Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:47 am

Here's a working copy of my electrical schematic, not including the AC side, which will be very basic...

Schematic.jpg
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Wiring Diagrams to follow...
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:53 am

...and the Wiring Diagrams. Sorry they're so big. They may be hard to view on a phone, but making them smaller made the words difficult to read.

TB WD.jpg
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DSide WD.jpg
DSide WD.jpg (134.29 KiB) Viewed 2547 times


Pass WD.jpg
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:beer:
Steve
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby John61CT » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:28 pm

Logical - layout schematics ignoring physical location make things easier to grok. Wiring length and max current can be labeled along with #AWG guage.
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Wed May 01, 2019 8:25 pm

One of the more nerve-racking things thus far was cutting the tail light holes in the rear wall panel.
Here's a picture of the wall panel laying flat on the trailer floor with the locations of the lights marked in tape.
IMG_3462.JPG
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And a close-up of the marks for where to drill the 2-1/8" holes with the hole saw. <gulp>
IMG_3464.JPG
IMG_3464.JPG (156.66 KiB) Viewed 2491 times


And the finished hole with the light sitting loosely in its permanent home. The plan is to epoxy them in place - hoping that they never need to be replaced :worship:
IMG_3469.JPG
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:beer:
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby greygoos » Wed May 01, 2019 8:27 pm

StrongFeather wrote:One of the more nerve-racking things thus far was cutting the tail light holes in the rear wall panel.
Here's a picture of the wall panel laying flat on the trailer floor with the locations of the lights marked in tape.
IMG_3462.JPG


And a close-up of the marks for where to drill the 2-1/8" holes with the hole saw. <gulp>
IMG_3464.JPG


And the finished hole with the light sitting loosely in its permanent home. The plan is to epoxy them in place - hoping that they never need to be replaced :worship:
IMG_3469.JPG


:beer:
Steve

Dont know your whole plan for your lights but play devils advocate suppose the lights get smashed or broken at some point as trailer lighting often does
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Wed May 01, 2019 8:38 pm

The main issue that I've had with the panels is that the edges don't always come out square (see picture). Long-story-short, but this problem was caused by resin sneaking between the glass and aluminum mold frame. This is by far one of the worst examples.
IMG_3478.JPG
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The plan to fix the blemishes was to use some 10cc syringes filled with clear coat and inject the crevices (where 2 panels are joined together) with clear to build them up flush with the panel surface.
IMG_3481.JPG
IMG_3481.JPG (179.49 KiB) Viewed 2565 times


But, I also had to fix some edges/corners where 2 panels are not joined together. So, I put some mold release wax on some of the aluminum mold frame pieces and clamped them to the side of the panel.
IMG_3480.JPG
IMG_3480.JPG (124.37 KiB) Viewed 2565 times


I wasn't real happy with the first try last night because a lot of clear, way too much for my liking, ended up on the flat/good surface of the panel. I thought it was going to be a blotchy, bumpy mess that would be difficult to sand smooth without sanding through the good clear that came flat out of the mold. Luckily, when I checked on it today, it looked good.

:beer:
Steve
Last edited by StrongFeather on Wed May 01, 2019 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Wed May 01, 2019 8:48 pm

greygoos wrote:Dont know your whole plan for your lights but play devils advocate suppose the lights get smashed or broken at some point as trailer lighting often does


Yep, heavily considered that, as well as faults/malfunctions, etc... I'm banking on them being well-built, sealed LED units that will be able to take a beating and work for many, many years. With that said, I've positioned them in a place that I will have easy access to via the rear storage area. IF something should happen, I will be able to remove the old light(s) using the same hole saw, oscillating cutter and file that I used to cut these holes. Then, assuming I can find one the same size/shape, I'll be able to epoxy a new one in and be ready to roll.

BTW, I think I mentioned this earlier, but the reason I decided to mount them like this is because I really didn't like the look of the lights sitting proud on the surface of the camper skin. For now, I'm very happy with this decision - hoping that it won't bite me ITA down the road.

:beer:
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby John61CT » Thu May 02, 2019 3:57 am

Rather than epoxy, try 3M 4200, UV version.

Should hold well enough, but can be undone when needed.
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Thu May 02, 2019 7:46 am

Thanks for the tip, John. I’ll look into it.


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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Sat May 04, 2019 5:45 pm

StrongFeather wrote:
IMG_3478.JPG


The plan to fix the blemishes was to use some 10cc syringes filled with clear coat and inject the crevices (where 2 panels are joined together) with clear to build them up flush with the panel surface.
IMG_3481.JPG



Allow me to quote... myself.

It turns out fixing the edges is pretty easy. Fixing the crevasses where 2 panels are joined- not so much. Critical error on my part. I should have fixed all of the edges before affixing the panels to each other. It’s hard, but I’m almost at that point where I have to tell myself that it’s not perfect and by trying to make it better, I could actually make it worse.

Steve


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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby Atomic77 » Sun May 05, 2019 6:26 pm

If I had a dollar...

It's all part of it man. We learn as we go.

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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Sun May 05, 2019 8:26 pm

You know it, Michael. It’s all about the journey as much as the destination.

I spent some time working those crevasses today - because I just couldn’t leave them looking like they did - and they turned out a lot better. I had to use a flat file to take out the high spots, then wet sand, then wipe on some clear coat, then more sanding... and so on until the crevasse was level and the gouges from the file were gone.

Another delay and another lesson learned, but it’s all good. I’m still enjoying this crazy little experiment.

Cheers and Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Steve


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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby low277 » Sat May 11, 2019 12:48 pm

John61CT wrote:Logical - layout schematics ignoring physical location make things easier to grok. Wiring length and max current can be labeled along with #AWG guage.



Grok!! :thumbsup: Sorry, I had to do it. :)
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Tue May 14, 2019 9:34 pm

Time for a quickie update. I've been busy assembling the walls, including insulation, window bucks and wiring. Here's some pictures...

Window bucks under construction. The trailer will have 3 windows; one in each cabin door and one in the rear wall.
IMG_3498.JPG
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Here's a picture of the rear wall with the insulation and window buck installed.
IMG_3501.JPG
IMG_3501.JPG (120.55 KiB) Viewed 2284 times


And the driver's side wall with about half of the insulation and all of the wiring installed. I thought I got a good picture of the wires running in the channels that I routed into the foam, but I guess not. Maybe I'll take a better picture later. You can see it in this picture, but not very well.
IMG_3506.JPG
IMG_3506.JPG (126.24 KiB) Viewed 2284 times


:beer:
Steve
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Re: Carbon Fiber/Aluminum build for a family of 5

Postby StrongFeather » Tue May 14, 2019 9:55 pm

More wall construction...

I nearly forgot a critical part of the wall construction - adding the T-nuts that will accept the 1/4-20 x 4" machine screws that will hold the walls to the trailer frame.

Here's a picture of the wall laying flat on the floor with the machine screw and T-nut in place. You can see the hole in the frame that the 1/4-20's will go through.
IMG_3512.JPG
IMG_3512.JPG (170.4 KiB) Viewed 2277 times


Eventually, the T-nuts will be inside the wall panel, which will be totally sealed. For that reason, they simply HAVE to stay put. So, I gooped some (very) thickened epoxy to keep them where I want them.
IMG_3513.JPG
IMG_3513.JPG (166.88 KiB) Viewed 2277 times


Here's a picture of the driver's side wall panel in place (so I could mark the holes for the above mentioned screws). I haven't weighed it with the foam and wires, but it's still very easy for one person to lift/carry/move.
IMG_3509.JPG
IMG_3509.JPG (136.67 KiB) Viewed 2277 times


:beer:
Steve
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