Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby amandacreiglow » Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:23 pm

So, I've got the vast majority of everything I'm planning to use for the build assembled, along with the vast majority of the permanent parts of the camper. Here is all is grouped together in a completely disorderly pile:
Image

Still waiting for a few things to come in, and I haven't yet broached the exterior paint or electrical, and I'm sure I'll end up needing more than the gallon of gripper and gallon of TBII. But I'm just about ready to start assembling the sandwich floor this afternoon.

Before I start cutting the foam, I'm going to have to decide whether I'm ok with the back hatch of the camper overhanging the floor by two inches. I'm going back and forth. Not sure if it will look strange, or obscure the back lights in any way. On the other hand, it gives me a couple extra inches, and a few inches in a camper this small really adds up. :thinking: Oh well. I've got at least a day or two before I'm ready to start cutting to decide. Anyone got anything to consider either way?
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby ghcoe » Fri Jul 07, 2017 2:15 pm

I over hanged the 2" on each end on my build.
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Gorrilla Glue, Great Stuff and Gripper. The three G's of foamie construction.

My build viewtopic.php?t=54099
Working with flashing for foamie construction viewtopic.php?f=55&t=60303
Making a hot wire http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=55323
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby QueticoBill » Fri Jul 07, 2017 3:48 pm

Read you blog. Lots of YouTube's on repacking bearings. Just follow them and be prepared to clean up after. Not that difficult.

Do think about curves. Not that hard and actually adds strength or stiffness. Cuter too. Your call of course but just sort of asking are you sure.
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby amandacreiglow » Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:12 pm

My canvas arrived today! :D The nice thing about ordering everything for the camper at once is that it feels like christmas every day... just a very specific, trailer-themed christmas.

Attempted to get the floor glued together today. I'm going for a sandwich floor, with two 1/4" ply sheets around one 2" foam panel held with Gripper. I've got it weighted down now, and will see how it turned out when it's done cooking, but I'm not feeling super confident... feeling like I'm going to need to re-do this with a different adhesive. We'll see.

And for the pics:
trailer 1-3.png
trailer 1-3.png (262.21 KiB) Viewed 1398 times
trailer 1-2.png
trailer 1-2.png (277.88 KiB) Viewed 1398 times
Trailer 1-1.png
Trailer 1-1.png (317.61 KiB) Viewed 1398 times


@QB - thanks for the tip on the youtube videos. I'm not so much nervous about the repacking as much as I am just not really looking forward to it. Will cross that bridge when I come to it. :) I do feel pretty confident, though, about not dealing with curves this build. I do agree they can be cuter, but for this build, for the purposes of learning, I'm just going to keep it straight-line-simple. Depending on how this goes maybe next time I'll go for a pretty curvy build. I'll do my best to bring in the cuteness factor on this one with a snazzy paintjob.

@ghcoe - I had forgotten you did an overhand. But iirc, your lights were also integrated into your back panel, weren't they? Does it seem like the overhang would block the brake lights if they were just on the frame? That's my main concern with extending backwards.
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby ghcoe » Sat Jul 08, 2017 7:26 am

amandacreiglow wrote:@ghcoe - I had forgotten you did an overhand. But iirc, your lights were also integrated into your back panel, weren't they? Does it seem like the overhang would block the brake lights if they were just on the frame? That's my main concern with extending backwards.


The HF trailer has the tail/turn lights mounted on the side of the frame not on the back. Over hang to the rear would not effect their use. In my case I built over the sides 6", that is why I incorporated the lights in my back wall/hatch.
George.

Gorrilla Glue, Great Stuff and Gripper. The three G's of foamie construction.

My build viewtopic.php?t=54099
Working with flashing for foamie construction viewtopic.php?f=55&t=60303
Making a hot wire http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=55323
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby KCStudly » Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:17 am

And we're off! (Needs to be said at the start of any large project or event. :lol: )

It is admirable to see that you have fully committed to this endeavor. Just remember that this is a pretty big project that might stretch out over a modest (or longer) period of time; so my comment is to also consider the "just in time" approach to material sourcing. Some items will have a shelf life and are better if procured shortly before needed (like you did buying just 1 gallon of glue instead of 5 gal pail or buying 3 or 4 gallons at a time... BTW, you might also want to pick up one of the smaller pint size bottles to use/reuse as a refillable dispenser). Also, it can be helpful to have certain things (windows, latches, hinges, etc.) in advance to confirm fits.

On the other hand, things change. Sometimes things just don't go as planned and adjustments have to be made, or creative juices flow and we change our minds as we get further into a project. So my caution is to be careful how far down the buying path you go before the build catches up to the time you need "stuff". Too many people go out and buy their "kit" of stuff and then find that they either can't use some pretty big dollar items when they finally get to that point, or they learn a better way and change their mind, etc. It can really add to the project cost.

It is a juggling act, designing and building these things. They're like one of those parlor puzzles that seem impossible to take apart and/or put back together. You have to be thinking 6 steps ahead and 3 behind all of the time so that you don't build yourself into a corner or waste money on stuff you can't use or overbought on.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for not having to make a million and one trips to the big box store!

Anyway, I guess this is one of those kind of vague suggestions that doesn't really offer a solution to any particular problem, just sharing some of my thoughts as I was working thru that portion of my build.

Examples:
1) Windows - I did a pretty extensive 3D CAD model of my design before I ever started to build... which I realize is not for everyone, but is a really good way to work out a lot of conflicting issues, and ensure parts fitment and compatibility... but you can't always find manufacture's spec.'s online. Case in point, windows. I knew I would be building my own doors and wanted windows with rounded corners, so I needed to know what the corner radii would be. No specs and would likely vary by manufacturer, availability, etc. So I shopped for windows and committed to them right up front. The very first thing I bought for my build. I knew I needed them, knew that I liked the style and quality, and the cost was reasonable. They would be sure to fit because I would be (did) building around them.
2) Foam - Having the model I had a pretty good idea of how much 1-1/2 and 3/4 inch foam I would need for the whole project, and since the 3/4 inch stuff had to be ordered I wanted to be sure to get that sorted all in one go. It was a pretty good stack of foam when you added it all up, so buying it from a commercial lumber yard and the fact that they offered free delivery on that level of purchase just made sense to buy it all up front. <edit> I did end up with a bit left over, which I figure was due to the ability to piece your drops back together quite easily, so despite having a decent pile of chunky drops and scrap, the yield turned out better than expected. </edit>
3) Plywood - More specifically, 5mm marine grade Okoume. It was relatively expensive by the sheet (about $65), but I knew I wanted the quality, it had to be ordered from Canada, and there would be a pretty hefty crating/truck freight charge, so I needed to order enough, but didn't want to overdo it. I used a free cut list optimizer (found online) to nest all of the parts from my model. The program allows for the saw kerf and lets you specify the direction of the grain when/if it matters to you. The first couple of times thru the program I was pretty appalled at the amount of drops/waste and how many sheets I would have to buy, so I broke up the panels for my floor assembly and bulkhead wall skins into smaller parts to take advantage of some of the would be drop. I was able to reduce the sheet count by 2 or 3; it meant more work for me adding some framing to back up the joints and getting nice clean butts (messed around trying to do scarf joints but gave up before achieving the quality I was looking for)... and there were some pretty white knuckle moments as I was getting down to the last few larger pieces... at which time the cost of having to buy an extra sheet upfront paled in comparison to the nervousness of potentially running out and having to pay the shipping/crating fee again. In the end everything worked out and I still have a bunch of remnants to make lantern boxes and galley compartments, etc.
4) Epoxy (glues, paints, etc.) - Has a shelf life and is sensitive to climate change; can't be stored in freezing temperatures (like my work shop with limited heat source). I only buy enough to see me thru the foreseeable stages at hand, maybe a gallon at a time.

Okay, well, I have rambled on enough, but I just wanted to give a little 'food for thought'. :D
KC
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby amandacreiglow » Sat Jul 08, 2017 12:27 pm

ghcoe wrote:
amandacreiglow wrote:@ghcoe - I had forgotten you did an overhand. But iirc, your lights were also integrated into your back panel, weren't they? Does it seem like the overhang would block the brake lights if they were just on the frame? That's my main concern with extending backwards.


The HF trailer has the tail/turn lights mounted on the side of the frame not on the back. Over hang to the rear would not effect their use. In my case I built over the sides 6", that is why I incorporated the lights in my back wall/hatch.


Ooooh, yeah. That's embarrassing. I've been looking at so many pictures of trailers over the last few months that I moved the tail lights on the HF trailer I have in my mental picture of it. :lol: But looks like I'll be good to go on the overhang. Thanks!

@KCStudly - I completely agree with pretty much everything you've said... and I've definitely overbought on projects before and sworn "never again!" :oops:

But with this one, it really is meant to be a quick and dirty test build, so there's luckily no single part that's particularly expensive. So even if a couple of the things I've bought to work out, then it shouldn't be too much of a disaster. Plus, with amazon, as long as I don't let the project drag on too long, I should hopefully still be in the return window for most things. I've already returned a couple things for the galley as I did a quick dry-run and realized they wouldn't work together, which I wouldn't have been able to tell if I hadn't ordered them all at once, because there are just some measurements etc that don't get included on product listings. And, I like you said, it's pretty invaluable to be able to tell the exact specifications and measurements for things while in the planning stage. As well as just being able to feel and handle the materials that will be integrated as I go.

I think my next build will be a lot more similar to yours in terms of scope. I tried to put together a CAD model for this one, but sketchup refused to reveal its secrets to me in a timely manner (it wasn't feeling intuitive enough for me to use, and was slowing me down) so I figured this design is simple enough to just pencil and paper it. The next one... probably not. :)
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby KCStudly » Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:42 pm

Excellent. I'm still going to apologize for the long post^. ;)

I do still recall that you are trying for a speedy build (so easy to get things mixed up when we are trying to digest as much great content as there is here), it's just that sometimes I feel compelled to make comments and suggestions that might not only help the OP/builder, but also might help followers who may or may not have the same clarity of purpose to think things out so well. I surely do believe that your build will gain many more followers and admirers as you progress, so I felt compelled to comment for their benefit, as much as for yours. :D

Thanks for being so gracious and understanding. :thumbsup:
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby HMK » Sat Jul 08, 2017 5:35 pm

No advice from me, just moral support! :applause:
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby Ned B » Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:01 am

Applause!


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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby amandacreiglow » Mon Jul 10, 2017 6:12 pm

Thanks guys, I appreciate both the moral support and the advice. :thumbsup:

Made my first cuts today! I got both of the sidewalls cut out. I did take pictures, but the phone ran out of juice nad needs a bit before I can get them off of it, so that'll have to be a bit later. Because of the simple design I went with, I really only had to make 2 cuts per panel, but I spent a loooong time measuring and remeasuring.

If there's one thing I've learned from reading this forum, it's that foam dust is pretty much the worst. But I find the prospect of building my own hot wire cutter -- even though you guys have described it really well and there are a bunch of helpful youtube videos I've found -- pretty intimidating and a potential time/money sink for me and my general level of electrical knowledge. So I ended up ordering a little foam cutting hot rod tool. And lo and behold it works! It's slow, for sure, since I don't think the makers really expected it to be making 4-foot cuts in 2" foam. But with the way some of my cuts in various materials have gone in the past, something forcing me to take it slow and steady is probably a pretty good thing. :lol:

The vapor it lets off stinks, and I like being an alive person, so I made sure to open up the garage and had a box fan blowing across the surface. I also wore a respirator I had laying around for some of it, but it didn't seem to be doing much. I thought at the time I had the wrong filter -- I bought these for organic stuff when I was dealing with a mold issue a while back -- but looking at it now, it seems they go for chemical stuff as well. Will make more of an effort to wear it for the whole time I'm cutting going forward.

To try and keep myself straight, I measured and drew on both sides, and then clamped a giant carpenter square to the bottom along the line. That way I could push against the metal edge on the bottom and then try to line up against the pen line on top. I figured this way I stood a snowball's chance of a flat/correct cut. And with a few times I got off and had to go back and had to go back and shave some more off. The cool thing about this is how mad-scientist it feels with the strings of green melty goop.

So yeah! The cuts definitely ARE NOT pretty... but the panels seem to match pretty well, and that's what we're going for. These surfaces aren't exactly going to show in the final product, so it's good enough for government work for the moment. Progress! 8)
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby depatty » Mon Jul 10, 2017 7:01 pm

Progress! :applause: :thumbsup:
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby HMK » Mon Jul 10, 2017 7:32 pm

Good for you! Way to go! Way back when I was making knives, I learned it's better to go slow with a file than fast with a grinder. Slow and steady wins the race.
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby pchast » Mon Jul 10, 2017 7:54 pm

FYI
The respirator organic (purple) filters can absorb contaminates just laying around.
Those filters should be replaced rather frequently.
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Re: Itty Bitty Foamie Teardrop Test Build Thread

Postby amandacreiglow » Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:07 pm

pchast wrote:FYI
The respirator organic (purple) filters can absorb contaminates just laying around.
Those filters should be replaced rather frequently.


Oh, thanks for the tip. Ordered a new one that should be here tomorrow, in time for more cuts!
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