PROS & CONS of Framing Your Van Conversion with Aluminum
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- I’ve spent the past couple weeks framing the internal structures of my van conversion with extruded aluminum. Rather than discuss the obvious differences of Aluminum vs Plywood, I figured I’d share my thoughts on some of the less obvious advantages and disadvantages of designing and building cabinet structures with T-slot aluminum.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome
02:08 - Where To Buy
02:40 - The Real Cost
03:36 - Advantages
05:29 - Limitations of Corner Brackets
07:57 - How to Flush Mount Cabinet Faces
09:41 - Design From The Start
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I love seeing all the community engagement on your videos… people expressing their appreciation for all your hard work makes me so happy. 💗
Your detail is so helpful in trying to wrap my brain around all of the little details that make such a difference.
I try my best!
Finally a video discussing flush mounting the cabinet faces! I've been wracking my brain going back and forth on aluminum vs standard cabinet framing for the van, and this might have sealed the deal to go aluminum.
I'm kind of disappointed that there's not a video of you measuring, cutting, assembling and anchoring all the 8020. Basically building what your showing. Hopefully there will be a video on that and wiring.
Excited to see another video! Thanks for the hard work
And I'm excited to see another comment from you Raymond! Thank YOU!!
@@ErikJohnson2020 I want to share with you my van progress.
I've cleaned/derusted, building the subfloor n floor, sound deadened, installed my ventilation fan, n last night I finished building my roof rack from 3030 extrusion.
Next week my solar panels/mppt/dcdc converter n batteries arrive. Its an important milestone because it'll give me power for my ventilation n 12v cooler. So I'll be able to camp weekends n climb in it. Super excited.
I'm delighted you made this video because I decided 2 weeks ago to frame my van with extrusion too. Its all delivered n I'll start that soon!
@@PresidentBust 3030! That's some serious aluminum! And holy cow you've done a ton!
Yeah the Electrical is hands down the complex category, but also the most satisfying once you start powering your stuff!
Thanks for the info on buying t-slot in UTAH and saving money over 80/20.
Great information, thank you for posting.
Thank you! I'm glad you appreciated the content!
Since I got myself an ACME Marine Plywood Welder I've never had any problems with cutting plywood to the wrong size, as I can now just weld it back to its former size!
I opted for the ACME Marine Plywood Welder as it works with marine plywood, exterior grade plywood and other types.
Their new Plywood Filler Sticks work great to tidy up your work, too!
Lol, omg, I actually googled "ACME Plywood Welder"... 🤦♂️
Well done!
Thanks Erik, some good tips. I will use the same extrusion aluminum in my upcoming conversion. I'm curios how you're going to cover the walls, some builders finish the walls before the framing but like you I'm planning to do the framing first. We will just need to wait for that video.
I think if you're framing everything in wood, it makes sense to put up plywood on your walls first, which then gives your wood cabinet frames something to screw into.
However, overall that seems less than ideal, since it forces you to decide all of your electrical and plumbing runs first, and if you change your mind on anything, it's a major hassle to open up your walls and reroute those utility lines.
With aluminum, you can wait to cover your walls until the end, and you only neef to cover the sections you can see, which in turn means you need less materials, and leaves you with a lot easier access to your utility lines should you need to service anything down the road. Also, having open-back cabinet structures promotes airflow throughout all of your van, minimizing the chance for moisture buildup.
Hope that helps!
How do you mount your frame to the floor? Using longer bolts and plus nuts? Also what other fasteners and size did you use? TIA
Hi Erik, what was the original thought process of going with the extruded aluminium? I'm assuming it was a weight thing, is it significantly lighter?
Do you put anything between the wall of the van and the aluminium extrusion? Could low-e or closed cell foam be used as a thermal break?
Nice job, i think it was a good decision to do this with aluminium studs. Once your planing is done and you have all the necessary components, how many man/hours would you say it took you for cutting and assembling what we saw on your video? BTW your ceiling is amazing. Keep on building
Thank you for the kind words, Francois! I'm mighty fond of my ceiling as well!
As for man hours to design, cut, assemble, realize I forgot to add several t-nuts, disassemble, reassemble, etc... everything shown thus far, I'd estimate about 80-90 hours.
But I'm an over-thinker, so honestly a huge chunk of that time is my analyzing it all, before, during, and sometimes after I tighten every bolt.
Where did you get the aluminum?
What is the plan for connecting the framing to the van floor?
Do you drill through the subfloor and install plusnuts into the aluminum joist rather than all the way through the van floor? Is that considered secure since the joists are only joined to the chasis with adhesive? I've seen lots of videos that show securing extruded aluminum to the ribbed part of the walls which is very straightforward, but there are not a lot of details available on the floor connections. I've been going through Humble roads videos to see if Goerge covers it, but can't find anything :(
So the adhesive really is a permanent bond. It's the exact same adhesive I used to install my flarespace flares, and it's the only thing holding those flares to my van walls (no physical fasteners whatsoever).
So, mounting all of my internal cabinet structures to my plywood subfloor via wood screws and angle brackets bolted to the cabinet frames is just as strong as any physical fastener solution, but much easier to achieve than trying to install plusnuts within the aluminum substructure (not to mention issues of trying to align your anchor points in 16" intervals.
Hey Erik, did you wind up using a combination of the 10 (smaller) and 15 (larger) series 8020? Which size did you use for your galley?
Hey Brian! I used the 10 series exclusively for my entire build, with most of my material being the 1010, and then in areas that will hold more weight, like my bed, or my freezer slide out tray I used the 1020 profile vertically, which is actually more ridged and has a higher load capacity than a 1515 profile.
@@ErikJohnson2020 excellent, thank you
Agggghhhh, stop saying a-loo-minum…. Its alu-minium 😁