welding a roof rack

[MaryEMT1]

good morning yall,
so I am at the point of trying to fabricate and weld on a roof rack for my beautiful bus and have some questions.
1. what is the best place to weld the attachments on? I have heard the frame of the windows as those are structural how ever are there any other places yall would recommend? 2. what is the going state for welders in ca ? how much would fabricating and welding as roof rack on a 30 ft bus be ? 3. where is the best place to get materials for such a thing? I am located in SD CA.
If any body has answers or ideas I would really appreciate it.
thank you
mary

[kazetsukai]

For attachment of the roof rack, I don't see many people directly welding stuff to the bus often. Drilling holes and attaching via bolts, yeah.


Consider using strut channel bolted to the crown (top of the wall just above the windows)/ roof, and then using strut as the attachment mechanism for the deck. Should make the deck design simpler and provide more versatility for other stuff down the road.

[Simplicity]

Hi Mary. So, I was just looking at the racks that work vans have on top.

Is the rack for storage or as a deck?

If a deck, then I can see using a custom welded frame.

If it's simply a rack to carry things on, I'm really considering using a pre-fabricated rack, something like this:

https://www.americanvan.com/contract...EaAof_EALw_wcB

Then, all I would need to fabricate are the mounts for the roof to attach the rack to.

Even as a deck, something pre-fab could work.

Per welders in your area, a simple craigslist search provided these:

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/sear...?query=welding

[bubb, the real one]

If you weld then you will only be attaching the rack to the outermost layer of the bus, is stronger to bolt all the way through.

[s2mikon]

unistrut, unistrut, unistrut. It is your friend.

[s2mikon]

Think of unistrut as lego’s for adults. They have an online catalog to browse and there are some other brands that are interchangeable. Check Graingers. Large wholesale electrical suppliers will also be helpful. We have a shop here that stocks everything from 22ga wire terminals to telephone poles. Have you priced telephones lately? 700 dollars tor the 50 footers. Makes you not want to run into them Nutsets in 5/16 or 3/8 make good ways to attach. Check the race car suppliers for the tools for them. You have some in so cal.

[MaryEMT1]

first off thank yall for all the feed back I will look into all the suggestions. As far as the questions asked above the rack will be for a deck and to mount my solar panels on. as far as bolting I'm not against that .I just heard that welding was stronger. .when you say I would only be attaching to the outer frame of the bus what do you mean ? the window struts are part of the structural frames I am confused.

[bubb, the real one]

The body of a bus is 2 thin layers of sheet metal with the frame pieces sandwiched between, when you weld you will only be attaching to the outermost layer of sheet metal. If you bolt you can put the bolt through all the layers.

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by MaryEMT1

first off thank yall for all the feed back I will look into all the suggestions. As far as the questions asked above the rack will be for a deck and to mount my solar panels on. as far as bolting I'm not against that .I just heard that welding was stronger. .when you say I would only be attaching to the outer frame of the bus what do you mean ? the window struts are part of the structural frames I am confused.

There's a point where it is strong enough- I didn't want to compromise the integrity of the ribs by drilling through them directly. Instead we drilled 1/2" holes through the sheet metal where the steel overlapped and ran "strut channel" (unistrut or superstrut) parallel to the length of the bus on top. This is where we drilled:



This creates a rail by which to attach virtually anything you want:



Since I was mounting panels and not a deck (and we were not doing a roof raise), we mounted the strut on L-brackets to give the panels some room above the roof. You could just run the strut channel directly on the roof however, for a bit stronger mounting point.



Honestly I doubt I would have trouble carrying the weight of a deck with them as they are, I'd probably want another set of rails just above the windows like I suggested.


OP, keep in mind that insurance can be difficult to find with a deck, thus I would hesitate to call it such. Maybe calling it a "roof rack" or something that sounds like it is intended to carry items rather than people will help you there... and strut allows you to attach it non-permanently.

[s2mikon]

Just call it solar panels. Don't add anything else to the conversation. Just solar panels. I installed my unistrut to the roof with butyl tape between and sikaflex over the butyl tape. Left small gaps between the ends for water drainage.

[ABBus]

Hello,
I confirm unistruts are probably the best way.
Below is a picture of how I did it, as another option. I used rail guard supports and some round tubing for the legs.

[gerpy_derp]

We just went through a horrible experience welding on a roof rack with someone who did not know finishing work. Make sure you go to someone who will treat the metal before they attach it to avoid rusting, and at least grind off sharp edges and plug exposed end caps.

We are happy with the structural integrity of what was done… capable of holding thousands of pounds without collapsing the rounded edges of bus roof. They attached the support beams to the frames between the windows all the way down the bus. However welds are not clean, so we recommend someone who cares about that stuff as it will be on the outside of the bus. We had to clean a lot of messy welds ...”a grinder and paint makes me a welder I aint “

Wish we could give you a referral as we were also in SD, CA! But wouldn’t recommend who did our work!

Be prepared to spend a LOT of money if you aren’t doing the work yourself.

Good luck

[GourdGoddessRenae]

Beautiful! Having just gone thru my own nightmare Of a roof rack debacle, I’d love to see a closer of photo of these if you have one. ��

[BROOT]

Just built one for a 40ft blue bird
I used 1 1/2 square aluminum tube

[Cheezewhiz]

If you're welding it, it needs to be welded to the frame, not just the skin.

That sheet metal is not structural, not in the way that's going to hold weight, and highway speed wind.

[MaryEMT1]

thank you for the tips . just so I know I'm not being taken for a ride . who was the person that did your welding?

[MaryEMT1]

So I found some one in SD to weld it and they are designing it to be welded into the structural frame in between can window similar to what someone mentioned above. I will make sure to have him treat the medal and seal the ends off. thank yall for your help
happy building