Lifting roof XPStream - making improvements

[OP827]

Posted a short video on youtube showing how the lifting roof works

[bdosborn]

Wow, that's pretty slick. Well done!

Bruce

[Aguyfromohio]

Way cool

[OP827]

Bruce and aguyfromOhio,

Thank you guys for such a great reaction and support.



Oleg

[RJ Howell]

Nice! Well done.

[S. Heisley]

Very Clever!

[OP827]

Nice! Well done.

Thanks RJ!

[OP827]

Very Clever!

Thanks Sharon, appreciate it! I sense an inquiring mind behind emoticon, care to ask a question?

[greygoos]

Wonderful build. Happy Camping

[OP827]

Wonderful build. Happy Camping

Thanks very much, greygoos. I shall switch from building to "testing" mode this camping season.

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[Atomic77]

Oleg!

Your creation is a Masterpiece and a Vision of Craftsmanship! It is Mechanical Art and your Professionalism and Engineering is Outstanding!

Very Fine Work my Friend,

Michael

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[OP827]

Oleg!

Your creation is a Masterpiece and a Vision of Craftsmanship! It is Mechanical Art and your Professionalism and Engineering is Outstanding!

Very Fine Work my Friend,

Michael

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WOW, Michael, thank you. I have received a lot of ideas, support and especially inspiration from you and all the great people on this forum. Being humbled a few times with a real life experiences I am not expecting some design idea to work before it is tested and many times, this build included, certain things did not work or yet will not work, but I find satisfaction in finding a solution by analyzing why something did not work and finding a way for it to actually work in all conditions. Does this make sense? I enjoyed mechanical theory in engineering school and this build reminded me of that feeling. Transformation to offer better function for changing design requirements, which in this case road mode and then camping mode seems to me as a natural trend for a trailer design. I know, it gets complicated, comparing to traditional static shape, and many did one variation or the other, but this where the fun part starts! If it was easy then why bother? The real disruption would be to make the design simple and easy to build and easily used by anyone and THEN that kind of design could be something special... That was a long ramble, but I wanted to get it out there. Thank you again for support and inspiration.

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[Atomic77]

It's a work of art and well deserved. Great job Brotherman

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[leblanda]

WOW did I say it WOW!

I plan to build someting with the same material and technique (foam and some wood reinforcement) but way more simpler.
I did read your build thread but did not understand the new technique with the score line instead of the hole in the styrofoam!?
And I did not find any picture of it.
Would you mind to explain your foam glassing method and materials?
epoxy type
cloth type and weight
filler
primer and paint type
I did see somewhere in the forum about using polycrylic!

Thanks for sharing.

Dan

[OP827]

Thanks Dan. I used one layer of 6oz e-glass everywhere on outside except two layers in frontal road chip areas. As epoxy I used west system, then east system, then generic 2:1 from local supplier, but west and east are better for lamination as being of less viscosity. I used scoring the foam for only portion of my build as I was experimenting with finding a way to eliminate potential delamination issues due extreme heat or cold. I don't have a picture handy of the tool I did, but it basically consist of aprox. Half inch spaced utility knife blades like 10 of them or so which are positioned at a light angle to the surface, so that the foam cuts clear without reeping. It is a hand tool. Depth of cut 1/8" to 3/16" would normally create a strong matrix that holds cloth so good that when you try to rip it off, the single layer of glass would reep in pieces. That is more than needed to protect fibreglass from delamination. But note that scoring will increase epoxy volume required for the lamination and weight of course, so it is not a free lunch. The boat construction pvc foam already comes pre-scored to basically create a honeycomb structure. I think this method does not work well for dry on dry layup. I had to wet scored foam and then lay cloth on top to avoid small bubbles to come up later. Hope this helps.