Roll your own

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

im not sure id want to try and skin the whole length of a raised section in one piece.. seems like if you were off even just a little bit ..it would cause issues.. in 8 feet or so you can correct for imperfections with each panel..
-Christopher

When I raised the roof on my Eagle 10 we skinned each side with 1 piece. PITA!!!!!! It looked great when we got done. As flat as Lubbock Texas.

Given the already lumpy exterior of my Bluebird it is NOT worth the trouble. I don't think that there is much advantage on a skoolie. You already have plenty of seams & rivets. I don't think a skoolie skinned with a single piece of steel on each side will look much better than one skinned with 3 or 4 pieces on each side.

Just my $0.02

[family wagon]

I'm in the process of re-skinning my bus (25% finished). The roof metal is staying; 100% of the exterior walls are being re-covered. I didn't ask whether my supplier would slice off a 38 ft section from their coil; I just bought 10 ft sheets. I had thought about butt-welding them at home to make the 38 ft section.. I'm sure glad now that I didn't attempt it. IIRC the 16 gauge I'm using weighs around 100 pounds per 4x10 sheet. Four of those would be a lot to handle. Getting it into place without any "oil can" wrinkles would be.. impossible? Not to mention the distortion that happens due to shrinkage of MIG welded joints if it couldn't be had as a single continuous piece from the supplier.

On my bus, admittedly different rib spacing than a school bus, it worked out that two 10 ft pieces fit just right and the other two have to be trimmed a bit shorter. If the metal had only been available in 8 foot lengths things would have been very different. Much more waste. It's probably worthwhile to do the leg work to get 10 or 12 foot sheets.

By the way.. especially after a roof raise.. I'd make the conservative assumption that the bus isn't straight and go in with plans to cope with that reality. If it turns out that it really is straight that's an extra bonus.

[EastCoastCB]

Per request here's most of the stuff I have of my roof raise.
a potato-vision vid I did with a crappy $20 cam before any mods-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRqtB116AMM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgTRbul1i8M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRJz3dqgNIs

My rib extension test piece

[EastCoastCB]

[EastCoastCB]

[5speedhouse]

Thanks eccb! It looks like u avoided the problem mudda earth had where the weight of the front engine causes the front cut to become a guge gap.

We have a dognose so I wonder how much shoring up we will need to do? I think to be safe one would need to slightly jack up the front end in most busses. I think I would support three different zones by creating proper craddels to support the frame near the rear, the drivers area, and the enginge. Basically the back of the bus and before and after the front cut, weather that at the bulkhead or one or two windows back.

Also looks like you used a very similar thread all system to mudda earth.

I'll check our your video later, thanks again!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[EastCoastCB]

I stuck cribbage, bottle jacks, and jack stands under all four corners. I didn't jack it up, just supported it.
But you're right- we didn't experience any sagging. Everything stayed straight and true, everything went real easy.

[EastCoastCB]

Got this in the mail and finally took it out to the bus to get started treating all the surface rust on the bare metal so we can get to painting.

[EastCoastCB]

So- yesterday eddie showed up ready to do some welding and fabrication.


Clouds immediately rolled in.




RYO was sunk down about two inches into the sand. The rains this summer caused it to settle in a bit.


Didn't get ANYTHING done. Ten mins after we got there it started raining and continued to pour all day. Damn it!

[Tango]

It would be a REALLY good idea to get something under the tires to prevent settling. These beasts weigh enough that they can sink up to the axles pretty quickly on anything but concrete slabs. It will also keep the tires from rotting away as quickly.

Some 2 x 12's doubled up into a square will spread the load out enough for just about anything but quicksand or a swamp.

Just my dos centavos.

[cadillackid]

ugh.. well i guess im not the only one gettingrained out every day...

I think you need to drive that bus around the yard every week or so to keep it from sinking more.. dont want you to burn up your trans like dredman did... (anyone heard from him lately?)..

-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

Neither of mine seem to be able to get stuck in the ground they're parked on.
But I do park it on boards in the parts that are PURE sugar sand.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by Njsurf73

I meant you doing the cut. You're already going to have the metal delivered I'm assuming so why not have it delivered and cut it yourself. Like I said I don't know if it's possible but I do understand that anything's possible with money... That money isn't all that common lol

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

NO, I plan on picking it up. There are 2 metal resellers in Balto within 3 miles of my house. There is a metal wholesaler in DE that's, ... I dunno, ... 60 miles from the bus. The bus lives on a military base so I dunno if I could get it delivered anyway.

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

When I raised the roof on my Eagle 10 we skinned each side with 1 piece. PITA!!!!!! It looked great when we got done. As flat as Lubbock Texas.

Given the already lumpy exterior of my Bluebird it is NOT worth the trouble. I don't think that there is much advantage on a skoolie. You already have plenty of seams & rivets. I don't think a skoolie skinned with a single piece of steel on each side will look much better than one skinned with 3 or 4 pieces on each side.

Just my $0.02

I like the idea of a single sheet for the extra structural support if nothing else.

I'll rivet it in place using the same rivet lines as the roof or as it currently is just for the looks.

Originally Posted by family wagon

IIRC the 16 gauge I'm using weighs around 100 pounds per 4x10 sheet. Four of those would be a lot to handle. Getting it into place without any "oil can" wrinkles would be.. impossible?

It's probably worthwhile to do the leg work to get 10 or 12 foot sheets.

By the way.. especially after a roof raise.. I'd make the conservative assumption that the bus isn't straight and go in with plans to cope with that reality. If it turns out that it really is straight that's an extra bonus.

The weight and lifting it in place is the biggest worry of using a single sheet.

I have an 8 foot even section from the very first rib (the start of the driver's window and the bi fold door) to the 2nd window. I have a 7 foot even section from the rear to the last two windows. From the 2nd window (after the 8 foot break, I have a rib at 18'6", 21' even and 28' even. Everything else measures something weird. The roof sheet metal (which I'm not going to monkey with) seems to be in 5 foot sections.

Shhhhh, ... my bus is perfectly straight and true. DO NOT ANGER THE BUS GODS!!!

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I've seen a person raise a roof based on having 4x8 sheets, but I'd rather just have it the way I want and get what I need cut.

I think the 4 foot width is going to be about right for me. If I do the roof and floor raise, that gives me 24" to play with. From that 24" I still have to account for overlap. I've been saying all along that I'd have a 3" overlap top and bottom which would be overkill. I'm not sure if I've measured that or not but looking at it the last time I was out, the roof to the side has at least a 3 inch overlap OEM. Bottom of the first rub rail would be +4". <-- Looks like I need to do some more measuring.

[EastCoastCB]

A 4x8 is still gonna need to be sheared to be truly square and actually be 4x8.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

A 4x8 is still gonna need to be sheared to be truly square and actually be 4x8.

What the hell?!!? Really? Figured that was already done by the stack-full at the steel mill... where they can cut thru 137 sheets at a time.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

What the hell?!!? Really? Figured that was already done by the stack-full at the steel mill... where they can cut thru 137 sheets at a time.

They come roughly oversize a bit, and to make them actually square you have to shear them.
I've cut probably tens of thousands of sheets of steel and they can vary a lot.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

They come roughly oversize a bit, and to make them actually square you have to shear them.
I've cut probably tens of thousands of sheets of steel and they can vary a lot.

Well that sucks.

[EastCoastCB]

Not a big deal just ask the metal supplier to shear them square and to size. It won't take them too long.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Not a big deal just ask the metal supplier to shear them square and to size. It won't take them too long.

Except it wouldn't need to be done if it came from the steel mill already sheared. Then all the scrap can go back in the pot and melted down again.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Except it wouldn't need to be done if it came from the steel mill already sheared. Then all the scrap can go back in the pot and melted down again.

Most of the sheets are being used as a whole sheet man. They're cut down to make stuff out of. If you need an exact sized, square sheet of steel you can't just order generic sheets.