated, then there will be a crash in any case. So I could leave the garage opener in place and move the trailer aside so there is enough height in between the garage door side rail and the opener, but I will need to make sure the garage opener is unpluged, for good. other option is to leave trailer where it is in the middle and remove garage opener, but then I have to fix the garage door by a pin, clamp or other means so it cannot be opened by hand from outside, those kind of choices..

Thanks Michael for encouragement and support. The fact that it comes from you tells me that I must be doing something right . Talking about innovation and inspiration, I came across Burt Rutan presentation he did this October at 2015 Russia Open Innovations Forum and Technology Show, he talked about future air and space exploration, inventions and how NASA and Russian Space agency scientists have stopped challenging themselves with conceptually new, impossible ideas during the last 50 years, and how he is acting to show all airspace society with commercial space travel ideas. To me, Burt is an example of a man that does not fear to fail and therefore he was able to achieve the amazing.

[S. Heisley]

You should be very proud of yourself. You're doing an awesome job!

[Atomic77]

OP I wish you could meet Burt in person. Innovation oozes from his pores... But talking to him is like talking to an old friend you've known forever. He's a great man.

[OP827]

OP I wish you could meet Burt in person. Innovation oozes from his pores... But talking to him is like talking to an old friend you've known forever. He's a great man.

- I wish that too and will impatiently follow his Sea Gull project.

[OP827]

You should be very proud of yourself. You're doing an awesome job!

- Thank you very much Sharon

[dales133]

Nice! How awsum it looks like a flawless operation.
Looks better than i expected...not that i doubted you but until all the parts were together and it moved i didnt quite get it.
Congrads mate,simply amazing

[OP827]

Nice! How awsum it looks like a flawless operation.
Looks better than i expected...not that i doubted you but until all the parts were together and it moved i didnt quite get it.
Congrads mate,simply amazing

Thanks very much Dale

[OP827]

I ran into some issues with roof top panel after I dry fitted it to roof, there is some minor but annoying unwanted sagging in some places after it was stored outside under snow load or some other unknown reason and am figuring out how to fix it without a complete redo, but some cuts may be required. It's not the first time for me to run into issues with this build, just takes a bit of time to figure it out

[noseoil]

Great job in the video! Still want to see the concept, since I'm at a loss to understand what's actually happening during the lift & drop.

About the sagging roof... When you have an adjustable book shelf that's sagging, remove the books, flip it over & let gravity do the fix for you when the books are in place again. Can you invert the roof & support it like it was when it drooped, add a little weight in the area it sagged & just wait a bit for it to fix itself? Some sand or other stuff resembling a roof load would be all it takes to change the shape. Once the panel has sagged back into place, add another layer of glass to the outside or maybe the inside & it should be good to go. Just a thought.

People don't appreciate a snow load & what it can do to a building. Above 5,000 feet here in the Tucson area (the surrounding mountains where we send trusses), we have to add a 20# per square foot snow load & change the duration factors to accommodate extra weight. Since it sagged once, it can sag again! Not sure about your size exactly, but a 7' x 18' panel could end up with an extra 2500#, with that amount of additional loading! Gravity is our friend here, or is it?

[KCStudly]

Once it is back in the shape you want, adding some stiffening ribs (foam ribs laminated in place), akin to the old station wagon roof ribs, either on the inside or outside, would help stiffen things up.

Also, have you considered post cure heat? Supposedly elevating the epoxy temperature to 160 - 190 degrees and soaking it for a while using lamps (or sunlight) can add quite a bit of strength and stability.

[Vedette]

If you have to live in Alberta.....you might want to consider more "Pitch"
Look at he houses in Revelstoke and up at the ski hills????
Sorry, just couldn't resist.
Brian

[OP827]

Thanks for your input gentlemen. I think what happened was the epoxy does shrink just a little bit when it fully cures and since I did the epoxy outside coating last, it has cured last and together with gravity it created this sagging. Lesson learnt is not to do the lamination of outside surface last, it should be done first then it should be done inside after and keep the gravity helping the good curvature during epoxy full cure cycle which can be several days or even weeks depending on temperatures. And I should have stored the roof panel upside down too.
I could leave the roof as-is and it would work, but I just do not completely like the look of this little 1/2 inch sag, so it will be fixed.
The sandwich panel itself is happened to be very rigid, I can put my body weight on it and it will hold with a little deflection. I tried to bend it with a jig, the jig bends equally as the roof, creating some medium curve as a result so I think it has probably fully cured after several months, so expecting it to move back if it is flipped over and added with load is not going to work, jmho.
What I plan on doing is to cut accross the roof where relatively the flat front part starts and flip that flat front part over, then glue pine strip stiffeners under each of 12 across roof seams with a caul jig I made and will have several of the jigs to glue the stiffeners at the same time. Will also add fiberglass layers on the stiffeners to increase rigidity. Carbon would work best instead of glass, but I decided against it due to costs. After the stiffeners are added in front and back I plan on assembling front and back parts back together in a needed shape with jigs again with some thickened epoxy. The whole procedure will decrease the roof longitudinal curve which I will then accommodate by adjusting the roof side panels accordingly.