Oops- I think I made a roof rack

I just helped my friend assemble his Prinsu rack a few weeks before and that let me see how they did first hand so that's exactly what I did. Just got some spacers and stainless bolts from McMaster and did it exactly like the Prinsu. Heres a video showing it. I can make a detailed write up step by step including every piece of hardware if anyone wants.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/F7g1rGOQqJU?start=642

 

Awesome!! Looks really good.

I should add I ended up getting a bunch of T-Slot filler strips which REALLY helped bring down wind noise and slight vibrations from the wind. Make sure you place them on the front and bottom of the T-Slot rails. And all 3 sides of the fairing support rail.

 

I just picked up the pieces from a local machine shop and they are currently just bare aluminum. Anyone have any recommendations on how to paint them? I wanted to just get them powder coated but I didn't want to spend the money. Was thinking about just spray painting them.

 

I highly recommend powder coating - my fairing has held up beautifully with a lot of roadtrips, chips and bugs. You could totally spray paint with good prep and primer, but powder will always hold up better.

 

Awesome, thanks. I know some others were trying to figure out different ways to mount 'em so wasn't sure what your approach was. Did you just use a vise + hammer to bend the mounting tabs?

 

My laser cutter bent it on a brake for me before I picked them up. Outer two bent a 3/4 inch down and the middle one bent 1” down gets the same height as the prinsu.

 

If you don't mind sharing I'm wondering how you managed to make your rack for $370. Do you have hookups on cutting or any of the other expenses? I was just doing some ball park figures and I'm no where near where you're at.

• $297 Sides and fairing from Oshcut (price is after shipping and nesting discount but does not include any costs for bending)
• $184 T-Slot supports + hardware

So far that's $481 and doesn't include costs for bending (I still need to modify the CAD file for that), powder coating (I was probably going to paint it anyway, maybe bedliner), materials to quiet wind noise, hardware/spacers to mount it to the truck. Actually starts to make $840 shipped from Prinsu seem not that crazy. And there's another company running a group buy right now I think for $600 on his version of this style rack. I do really like this design though and may just do it. I wonder if there would be 3-5 other people locally and maybe we could pool our resources to get the Oshcut price down a little with some volume.

 

Mine was certainly more than $370 and I got the laser cutting and material free!

T-slot alone was about $280 plus hardware and powder coating.

but I think T-slot cost a lot more in a Canada.

Edits: My pricing is in CAD - so that probably does bring it closer to the $370 USD mark

 

I think you could use a hole saw instead of the wood boring bit, not cut out the back side, and get a better finish.

 

Sure I emailed about 10 local laser cutting places and got prices from as high as $400 to get it cut. The place I ended up using quoted me $120 for 3/16" steel and $150 for 3/16" aluminum to cut and bend. I did the aluminum and he powdered coated them for another $50 so the side panels and faring came to $200.



I took them home after cutting and test fit it before dropping them back off for powder coating.



Then the for the crossbars I happen to live down the street from Bonnell Aluminum they own T slots and are Prinsu's suppliers of crossbars. They sold me six 47" cossbars for $17 each and they already come black so no powder coating required. Bringing that to $102 for the bars plus a little tax. Even ordering them tnutz it's only $128 for the crossbars and those come with stainless hardware so really a pretty good deal.







So far were around $310 in parts the rest is just all stainless hardware that mostly came from a local nut and bolt supply but a few things also came from McMaster and Amazon.

Hope that helps break the price a little more. Also keep in mind this all took me nearly three months with emailing/ calling vendors and waiting for stuff to get cut.

 

Thanks @Jlab that's helpful. You got a killer deal on the cutting/bending/coating! I don't think it'd be possible to find rates anywhere near that low around here unless I had a hookup. And for the crossbars I was looking on tnutz - the price I quoted was the full price after shipping & taxes.

 

Here's what mine looks like irl. I definitely mess up on the back mounting tabs though. They are about an inch too far forward. Luckily a coworker can help me cut and reweld them. Also not shown is the matching rack for the camper shell which I also F'ed up. Didn't account for the back of the camper shell being slanted forward and the side panels are way too long. I will also have to cut those.

 

So here’s my question… with there being multiple files on this thread, which one is the better one to send off to a cutter?? I have a cutter right across the street from my work that I wanna use

 

Would you make the wind deflector and sell them ?

 

Am I? No I just want one for my truck.

 

Do you still have your file?? If so can you either post it or dm me with it? Maybe some pics of your install also??

 

Haven’t installed it as of yet, the summer was full of traveling and never got it mocked up or powder coated.

 

Looks like I'm going to have an extra set of 1" spacers needed for this rack if anyone is interested. I'll let 'em go for less than I paid and for less than you could get 'em directly from McMaster Carr like I did.

 

Let me know what you’re asking for them. That’s the last thing I need for mine besides powder coat and time to install. I assume by “set” you mean for the whole rack. (10 spacers)
Thank you!

 

Yeah, those 10 spacers. I bought a Prinsu but the guy couldn't find the spacers so I bought my own. Then he found them and is shipping them to me. Not worth returning the extras so figured I'd just help out someone else here. I'm still waiting for the original Prinsu ones to arrive but when I confirm that has happened then I can get rid of the new ones I bought. They were $35 shipped from McMaster Carr so how about $25 shipped to you?