Metal Trim Process
In this video I installed the metal trim for the rear door of the bus. That trim came with the bus but it was rusty and ugly looking. As we’re trying to make the bus a really beautiful place that will last a long time, getting the rust off and dressing it up was important. All the grinding and painting happened off camera, but the installation is shown in the video above.
- Grind rust down using an angle grinder and a braided grinder disc.
- Once rust is completely removed, set metal on thin blocks. The goal is to make it so that the metal piece to be painted touches as little as possible.
- Use white primer for the first layer of paint. Spray from 2-3 feet away and move paint can continuously while spraying.
- Use whatever color you want after that. I used black for this trim piece.
Wood Filler Substitute
Off camera the night before, I made a mistake and cut my hole for the electrical outlet too long.
To remedy that, I want to fill the saw lines with wood filler. I don’t really like the normal wood filler that we used on the ceiling so I tried something new. It’s something that I think I learned from a DiResta video. Here’s how it works:
I use a combination of wood glue, saw dust and water to fill the mistakenly cut lines. I’m not 100% happy with the way it turned out. My guess is that the saw dust I used was too thick. If I could have found some more dusty wood dust, I think the final product would have been better.
Also, I would have mixed up a greater amount of the mixture. With more to work with, I can make more conscious decisions about the texture and construction of the material. In the video, you see it kind of working. I look forward to doing this again in the future with better results.
Wood Paneling the Skoolie
Paneling is actually a time intensive process. My process is to carefully measure, cut, sand and stain each piece. It takes a lot longer than I expect. IN the video above, I paneled the bed which encloses the 47 gallon water tank. This enclosure also encases the water pump and all the pipes that empower us to decide between filling the water tank or using city water. It was a tough collection of cuts.
Slats for the New Bus Bed
Today I also did a lot of table saw cuts.
The bed needed to be built differently. The existing 1/4″ plywood was cracking if I rested on the open span areas. Also, there is a chance that the lack of ventilation with the old build strategy would have been quite limited. It had to change.
I took the old 1/4″ in plywood off and used 3/4″ plywood strips cut at 3 1/2″ in to make up the bed. I spaced the 3/4″ plywood slats apart by 1 1/2″. A single slat and it’s space between the next one added together for an even 5″. Because a Queen bed is 60″ in by 80″ in I knew that (60/5) I would be needing 12 slats to complete the project.
That said, I knew I had to develop a different strategy for the area which covers the water tank. I wanted to easily be able to access the water shed should we need to make adjustments. For that reason, I stopped at 7 slats. I’ll do the next 5 ASAP.
ASAP isn’t accurate. I’ll do it at my next opportunity. I was exhausted from this day of projects so I went to bed.
Thank you for watching. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or concerns.
Music:
Soft Sound by Clueless Kit
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