How to: DIY Wedge Camper

I’d have to imagine it ads some directional rigidity as it is bonding all side’s together which will help with twist.

I ended up grabbing 4 hinges for the front of the wedge. Wanted extra sturdy and good seal

 

yea that’s what I’m hoping.
I wish I would’ve bought 3... 80/20 charges too much for shipping if you’re not buying in bulk.
I have a lot of lateral play, but I think it’s just because of the length of extrusion,
Cutting up the roof this week so I’ll report back

 

I should have my panels tomorrow, I hope, but I need to take a break lol. Frame is done being painted. Just need to order a sewing machine, zippers and mesh and everything will be checked off!

 

Lol I was expecting this answer. I think I will do something similar and see how it works out.

I am going 3" lower and top because I will be adding a roof rack and wanted to make sure it was strong enough. I was worried about the strength of 1.5". Although I am still debating ultra lite or lite model. Tnutz is surprisingly cheaper for 80/20 if you purchase 94" lengths. But it seems they only have Ultra Lite or Heavy(normal) extrusions. From my quick calculating it was a couple hundred bucks cheaper going through Tnutz and changing the length to 94". I am thinking of getting the miter added which is cheap. But might reduce my total length to 91". I am short so its not a huge deal to me haha.

 

Yea they seem strong enough for vertical loads, there’s just a lot of deflection horizontally but I think a rack will help keep everything square if that makes sense.
I designed some mounts in solid works earlier so I’ll give them a whirl.

I noticed that too, their length just wasn’t long enough but if it works for you then that’s all that matters. I know GFC is around 90 something inches total length but they get around that by doing the movable interior floor panels

 

Morning all!
Planning on starting my build next week... Will be building only canopy, as I have ordered GFC Superlite, that should arrive early spring.
I can wrap my head around how to determine angles for the uprights and cut it right?
Any tips and tricks for it?
Thanks all!

 

if you're only building the wedge tent all you need to do is order the 8020 cut to length

but the space frame and its compound angles for the uprights I too struggle with but the welding jig helps find those angles. I plan on cutting a lot of cheap wood to dial in the angles

 

I will be building only space frame, decided to pass on tent as I really liked 80lb version of GFC tent.
Will probably weld the bottom part and the top part, then build a Jig and go from there. Good call on cheap wood! Probably the best idea.

 

Its worth it to take a couple hours to learn the basics of fusion 360. Then you can mock things up to dimension and get the angles in there as well. Super easy to mock up the space frame. That is what I did and it translated to a perfect fit in metal.

 

I tried mocking up in Sketchup - no success haha, I will look into fusion360. Thank you.

 

Anyone got a good recommendation for a sewing machine? Its the last thing I need to get

 

Singer 4411 hands down. I purchased it for this project. But since already pulled the trigger on tent - haven't got a chance to use it for tent material, but did make case for my DIY skottle and for portable fire pit. It's a heavy duty one.
Also quick note, do not buy from Amazon as the price is higher. I got it directly off of their website: https://www.singer.com/Heavy-Duty-4411-Sewing-Machine

 

Thanks for the reco! It looks to be OOS. I was eyeballing this one too

$220 SINGER Heavy Duty 4423 High Speed Sewing Machine with Accessory Kit | Strong Motor With Enhanced Piercing Power, 97 Stitch Applications, Full Metal frame, 1-step Buttonhole & LED Light

https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Duty-4...&qid=1604353296&sprefix=sewing,aps,256&sr=8-4

 

I like that price much better! haha, not sure what the difference is but pretty sure it would do just fine.

 

I ended up with something totally different after reading reviews. Went with this brother unit since reviews seemed better and complaints fewer. Comes with a nice table portion as well which should be nice. Doesn't hold cone spools, but you can just buy a little stand. We will see how it does! Just couldn't jump on the singer as there were too many reviews of bobbin issues.

$260 Brother CS7000X Computerized Sewing and Quilting Machine, 70 Built-in Stitches, LCD Display, Wide Table, 10 Included Feet, White

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BH5GTNC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

My issue with F360 is I try to do assemblies like solid works which made more sense.

 

don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate fusion 360 compared to other programs haha. It just isn't intuitive in my opinion, but it is free and pretty capable at that free level.

 

For sure. I’ll probably spend some time tonight and attempt to draw the space frame up

 

I’m a fan of Catia or Creo. Solidworks is ok for smaller assemblies, but it can be a nightmare with large assemblies.

 

Lol, I was literally just having a discussion about why I like NX over Solidworks.