Moving Door midship, need thoughts on step build out

[GillyGoGo]

So I am reusing the old door but connecting it together to make a single opener and moving my door and steps midship. I am not using the original step box. My interior steps will go down to the upper edge of the skirt, and then I have the lippert 3 step electric stairs for the rest of the way to the ground. I will be mounting the extending steps under and inside the first step body of the interior steps.

Here is a model of what I am planning on doing with 1x1" square tubing, I feel like this is way overkill, but wondering where I can make some changes or maybe use angle instead of square tubing.

The top short step should put me flush with my floor which has 4" insulation and3/4" osb on it.

The frame for the door I think Will be made out of 3x1 rectangular tubing. Metal shop does not have 3x1.5 at 14guage. I think I would need to jump up to 1/8" to get 3 or 4x1.5. Which May be wise for extra strength, but just also seems like quite a bit overkill.

Plan is to bolt the rear of steps to the frame and weld the foward part to the chair rail / existing structural parts at the wall. Use 1/2" angle to create my door jams along with piano hinge on the forward side. Outside of the box(closest to the wheel) will be reinforced With some thicker metal plate to protect in event of blow out, again may be unnecessary. The new door frame would also be tied into the nearest had channels horizontally.

Just wanted to get peoples thoughts here as this part of my build hopefully will start happening in the next few weeks.
Cheers,
M

 

[ewo1]

well thought out plan!
what software did you use to design this?

the only concern I see, is you mentioned attaching the rear of the stairs to the frame. My question would be , how much, if any, would the body flexing/twisting ....would it or could it contribute to any frame issues or body separation-damage might occur as a result of any twisting.
I'm looking at it from a long term perspective.
would there be any conflicting stress issues in the area of the step well as a result of attaching it to both the frame and the body?

It seems to me that the body and frame can almost twist/flex independently of the bus body, to some degree, but I might just be overthinking this a bit...

 

[GillyGoGo]

I used fusion 360 to make the model. It is free for non commercial use. As to twisting, In between wheels and the stairs is a really large chunk of frame running across the bus and the back side of the stairs would be against the frame running the length of the bus. Frame for the door would be independent of the stairs framing. I do not think much twisting is happening right where the door will be due to it being right next to the super structure of the undercarriage frame so there would be least amount of rotation there.

 

[nikitis]

Cage looks plenty strong to me.

 

[GillyGoGo]

Cage looks plenty strong to me.

Is there anywhere I could lighten it up or cut down on material costs. These ridiculous tariffs are wrecking my pocketbook on the build.

 

[nikitis]

As far as costs go unfortunately Tariffs haven't been put into play long enough to swap steel production in the USA just yet so prices are high at the moment, I'd check the scrap yards or "U-pick-it" type of places. I often can find what I need. Not always, but it's gonna be about half of what you'd buy new. You may also need to get creative with what you find. Maybe you find a piece of angle iron you need there but it's a part of a bed frame, but if you cut it would it be the perfect piece of angle iron? Or square tubing?

You may need that kind of thinking but you can find really great stuff and for cheap too. I built a king pin press for $175 like that using scrap materials. A tool that normally goes for $2000.

 

[ewo1]

I don't know how you feel about recycling metal, but I got lucky back in Miami, at the "Polaris" Dealership, I was able to get 2 steel shipping frames, the kind used for shipping UTV's, for free. I used it to make the door frame on one of my busses.

 

[nikitis]

I don't know how you feel about recycling metal, but I got lucky back in Miami, at the "Polaris" Dealership, I was able to get 2 steel shipping frames, the kind used for shipping UTV's, for free. I used it to make the door frame on one of my busses.

Yup, this is what i'm talking about. You may find something at a scrap yard already built but just needs to be cut off into pieces. Gotta use the imagination and a grinding wheel or plasma torch. This approach works well when you have more time than money.

 

[GillyGoGo]

I recycle materials when I can, but with some things, my time is limited, so just buying material when I need it is what I must do. Looking at the sketch, is it something I could pull off with 1" or 2" angle instead of square tubing?

 

[nikitis]

I would probably prefer to use square tubing, but angle iron could work if you use as much as you have in the sketch and are welding it in.

I'm a heavy guy and I'm afraid I'd likely bend angle iron. Might could use a mix to save on square tubing. Using angle for the sides, and square for the steps themselves. Most of the weight is gonna be in the middle of those steps when you use them. So if the middle can hold without bending, I would think welding the square tubing to angle iron for the side supports as long as they are welded together should hold alright.

 

[AlphaHare]

What is it bolting to? That's a lot of frame to fill a cube, but you only really need the upper rectangular surface to mount treads and risers to. If your chassis frame geometry allowed you to have two structural cheeks (the sidewalls), then you'd only need three rectangles of 1x1 that you could weld or bolt into the sidewalls.

 

[GillyGoGo]

What is it bolting to? That's a lot of frame to fill a cube, but you only really need the upper rectangular surface to mount treads and risers to. If your chassis frame geometry allowed you to have two structural cheeks (the sidewalls), then you'd only need three rectangles of 1x1 that you could weld or bolt into the sidewalls.

I’m not really following what you are suggesting. Would the cheeks be solid metal or tubing frame? I am trying to utilize the space inside the steps for additional storage which is why I boxed it out, but if there is a simpler method please explain or if you could sketch what you mean.

 

[AlphaHare]

At the simplest level, something like this. I'm showing 1" tube tread frames with an 1/8" x 3" strip for screwing the riser down. If you wanted drawers, you'd take the strips out and add slides to the cheeks and make a drawer face from the riser.

It assumes you can mount the cheeks to something supportive.

Here's a bluebird replacement stairwell - you can see the minimal framing in the weld print-thru on the treads. The side pan looks to be about an 1/8" think.

 

[sportyrick]

DO NOT attach body to frame they move independently and you will be in trouble with cracks and such. i built my mid stairs exactly the same as the picture Alphahair shows out of 16ga galvanized steel and they are definitely sturdy