Ideas for mounting a steel deck frame to the roof

[Lowkee]

Hi guys,

I'm getting ready to install my deck frame. I am using 1"x1" 16 gauge Galvanized steel square tubing. I intend to use 3/8" carriage bolts to secure the 7-foot steel cross members to the ribs of the bus, along the centerline. See the example picture below.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

My real challenge is finding a secure, sleek looking, way to secure the ends of the steel cross members to the ribs along the curved sides of the roof. I do not want to secure the frame to the sides of the bus, I just don't like the look.

Ideally, I could find brackets, or maybe have them fabbed. I like this style of supports a lot. I would have my supports toward the edge of the bus more, with a 3rd mounting point along the centerline, but the deck more flush to the roof.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I suppose those might not be that hard to make if I weld the steel square tubing to some galvanized steel plate at the correct angle. Can any engineer-types find flaws with that design?

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by Lowkee

Hi guys,

I'm getting ready to install my deck frame. I am using 1"x1" 16 gauge Galvanized steel square tubing. I intend to use 3/8" carriage bolts to secure the 7-foot steel cross members to the ribs of the bus, along the centerline. See the example picture below.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

My real challenge is finding a secure, sleek looking, way to secure the ends of the steel cross members to the ribs along the curved sides of the roof. I do not want to secure the frame to the sides of the bus, I just don't like the look.

Ideally, I could find brackets, or maybe have them fabbed. I like this style of supports a lot. I would have my supports toward the edge of the bus more, with a 3rd mounting point along the centerline, but the deck more flush to the roof.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I suppose those might not be that hard to make if I weld the steel square tubing to some galvanized steel plate at the correct angle. Can any engineer-types find flaws with that design?

What about the black steel pipe flanges? They are fairly compact, paintable, and readily available. Transition with a pipe that could be ground down as a nipple to slide the square tubing over and weld.
The pipe could be short enough to allow full coverage by the tubing and plug welded or through bolted.


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[turf]

maybe some sort of strap hinge that would set at any angle from your post. welded to the post and then srewed, rivoted, bolted or plug welded to the skin/rib.

[DoubleO7]

I would put the perimeter vertical supports as far out as possible so that the load is transferred directly down into the vertical ribs.
I would NOT do it like in the second pic in your post.

I would maybe add two more vertical supports equally spaced between the outer supports.

[Tootalltechie]

My thought would be to use the window / roof arches to hold the roof deck. I also thought that on my bus I could use the roof deck to hoist the roof in a roof raise. JMO GORDON

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[scootie2]

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...eDADqE-U23rBTM



maybe this will help...
just mark your center on the bus and on a piece of wood the width of your to be deck. line up the marks and put a level on it.
use a protractor to scribe the curve of the bus onto the board that is being held level.
Done.

I used the outside band as my anchor point and floated the whole deck about 3/4 of an in off the roof.

[Robin97396]

scootie2, nice job.

Is that headlights I see where the flashing lights used to be?

[scootie2]

no. the lenses were just off when I took that photo. but no reason to not mount like a H7 bulb in those and get some clear lenses... motorcycle lenses could work. you would have to find a way to tilt them down quite a bit.... cool idea

[Robin97396]

I've seen some of the oldtimers put dual headlights in the high up flasher location years ago. Apparently there are requirements about high up lights, just like on a 4x4. I don't think that would work very well especially for fog, and I can see where it might distress opposing traffic. I gave up on that idea. On the front there are already headlights so it only makes sense to put spotlights in the rear flasher location, for when you're setting up camp or something. Seems simple enough but I'd value high up stop and turn signals more than spotlights on either or both ends.

[BlueBirdman]

Lowkee said: Hi guys,

I'm getting ready to install my deck frame. I am using 1"x1" 16 gauge Galvanized steel square tubing. I intend to use 3/8" carriage bolts to secure the 7-foot steel cross members to the ribs of the bus, along the centerline. See the example picture below.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

My real challenge is finding a secure, sleek looking, way to secure the ends of the steel cross members to the ribs along the curved sides of the roof. I do not want to secure the frame to the sides of the bus, I just don't like the look. I don't like the look either, but I want maximum strength far more than aesthetics.

Ideally, I could find brackets, or maybe have them fabbed. I like this style of supports a lot. I would have my supports toward the edge of the bus more, with a 3rd mounting point along the centerline, but the deck more flush to the roof.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I like the style of support in the second image too, and would recommend everyone have at least one center support for each cross tube. Otherwise, you could easily bend a tube or two when you get a bunch of people up there. Still, I'd make the deck wider and tie the long side tubes of the deck into the ribs vertically.


It would be some extra fab work, but you could always size the square tube to slip inside the hat channel, weld them in and then cover them with flat steel in the same plane as the sides of the bus. That would be as strong as possible, yet a very sleek look.


Also, I wouldn't put the deck flush on the roof. I'd want at least a couple inches between the deck and the roof for airflow - you'd be astonished how much that will help keep your interior cool on sunny days.

I suppose those might not be that hard to make if I weld the steel square tubing to some galvanized steel plate at the correct angle. Can any engineer-types find flaws with that design?

[Robin97396]

Previously someone made a deck on their bus by making small brackets that attached to the roof at the contact points, then the deck frame would attach to those brackets using pins.

[BeeLDub]

Originally Posted by BlueBirdman

Lowkee said: Hi guys,

I'm getting ready to install my deck frame. I am using 1"x1" 16 gauge Galvanized steel square tubing. I intend to use 3/8" carriage bolts to secure the 7-foot steel cross members to the ribs of the bus, along the centerline. See the example picture below.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

My real challenge is finding a secure, sleek looking, way to secure the ends of the steel cross members to the ribs along the curved sides of the roof. I do not want to secure the frame to the sides of the bus, I just don't like the look. I don't like the look either, but I want maximum strength far more than aesthetics.

Ideally, I could find brackets, or maybe have them fabbed. I like this style of supports a lot. I would have my supports toward the edge of the bus more, with a 3rd mounting point along the centerline, but the deck more flush to the roof.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I like the style of support in the second image too, and would recommend everyone have at least one center support for each cross tube. Otherwise, you could easily bend a tube or two when you get a bunch of people up there. Still, I'd make the deck wider and tie the long side tubes of the deck into the ribs vertically.


It would be some extra fab work, but you could always size the square tube to slip inside the hat channel, weld them in and then cover them with flat steel in the same plane as the sides of the bus. That would be as strong as possible, yet a very sleek look.


Also, I wouldn't put the deck flush on the roof. I'd want at least a couple inches between the deck and the roof for airflow - you'd be astonished how much that will help keep your interior cool on sunny days.

I suppose those might not be that hard to make if I weld the steel square tubing to some galvanized steel plate at the correct angle. Can any engineer-types find flaws with that design?

I'm a structural engineer

So your deck will be 7ft wide? Supports at each end, and one in the middle? Frames between every window? How many people do you intend to have up there? And what type of decking surface will you have?

At first thought, your steel is WAYY to small/thin. I planned on using 2x3x1/4 tube steel, oriented vertically, without center supports, frames every other window, and assuming a decently loaded deck (10/15 people at time?). I'm being conservative!

Obviously, using a center support cuts down on the size by a lot, as would using frames every window. Also, if you only plan to have 8 people up there, it won't be loaded as much. I just want mine over-designed and sturdy as all hell!