WVvan
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Kitchen Cabinet, Post #11
Position the waste bin door.
Use wood screws to temporarily mount the door to the hinges.
Check movement.
Replace wood screws with T-nuts
Do the same again with the right side door.
Want to stop the drop leaf from swinging while the van is in motion. First step is find where the bottom edge of the drop leaf contacts the side covering panel.
I had previously welded a supporting angle iron piece to the frame near where the drop leaf would contact the side. Drill a hole through the angle iron and the cover panel. Add a T-nut to the cover panel.
The reason for the extra support is the rare earth magnet I'm adding to the cover panel. Pick the appropriate hard drive magnet from my collection that lives on the heating system ductwork.
The magnet will hold the bottom of the drop leaf in place.
Chisel out a space so the magnet will sit flush.
Epoxy the magnet to the carved out space on the cover panel.
Add two T-nuts to the bottom edge of the drop leaf. I'll use the T-nuts to hold a piece of steel in place. The size of the steel piece will control the amount of attraction the bottom edge of the drop leaf has to the cover panel. I'll later experiment with different sized steel pieces till I get one that stops the drop leaf from swinging loose but allows it swing up when wanted.
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Open the pod bay doors Hal.
Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
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WVvan
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Kitchen Cabinet, Post #12
If I'm clearing out a big section of floor and sweeping it real clean, it can only mean one thing.
 
Formica!
Position all the doors, cover panels and countertop on the sheet of Formica and mark out the cut lines.
After cutting.
Use the same method as I used when covering the sofa-bed except the contact cement now comes in gel form.
   
Do one side and let it set up.
After applying the contact cement to the end covering panel I realized I'd forgotten to make cut-outs for the drop leaf drawer hardware. That should be done before laminating. So let the cement completely dry then made two cut-outs with the help of a drill and jigsaw.
This is the front side of the waste bin door. Since the screws will come through the plywood from the back the T-nuts are installed on the front. Going to laminate both sides of the door so I have to locate the holes for the T-nuts on the back side after laminating it. Use a drill bit that's smaller than the hole in the center of the T-nut. Using the center of the T-nut as a guide, drill from the front to the back through the laminate on the back of the door.
Turn the door over and use another drill bit to enlarge the holes to the size of the screws I'll be using with the T-nuts.
Test fit the waste bin door.
Need to add some more T-nuts to the door to hold the waste bin. To know where they will go I'll have to make the waste bin first. Reuse an old piece of van flooring.
Cut out the pieces for the waste bin.
I'm going to take a little detour in my narrative. Back near the end of " Kitchen Cabinet, Post 6" I wrote about a length of 1/2" angle iron that was cut off of the cabinet frame because I didn't like how it was positioned. I had placed the piece on one of the metal shelves along the back wall of the garage. It would probably be recycle by cutting it up and using it elsewhere so I placed it perpendicular to the shelf so it would stick out and be noticed. Big Mistake.
To join the pieces of the waste bin together I started looking for my biscuit cutter. Don't use it too often so tend to forget where it's stored. Looking around the shop trying to find it when I spot it on the shelf directly below the angle iron piece. Problem is I didn't notice the angle iron and when quickly I bent down to retrieve the biscuit cutter I drove my forehead into the end of the angle iron piece just as hard as I could. I didn't see stars but I did hear (felt?) a distinct "thud". Since the other end of the angle iron was up against a cinder block wall it was a solid hit.
As soon as I straighted up and saw that I'd left a tiny bit of scalp and hair behind on the end of the angle iron I knew, "Oh yeah, that's going to start bleeding." And it did. Made it to the bathroom and administered first aid. Didn't need a trip to the ER since my skull stopped it from going too deep. Stopped the bleeding then cleaned and bandaged the angle shaped wound and got back to work.
Here's a picture of what I saw on the end of the angle iron. Not particular messy but I'll just leave it as a link in case it might bother some.
http://larry.wvnet.edu/~van/pics/120506-14-mj.jpg
Use the biscuit cutter and glue and a bunch of clamps to make up a waste bin.
  
Let the waste bin set up overnight.
A note about the 1/2" angle iron. It has since been cut up and the pieces used in other parts of the van conversion. I didn't clean it off before using it so at some level I am now truly a part of the van. Or does this mean that HAL is now a cyborg?
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* This post was
edited 05/30/12 07:01pm by WVvan *
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dale662
Minnesota
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The dreaded spear to the head. I did something like that after I got home from the hospital for Bell's Palsy: in my case it was the handle sticking up from a little floor sweeper, and it caught me just to the left of my eye. I put a big swatch of duct tape on it, and don't leave things sticking out anymore (at least I try to).
Blogging at http:\\rvgolfer.blogspot.com.
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WVvan
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Kitchen Cabinet, Post #13
Went to test fit the waste bin and found it was a little too tall. Easily fixed with a table saw.
A better fit.
Make up a brace for the bottom of the waste bin.
Add T-nuts to the door to hold the brace.
Mount brace and check fit.
Need a couple side braces. Get the sheet of 16 gauge steel I keep cutting pieces off of.
Cut off three pieces then use the drill press, vise and welder to create these two.
The "T" shaped side brace also acts as a stop to prevent the door from swinging all the way down. Add more T-nuts to the door to hold the braces.
Test fit.
Use a drill and jigsaw to create handle-holes on both sides.
Sand smooth.
Prime and paint.
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WVvan
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Kitchen Cabinet, Post #14
The cover panels are only laminated on one side. Paint the back sides and edges white. Paint the bottom side of the countertop. Paint all sides of the shelf, pump panel and sub panel.
The Webasto heater sits under the kitchen cabinet so have to make some ductwork to get the hot air from it to the inside of the van. In this pic you can see the short length of flexible vent hose that came with the heater when I bought it. Above it is a length of metal ductwork I picked up at Lowe's for around $4.
Took the metal ductwork and squeezed and rolled it like you do with a newspaper till it was small enough to slide into the end of the flexible hose. Used metal duct tape to keep it rolled up.
Attach the ductwork to the outlet end of the heater. Check how it will route through the cabinet.
Use a hacksaw on the metal duct to shorten it.
Measure where I want the end of the duct to meet the front cover panel.
I don't have a metal hole saw the diameter of the duct so use the jigsaw to cut a less-than-perfect round hole in a square of scrap sheet metal.
The grill for the front of the duct opening is taken from an old computer fan. It's just the right size. I cut the sheet metal square to match up with this grill.
Time for an inspection visit.
Align the grill on the front cover panel. Drill four holes for the mount points.
I don't have a metal saw the diameter of the duct but do have one for wood..
Check the duct alignment.
Drill four holes in the metal square that line up with the grill mount points. Use machine screws and nuts to bolt the grill on the front of the cover panel to the square in the back.
Put everything in position.
When I think it's all lined up, use the metal tape to join the square to the duct. Used several pieces of tape overlaid.
Remove the duct from the cabinet and use more metal tape on the other side of the square. I found that many narrow pieces did a better job than a few larger pieces due to the curved duct. It's not pretty but by the time I was finished the metal square was solidly joined to the duct.
Wrap the metal duct in a spare piece of EZ Cool insulation.
I've read where some people open their cabinets to be sure the water piping doesn't freeze in cold weather. Since my water system sits directly above the heater I don't think that will be a problem. I'm adding the insulation so more heat makes it out into the van.
That's it for the ductwork.
When he thought I wasn't looking I caught Tiger looking for loose change in the cushions.
I have to keep my money hidden from Tiger. He's got a catnip problem.
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* This post was
edited 06/02/12 07:25am by WVvan *
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SuperiorBound
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"I have to keep my money hidden from Tiger. He's got a catnip problem."
LOL now that made me laugh. He looks like he could be our cat George's brother.
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WVvan
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Kitchen Cabinet, Post #15
Need to install the on-off rocker switch for the water pump. Mark out a location on the the front cover panel of the kitchen cabinet.
The switch requires a square hole. So start with two round holes.
Use a jigsaw to join the two holes then a file to clean up the hole.
Good fit.
Since I'm in a switch installing mood, mount the controller for the Webasto heater.
Prepare the countertop and and it's laminate sheet.
Bought another Formica sheet. Used it to laminate the front side of the three doors.
After the laminate sets up it's time for the edge router.
I'd forgotten how much of a mess routing the edge was
In the middle of this job my cheapo edge bit fell apart. A quick trip to Lowe's and $17.95 later I had the new edge bit, on the left.
After routing use a file to fine tune the edge.
Here's the cut-out for the drop leaf drawer hardware. I'm laminating the front side of this cover panel.
Here's how it looks after edging. I needed the can of "OOPS!" to completely remove the Formica label.
Looking good but still not done.
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MAU MAU
New Hampshire and Maine
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Looks great as usual and it is really starting to come together.
In the future however, I would recommend the Ice Pick Method for self administered Lobotomies. Less mess and quicker results.
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Grub
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WVvan wrote:Maptester nailed it! Just heard back from the Forest Service. It's a remote rain gauge. Remote being the operative word since it's at least a two hour hike from the closest road to reach it. Of course if it was closer to a road some yahoo with a gun would have shot it up by now.
Not all people with guns are 'yahoos'. -_-
Any day enjoying the great outdoors beats any day enjoying your 8x8 office cube!
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WVvan
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Quote:Not all people with guns are 'yahoos'. -_-
And not all yahoos have guns. But when you get a yahoo with a gun you get things like shot up road signs, which unfortunately I've seen innumerable times.
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