Popping my top

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by boywonder

That's one of the downsides of a free-form sort of design approach......you think of better ways after the design is built..........still beats agonizing over things when planning, at least for me.

You mean there's another design approach?



Nice one Herb!

[Scalf77]

Looks like your design process, and execution is working fine. Great work, looking real good.

-greg

[boywonder]

Next up, side door storage.......

I didn't get a picture with the stock wagon interior door trim, but hopefully everyone remembers what that looks like.

The first picture is the stock door with the trim removed.

The second picture is the door after modifying the sheet metal opening with an air chisel and mocking up a door panel from 1/8" baltic birch.

The actual door panel will be 1/4" BB (already fabricated later today). The storage compartment will be designed to hold my stove and a few other kitchen goodies, and will stick both in and out of the interior door surface. I've got lots of ideas, we'll see how it turns out......

I like the idea of a door galley, but my control panels and switches would be blocked by a galley when the side door is closed so this will be a bit simpler, but I've still got a couple of cool ideas....I think.....





The sheet metal is modified such that i can still use the stock trim is I change my mind, for some reason I'm kind of anal like that......

The foam on the interior door sheet metal is Sound Coat left overs from a work project. It serves 3 purposes: foam for airborne sound damping, damping sheet stuck to the sheet metal to attenuate panel resonance, and the foam provides a bit of insulation.

I'll be stuffing Ultratouch denim insulation in there as well before it's done.

[JWA]

I did something similar to both my side doors, much better storage for things not really stowed any other convenient way. Keep in mind my van is set up for work-only so the results are nothing more than prototypes or "proof of concept.

If I had an advantage its my doors are pretty much rusted POS so chopping them up wasn't accompanied by any pucker factor. Here are a few photos that might be helpful to anyone else thinking of adding this sort of storage:

(Currently photos of all this are too large to display properly here---I'll edit them to fit. In the meantime here's a link to PhotoBucket sub-folder: http://s184.photobucket.com/user/JWA...?sort=3&page=1

[boywonder]

Nice! ...had not thought about euro hinges....good idea. I'm assuming that you primed all of the cut edges with POR-15 .......I still need to primer mine.

[Viva]

So JWA has rusted doors with POR-15 primed edges. I'm just picturing in twenty years there will just be these edges, and then about 12" away, hinges

(JWA: You are one of my "gurus," so I'm just saying this because a funny image popped to mind, not because you don't rock. I'm from the northern Midwest, so I never even saw an intact rocker panel (except on TV) until I grew up and moved away...

I like the door bins (on Photobucket). Clean/simple/super practical.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Viva

So JWA has rusted doors with POR-15 primed edges. I'm just picturing in twenty years there will just be these edges, and then about 12" away, hinges

That reminds me of when I worked in the aerospace industry in the 80's........A totally green jr. engineer would design a part that was not machinable and bring the drawing to the machine shop. A few hours later the machinist would show up at the engineer's desk with a handful of machining chips saying "here's your part".

[JWA]

Originally Posted by boywonder

Nice! ...had not thought about euro hinges....good idea. I'm assuming that you primed all of the cut edges with POR-15 .......I still need to primer mine.

Well not really ONLY because I knew when starting this project the doors weren't long for this world. In fact I may have posted photos showing rust beginning inside those doors, how/where it forms etc. Had they been good doors with no inside rust a thorough POR-15 treatment would have been applied.

FWIW after constructing the hinged storage area I found a "nest" with tool holders only would be just as effective, less than half the work. Those hinges were some of the cheapest I could find (Rockler) but the same type/style do exist in much more substantial quality and easy operation. Anyone thinking of this sort of cabinet build should consider nothing but the better hardware---it works best over the longer term.

(BTW I don't take a bit of razzing as a bad thing here---especially when its funny! )

[DesertDan]

Great work on the cabinets BoyWonder.

How did you anchor them to the floor? Did you anchor it to the wall through the plastic panel?

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by DesertDan

Great work on the cabinets BoyWonder.

How did you anchor them to the floor? Did you anchor it to the wall through the plastic panel?

Everything is screwed to the floor with modern square drive screws. No L brackets and nothing attached to the plastic.