Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Like an idiot, I messed up the cut on the 16 gauge diamond plate I'm trimming for the bottom 9 inches of my TD with, so now instead of one long piece on one of the sides, looks like it will need to be 3 pieces.

Anyone have any recommendations for what vertical trim to use between the pieces to hide the seams where they butt up? The middle section will be about a 5 inch high by 20 or so (under the door) so I won't need much--just worried standard aluminum trim won't properly seal over the diamond-protrusions. Any special considerations when joining diamond plate vs smooth aluminum?

Have you thought about grinding down the protrusions where the trim will overlap? That way the top of the trim will be about the same height as the entire sheet.

Don't know if you are able to source a simple T mold to match the diamond plate but leaving a suitable gap between the diamond plate sheets for the leg of the T will keep the piece from warping / curling. Your can seal the trim to the diamond plate with putty tape which will be hidden.

I ground the diamonds down using an angle grinder for this chip protector. It looks really good until you get really close.



I would consider sealing the cr@p out of it with a good poly sealer (and epoxying the underlayment) and butt jointing unless you can figure out a way to accurately mill off the protrusions. The other thought is T-moulding with a sealer to fill in the gaps above the diamonds––I think that'd look okay.

Tony

Actually I didn't think about grinding 'em down. It's such a small piece, that may be doable.

I did find something here that looks promising though, so I may go that route. A bit pricey with shipping for the small amount I need though...

http://diamondlifegear.com/trim.html

Joiner
HE94
slides on to cover seam
1/16" opening (0.063")
non-returnable
click for dimensions

You might toy with grinding most of the diamond off and building a slotted router jig to make a clean cut for T moulding to fit into. I think this might work. I've trimmed a several yards of .040 sheet but nothing like this with a router.



Tony