How to: DIY Wedge Camper

try to make a guide?

 

Yeah thats exactly why I mentioned spiral flute tap on page 1. its the only way it works.



If you have a hard time finding spiral flute taps at the hardware store, they are occasionally not in the "taps" area and are instead near the drill bits and sold as a single piece drill bit & tap like this:

 

Thanks!

 

I'd take a smaller bite, back it out and go back in. Each "bite would be like 1/8th of a turn. You may not be able to make a full turn. Clear the tap if you can each small turn. Other than that, clamp a cap on the end, drill a hold and use that as a guide. That's all I can offer. Little steps.
Zim

 

All about that spiral flute. Had the same issue. Also use some cutting oil, makes it crazy easy (or the extra motor oil you have, like I did).

 

@plurpimpin did you use MaxMetal or equivalent for your project? Or anyone in the PDX area doing this?

I never adjusted the files for the bulkhead and rear hatch to fit my 1st gen and I have a gap in the front that exposes the side hatch to the full force of wind, and driving over Santiam Pass a few days ago with mega gusts and semi-truck pressure waves or whatever the hell you call those, I was worried the side hatch might try and remove itself, so I'd like to replace the bulkhead with more coverage. Tought I'd see if anyone ended up with extra sign material, lemme know.

Camper was just stupid awesome over the past week. Not as insanely domestic as the Wildernest, but oh so solid and mega comfy.

 

I'm still working on building my spaceframe and finalizing my window cutouts before ordering panels (found a MUCH cheaper RV supplier in Milwaukee with off the shelf windows so I'm no longer going custom from motion windows). I'm making much slower progress than you did, I plan on using the same polymetal material and having multicraft plastics router it out for me once I finish up the spaceframe and panel design but haven't ordered yet so I don't have any extra material. You'd be welcome to some extra if/when I have it but at this rate I probably won't be ordering panels until August.

Your camper looks GREAT though! I've been spending too much time getting out and not enough working on my camper, every weekend we say "this would be so much better/easier if we had the wedge right now" hahaha. Good thing my buddy hit me up to ski Adams on Saturday, that'll be really conducive to getting some welding done this weekend.

Also I've been meaning to ask you, how much clearance did you have to give your movable floor panels to clear the keder rail on the 8020? Right now I have 1/8" on each side of the movable panels but I'm going to weld my frames and get the floor panels routered out so I'd like to get it right the first try as best I can.

 

What's your RV window supplier?

 

https://www.affordablervparts.com/

Judging by your location I have a feeling you'll be disappointed though. They're local to me in Milwaukee Oregon. They have alot more inventory than what's online and if you email them dimensions and requirements they'll get back with what they have. Quoted me $75 each for 35"x12" fixed windows.

I was originally looking at getting custom sliders from motion windows (also local to me) who is the GFC supplier but they said they are unable to make a slider configuration to match up against my cab window with the latch on the outside so you can open it from the cab like a traditional topper. They use a home window style lever latch and they said they can't mount it on the outside and if I flipped the window around the drain holes would direct water into the topper instead of out. In the end decided it wasn't worth all the extra money since it still wasn't what I wanted.

https://www.motionwindows.com/

End of the day I'm not sad to just go with the fixed windows, $150 total opposed to close to $700 for the custom ones.

 

Cool!

You said Milwaukee and I got excited thinking it was the central coast. Makes more sense though -- that's awesome! I may look into them as well then.

 

I know they ship via their online store so if you can't find anything local it's probably worth asking for a quote. It's so much cheaper than anything I found online it still might be worth it after shipping.

Here's a screenshot of my CAD model to give you an idea of what it would look like with the 35"x12" window:

 

Oh man...might have to put some windows in...

No worries on the extra material just figured why not ask? Thanks for the kind words, just needed to have it done so I could start living again! Adams is a way better use of time, jealous, but yes, not exactly helpful...

I'll have to check on the clearance, my first go I made the tolerances to tight and the sections didn't fit past the keder rail (just kinda didn't think of that reality), so I took 3/8 or something off but now I can't remember exactly and will have to check. So fun using a miter saw to make six "perfect" cuts after having them delivered with actual perfect cuts.

Only one of my cuts was off by a tiny tiny margin somehow, but I had to consider making them fit past the rail vs. having enough real estate left over so they'd still be solid and not fall through. Luckily the tolerances front and rear are pretty damn tight so they can't twist or anything, only move slightly side to side.

 

@Ripcord - first off - fantastic work! You have inspired me to jump in and try my hand at making one!

question for you - what are the measurements of your megamat? according to exped, the megamat duo 10 LW+ is 52"x77.6" (http://www.exped.com/usa/en/product-category/mats/megamat-duo-10-lw-green#prettyPhoto). Does it have a problem fitting in the 50" extrusion width you have designed? Is this even the same mattress you are using?

 

Getting so close! All the doors are now ready front and rear window are cut and just waiting for paint which will hopefully happen this weekend. Definitely went a little overboard with rivets on the side panels but no big deal. If all goes well next weekend We’ll Be in the woods!

 

Hey All! I've just begun building my space frame for the project and I've already been thinking about making some changes to the wedge camper itself. I saw this double wedge tent and it's inspiring me to modify the wedge camper plans for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8_tJ21rzgc

I've already seen a couple potential issues that I may encounter, but the one I'm most curious about is the side to side rigidity of the 1.5" extrusion box if I were to essentially add another wedge on top of it. I am considering adding 45 degree supports and/or using v1's 3" base with 3" top approach to add rigidity to what will be the middle layer of the tent. I've also been bouncing around the idea of 3x3" extrusions as well in case if 1.5x1.5"/1.5x3" with 2' 45 degree supports end up being too weak. I also plan on modifying the floor of the tent to use Alumalite so there's no concern over the floor bending if someone is kneeling/sitting on the floor towards the front of the truck where the space frame doesn't support it.

Love to see what peoples' thoughts were on it, especially those who have already built the wedge camper! Thanks

 

I had a similar idea but with this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6KDlnoucUY and just lift one side up or both if I needed the extra room.

 

I saw that one too, but have had a tent like that in the past and am not a fan that it allows for front to back movement. I know I could take that approach but I like the simplicity of the hinges on the wedge and a gas piston holding one side up. There's no internal arms and I'd be able to get some really really nice headroom. My old tent that was similar to that YouTube guy's RTT wasn't tall enough for me to kneel in and it's what inevitably made us decide to sell it

 

Grade 8 hardware mounted through steel plate tabs I had welded to the side rails of the camper.

 

Fits just fine, might be better if the platform was 51” but it’s nice not having to worry about stuff falling between the cracks. I leave the extra space behind my head as a night stand of sorts. One thing I want to do is sew up a mesh organizer that hangs from the ceiling for stuffing jackets and shoes.

 

Question about building only the wedge RTT without building the welded camper space frame base. Is the BoM organized accordingly to separate the two, or do you have to filter through to figure out which parts you need? I tried looking through, but it seems parts are not organized that way. If going this route, would the floor of the wedge RTT need to be better reinforced due to the lack of the welded space frame?