Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2021 07:40:17 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: Yet another westy table hack
In-Reply-To: <68ed3a75-459f-1bd0-1a07-8a136285e206@NBNet.nb.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Roy,
When I first got some of the honeycomb off cuts I was excited about the material. At work, I cut a fair bit of it, long shapes to be used as bulkheads in a couple of aircraft types. The material is quite spendy and the off cuts are less than worthless. Our metal recycler doesn’t want it as it’s considered “dirty “ and gets no money for it. I think it’s because of the glue used to adhere the aluminum honey comb to the aluminum skins.
The customer I cut for has a epoxy based glue system , including glue bedded fasteners in a series of holes I cut along the edges of the part. They hand route the holes and the edges to remove a bit of the honeycomb then apply the thickened epoxy. The edges aren’t exposed, as the parts are used as bulkheads. So a nice looking edge ain’t important.
A few years ago I tried making table top. I used a bit of machined aluminum to push back the honeycomb from the edge, a fixed amount. Then I glued in wooden strip along the edge. I was thinking that my measured pushing back of the core would make a firm bed for the strip to locate on. Yes, a rebated strip to register on the skin of the panel woudl have been better.
Glue up was a “one armed paper hanger” type mess.
And of course during all this, the perfect factory made skin got all scratched up. But that was going ti be hidden by some glue on veneer.
Of course it was hard to bend the strips round the corners. I didn’t steam the wood. I made the table shape more ovoid than rectangular to make that part easier.
On the bottom I glued on an aluminum plate with the (m10?) threads for the table arm screw.
Oh, btw, used Polyurethane glue throughout.
The final result was pretty ugly.
:-)
But I got it out of my system. Sometimes even the sexiest material ain’t suitable for the task at hand. At least not without more work than the final product deserves.
Another thing Roy. It’s an irony sent by the gods, I have access to machines and materials now that was just a dream a few years ago. I could be dicking around a lot with all kinds of van projects that I have in my head. Maybe one idea might work.
But… I have much less free time now, and at the end of the day I don’t always feel like going back at it with a personal project.
The stock table screw knobs. Both for leg and table top. They are not the best design. But I haven’t got a better idea. If you have a better idea then get a prototype made and test it. A lot of us want it.
Cheers
Ab
> On Apr 29, 2021, at 6:14 AM, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
>
> Alistair,
>
> Banding has been a fundamental dilemma. I do not have ready access to the tools/materials to use a carbon strip (for an entirely uniform look), nor do I have your skill with aluminium (but, I am trying to persuade a friend to re-envision/machine the mounting bracket in Al. It is also an opportunity to change the mechanism from that terrible knob). Rubber/plastic would be easy, but strike me as not being appropriate to the project.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
>
>
> Alistair Bell wrote on 2021.04.28 22:29:
>> Ok Roy, you trumped me :-)
>>
>> That’s light.
>>
>> Have any thoughts about edge banding?
>>
>>
>>
>>>> On Apr 28, 2021, at 9:33 AM, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I have a piece of ~1.25" thick honeycombed carbon fibre sheet (Alistair
>>>> is not the only fellow with interesting project scraps) which I am
>>>> thinking about turning into a table.
>>>>
>>>> Kyle Stuhr wrote on 2021.04.28 00:16:
>>>> Making a new table out of plywood would cut a lot of weight. Particle board is heavy. Of course you’d then have to put new melamine and rubber trim on it. If you really wanted to get crazy you could use a honeycomb structure core with a fiberglass skin and paint or cover with melamine. That would probably weight ~1/4 of the stock table. It really isn’t expensive if you do the work yourself.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from the briny depths.
>>>>
>>>>>>> On Apr 27, 2021, at 7:55 PM, Eric Caron <ericcaron96@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>>> I admit it. I’d love to improve my table situation in many ways. But I totally can’t picture this mod.
>>>>>> It sounds like it makes the table swivel better and that would be a good thing. My table also tends to rattle in the holder when driving. Maybe that is helped by this as well?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have two good condition tables.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Currently I just use the rear table and have removed the other leg holder.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I feel like the table is much heavier than it needs to be. The whole unit could be much lighter. Maybe a stainless steel top. And a built in drawer and have a leaf so it can slide together to be smaller or bigger.
>>>>>> I thought Van cafe had an updated table but when described to me it is just a drawer for under the existing table. Heck, that I could probably make myself.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Eric Caron
>>>>>> 85 GL Auto
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Apr 27, 2021, at 7:53 PM, Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Took the day off. Mucked around with the van. No , haven’t solved the rattle clunk.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But added a bit to the tables.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> At work, I have a recurring job of cutting out Teflon discs from 1/8” thick sheet. Various diameters, from around 80 to 100 mm. Various centre holes anyway.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have a few rejects. Took one of them that looked the right size and put it between the table and the mount. Seems silly at first putting Teflon there. But it gives a nice feel when tightened up. You can still rotate the table , but it’s firm.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Most important, it eliminates that “ I want to turn the table but that scraping noise… oops I guess I should loosen it first” situation
>>>>>>
>>>>>> :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I know most of you don’t have sheets of Teflon lying around. But I’ll bet a similar bit of polyethylene would do the same.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Alistair
>
| 
