How to: DIY Wedge Camper

Send Cut Send and OSH Cut but they cant cut and ship the panels we need for the side panels unless you pay some $$$$ to ship because of size


OSH Cut did my bed mount brackets, Send cut Send couldnt because their bend machine is dumb.

 

FWIW I paid $60 for shipping from 80/20.

One thing that has changed is that shipping on a global level is screwed right now so everyone's costs are going to be up. That's just the state of things right now.

I dunno how other companies anodize their extrusion, but Tnutz is garbage, at least for the small stuff.

 

My money won't be going to Tnutz anymore for various reasons. They aren't even that much cheaper than 80/20.

 

Ive only been ordering slot nuts from them.

 

I regret buying my silver exterior gussets from TNutz, the anodizing is trash and the machining on them looks like a blind ape did it. I might just reorder the external gussets from 8020

 

Daaaaaang that’s a bit different than my shipping cost to PNW, what a bummer

 

That’s what I did. They do look like crap just didn’t wanna let it sit and look bad

 

If you’re talking Portland OR lookup multicraft plastics in Tigard. Myself and several other members have purchased CNC cut panels from them.

 

Thanks man! That is a good resource. I have my sheets already thanks to Howied.
Curious if they got you a cost breakdown on the CNC work? I am planning on routing by hand unless I can get a great deal. I’m also doing the partial route and bending the dibond so it would require a bit change on the CNC...

 

$65 per panel. Was 100% worth it. I’d hate to drill all those rivet holes. Also no way my floating floor would have fit with such tight tolerances hand routed.

 

yeah all in from multicraft for material and labor I was at 800 bucks. Little more than Ripcord’s. Hopefully on par with plurpimpin or else that sucks lol

 

I did all the cutting of the roof, floor and doors myself but I would strongly advise using a CNC router. It added so much time to mark everything out and make sure it all lines up correctly. Juice isn’t really worth the squeeze and not worth the cost savings

 

I was in that ballpark. Mine was $660 but I also had a huge cutout in my floor panel for my floating aluminum honeycomb floor so I was able to nest abunch of parts in that cutout and used 1 fewer sheets of material.

yeah I’m usually one for doing it the Cheaper harder way but hand routing panels wasn’t worth my time. Things come together a lot easier with all the holes precut and drilled.

 

I appreciate everyone’s guidance here!
I have access to a CAD table that cuts corrugated paper (cardboard) and am planning on have cut test panels on that- the plan is to just trace those onto my Maxmetal, then take the template off and set a straight edge for my router and go.
I am not doing holes for any riveted stiffeners- instead I am bending the edge of the panels like GFC V2. To do this with max metal I just have to route a V shaped groove where I want to bend, leaving a little bit of the plastic core and aluminum on one side. Then I will do a bead of epoxy in that channel and bend at 90*
Ultimately I am hoping it is a similar amount of work to riveting on the aluminum angle, but I know it’s going to be a challenge. Should be worth it in the long run with a super clean end result. If all goes as planned...

 

I’m in Los Angeles too. I don’t have my space frame yet but I’m down to order together to save on shipping. I haven’t done my research yet on price/shipping tho.

 

keep us posted on how the bent panels work!
i think Gfc uses a thicker honeycomb panel for their panels so I’m super curious how the bent Alupanel works.
Even with the aluminum gussets on the door there’s some flex, nothing too crazy though

 

Updates:

I got the frame back from powder coat, it's a shade darker than I would have liked, but I didn't spend any time talking to the guy about it in the beginning. He said, "Silver?" I said,"Yeah" that was the end of it. Ultimately I'm real happy with it. I reattached the side and rear panels with the flush mount rivets, and put a bead of silicone behind the hinge leaf that contacts the space frame. I Mounted the front Bulkhead panel. I drilled through the panel and the space frame at the same time. There was no cracking or splitting in the powder coat as somebody mentioned in the paint vs. Powder conversation. I used Clecos to mock up the bulkhead panel. I've been using them for this project the whole time, just haven't posted photos of them. If you don't have some/know about them, I'd highly recommend them. I know I saw somebody else in this thread using them. Super easy and clean. I siliconed the panel in place for final mounting rather than have it offset the thickness of the cork rubber gasket... time will tell.

The Final Assembly of the extrusion to the space frame is done too. I assembled it right side up, no problem. I inserted the bolts with washers into the holes, threaded the slot nuts on with only a thread or two, and taped the head of the bolt to the underside of the space frame, so that the slot nuts were sticking up. (use the real deal masking tape) I had to rest the end of the 100" pieces on a toolbox that was approximately the same height as the camper, just to get the first slot nut in the channel (and because i'm building all this by myself) but after I got the first one or two slot nuts in the channel it was pretty easy. I put a thin bead of silicone on the floor before I slid each extrusion into place. Mostly the extrusion pushed the silicone all the way to the end, but it left a tidy little bead on the outside corner between the floor and the extrusion. The whole process of putting the extrusions in place took maybe an hour and a half. There was a little more friction than I expected and having the ball stud still in the channel from the gas shocks gave me a little handle to pull on during the last few slot nuts. F*%C#King with threading bolts into slot nuts in the channel is one of the most maddening things about this process, I can't imagine trying to do the assembly upside down. I didn't even have to cry once, like that one dude said...

 

What size square tube did you use for the mounts to the bed?

 

Looks really great!

 

That is leftover from a previous project. 2" square tube, .125" Wall. I hope it holds