Swing-up walls?

[Birdhouse]

Hey all

So I got the roof up. It's freaking beautiful. 22 inches netted me exactly 8 feet in the middle.

I was about to try to go gangbusters with my buddies tomorrow and get some walls put up. Then I just Had to go and get another brilliantly retarded idea.

I fell in love with the wide open.
The first two nights of sleeping in my tin can after that, I had no choice but to bathe in DEET. But it was so nice. I could see everything. The breeze... the idea of putting walls back on, offensive.

I thought of big expensive windows that fold up, no.

Decided it would just be normal. Then it struck me. Build normal looking walls that swing skyward! I'll have the pillars boxed in with wood trim, and it may not be insulated quite as well as it would be, but I think I'm gonna do it. I'll hang up some window screen and it will be heaven.

I tried to prototype it with some angle and a chunk of skin. Hung a chunk of angle by a pivot bolt near the roof. Clamped a chunk of flimsy skin, thinner than I'll actually be using to it, swung it up.
Ran into a jam. The sheet metal wants to crease when I bend it up. Quite badly.
Tried to give a gentler radius and it makes it lift too far.

Considered Filon, Gill liner, or some other very flexible material at the top. Or flex seal drenched window screen.
I think the answer I'm settling with is Hurricane Hinges. They will allow a rigid wall all the way up, are roughly weather proof, used on hatch back teardrop trailers, look like they will work slick. But at the tune of $587!

I guess doing extra strange things to my bus doesn't exactly equate to cheapness. Not to do it decent anyway.

Was wondering if anyone has a better idea to hinge and seal the top of a swinging wall/hatch etc without breaking the bank before I drop for that.

Thanks!

[Birdhouse]

Nope.
I did it.
Bought the expensive hinges.

Now I gotta wait! Lol
10 more days before I can start excluding the vampires from my humble home....

Maybe next time I'll be ready to go.

Of course there's still the question of the mushed corner. Would certainly be most straightforward to replace the whole mess, now is the time. Of course I know of no parts busses near Michigan. I put in an email to a place in Paducah KY, never heard back.

[banman]

Look at how weather-tight cargo doors on trailers are done.

A thick door closing against a rubber seal. Then clamp the door closed.


Look at how the pneudraulic struts work on a cars hatch back.
sheet metal, and foam insulation panels will weight less than an automotive back hatch.

Then a roll down screen to fill the gap...

[Birdhouse]

Exactly.

Well there may have been other hinge options but the defacto standard of the last 50 years or so they have been making teardrop trailers should work.

I have approximately 45 tubes of recently expired aircraft sealant, bought a bunch of Sash Lock window latches that very tightly pull themselves closed.

I'm going to get it all put together then spray the sealing surfaces of the walls with release agent, slather sealant all over the openings on the bus, slap them closed and lightly set the latches.

Some time later, push it open, voila, perfect seals.

I found some struts that are supposed to be good for 120 pounds. Guess I oughta get a move on and get a few of those too.

[banman]

Originally Posted by Birdhouse

Exactly.

Well there may have been other hinge options but the defacto standard of the last 50 years or so they have been making teardrop trailers should work.

I have approximately 45 tubes of recently expired aircraft sealant, bought a bunch of Sash Lock window latches that very tightly pull themselves closed.

I'm going to get it all put together then spray the sealing surfaces of the walls with release agent, slather sealant all over the openings on the bus, slap them closed and lightly set the latches.

Some time later, push it open, voila, perfect seals.

I found some struts that are supposed to be good for 120 pounds. Guess I oughta get a move on and get a few of those too.

I used to love getting "timed out aircraft stuff"!
It'll still be good for a while but not forever!

For a seal to be perfect in this case, the seal needs to be getting compressed a wee bit when the window gets latched -- if you're using the acft sealant as the gasket -- it won't have any compression on it after it dries if the windows fully latched.

Figure out a way to pull your panel closed ~95% of the way and let the sealant dry there -- then when fully latched it's being squeezed that last 5%. I'm assuming you're using a flexible sealant and not something like B-seal which dries pretty hard...

[FatBoySTL]

Sure, swing up walls are cool, but FOLD DOWN WALLS - the kind that turn into giant party decks - now those are WAY cooler. If you're concerned about water and bugs, add an awning and screen surround. Want to keep the walls clean and the windows safe? Have a half-wall sized panel hinged under the windows that folds out after the wall goes down (folding up/out over the windows).

It's a lot easier to dream with someone else's time and money.

[Native]

Interestinng idea. I'd like to see the implementation (and construction details too).

[Birdhouse]

hah. Giant party decks.
I am not nearly cool enough for that. A rooftop deck will be quite adequate.

Swinging up will equate to awnings, fairly easy to keep the water out.



The sealant is 1780 b2 I think.
Don't know what this particular flavor is intended for, probably fuel tanks. I mostly use 870 b1/2 at work.
It does dry very firm. But the way I see it, if it's formed by the panel then it's squeezed even a little harder it will seal great. Well enough anyway. I imagine the skin will provide the flex to fully tighten the latches.
The sash latches are like a semi circular ramp that pull farther as they go around. They should do it.

[FatBoySTL]

Originally Posted by Native

Interestinng idea. I'd like to see the implementation (and construction details too).

Details are bouncing around loose in my noggin, but I’m thinking something like the ramp doors on cargo trailers, suspended by cables, with an awning room. This could potentially turn your kitchen wall into an indoor/outdoor island.

Add a screen room like they did on this toy hauler:

[Native]

I have seen those on the back-end of a few RV's ... took pictures.

[Birdhouse]

Wow that's pretty cool

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Birdhouse

hah. Giant party decks.
I am not nearly cool enough for that. A rooftop deck will be quite adequate.

Swinging up will equate to awnings, fairly easy to keep the water out.



The sealant is 1780 b2 I think.
Don't know what this particular flavor is intended for, probably fuel tanks. I mostly use 870 b1/2 at work.
It does dry very firm. But the way I see it, if it's formed by the panel then it's squeezed even a little harder it will seal great. Well enough anyway. I imagine the skin will provide the flex to fully tighten the latches.
The sash latches are like a semi circular ramp that pull farther as they go around. They should do it.

How are you rebuilding the walls? What is holding up the roof? Pics?

[Birdhouse]

The roof is up on inch by 1.5 tube stock held in by nine 1/4 inch rivets at both ends, except for some weird places where the hat channel was previously removed, did what I could and called it good.

I've discovered that the 4 post lift resulted in a slight hotdog formation of the roof. A variation of about 1/2 inch. If I had known about it before all of the supports were riveted I might have been able to straigten things out but it is what it is. I'm not horribly worried about it.

Like a house, I've never seen one of those that was perfectly straight either. Luckily I was not banking on using the full 48 width of the sheetmetal. I'm going to have to rip it. Will have 1 inch overlap top and bottom, the hinge will hide the cut. Just need to make a lot of measurements and make sure I do it right.

I got one wall of hinges cut to fit into the situation and temporarily tacked into place with some clecos. The new Drexel EZ-Lock wheels are a godsend.
It's gonna work great. Gonna hang the sheetmetal from the hinges, slip some 1inch angle on either side of each upright for rigidity and to provide something to attach wood to. And a long section of angle across the bottom on the outside to keep the whole thing straight and act as a bit of a rain gutter.

It's time to go pick up the fresh sheetmetal. Of course I had them split 8 sheets last time. Should have split 1 sheet and 10 whole. Thinking to reuse the original scrap metal that was on the sides of this thing got me in a pile of hurt. Even to use all the split sheets and throw away the old would have been a scabbed up $h!tfest. Of course my logic was severely shaded by my finances, even trying to cheap out, I bounced the account last time. This project has not been cheap. Lol.

[Native]

What are Drexel EZ-lock wheels? I know of a cut-off disk for Dremel called EZ-lock ... perhaps a typo?

[Birdhouse]

Lol yes
You caught it

The one spelling error caused by the phone at that. Lol. We shall just be glad we as a group appear to be semi literate

[Native]

I can hardly wait to see your in-progress pictures.

[Birdhouse]

Not much to ogle at just yet. Gimme a couple of days and hopefully something cool will be taking shape. #finally
Between time, motivation and budgetary limitations, it has been slow going. I think I have most of what I need now, besides a metric $%!# pile of wood, a non smashed rear crown, ah hell the list goes on.

[Birdhouse]

I should really be putting in a lot more time. Hours go away every night sitting on my a$$ looking at this phone instead of beating on it. I'm far enough from the neighbors houses that it might be ok

[Native]

LOL ... my wife makes me quit at 10:00pm!


Hey, even "it is all torn out" pictures ... like right now!

[Birdhouse]

Torn out and piles of stuff.
Between bus parts and my personal junk (living in this burrito, yo) it's a righteous mess

Has anybody else ever lived in one of these while undertaking the transformation? Lol.

The spiders are my bedtime buddies