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Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!
Mike builds a teardrop (finished........but.......)
- Thread starter Mike G
- Start date
Well, there's 2 flat bits built in. I wouldn't want you to get it wrong.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
I fixed on the hatch side pieces. These are the offcuts from the main side pieces, just glued and cleaned up. With access only from one side, cleaning up in the concave surface involved only a card scraper........and bulk timber removal isn't what they were designed for. Oh for a compass plane! Anyway, here's what it looks like with the hatch propped roughly in place:
The white wood showing will be ebonised, and with a black seal going in the gap I think the join will be quite unobtrusive.
I don't think I've shown a view of the back yet:
Obviously the hatch is missing its black edge trim.....but fear not, it's under construction:
The white wood showing will be ebonised, and with a black seal going in the gap I think the join will be quite unobtrusive.
I don't think I've shown a view of the back yet:
Obviously the hatch is missing its black edge trim.....but fear not, it's under construction:
Woolf
Seedling
Please do
I posted a link to your thread on a thread about “When carpenters go camping”
I think it’ll get wider coverage in the caravan section
Dr.Al
Old Oak
If you'd have asked before I came away to France I could have lent you mine: it doesn't get used much & I'm sure postage wouldn't cost that much.
Karookop
Seedling
Thanks Mike, yes hopefully in future we can have a braai - little piece of South African culture on your stoep! And then the chance to see your great little Koets in real life. I will bring real Karoo lamb.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
It's finished, with qualifications, of course.
I haven't posted for the last few weeks because watching varnish dry isn't terribly exciting. Anyway, it turns out there was a lot more to do than I thought.
We left things with most of the epoxy work done. I needed to get to hatch to the same level of "finished" as the rest of the teardrop, which meant doing the oak trim and ebonising it. You previously saw it under construction in the workshop, so here it is bent into place and epoxied onto the hatch:
I then ebonised it in place, a couple of times, wiping down soon after applying the vinegar & steel-wool solution. I let this dry for a couple of days, then applied the first coat of epoxy...then took the dog for a walk. When I got back, this had happened:
Those are blisters in the epoxy, and needless to say, they shouldn't be there. After a bit of thought, I applied a second coat. I did this because I knew that I'd have to be sanding all those blisters out, and I didn't want to sand through the epoxy and damage the ebonising. It worked out sort-of alright-ish, if you squint. There are two or three minor places where bare wood got exposed. I built up 3 or 4 more layers of epoxy, so now the entire cedar-stripped part of the exterior was at the same stage: epoxied, and ready for, varnish. I did the black edge details with epoxy, too, and had to mask off the black from the cedar beforehand:
I had worried about the seal grooves for quite a while. How was I going to prevent them being filled in with epoxy? I bought some plasticine:
It turned out to be an absolute nightmare trying to fully fill the grooves, cut off the excess, and smooth to level with the surface of the wood. One groove in one door took an hour for 2 of us. I abandoned that plan, and went for hot glue instead. I started with just glue, and then swapped to string-plus-glue, on the grounds that it might help with removal, and it certainly reduced the amount of plastic glue sticks I was getting through:
That amounted to losing a day, in a day...
The following day I applied only 2 coats of epoxy in these non-exposed locations, but with the temperatures falling as we moved into autumn, that was about the limit for a day of epoxying anyway. It just dries slower as the weather cools.
It then took half the following day to strip the glue and the plasticine out of the grooves (the plasticine was a dream to remove). I wish I had used stronger string, because I kept breaking it:
In the midst of all the epoxy shenanigans, I made some packers for the door hinges. These I could epoxy in the workshop, with the heater on, and thus I got 3 coats on quickly:
And again, whilst waiting for epoxy to dry, I made a little cover for the electrics in the hatch (you'll see those later). Here's the box/ lid thingy:
Epoxy is never a finish finish. It isn't UV resistant, and to be honest, no mater how carefully you apply it and "tip" it, it doesn't run out nicely like true wood finishes do. I was going to be applying Epifanes 2 part high-gloss polyurethane varnish, with is another marine product. You prepare epoxy for a finish by sanding.
And sanding.
And sanding.
Eighty grit, then 120, then 160, then 220. It's an endlessly tedious job, made easier by DaveL's (huge) random orbital sander:
I did 3 coats of the varnish, which doesn't need sanding between coats unless you leave it more than 48 hours from the previous coat. You're watching the weather really closely at this stage, because there are temperature limits to consider, but humidity is far more important. You just can't apply it if it is raining, or is going to rain in the drying period. The result looks pretty good in photos:
....but to be honest, I'll be sanding down and re-finishing some time next summer.
When the hatch varnish had dried I could move on to the final assembly of all the various components, starting with the hurricane hinge (AKA a snail hinge, or a catering hinge). It consists of 2 continuous aluminium extrusions which interlock in a clever and watertight manner. These need cutting and drilling prior to fitting:
I've over 50 photos left to post, but the forum is running so slowly that I'll leave the rest until things are back to normal. This post has taken nearly 2 hours to put together.
I haven't posted for the last few weeks because watching varnish dry isn't terribly exciting. Anyway, it turns out there was a lot more to do than I thought.
We left things with most of the epoxy work done. I needed to get to hatch to the same level of "finished" as the rest of the teardrop, which meant doing the oak trim and ebonising it. You previously saw it under construction in the workshop, so here it is bent into place and epoxied onto the hatch:
I then ebonised it in place, a couple of times, wiping down soon after applying the vinegar & steel-wool solution. I let this dry for a couple of days, then applied the first coat of epoxy...then took the dog for a walk. When I got back, this had happened:
Those are blisters in the epoxy, and needless to say, they shouldn't be there. After a bit of thought, I applied a second coat. I did this because I knew that I'd have to be sanding all those blisters out, and I didn't want to sand through the epoxy and damage the ebonising. It worked out sort-of alright-ish, if you squint. There are two or three minor places where bare wood got exposed. I built up 3 or 4 more layers of epoxy, so now the entire cedar-stripped part of the exterior was at the same stage: epoxied, and ready for, varnish. I did the black edge details with epoxy, too, and had to mask off the black from the cedar beforehand:
I had worried about the seal grooves for quite a while. How was I going to prevent them being filled in with epoxy? I bought some plasticine:
It turned out to be an absolute nightmare trying to fully fill the grooves, cut off the excess, and smooth to level with the surface of the wood. One groove in one door took an hour for 2 of us. I abandoned that plan, and went for hot glue instead. I started with just glue, and then swapped to string-plus-glue, on the grounds that it might help with removal, and it certainly reduced the amount of plastic glue sticks I was getting through:
That amounted to losing a day, in a day...
The following day I applied only 2 coats of epoxy in these non-exposed locations, but with the temperatures falling as we moved into autumn, that was about the limit for a day of epoxying anyway. It just dries slower as the weather cools.
It then took half the following day to strip the glue and the plasticine out of the grooves (the plasticine was a dream to remove). I wish I had used stronger string, because I kept breaking it:
In the midst of all the epoxy shenanigans, I made some packers for the door hinges. These I could epoxy in the workshop, with the heater on, and thus I got 3 coats on quickly:
And again, whilst waiting for epoxy to dry, I made a little cover for the electrics in the hatch (you'll see those later). Here's the box/ lid thingy:
Epoxy is never a finish finish. It isn't UV resistant, and to be honest, no mater how carefully you apply it and "tip" it, it doesn't run out nicely like true wood finishes do. I was going to be applying Epifanes 2 part high-gloss polyurethane varnish, with is another marine product. You prepare epoxy for a finish by sanding.
And sanding.
And sanding.
Eighty grit, then 120, then 160, then 220. It's an endlessly tedious job, made easier by DaveL's (huge) random orbital sander:
I did 3 coats of the varnish, which doesn't need sanding between coats unless you leave it more than 48 hours from the previous coat. You're watching the weather really closely at this stage, because there are temperature limits to consider, but humidity is far more important. You just can't apply it if it is raining, or is going to rain in the drying period. The result looks pretty good in photos:
....but to be honest, I'll be sanding down and re-finishing some time next summer.
When the hatch varnish had dried I could move on to the final assembly of all the various components, starting with the hurricane hinge (AKA a snail hinge, or a catering hinge). It consists of 2 continuous aluminium extrusions which interlock in a clever and watertight manner. These need cutting and drilling prior to fitting:
I've over 50 photos left to post, but the forum is running so slowly that I'll leave the rest until things are back to normal. This post has taken nearly 2 hours to put together.
You must be close to planning the first outing.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Well, although we could use it tonight there's a bureaucratic obstacle to that. More in due course.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Hurricane hinges divert all the water to the ends, and if poorly fitted this can direct water in through any gaps where the hinge meets the outside of the bodywork. The standard procedure is to overhang the hinge by about 1/2":
Those are just dry-fit photos. Mounting the hinges permanently is a big moment, because there is no adjustment whatever. If the door doesn't close properly, you've just got to live with it.
I hung the doors. The stainless steel hinges needed to be packed out because of the external door surround:
Again, that's just a trial fit, and stainless steel screws will be used when it's done permanently. One door fitted perfectly, the other needed a tweak.
The hurricane hinge and the frame it fixes to is subject to a lot of stress from force of the gas struts (more on those later), which are so powerful that it is utterly impossible to compress them even a mm by hand. They are in essence trying to push the hinge off the body of the vehicle, so I fastened the hinge with around 20 2" screws per half, and of course sealed it to the bodywork with Hippo 3 low modulous filler/ adhesive:
It works!
Having fitted the doors, they were blowing around in the wind, so I had to fit (again, temporarily) the door furniture:
It's a bit agricultural on the inside, but this combination was the only thing I could find which worked, in 2 or 3 weeks of nightly searching. The big advantage is that all three doors (2 doors and the hatch) are on the same key.
I'll have to take a photo of the hatch locking mechanism, as I seem to have overlooked that. Here I am chopping out a mortice for the central of the 3 locking points:
At that stage I was working on the assumption that the hatch would be pulled tight against its seals by the locking mechanism. It didn't work out that way, but that's the explanation for the "slope" to the mortice.
I had the major problem of not being able to mark the contact points for the locking mechanism directly. Luckily, I had some plasticine left over:
I fitted the latch seals:
The light has caught that oddly. The parallel seals are both the same colour (black). You might also note the 3 holes in the hatch lining, which are access to the wiring for the vehicle lights.
I took a deep breath and cut a hole through the body:
This is for the electrical hook up, which charges the leisure battery:
I had finally done with all the epoxy and varnish, and this little mound of ruined brushes and rollers is the evidence:
I fitted the roof light:
...and the sink:
The sink had only a vertical edge of stainless steel, which I didn't consider gave me enough surface area to get a decent seal using a sealant/ adhesive. I found a roll of butyl tape in my stores, and used that instead. I weighted it down for 2 or 3 days, but there's no means of physically holding the sink down to the worktop, so I'll be watching that junction with interest. The waste from the sink wouldn't quite clear the drawer below, so I had to adjust the back corner:
I had bought some adjustable gas struts, and questioned them carefully about the criteria for locating the pivot points. It's more complex than you'd imagine. I'd deliberately left lots of frame timber behind this area so I had plenty of flexibility for pivot locations:
Again, temporarily screwed with ordinary wood screws, in the assumption that it might need to move. Not the cardboard template for locating the complimentary pivot on the other side of the kitchen.
Those are just dry-fit photos. Mounting the hinges permanently is a big moment, because there is no adjustment whatever. If the door doesn't close properly, you've just got to live with it.
I hung the doors. The stainless steel hinges needed to be packed out because of the external door surround:
Again, that's just a trial fit, and stainless steel screws will be used when it's done permanently. One door fitted perfectly, the other needed a tweak.
The hurricane hinge and the frame it fixes to is subject to a lot of stress from force of the gas struts (more on those later), which are so powerful that it is utterly impossible to compress them even a mm by hand. They are in essence trying to push the hinge off the body of the vehicle, so I fastened the hinge with around 20 2" screws per half, and of course sealed it to the bodywork with Hippo 3 low modulous filler/ adhesive:
It works!
Having fitted the doors, they were blowing around in the wind, so I had to fit (again, temporarily) the door furniture:
It's a bit agricultural on the inside, but this combination was the only thing I could find which worked, in 2 or 3 weeks of nightly searching. The big advantage is that all three doors (2 doors and the hatch) are on the same key.
I'll have to take a photo of the hatch locking mechanism, as I seem to have overlooked that. Here I am chopping out a mortice for the central of the 3 locking points:
At that stage I was working on the assumption that the hatch would be pulled tight against its seals by the locking mechanism. It didn't work out that way, but that's the explanation for the "slope" to the mortice.
I had the major problem of not being able to mark the contact points for the locking mechanism directly. Luckily, I had some plasticine left over:
I fitted the latch seals:
The light has caught that oddly. The parallel seals are both the same colour (black). You might also note the 3 holes in the hatch lining, which are access to the wiring for the vehicle lights.
I took a deep breath and cut a hole through the body:
This is for the electrical hook up, which charges the leisure battery:
I had finally done with all the epoxy and varnish, and this little mound of ruined brushes and rollers is the evidence:
I fitted the roof light:
...and the sink:
The sink had only a vertical edge of stainless steel, which I didn't consider gave me enough surface area to get a decent seal using a sealant/ adhesive. I found a roll of butyl tape in my stores, and used that instead. I weighted it down for 2 or 3 days, but there's no means of physically holding the sink down to the worktop, so I'll be watching that junction with interest. The waste from the sink wouldn't quite clear the drawer below, so I had to adjust the back corner:
I had bought some adjustable gas struts, and questioned them carefully about the criteria for locating the pivot points. It's more complex than you'd imagine. I'd deliberately left lots of frame timber behind this area so I had plenty of flexibility for pivot locations:
Again, temporarily screwed with ordinary wood screws, in the assumption that it might need to move. Not the cardboard template for locating the complimentary pivot on the other side of the kitchen.