I’d been thinking for a while about how to set up the mounting/foundation for the solar installation. I settled on “Superstrut” rails that normally are used to hold plumbing and electrical from building frames. The way these work is they’re hung by threaded rods, and then a clamp bolt, which is just a small metal […]
rivet
About making those luggage doors flat again
Someone asked how you make those luggage doors with the big folds in the flat-ish. You know the ones – the bus driver thought they could make it over that hump in the road and high centered the vehicle instead. So I’m assuming you don’t have completely destroyed doors, like no tears in the sheet […]
So you said you wanted to paint a bus?
Well, this was a lot of work. Lots of pictures below. Wire wheel strip all the failing paint from the new panels (didn’t scuff them, cheap alklyd paint applied under humid damp conditions) Then sand everything else, sand around all the rivets.Scotch brite around the rivet dimples. Walnut blast remaining paint from rivet dimples. There […]
Windows – I can see the rain
Got all the windows installed, now I’m kickin mah feet up for a few minutes. Its cozy in here, raining outside. Eventually I’ll insulate that door, but for now its fine. I think in the coming weeks I’ll get the kitchen systems built. Basically, a couple counter height custom metal cabinets with drawers, and a […]
Riveting bus sheet metal
I live near Boeing, land of riveted aircraft. I think nowdays it’s mostly robots doing the riveting, but anywhoo, I needed to figure out how to rivet bus skins. Here’s a collection of things I learned when riveting the panels. First, get a 4x rivet gun. You’ll realize that not only can you use it […]
Sheet metal completely installed
Detail view of the various panels ready for rivets. The basic idea here is follow the same rivet placement that the factory did, which was I think every two inches, on each rib flange. The weather is already starting to change in September, so there’s that feeling in the air every day to get a […]
Rear roof cap
Ready to rivet the last cap panels in after dinner. Making the endcap. Very high tech, fence boards and vice grips. Here is the outside of the endcap as it is mostly done. It seems to take a long time, but really I have only worked on it a few hours here and there. Left […]
The Rocket Surgeon
I also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express one time. Here’s a detail of how I inserted the rectangular tubing into the existing body hoops. The technique was to have the rectangular tubing extend as much as possible into the old structure, then set the flat bar shims in flush to keep everything snug. Once […]
Roof raise lines
Which cut line is better? I prefer the straight back instead of the uh “fast back”, but the straight back will be a bit more work to pull off. Straight back “Fast” Back I’ve read in a few places that endcaps are not really supposed to be messed with. When looking at it closely, I see a number […]