biv box

[wonkywheel]

It's nice to hear you are coming to terms with the MIG welder. It makes building and altering so much easier. It took me quite a while to master (I use the term loosely) MIG. My build in aluminium is even more challenging than steel, particularly with some thin 1.5mm thick box sections. I can't remember if I have said but I used small pieces of angle screwed in place with self-tapping screws when trial building. In some cases I welded them in situ for added strength in others were removed for reuse. Worked for me, as it saved quite a few errors and mind changes being welded in place.
Hopefully, we are through lockdowns with our vaccination program in full swing. I have recently had my Covid-19 booster jab and my winter flu. (being an old guy) So now having had 3 jabs I should at least stand a fair chance of avoiding getting it again.
We are just starting to get morning frosts. the outside of the camper is covered with condensation. Not even the framework shows through so it's uniformly cold.
This is prompting renewed vigour on getting the warm air heater working. At least your warming up now.

[wonkywheel]

It's been Quite for quite a while. Has the biv box bit the dust?

[sandylandy]

Hi all, been busy for a year or so. Some budget changes happened incl. internet.

Where to start?
Firstly, true to the 404 code.. i couldn't log in and couldn't figure the "forgot password" to work so I used another email and ID.
Secondly, hectic times we live in or what? And Queen Elizabeth passing away too. 2022 was as bad as I ever want things to get. It turns out a lot of propaganda was thrown at us all and "mistakes were made." Anyhoo..

BivBox work continued thru '22 and was eventually taken out for a drive to the weighbridge. The Landy drove nicely as far as the springing goes -feels very solid and settled. Still eats hills and pulls up well... (photos to follow in separate posts).
+++++++++++++++++
...so the option of a trailer was considered after I learnt some panel beating skills doing a basic restoration of my son's damaged army trailer with WT (WT purchased it to fix it). We did the job on the front lawn. Finished about the end of Jan '23. Looks great.

Current activity.
I purchased WT's smaller/older Army trailer in order to fit with a hard cover using the leftover BivBox fibreglass panels etc. Its called a Number 5 trailer. We had made a RHS framework to fit one of those No5 army trailers some years ago. It mounts with M12 bolts on the four corner legs. We used it, and then moved on... the frame was then used for other jobs and after my birthday mid-'22 we re-used it a few months as a "rocksteady" function holding up the center of a simple 6m long chookyard wire fence and access gate.

The frame was re-purposed in Jan '23 to go back in a No5 trailer and hold up the roof for a solar panel and siding and a rear hatch. The frame cnr verticals are 35x35 RHS and about 800mm high. I used leftover aluminium 50x50 flashing for gluing down the panels. In fact we generally used BivBox leftovers when possible -eg, steel for welding extra roof stringers. We tried out some things like M8 Nutserts in the 35x35 legs for internal cargo rings and this was needed as "prac learning" to make a better job of it when I do some further work on the BivBox. This last 3 weeks has been about the roof solar panel, rear hatch and hinges -the hatch is roughly 1240mm wide and 1300mm high using a 20x20mm lighweight frame. No time for struts for the rear hatch. WT is moving to the block at Easter. I am hoping this trailer will be basically completed by Good Friday. Today the interior paint is topcoated except for the inside of the rear hatch, it needs a topcoat. Then there's the exterior painting and a frame mounting on the driver side to hold a fold down ensuite tent.

[ WT is ready to go to his vacant block and will use it as a camper base while a prefab shed and other items incl. LOTS of solar panels are constructed. I will be going there to help out on and off and will use the BivBox. ]

Why a trailer? Well, smelly muddy stuff: diesel jerrys, Maxtrax, greywater jerry, bag of dogfood and chookfood, firewood, and !the chooks! --different-- we'll suck it and see as they say.

[wonkywheel]

Great to hear you haven't fallen by the wayside.
Biv box and trailer box, well done.
It's good to see you are enjoying the work you have put in. There is something very satisfying about home builds. It's your design, your work and you make it how you want it.
Look forward to more foto's'

[sandylandy]

Operation "Chook Security".
During '21 and '22 as mentioned my skill set improved with handyman tools. When the chooks arrived I built a shanty shack with bits of an old desk and wardrobe. But a stronger roost was required for longer term and rough use on and of the trailer. By mid November '22 the roost was tested and then painted black. I found an old style hardwood desk for free, cut off the legs and used it upside down as a base for the roost, added 3/4in formply sides and ceiling. My son is good with the power tools and inspiring - he had used the formply to make a dog kennel for our dog about 2019 and it is in the elements and the cement formply did not warp or expand like chipboard etc. Its heavy duty for construction projects as the name suggests. So I used that and wonder of wonders for a desk-jockey the sliding doors came together and worked because it was all square. 1050mm long, 650mm wide. The "bedding" is not straw, its pine sawdust, about 200mm deep. The chooks like it and pine "odour" (for want of scientific explanation) reduces lice and mite risk.

You can see the re-purposed trailer rack (supporting the coop wire netting) I used for the hardtop of the trailer.

[sandylandy]

Biv Box

By Dec '21 WT and I had straightened and re-done some welding warps in the lower floor-seat-boxes and sealed the steel in red epoxy 2 pack. The 'floor' panel of the "Luton" bed was a lot of time - spent considering various ways for doing that fold/swing over bed extension.. but ended up (more or less unconsciously) re-cycling the design of the old Landy Series 2 windscreen frame (had to laugh when I saw that phenomenon of the brain at the bolt-up-stand-back-and-check stage).

We sized and cut panels in a straightforward way with the Makita track saw and vacuum (some tracked cuts at 2.4m). The panels on the sides were comparitively easy to fit as we could use the clamps to hold the panel while it cured... one or two panels required different methods as there was less and less frame available to clamp up to. Got awkward. Large F clamps were purchased and used with lengths of RHS steel etc. We got there. Now I got to sell about 6 large F clamps...

[sandylandy]

Panels contd

[sandylandy]

The Poptop lower extrusion was a hassle (so was the top section with the struts and one piece ceiling panel -ugh for later post).

The whole poptop was a skill test I was never gonna be up to. Never done anything like this job. A proper tradesman may have done it in a week or less... WT had welded conveyors etc but never such intricate and detailed work such as this. WT just approached it methodically and really saved the day (that camper frame was not cut and welded by CNC!), being fastidious on every bit - got tiny caliper settings and cuts etc to get the 4 sides aligned exactly -exactly right- and this paid off in the later stages believe me. When it came together and shut the first time, even left to right and front to back I was so happy -hard to take it in after more than a month of niggles and setbacks on this poptop frame. Truly, the hardest part of the whole build. More later.

[sandylandy]

Lower poptop extrusion. Had to rout a top edge super accurately to make the extrusion sit flush to the tops of the side walls -it made the extrusion sit absolutely square, 2mm here and 4mm there, etc. So fiddly.

We fitted HD scissors each end and large struts on the sides, all using custom 3mm backing plates (for all fittings incl. the over center hold down clamps front and rear) Feb '22. Also a fiddly job getting it right having never had anything to do with struts and scissors before.

Lotsa very careful drillings and rivetings (and some dud-take-it-back-to-the-shop rivet lever things from chyna).

The upper extrusion had to have rivet holes etc sealed. I used windscreen sealant on the joints at corners and on the attachment mounts such as the scissors. The mount each side for the struts had to have several holes to get it just right. We anticipated this problem and made a 3mm aluminium angle piece with matching factory looking series of holes for the adjustment. The holes were drilled using a cheap used bench drill and a template.

[sandylandy]

The rear hatch, welded 25mm x 25mm RHS frame, and used a hinge and pantech type side seals from UESint.com hardware. The "Centaflex" hinge is a hi-tech melding of 2 PVCs. We riveted it into the BivBox main frame.

https://www.uesint.com/product/centafle ... ous-hinge/

"During the manufacturing process; co-extruded rigid P.V.C profiles are fused togther with the molten, Centaflex hinge membrane creating an extremely strong and resilient hinge. For example a one metre length fitted horizontally has a S.W.L of 100kgs."

The Whale type door latch is secure from outside, but I have to rig something (on the long job list) to be able to unlock it from inside. Struts were -again- a time consuming fitment.

Painting began -basecoat exterior, roller paint, acrylic. The rationale is its so easy to repair anywhere if when necessary with more paint car bog and spray putty etc.