Thread: PROJECT 1, modular draw and sleeping area

Mat you can get metal onc from Hills Industries in dandenong for 25mm rhs tubing i think there will fit with the aluminiun tube


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>marbore wrote
Hi, just wondering what those plastic joining corners are like, for example if I was to bolt down a fridge to the top of you drawers, if you go over bumps will the caps pop out ? [/b][/quote]


you can put a poprivert in to each leg of the corner and that will hold them together or the sheet on the outside will do the same

Hi matbor, as kaistuff posted, you can drill and then pop rivet or screw stuff to the tube or corners.

My intention is to make up the frame work and then just sit carpet covered plywood panels on top.

The top panels will have strips down each underside edge to aline them and keep them in place.

As the set up is going to be made up from a number of frame, these frames are going to be bolted together and we will see if they are strong enough then.

As for the caps or corners popping out. To put these QUBELOKs together, you have to use a hammer or wood mallet and a strip of wood and hammer the joints together.

The only way to get them apart again is to hammer them out again.

I made up two work benches with castors on them, using QUBELOK, about 20 years ago and their still in use and going strong.

As soon as the weather clears up a bit, I’ll be into it, so I’ll have some pics this week, I hope.

Cheers

Ok folks, here we go. PROJECT 1 - Section 1. The Rear Draw and Deck Frame

The first thing done is the plans as shown bellow.




This next picture shows the luggage area of a 2003 Range Rover, the target vehicle for this project.




After cutting just enough aluminium tube to make 1 cross section, I hammered the tube and corner pieces together and placed it in the back of the RR to make sure the measurements were correct and the plastic boxes would fit.

As you can see, so far, so good.




This picture is shows some of the QUBELOK plastic corners




Using a mitre saw with the standard wood blade, I cut all the aluminium to the required lengths.


After cutting the Aluminium, I then ran a fine toothed flat file over all the cut edges, both outside to make sure there were no sharp edges to cut hands or interior fittings and inside to make sure the tube and plastic corners fitted together neatly.


Tomorrow, I’ll finish assembling the Rear Frame.

The next thing to be done is to fit all the pieces together.
First assemble each cross section. Take your time here and make sure you have the correct corners placed into the right tube lengths and fit everything together on the floor BEFORE you hammer it together.

I made two mistake and it’s not easy getting this stuff apart again.



With all the cross sections assembled, place the front section on the ground and loosely fit the tube for this section. In my case, there were 7 lengths of 210mm tube to fit.

The next cross section is put in place and gently tapped to hold it together while the rest is assembled.

Again, loosely fit the tube for this section. This time I had 8 lengths of 260mm tube to fit.

The third cross section is put in place and gently tapped to hold it together.

Again, loosely fit the tube for this section and again, I had 8 lengths of 260mm tube to fit.

Now place the rear cross section on top and start gently tapping each junction and make sure they all compress at about the same pace.
Once it is fully compacted, go to each junction and give it a bit of a hammering to make sure all the joint are fully home.



As for the strength of the finished frame, I weigh 125kg and stood on frame. It’s rock solid and supported me with no problems.

The big test and it fits with a small amount space on both sides and the plastic box fits as well.






There are two doors to be fitted but they will be done as the last assembly.

This frame only weighs 7kg so moving it in and out will be fairly easy.

Nice Job Drivesafe [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] 8) 8)

in Vic we only get the silver anodises tube not the black one

Hi kaistauff, when I checked out the prices at Capral about 6 weeks ago, they didn’t have the black tube then so maybe it’s something new.

Years ago, when I first used the Qubelok, they had chrome plated plastic corners to match the aluminium finish and they also had a gold anodised finish but neither of these are now available.

The black finish looks good but I found that by filing the edges, it left a silver stripe at most of the joints but I hid this by going over the edges with a black permanent marker.

I hope to have the rest of the framework finished in a day or to, then I can get on with putting the decking on.

I haven’t bought the carpet yet as I want to see what the frame looks like to give me an idea of what type and colour carpet will be required.

Cheers

Looks awesome, might go down to capral and check it out... want to replace my system, don't like my current setup.

Matt.

Hi Matbor, I’ve got a bit more done yesterday and I’ll post the pics later to day.

BTW, I was supposed to post some pics of the roof mounted driving lights for you months ago, I forgot ops: , but if you still want them I’ll post them latter today too if you want.

Cheers.