Ultralight Construction...

[Arne]

Mike, how did you determine axle location.?

I'm still fretting how to build it without a full metal frame and get it balanced right after it is done.... with your internal frame for fender mounts, what happens if you have to move the axle?

I assume you are using h/f 1800# or are those parts from a lighter model?

[mikeschn]

Hey Arne,

I determined axle location by packaging... i.e. I put in the door where it would be comfortable then I put the wheel as close to that as I could.

How do you know where the door is comfortable? That's easy... When you are laying in bed, and sit up and put your feet on the floor... the dimension from the headboard to the centerline of your body is the centerline of the door.

Then I checked my tongue weight spreadsheet... A 450# trailer, with a spindle center at 40" from the rear will have a tongue weight of 75#.

Then just for shits and giggles I checked the golden ratio (are you listening Guy?) and the golden ratio puts the spindle center about 38" from the rear. So I tried that in my CAD program and that looked good too. So I left it there...

Now my tongue weight spreadsheet says a 450# trailer with a spindle center at 38" from the rear will have a tongue weight of 83#.

There's no moving the fender, once the framing is glued up...

I am using the 1175# trailer. I will probably run it on a single leaf spring.

Remember too, I am definitely in prototype stage, I might find something earth shattering that we just can not live with...

But then again, it might just be one of the lightest teardrops since the all aluminum modernistic of half a centry ago!!!

Mike...

[angib]

I thought about that, but only briefly... swoosh laminations do not make a good hatch structure...

You might want to keep quiet about these laminations not making good ribs - there are a large number of boats right now crossing oceans with laminated ribs holding them together. So it would be a courtesy to those sailing on these boats not to let the ribs know that they aren't strong enough, as up till now they've been happily believing that they're plenty strong enough.....

Or, maybe, there's nothing wrong with laminations? Except that you've made an interior jig - and you'd want the hatch ribs to be thicker than the edge framing, so you'd need another jig.

Which reminds me, I was having lunch watching Norm The Wood God making an elliptical table top using a fixed-length batten with a pencil in the end. I'm guessing many people might prefer this to using string. Norm said he got the idea off the internet so here are a couple of links to sites with this technique.
Carpenter's Ellipse
Drawing an Ellipse

Andrew (the occasionally sarcastic)

[mikeschn]

Okay I guess I'd better restate this... The laminations that I built, still have some flex in them. I can't see how something with flex would properly seal the galley area... and if there is some flex in my laminations, and I put a piece of plywood on it, would I have spring back?

Maybe the answer is in building laminations that are wider than 5/8" and higher than 1 1/4". Or maybe it's my choice of material; pine. Perhaps a hardwood would be a better choice for this.

I will say this though... After gluing up laminations for the past 4 days, I'm good and ready for something that goes together a little bit quicker!

Mike...

[Guy]

Dear Mike,

Leonardo is listening, but the angel Michael was off playing with his David.

I am very happy to hear you did that. It will appear immeasurably finer.

[mikeschn]

Since I had a few minutes this morning I figured I'll glue up a few of the framing strips... I'm only gluing up a few strips at a time, but I figured I'd show you my high tech clamping system...



BTW, those 5 gallon jugs of paint are really "HEAVY"!

Mike...

[angib]

I will say this though... After gluing up laminations for the past 4 days, I'm good and ready for something that goes together a little bit quicker!

Ah, now, that's a good reason!

The stiffness of a section goes up as the cube of its thickness/height, so a 3" lamination should be 14 times stiffer than the 1-1/4".

And it would only take two and a half times as long to make........

Andrew

[Guest]

the problem with either of those bits, is they require you to cut the full 3/4" at one pass... I'd like to be able to cut 1/4 inch per pass...

I tried the 3/4" per pass last summer, and cut about 2/3's of my plywood framing, before I broke the bit and buried it into the plywood....

So I'll be looking for my guide bushing soon...

Mike...

I rough out with a jig saw and leave about 1/16" for the router.
I haven't had any problems as of yet.
Were you taking off a lot of material at once when the bit broke?

[mikeschn]

Were you taking off a lot of material at once when the bit broke?

Yes, against my better judgement...

Mike...

[Laredo]

Mike,
is this

what you're shooting for?

[mikeschn]

Laredo,

That is a snapshot of how the Lil Diner looked in the early days... the profile has changed since then.



How is your developement on this coming?


Mike...

[Laredo]

Last attempt collapsed. There is some question now of continuing as the primary motivation (following my Lady Raiders on the road) has come into uncertainty ...
(plus lately the job is eating my life. Catching a plane today, in fact...)

[dwgriff1]

Mike's design for the galley calls for a closed lower section, accessible from the top, like a chest freezer.

That makes the hatch simpler, and shorter, but it seems like it looses a lot of the versatility of the gallery: drawers, rollouts for the cooler, etc.

I'm doing a build, following a great deal of information from this design, but this detail has me wondering. It will be decision time for that detail very soon!

dave

[toypusher]

Mike's design for the galley calls for a closed lower section, accessible from the top, like a chest freezer.

That makes the hatch simpler, and shorter, but it seems like it looses a lot of the versatility of the gallery: drawers, rollouts for the cooler, etc.

I'm doing a build, following a great deal of information from this design, but this detail has me wondering. It will be decision time for that detail very soon!

dave

Dave,

Just consider using plywood to make the hatch ribs. That should make a stronger, less flexible structure! It may add a bit of weight, but would be stiffer, I think. You could also just make the laminated ribs and then apply aluminum strips on each side of the laminated rib to stiffen it for the hatch build! Just a couple of ideas to allow the Cub/Modernistic style galley/hatch setup.

[dwgriff1]

I understand the challenge of making a longer, more deeply curved galley cover. The wood work is a manageable challenge, but the first consideration is the design rational.

Mike and Andrew have earned deep respect in my mind, so my real wonder is the logic behind their design choice.

dave