How to: DIY Wedge Camper

Finally got started on the space frame this past weekend and started finalizing the CAD work.



I was curious how you guys are cutting the dibond/alupanel?
I couldn't find anyone local to cut it for me, so i'm planning on doing it myself with a router and maybe a jigsaw. Don't have the material on hand so not sure how easy it is to cut.

 

Jig saw or router would cut through it easily

 

Its aluminum so you can treat it like you would when cutting hardwoods. Just dont cut it on a SawStop Tablesaw unless you have bypass mode enabled....

 

Thanks for that info. So now the wedge top sits on top of the flat bar and then the space frame. Yay more welding

for the alumpanel Im guessing you only really need a small portion for the front of the wedge

 

Not exactly. The wedge still sits on the square tube. The flat bar is welded to the inner sides of the tube and the floating floor sits on the flat bar. I spaced mine down from the top of the tube so that my 1” thick floating panels would still sit flush with the fixed floor panel positioned as ripcord originally designed.

As for the fixed alumipanel floor I still used a full sized piece and just had a large hole routed out of the middle for the opening. This was for 2 reasons. First of all for sealing you need it around the full perimeter so that there is no gap. If I used a small piece at the front it would sit 1/8” higher than the rest. Second I left a ~ 1” overhang around the inside of my open section to allow panel clearance for the keder rail. If your floating panels went to the inner edge of the extrusion you will run into interference issues when trying to remove the panels with the tent installed.

This isn’t the best picture but you can see my floor panel with the large hole in front (the roof is behind it). My opening size was also driven by the precut aluminum honeycomb panels I Acquired. I still have almost a foot of fixed ceiling in the front of the spaceframe.



I didn’t waste any material because I nested the front and rear panels in the opening in the floor when I had it cut out. As a result I used 1 less sheet than in ripcord’s BOM.

I can try to get some better picture later, it’s still dark outside right now.

Did you try local sign shops? They referred me to one of their suppliers and that’s how I found the Plastic company that cut mine. If there’s no one local I still think it’d be worth driving a few hours to pick up if necessary... precut panels saves ALOT of work.

If you do have to cut it honestly it cuts and drills more like plastic than aluminum. The aluminum layer is very soft and thin.

 

What supports the floor panels in the overhang?

 

Nice, appreciate the extra pics it all makes sense. Still jealous of those honeycomb panels, the sections I made out of 8020 are fairly heavy. I didn't use the Ultralight 15-series stuff, wondering how much weight I'd save if I redid them. Either way, thanks again.

 

Anyone else run into this issue? The arm of the latch contacts the corner before it latches. I really dont want to have to notch the tube...

I

 

I have been watching this thread for a while now and I think I'm going to dive in to a build, but I have have some questions.

I notice that the plan descriptions on the Shopify page say 2nd and 3rd Gen Tacomas. I have a relatively rare '96 1st Gen Standard Cab with a V6 and a factory locking diff. It has a short wheelbase, tight turning radius, an off-road dream of a truck. So I want to build for this truck. My first question is, what modifications would I need to make to these plans for a 1st Gen bed?

My second question is probably naive. Why wouldn't I just buy and modify a pickup bed ladder frame or another bed frame? Seems to me the RTT portion simply needs to be attached to a frame. Is the frame in the plans cheaper, stronger, or..?

Last question: I want to create a kind of desk/work area toward the rear (I'm a writer, like to write away from everything), so I favor the Vagabond Drifter/AT Summit config that is a bit longer and allows me to move the bed out of the way when not sleeping. Has anyone modified the plans for more length and a moveable/removable bed platform?

Thanks. And really great thread. Thanks for everybody's posts.

 

Would probably be easier/better to move the panel up to clear the tube. Guessing you attached you hinges to the spaceframe too low. Might also be able to slot out the bolt holes in the panel to slide it up.

No matter the method it’d be preferable to somehow move the latch up opposed to notching the frame.

 

Mine is on a 1st gen extra cab, and I'm also a writer, despite my current employment as a mechanic (and don't go slapping proofreader marks everywhere!)...here's the skinny:

Our trucks rails are narrower than their bloated...excuse me..big and beautiful younger sisters, so the steel frame dimensions need to be adjusted for width and possibly a hair for length. The bulkhead and rear hatch pieces will need to be adjusted as well otherwise they'll poke out beyond the frame (because you made it narrower). While adjusting the front/rear panel dimensions you'll also need to figure out where to put your latches. I kind of (completely) forgot to adjust these pieces...but hey it's still pretty damn dope and I'll redo them eventually.

I think the idea of using an existing frame sounds good, but also sounds too good to be true. Mounting the camper to the tube would be a thing, then the side panel hinges and stuff would also take some head-scratching, and you'd have to make your wedge to match whatever the existing camper frame is and redesign all that unless it happened to be 53" wide on the outside.

You can make removable sleeping sections a number of ways, @plurpimpin used baller honeycomb, I made rectangles framed with 8020 and skinned with MaxMetal (or whatever generic version of said metal I used). This also allowed me to cut 10" off the wedge length from 100" to 90".

As I start going into all this I realize there's a lot actually, but nothing that should deter you! Feel free to shoot me a message as well.

 

Bring on some sowing!

 

If you scroll back a few posts someone did do a mod to make a removable bed platform like the GFC.

 

for anyone in the process, Rockywoods has a fall sale on some fabrics that could be used from now until 10/18/20

https://www.rockywoods.com/DEALS/Fall-Sale

 

Thanks for your response. Very informative. I may PM you with more questions. And yes, I’m a writer that made maybe 2% from writing compared to what I made as a programmer. Still, they paid me, so that make me a professional by definition LOL.

 

Anyone have any luck sourcing South Co Latches somewhere for relatively cheap?
The website listed doesn't have any in stock and everywhere else is either a knock off or very expensive.

 

Alright, so I am getting ready to tackle this on my 1st Gen xtra cab. I have some questions.

1. anyone have dimensions for the 6ft bed 1st Gen? @lightnfast ? I’m thinking the jig and such will be the harder part here since it needs slight modification.
2. Has anyone done a 52in wide sleeping platform? I feel like if I am gonna take all this time to build this, might as well make it a bit roomier? Any drawbacks here?
3. I saw someone mention they were concerned about the side doors and the wind when driving with wind gusts and water/wind creeping into the camper from the front seals on the side doors. Has anyone thought of or perhaps extended the bulkhead panel out another few millimeters to protect that seal from direct wind and water when driving?

Any words of wisdom I should know about? Haha. I appreciate that this thread exists.

 

Got my panels and tent thrown on well enough last Friday to take it for a quick test camp over the weekend. Was fun to finally get out and try it!

Still a lot of details to finish, had no gas struts on any of the panels and no bottom stiffener Or brake light on the rear hatch. Tent and roof struts also needs some adjusting/fine tuning.

Big takeaway was that for me (6’3”) it is MUCH more comfortable with all the floor panels in for a full length bed (I’ve been worried about this all along but didn’t really want to modify the tent pattern to make the wedge longer). I Left the entry panel out the first night and my feet were crammed against the wedge at the bottom with the 78” long bed area. We were much more comfortable the second night with all the panels in. Luckily I ran out of epoxy and hadn’t bonded the edge trim on my last floor panel yet so I think I’m going to split it into 2 smaller square panels like GFC does.

Also I noticed the aluminum sign panel edges ding up really easily and are sharp. I cut myself a few times. Anybody using any kind of panel edging on the side and rear panels? I found a few in McMaster but would love suggestions if anyone has already found something that works.

Super stoaked to get this thing dialed in and put it to use!









If you really zoom in on the right side of the shore in last pic you can see the camper. Hahaha

 

that looks really good! Did you sand\file down the edges on the panels after you got them cut? Thin aluminum will ding rather easily

 

I did not. It’s on my to do list for today when I go back to notch the aluminum angle stiffeners on the panels to better clear the spaceframe and add gas struts.

Honestly the dinging and nicks are the main reason I’m looking at edging. It looks like there’s some good options on McMaster. I’ll report back once I order and test some.