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Old 01-21-2020, 10:56 PM   #361
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It is a very ingenious method of doing both!

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Old 01-22-2020, 08:46 AM   #362
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Looks like a good idea. I went back and forth on what I was going to do because I felt my new sheet metal needed some sort of attachment to the frame as well.

I ended up going with PL premium adhesive between the frame rails and structure then laid the sheet metal down on top of it. (This was after test fitting dry.) I wanted to make sure the weight of the sheet metal would "self level" and squeeze adhesive out ensuring a good bond. After that I seam sealed all of the seams. Then painted. Then put polyiso insulation, then 3/4" plywood. I used trailer deck screws the correct length that were self tappers to put down through the wood and I positioned them where they went through frame rails and sandwiched the wood, insulation and sheet metal to the frame... I like how it turned out. Very sturdy floor! not saying this is the right way to do it, but throwing another option out there...
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Old 01-22-2020, 10:28 AM   #363
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Reopening the Gates of Hell

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Crap, on one of my t-bars the chassis cross-member is in the way of my new chassis clips.

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Had to notch out a half-inch section on two of the clips to accommodate the cross-member. Ironically I was originally going to use half-inch material in the first place, but went with one inch because "why not?"

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Old 01-22-2020, 02:45 PM   #364
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More clip art

Decided I needed four more chassis clips for the edges of my floor section, but didn't have the heart to make four more of the elaborate variety.

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Old 01-22-2020, 04:11 PM   #365
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Looks to me that they will work just fine.
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Old 01-24-2020, 12:11 PM   #366
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Chassis clips installed

I was worried that when I installed these there would be lots of creaking and bending and maybe bolt heads popping like Das Boot, but no problems, no part of the new frame really got repositioned because of these.

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I was a little worried about the angle the smaller ones were going to be at, so I added a bit of rubber pad over the raised part.

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This is what you get when you make 3 brackets with one symmetry and 1 with the opposite. The one on the right was a pain to keep the wrench on the head on the bottom.

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No more worries about my bus body flying off into space now.
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Old 01-24-2020, 04:18 PM   #367
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Threaded rod

I realized with the geometry of my frame I can't use the carriage-bolt-from-underneath approach in a number of places, plus I don't feel like dealing with sealing the heads on the underside. So more practicing with 1/4-20 threaded rod in partial holes. It seems to go better if I just do a few very short spot welds - I may even try out my welder's spot-welding timer for this.

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On my previous experiment with this, I chewed up the threads a little bit trying to grind away the weld metal around the base. I'm going to try running a safety nut down onto it this time to protect the threads.

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My biggest concern was keeping the welds down vertically, which I still need to practice more. This gap should be enough for the 14ga sheet and two washers.

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Old 01-24-2020, 06:57 PM   #368
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Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
I realized with the geometry of my frame I can't use the carriage-bolt-from-underneath approach in a number of places, plus I don't feel like dealing with sealing the heads on the underside. So more practicing with 1/4-20 threaded rod in partial holes. It seems to go better if I just do a few very short spot welds - I may even try out my welder's spot-welding timer for this.

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Attachment 41079

On my previous experiment with this, I chewed up the threads a little bit trying to grind away the weld metal around the base. I'm going to try running a safety nut down onto it this time to protect the threads.

Attachment 41076

My biggest concern was keeping the welds down vertically, which I still need to practice more. This gap should be enough for the 14ga sheet and two washers.

Attachment 41077
Looking good!!! Quick tip on your weld down vertically comment that may help you:

You can control that by changing your gun angle. If you are getting a taller vertical leg of your fillet weld, your gun is laying down too flat... Raise your hand which will point your wire more towards the base which will make your legs of your weld more equal.

Another thing you can do is take your all thread and grind a point (bevel) where it will meet the base. Then this will allow penetration and give the filler material a place to go.

One reminder on gun angle... Go too far either way and you can easily lose penetration on either piece... good luck!! Keep it up! I think it's awesome you are learning this on your own!!
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Old 01-24-2020, 07:16 PM   #369
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Hmm, I'll give the bevel tip thing a try, that makes sense. I need to get myself a bench grinder. Thanks for the welding tips, too.

I did a mallet test on this one and it bent over without the welds popping, so it's properly chooched this way, at least.
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Old 01-24-2020, 08:31 PM   #370
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Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
I realized with the geometry of my frame I can't use the carriage-bolt-from-underneath approach in a number of places, plus I don't feel like dealing with sealing the heads on the underside. So more practicing with 1/4-20 threaded rod in partial holes. It seems to go better if I just do a few very short spot welds - I may even try out my welder's spot-welding timer for this.

Attachment 41078

Attachment 41079

On my previous experiment with this, I chewed up the threads a little bit trying to grind away the weld metal around the base. I'm going to try running a safety nut down onto it this time to protect the threads.

Attachment 41076

My biggest concern was keeping the welds down vertically, which I still need to practice more. This gap should be enough for the 14ga sheet and two washers.

Attachment 41077

drill a hole, thread it, screw the rod/bolt in, weld the other side and grind to suit you (flat)
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Old 01-24-2020, 08:40 PM   #371
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weld the other side and grind to suit you (flat)
This is the part that's basically impossible for me, because the other side is the underside of my new frame where the rear axle etc. is in the way. I'm also not doing well with welding over my head.

The thing in the picture is just a test piece that I'm trying out the technique on.
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:50 PM   #372
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IS this yellow paint from a spray can btw? It looks nice and bright and I am still wondering how to finish my underside.
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Old 01-24-2020, 11:01 PM   #373
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IS this yellow paint from a spray can btw? It looks nice and bright and I am still wondering how to finish my underside.
No, it's this stuff from a can: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-...-fl-oz/3223757. I'm not sure if it comes in a spray can, but I think you'd go through a huge number of cans trying to do the whole underside that way. This goes on quickly and easily in a nice thick coat with a chip brush.

Like every flavor of Rustoleum I've ever tried, after it initially dries it's still a bit soft for a couple of weeks and can fairly easily be scratched, but after maybe a month it's hardened up nicely.

I'm thinking about using the red or blue variants of this for the inside, since I'm already starting to get slightly sick of seeing this yellow.
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Old 01-25-2020, 12:40 AM   #374
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No, it's this stuff from a can: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-...-fl-oz/3223757. I'm not sure if it comes in a spray can, but I think you'd go through a huge number of cans trying to do the whole underside that way. This goes on quickly and easily in a nice thick coat with a chip brush.

Like every flavor of Rustoleum I've ever tried, after it initially dries it's still a bit soft for a couple of weeks and can fairly easily be scratched, but after maybe a month it's hardened up nicely.

I'm thinking about using the red or blue variants of this for the inside, since I'm already starting to get slightly sick of seeing this yellow.
They make hardeners you can add to the paint so it's more durable.
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Old 01-25-2020, 04:32 PM   #375
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Started on attaching center trays with threaded rod

Notched out the rearmost tray in four spots for the chassis clip nuts. These have a nice side benefit of being positioning tabs for drilling the first two rod holes.

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Focus, you ... I started with two rods in the corners so I'll have the alignment perfect for all the rest of the holes.

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Better pic of the other one. These welds came out much more compact both horizontally and vertically. The rod I'm using is mild steel instead of galvanized which seems to help fusing. I also drilled the recess underneath but left the rod a hair above the surface so there would be room for the weld metal to go. I also gave up on trying to see what I'm doing - instead I position the end of the wire exactly at the base where it needs to be, flip down my mask, and hit the trigger for a second. If I get better at this I think just three spots will do the trick for each one.

I ran a safety nut down and ground some of the weld metal away. I need to grab my dremel tool to get all around these, but they're actually OK here as they are.

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To drill the holes for the rods, I placed the sheet and then drilled through it and into the angle steel frame pieces with a 1/4" bit. I then lifted the piece off, welded in the pieces of threaded rod, and reamed out the holes in the sheet to 1/2" so they would fit down over the weld metal bumps. It actually worked and with just a single 1/4 washer. I was anticipated stacking the 1/4 washer on top of a 1/2 washer to fit down over the weld bumps, but the larger washers were unnecessary, which is cool.

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Very slow-going on this, but hopefully I'll get faster at it and can do things more assembly-line style.

One thing I'm having trouble with is that after I weld in the rod and cut it to the correct height with my angle grinder, it's tough to get a nut on over the end and I have to work it quite a bit to get the threads back in order. There must be some kind of a tool for doing this.
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Old 01-25-2020, 04:46 PM   #376
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One trick is to place a nut on each side of where your cut will be. After you make the cut, spin the nut towards it and off the end. It will be a little hard but will usually smooth the threads out.

Other option is to buy a thread chaser or die. Example of one 1/2-13 UNC from Amazon below (not sure what size all thread you are using?)

Hanson 6544 1/2"-13Nc 1" Hex Die for Tap Die Extraction https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TRQEY0..._ismlEbQDMSKP7
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Old 01-25-2020, 05:08 PM   #377
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One trick is to place a nut on each side of where your cut will be. After you make the cut, spin the nut towards it and off the end. It will be a little hard but will usually smooth the threads out.
Brilliant, I'll give this a try.
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Old 01-25-2020, 05:20 PM   #378
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Usually a flat file will work even to get a couple of strokes on the threaded rod end, creating a bevel while removing the burr.


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Old 01-25-2020, 10:17 PM   #379
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I use both methods. First, I put a nut down the threads, then cut with a saw or cut-off disk, then use a flat file to bevel the edges. When the nut is removed, it takes off most all of the remaining burrs.
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Old 01-26-2020, 04:02 PM   #380
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First tray panel installed - mostly

Welded in the other 8 pieces of threaded rod. Decided on 10 per panel instead of 14 out of laziness. This threaded rod is a hopeless pain in the ass to use for this, just too difficult to get the nuts on. One of the bits twisted out while I was trying to get the nut all the way down and I had to re-do it - not giving me much confidence as far as how well attached these are. For the other two trays, I'm going to buy 1/4-20 bolts and cut the heads off and use that instead of this accursed rod.

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Panel fit perfectly over the posts, at least.

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All screwed in except for one ...

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Torqued out a second one of these posts. 9 out of 11 success rate! Naturally it was the final post, so I'll have to unscrew all of them to fix it.

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