The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[KCStudly]

Gee shucks.

[S. Heisley]

The "squirrel in the cage" already looks like a happy camper and well he should....beautiful work!

[KCStudly]

Thank you Sharon. I'm happy with how everything is coming out, but I am also looking forward to the day when I can just say, "let's hitch the camper up and get away for the weekend". I'm also having thoughts of becoming an NHRA groupie, chasing the events within driving distance and camping out for the drag races. Let's see, Epping, Maple Grove, Englishtown, definitely Indy, maybe the 4-wide event in Charlotte. (OT: I'm opposed to the 4-wide format because it shortens the race and is harder to follow the action, but who can argue with the nostalgia aspect and the raw energy of 40000HP all at once!!!)

The train she is a rollin'.

[KCStudly]

Tonight I stayed after work and did a couple of machining tasks. I made some plastic (I think Delrin?) thrust washers to keep the actuator pivot points centered within the mounting brackets. The smaller 1/2 OD x .075 thk washers are for the top and the larger 5/8 OD x .100 thk ones are for the bottom.


I plan on making washer plates for each pair of bolt heads on the cabin side of the lower actuator mounting brackets. In order to get the bolt holes drilled thru the bulkhead accurately I decided to make a steel drill guide bushing that can be screwed into the lower bolt hole of the bracket. So I chucked this old used shoulder bolt up in the collet head of the lathe, face skimmed it off, centered, and drilled thru with a #12 bit.


The shoulder diameter is a little close to the threaded hole’s chamfer size (due to the Helicoil insert), and the threaded length is a little longer than the bracket is thick, so the added jam nut shortens the threads up and gives a nice wide bearing area to sock the shoulder bolt up square. I also put a nice lead in chamfer to help guide the bit into the hole.



The lower bolt holes in the brackets are accessible when the actuators are mocked up, so I should be able to mock everything up, hold the brackets up against the bulkhead, and pilot drill the lower holes. Then I can drill those holes out, bolt the brackets up, and use the bushing again to pilot drill the upper holes. The plan is to have the bolt pattern on the inside of the cabin match, rather than have the holes wander off in different directions. This will make it easier to match the washer plates.

I fiddled around for a while cutting one of the too long shoulder bolts down, but gave up when I couldn’t find the proper carbide insert to recut the threads. The shoulder bolts for the lower pivot points need to be 1-5/8 long at the shoulder, which is an in between size. They are available from McMaster-Carr, but have a three day lead time and cost twice what the 1-1/2 or 1-3/4 long ones do. I might try again tomorrow if the machinists can find me an insert, or I’ll just order the proper length ones and use the long ones for fit up.

[KCStudly]

Test fitting the lower actuator brackets with the washers found that they fit very well.


I made the upper washers a little smaller to better match the tips of the upper brackets, which made them a little close to the size of the chamfer in the rod hole. I might remake these with a conical seat to match the rod hole, or maybe a semicircular shape to match the diameter of the rod… or I might just leave them and see how they do, keeping an eye on them in use.


This next picture was kind of tight (big squirrel in a relatively small cage ). I cut a gauge stick that measured off the distance from the inside of the galley wall to the outside of the lower actuator brackets. This made it much easier for me to hold the bracket hard into position with one hand. By letting it hang from the actuator, swinging it hard against the bulkhead and gauge stick at the same time I was able to hold the bracket exactly in position, and plumb, while running the drill thru the guide bushing using the other hand. No slipping around.


Once the pilot hole was drilled thru (with Karl’s help holding a backing block on the inside to prevent splintering) I stepped up the drill size and opened the hole up to 5/16 inch, matching the bolt size. The oak blocking was plenty hard enough to keep the subsequent drill sizes from wandering.

With the bracket separated from the actuator, Karl ran the lower mounting bolt thru from the cabin side; I repositioned the gauge stick to square the bracket back up, repositioned the drill guide to the upper hole, and drilled the upper pilot hole. Wash, rinse, repeat, and you get two mounted brackets.


I haven’t made the washer plates yet (wanted to make sure the drilling went accurately first) so we just used some temporary wooden plates for now (drilled right thru them in place at the same time).

The finished washer plates will be much smaller (similar to the foot print of the brackets), in the same material as the switch plates.

Here is a test fit of one of the actuator assemblies.


With that settled I could get back to fitting the hatch skin; this time the lower section. I took the temporary 2x4 cleat off the lower edge of the upper skin. No surprise that there was a ripple in it. The middle areas between the ribs were trying to spring back.


To help dry fit the lower skin and hold it tight to the bottom of the ribs, just to start for a look-see, I used a couple of scraps of the 5mm ply as shims to space a temporary cleat and get it clamped to the lower hatch spar.


Tucked under the shims I added a sliver of the wax paper box chipboard so that the cleat wouldn’t be too tight.


Once clamped I was able to remove the shims and slip the lower skin into place. Here you can see the overlap, excess that will become the backer strip for the panel splice.


Still a little iffy about how to fit this accurately simultaneously at both the top bottom (maybe have Karl close me in and scribe a line to match mark the edge?), so I decided to sleep on it and come back rested tomorrow.

Train kept a rollin’.

[GPW]

KC , I must confess really being impressed by your Metal work ... Wood is one thing , but Metal ... You casually popped out that beautiful trailer from scratch , and now all these little fittings , Now that’s really IMPRESSIVE ...

[KCStudly]

Thanks for the beau coup compliment, GPW, but there is nothing casual about it.

It takes an eye for design (functionality, ergonomics, manufacturing capability, eye appeal and cost control), plus all of those things I keep harping on (material sourcing, tooling, sometimes prototyping tests, manufacturing and final finishing).

It's just the experience and proper tools that make it look easy.

That said, anyone could do it with the proper inspiration and approach.

"I can do it if you can show me how."

[GPW]

You’re right !!!! Lots to it !!! 

[KCStudly]

Ended up working around the house today. (Sometimes it feels like I need to apologize for not working on the camper. ) Had a bad dimmer switch for the track lighting in the kitchen and wanted to switch those over to LED's (used to get too hot in the kitchen when all of the lights were up!). From a cold start the new dimmable LED's pop on at about 20/ct and can then be dimmed back, but even with the slider all the way down they don't go as low as the PAR 20 halogens they replaced. On full they are super bright; brighter than before. Best of all, they don't throw any heat!

Also fixed a bad light switch and burnt out circular fluorescent lamp in the basement. BTW, they're called lamps in the lighting industry; a bulb is something that you plant in the ground!!! Then what do you call a "lamp" in the industry, you ask; why that would be a "fixture" or, if you want to sound fancy like one of those marketing dudes, a "luminaire".

Cold and wet weather here today, tomorrow is supposed to be better.

Build on.

[Wolffarmer]

Today the truck I usually drive got rolled off the road with a load of silage. Drive not hurt ( no longer employed also ). Driver forgot he was coming to a T in the road. And he was on the stem of it. Right off the other side.

Oh well.

Randy

[KCStudly]

Ooh, I hope you are still employed, that they have another truck for you to drive.

Were they able to recover anything; the load or the truck? I worked for a wrecker company for a while, including heavy recovery. Got interesting sometimes. Never was a good day for the drivers, though.

[Ned B]

KC,
I think i speak for the rest of the audience when I say; "Life happen. We'll be here when you do post about the PCE, AND we'll be here when you post about anything else as well."

Randy,
hope the driver wasn't hurt, and that the truck is repairable.

KC... yeah, anytime the hook arrives, it is NOT a driver's good day. I"ve been on both ends of the driver/dispatch phone for those calls. Actually prefer to be on the driver end....

[atahoekid]

Thank you Sharon. I'm happy with how everything is coming out, but I am also looking forward to the day when I can just say, "let's hitch the camper up and get away for the weekend". I'm also having thoughts of becoming an NHRA groupie, chasing the events within driving distance and camping out for the drag races. Let's see, Epping, Maple Grove, Englishtown, definitely Indy, maybe the 4-wide event in Charlotte. (OT: I'm opposed to the 4-wide format because it shortens the race and is harder to follow the action, but who can argue with the nostalgia aspect and the raw energy of 40000HP all at once!!!)

The train she is a rollin'.

Camping out for the races sounds like a great idea. NHRA racing is my favorite, The TUDOR United Sports Car Championship next on my list. HMMM I'm not too far from Sonoma, Laguna Seca, Las Vegas is about an 8 hour drive, Utah a bit farther... Food for thought.

Sorry for straying farther off topic

[KCStudly]

Don't be sorry. These little campers are the perfect way to maximize the immersion factor of going to the races, and I can't imagine that any camping fees combined with the facility to prepare simple meals wouldn't be well offset by the savings in hotel and eating out food costs.

For me, whose wife is not into racing, and my friends that are/were have all scattered, it would be the perfect way to go it solo! Drive in, tailgate and sleep in the camper, and spend every waking moment otherwise absorbed in the sights, sounds, and smells of racing. No morning commute from the hotel, no long lines of traffic trying to get into the park before the first round, and the rap of a race car engine roaring to life in the morning tune up session to wake you up. (I can suffer thru public restrooms and PTA baths for a few days!)

Sounds like a perfect weekend to me!

[Wolffarmer]

I am still employed. I was driving another truck. The one that got wrecked was my usual truck. But it was hard on my shoulders. Mostly the cab got a bit over tweaked. We scooped the silage out with front end loaders. Tied chains to the frame and while the county mounty stopped traffic. ( the loaders was on the highway). We pulled it up right. Dragged it back up on the road. Hooked the service pickup that has an air compressor to the truck. Ran the air house to the truck's air brake system. There is already an air chuck on the truck's air system and pulled it home. We had the truck and the silage gone in less that 2 hours.



Truck cab is greatly tweaked. Mechanically it probably is not to damaged. The bed looks okay. Probably will cost more to fix the cab than another worn out truck will cost. Then use the pieces of this one. Motor was still good. Probably still is. I do not know if it has been started since the wreak. Front differential is great. It was replaced 2 years ago. It broke on me one day right in front of the boss. Locked the axles up tight. I have never seen on break like that before.

Randy.