Hal The Van

[depark]

That's Awesome!

[WVvan]

A video illustrating a design methodology remarkably similar to my own.

[WVvan]

Kitchen Cabinet, Post 5

There is a slight bow to the plywood that I've cut the countertop from so using the 10-32 sized T-nuts to help straighten it as it's tightened down.


Here's the countertop with the drop leaf piece next to it.


I'll use a piano hinge to join the two together. Choose the piano style hinge because I hadn't worked with one before.


Positioned the hinge and started screwing it into place when I almost made a big mistake. The plan is to laminate the countertop and drop leaf. That laminate layer between the ends of the two plywood pieces changes their position on the hinge. Almost forgot that. Cut out several small pieces of laminate and use them as spacers.


Use wood screws to hold the hinge in the correct placement. I'll be changing this to T-nuts later on.


Need some way to support the drop leaf when it's in the up position. Gave this a lot of thought. Looked at several kinds of folding supports but decided to go a different way. When the drop leaf is in the up position it is blocking the front half of the side door. I have no doubt there will come a time when I'm going to want to duck under the drop leaf to go through the side door. A folding support will partially block the path under the drop leaf. Instead I'm going to use drawer slider hardware to hold the leaf up. This square steel tube is what will be against the bottom of the drop leaf.


The drawer sliders will be at an angle so the square tube will snug up against the bottom of the drop leaf as it slides into it's final position.


Will have to fabricate some brackets for the drawer hardware so I'm trying to figure out all the dimensions. The square tube is to be flat against the bottom of the drop leaf so there is an angle between it and the slider end.


The slider has to high enough, everything here is upside-down, to clear the angle iron frame.


Take a bunch of measurements.




Using the measurements, cut, drill and weld four brackets to the cabinet frame to support the drawer sliders.


Weld onto the square tube two angle iron pieces that will bolt to the slider hardware.


Do a test fit. Here the drop leaf is in the full up position supported from underneath by the slider. The drawer hardware is rated for 100 lbs so that should be more than sufficient for how I'm planning on using it.


This is how it looks when the drop leaf is down and the slider is fully retracted. The countertop has a overhang to clear the square tube.


Double check that there are no under counter conflicts.

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[WVvan]

Kitchen Cabinet, Post 6

Next up is to find where to mount the water pump. Here's the SHURflo pump I'll be using along with an accumulator. They share a common fitting. I could separate them but that would require additional fittings so I'm positioning them as a single unit.


Don't have any pictures of the next step even though I spent a good deal of time on it. I would take the pump and accumulator and see where they would fit within the cabinet frame without causing obstructions or wasting space. Tried them in all different positions.


Decided on mounting the pump and accumulator to a plywood board.


Then mounting the board to the back of the cabinet. The hose on the accumulator will go to the cold water inlet on the sink faucet.


Cut, drill and weld four tabs onto the back of the cabinet frame for the pump board.




Next add a shelf where I can store the dishpans.


The dishpans will only fit within the cabinet at this location if their lip is between the pump and accumulator. Use that as my guide for the height of the shelf.


Add a 1/2" angle iron upright to the frame. This will hold the support the right rear corner of the shelf.


Add another 1/2" angle iron upright to the front of the frame. This will support the front left corner of the shelf.


Check that the shelf won't interfere with the outlet hose from the accumulator.


For the left rear corner of the shelf support, bend and weld on a simple 1/4" rod angle.


For each of the three upright angle irons, cut a small piece of square tube and weld that on as a shelf support.


Check the fit with a piece of scrap plywood.


Found I didn't like the placement of the front left shelf support so cut the upright angle iron off and replaced it with another 1/2" angle iron piece but moved it a little bit to the left.


The length of angle iron that I cut off was placed on one of the metal shelves along the garage back wall. I mention it because this particular piece of angle iron will make an appearance again later.

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[WVvan]

Kitchen Cabinet, Post 7

Looking at what to do next, I thought an additional support across the frame near the bottom of the water cans to help hold them place would be good.


So added one.




Next is the 3-way valve. Will use this to switch between the two water cans.


There are two thread holes on the valve.


These turned out to be threaded for #10x24.


Weld up a small bracket to hold the valve.




Add four T-nuts to the countertop.


I'll mount the valve to the under side of the countertop.


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[WVvan]

Kitchen Cabinet, Post 8

Next up. Decide where to locate the spray attachment that came with the faucet.


Drill a hole in the countertop for the spray head.


Install the T-nuts for the piano hinge.


Replace the wood screws with #10x32 screws and T-nuts.


Give it a swing.


Looking at the frame I wanted to change the lower side brace for the water can. It was originally at a 45 degree angle but that wasted space.


So I cut out the angled one and replaced it with this curved one. This gives me a little more room next to the water can for storage.


There is a gap of five inches between the water cans and the front of the cabinet. Started thinking of what to do with the space.


Looks like a good place to add a small waste bin.


The bottom of the bin has to be high enough so it doesn't interfere with the water cans as they are tipped in and out through the back.


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[WVvan]

Kitchen Cabinet, Post 9

Start deciding where to mount the hinges for the cabinet doors. There will be three doors. One at the back where the water cans are inserted and two on the front.


About to make a big Mistake. Truth be told, by now I'd been working and welding on the cabinet frame for a couple weeks and was pushing to get to the next phase so didn't think this step through.

Welded up six simple angled pieces that will be the hinge mounting pads.


Then welded them to the frame where I though was the best location for each hinge.






Don't have a separate photo but I added a 1/2" angle iron support across the front to support the waste bin door.

Also welded on four pre-drilled tabs that will support my version of an electrical sub-panel.


If you look in the center of the above photo you can see the last thing I welded onto the frame. It's a collection of 1/4" steel rod that will hold the cabinet's cutting board. At this point I realized I was officially out of control with the welding and had to stop adding bits.

Here's what I thought was the final version.


Weighs in at around 27 lbs.


Thought that if I quickly primed and painted the frame it would stop me from welding on it again. Wrong.


Cut a piece of plywood to fit the shelf space. Has to clear the water can.


Take the wood panels I'd made earlier for two of the three sides of the cabinet and cut out the openings for the doors.




Screw the front panel in place. Take measurements for the doors.


Cut out the doors from a sheet of 5/8" plywood.


When I went to mount the doors I realized my mistake from earlier. When making the mounting pads for the hinges I didn't properly account for the thickness of the covering panels.I didn't pre-drill the hinge mounting holes because I'd have to shift the hinges to fit the panels but underestimated the distance the hinges would have to move.

Nothing to do at this point but suck it up and mount a cutting disc on the angle grinder.



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[WVvan]

Kitchen Cabinet, Post #10

Cut and drill a new set of hinge pads.


I probably did myself a favor by messing up the first set of pads. The plan was to drill each by hand but it's so much easier to do on the drill press.


This time around I custom fit and weld each pad in place. One door at a time.






Install #10-32 T-nuts into the doors.




Check that the water cans will fit through the access door as expected.


Take everything apart and paint the frame.


Stain all the plywood doors, cover panels and the countertop. All sides.


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[WVvan]

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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[Gnarvan]

Your posts are totally amazing. I am in AWE of the amount of thinking you must do to come up with this stuff.

My favorite part of the last couple of posts was this gem.

"At this point I realized I was officially out of control"

Keep up the good work.