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New proud member, will need your help with my 72 commando

Discussion in 'Jeepster Commando and Commando Tech' started by KeyserSoSay, Sep 3, 2017.

  1. Mar 15, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Well in that case, here you go...

    I've put a skim of body filler in most of these weld-seams just to try and pretty it up a bit and shot the whole thing in primer, but I forgot to take any pictures of that.

    I've got some other projects I can do on the jeep this weekend, but since I've got this project so close to done, my plan is to push through and get this one completed, and probably just mount this on the jeep for now for lack of a better place to store this rack.

    This weekend I'll be building a fiberglass fairing for the front of the rack. I have a bunch of fiberglass resin left over from another project I need to use up anyway, that stuff does not age well when stored so I can use it or lose it. Plus, I think it will make for a pretty neat custom element to the rack and the jeep overall.

    I've got 8-liters of tintable Raptor liner ordered and am gearing up to shooting this roof-rack with it here pretty soon (not sure how much I'll use on this roof rack, but my guess is at least double or triple the equivalent square footage of flat sheet metal . I figured this will be a good test run using the tintable raptor liner before I complete the sheet metal work and shoot the inside of the floor with it. The previous owner already put bed-liner in the floor of the cab, so I'm kind of committed to continuing with that tact for the interior, at least on the floors.

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  2. Mar 15, 2018
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
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    o_O

    Good Job.
     
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  3. Mar 15, 2018
    baldjosh

    baldjosh Member

    pacific north west
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    that light bar is gonna look awesome on the rig... looks beefy and super cool!...cant wait to see it complete!
     
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  4. Mar 15, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Thanks, yeah I think it will be a pretty cool set up. I do kind of feel like I’m putting the cart before the horse a bit working on stuff like roof-racks and seats, but every time I evaluate how the build is going to play out in the coming year, it’s like a house of cards that I’ll want to tackle in a very specific order and I end up feeling better about tending to these loose cards now while I have a chance.

    For example, this roof rack will be in the same “Plymouth Scorch Red” as I plan to paint the Jeep (except in raptor liner). This rack will give me a perfect testing grounds for my equipment and techniques before I tackle bigger projects with more permanent consequences. In the past 6 months since I’ve had the Jeep, I’ve had to replace my 5HP air compressor, get new (non-oily) air lines, got a new DevillBiss finish line spray gun with all the different nozels, a touch up spray gun, DeKups adapter and a ton of other stuff in order to be read to spray paint and use my many other air tools... it’s taken me this long to even get my ducks in a row to tackle any body work that I’d want to leave in good primer (not rattle-can) when I’m done with it.

    It’s an 8-10 week wait period for the exhaust to come from Waldron,which is where the project will be going next.

    FWIW, (since I hate posting without some kind of picture to post) I also recently purchased a set of used beadlock aluminum wheels (15x10, 5x5.5). I recognize these wheels are not intended for the sort of daily driving I expect for this Jeep, but I do have many friends who are big into building rock-crawlers in my hometown of Farmington (“The Glade” crawling Mecca) and I’ve been convinced they can be made to be safe and balanced for daily driving, so we’re going to give them a shot. Worst case, I’m confident I could resell them for much more than I had to give for them and buy some more daily driver type wheels.

    I’ll be powder coating or Cerakoting the beadlock rings to match the Jeep. I’ve done quite a bit of Cerakoting and have a new DIY powder coating rig I’m looking forward to learning. My DIY thermal cureing oven is an old filing cabinet with the guts from a toaster oven- if you don’t recognize it as such. I’m very proud of how it turned out, zero dust inside as it seals perfectly, and zero heat transfer to the outer shell. It’s PID temperature controlled and programmable. Most who see it cannot tell that it’s not a commercially produced oven until you pull out the bottom file drawer. Much like (I hope for) my Jeep build, it’s unrecognizably redneck.



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    Last edited: Mar 16, 2018
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  5. Mar 16, 2018
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

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    Why has this been kept a secret? More information please... Maybe start a separate thread in The Tool Shed.
     
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  6. Mar 16, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    There are other home-shop or DIY powder coating rigs available in the world, including a harbor freight version, but many in my Internet forum research have indicated that this little electric rig by Sears Craftsman is actually a pretty darn effective rig. It’s light plastic and has to be had handled carefully, most complaints are on things like plastic threads and tabs that are easy to break, but most say it’s pretty easy to learn and to use and works very well concidering it’s cheesy construction. I cannot find them available on Amazon, but did not have trouble finding a new one on E-bay when I wanted to.

    I think I paid in the $50-60 dollar range, but also bought lots of high temp masking tape and silicon plugs and about 6 lbs of powder, plus you’ll need to create a good grounding system so you can ground your item- like a lightning rod basically (many use a very heavy gauge wire grounded through the ground prong on your electric outlet which is grounded to the earth at your breaker box) so there are other expenses but still total it’s in the $100-$200 range to get started. Understand that thermal cured finishes require a sandblasted virgin metal surface, and only metal items that can bake at 400-500 degrees can be done this way. Any metal parts with bearings, or pins, ports, springs, zerts, etc, have to be completely disassembles and completely devoid of any dirt, fluid, oil, grime etc. The expression “prep is key” is at a level 10 for this type of coating.

    I’d google “Craftsman powder coater” and go from there.

    I’ve never done it (powder coat) yet, so it would be premature for me to start a thread on it. For most, a curing oven will be the hardest tool to get but for small parts a regular house oven will work. I’d never cook powder coat or Cerakote in the same oven I cook my food in, but some do. Used ovens are cheap on Craigslist though and many have made powder coat ovens from all kinds of stuff. (seen guys just build a hardibacker box around a bumper to DIY powder coat and make that work for them) My oven is just large enough to fit a single wheel in if I wanted to, but designed to bake Cerakoted Or KG-Guncoated long-guns which I can hang from eye bolts in the oven.

    Thermal cured finishes are a complete dimension above any sort of paint or even two part epoxy coatings, and it’s worth the investment to have that shop capacity in my opinion.

    [​IMG]

    Craftsman Complete Portable Powder Coating System - Painting Supplies - Amazon.com
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2018
    Focker likes this.
  7. Mar 16, 2018
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

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    I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. I understand the powder coating process BTDT. What I'm interested in is your cool oven.

    Teach us how to build our own. :watch:
     
  8. Mar 16, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Ok Sorry I misunderstood. I had a great build thread at sniperhide forum as part of a larger thread with several other folks who had built similar ovens, but that was well before photobucket went off the rails and it would not be helpful any more, plus sniperhide itself got ruined when they switched forum formats.

    I’ll pull together all my old photos of my oven build and build a thread here in the tool shed forum, but it won’t be for a few days at least.

    In the meantime, cheap filing cabinets or cheap-o gunsafes work great, and you can always find the toaster ovens cheap at thrift stores. The insulation is pretty specific and not usually found at Home Depot. I had to go to a Heating and cooling supply company to get it, but I think I was able to pull it off with only 2 4x8 sheets, or maybe it was only one. It’s rigid fiberglass insulation board with a metal foil coating, rated to 500F, can do 6-700F for the short time it would be needed. I now have a bunch of foundry insulation board I use in making blacksmithing and metal casting furnaces that is rated much higher (1800F), but this stuff with the foil skin is perfect for this application.
     
  9. Mar 16, 2018
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
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    :clap: :watch:
     
  10. Mar 19, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    OK, so I was able to get the broad strokes done on the fiberglass fairing this weekend. It still is not very pretty yet, but it exists...

    Not a ton on the internet about others who have done similar projects, so I figured I’d post a detailed tutorial for the next Guy searching..

    Started out by welding 5 tabs onto the rack..

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    Then some 1/4x 20 threaded inserts that will be impregnated into the fiberglass fairing.

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    Then built some fiberglass pedicels. Bolted the steel inserts to a piece of cardboard, and then hotglues toilet paper tubes around them, the filled (packed) them with short-fiber glass and also resin/fiber to create 1-1/2” pedicels that will mount the fairing the the roof-rack.

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    Built out the fairing mold using pink insulation foam, left the pedicels exposed- the fiberglass shell will need to be tied directly to these 5 pedicels.

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    Shaped them down to the basic shape of the fairing we are looking for. After seeing it done now, I wish I’d have taken more off of this and had a more drastic slant back from the front to the rack (less rounded, more sloped), but too much time and work now to change it, and it was tighter tolerances with the light bar bracket thean it looked, so I couldn’t have shaved much more anyway...

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    Covered the foam in pallet wrap plastic, this foam will melt in the resin, we had plenty of spots leak through and melt a little foam but not enough to greatly distort the shape of the mold. The pedicels were mounted over the plastic, and then the holes around them filled with small pieces of foam.

    We started by adding resin and fiber to the 5 pedicels until they were flushed out near the surface of the mold creating a wider stronger pedicel that really tied into the shell

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    First coat of fiberglass mesh fabric, our inner boundary.

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    After many coats to around 3/16” thick. At this point it’s rigid enough to retain it’s shape, but not trail ready.

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    Then we removed the shell, gutted out the inner foam mold, trimmed the edges up a bit, and now are ready for our next phase

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    Next we’ll skim the outside with premixed short-fiber glass (Bondo-glass if that helps) and work the surface to a nice smooth and symmetrical finish.

    The inside of the shell will receive additional bracing around the edges and emanating out from the existing 5 pedicels, until the fairing is strong enough to allow someone to stand on it without fear of cracking it...

    I’ve purchased some pigment paint that will be added to the Raptor liner and will likely raptor line this fairing when I’m doing the rest of the roof-rack. I could also just put it in primer and wait until I paint the Jeep and paint it with the base/clear when I do the Jeep, but it’s my expectation this will end up catching lots of scratches so it seems the raptor liner is a smarter route..
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2018
  11. Mar 20, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    For those with any interest in the seat-building project- after getting a wide variety of sample fabrics and colors, I have a better understanding now that the denier is less about fabric thickness and rigidity, and more about the surface texture. The 1680 Ballistic Nylon I posted a picture of is not plastic coated, but very cool texture and the dark red "Crimson" color was perfect for my vision of the jeep interior :sneak:.

    I could have gone with a black or grey, and many might recoil from the idea of making red seats :sick:- but honestly, it seems like such a waste of time and effort to make a custom jeep interior and just leave it the same color as I could get with any sweat-shop seat cover. This is a deep dark red so it will not be as hideous as "red seats" might sound at first blush.

    Anyway, The fabric was out of stock by the time I reached out, so I figured it was a moot point, but the company called me and said they could get me some still, even though it was no longer going to be produced regularly. She said they had removed it from their website since it was limited quantities left- so I went ahead and bought (basically the last) 12 yards of it :waiting:.

    Can anyone tell me an estimate for how much fabric it might take to build covers for 2 front bucket seats, and one rear jeep seat? My guess is I will have plenty (36 feet by 5 ft wide), probably enough to build a cover for the entire jeep and some sails for when I run out of gas :D, but I'd rather have too much than not enough, and also plan on using it for the removable hard/soft top panels I'm planning. I'll likely also use it for other interior elements like door panels, or fiberglass speaker housings in the roof, stuff like that. I've done some carbon fiber before and this fabric could be used in the same context, as an asthetic skin over a fiberglass cowling or console. I don't know if I'll ever get into this jeep that deep, but wanted to have enough fabric to use it as such if we end up going that far into asthetics. (at this point I'm already almost wishing we were just going with flat/gloss black rattle-can on everything like everyone else :banghead:, but I do have the skills to do some fun stuff with it and my labor is free)

    1680 Denier Coated Ballistic Nylon - Crimson

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    Last edited: Mar 20, 2018
  12. Mar 20, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    OK, I've posted a thread in the Tool Shed... it's just a quick and dirty photo-tour more than anything but should be helpful to someone wanting to build one of these.

    DIY Powder Coat/Cerakote Curing oven build

    Diy-powder Coat/cerakote Curing Oven
     
  13. Mar 20, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    i used four yards of brown and 3 yards of black mine have black inserts. the "grain"looks funny if you just try to stuff the pieces onto the fabric,i lost some to waste to line the weave up so it looked decent.
     
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  14. Mar 20, 2018
    homersdog

    homersdog Tulsa, Ok 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

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    This is an excellent build thread, thanks for all the details!
     
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  15. Mar 26, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    figured I'd continue to share in the fiberglass fairing saga.

    Bad news is that I do not like how this fairing looks after investing too much time and money into it... I plan on sticking with the project and hope/expect this will be pretty sharp once I get it Bedlined to match the rack and Jeep. If not, I can always take it off later as the rack without it looks very sharp on it's own (in my opinion).

    [​IMG]


    FWIW- I've been slowly working this fairing using coats of short fiber bondo-glass. Getting closer to a final finish but much more work than I intended it to be.. (I'm starting to hate this fairing all together)


    [​IMG]

    this next picture illustrates how the short-fiber glass has filled in the wavy surface of the original fiberglassing I did...

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    Next two pics give an idea of how I'm going about reinforcing the fairing on the inside.. Not much too it, just building rigid sturdy levies inside the fairing with resin and lots of glass matt.

    I told my kid that while the fiberglass shell is not that strong in the big picture, If we were to cut out the reinforcement ridges we could beat a man to death with them like an ax handle. When I'm done, you should be able to stand on this thing and it should hold up to a beating on the trails.

    (But way more work and cost of materials than I had intended to invest into this, so lesson learned).

    [​IMG]

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    We also got a start on the seats this weekend. We pulled the old seats out and test fit the bucket seats (no pictures). I can go two different ways with these seats: The sliders on the seats (from a Chevy Cavalier) have so much throw in them that if I mounted them a little bit forward (with their OEM seat brackets), I could get by with just sliding the seats forward to allow access to the back seats. I'd rather try to install the fold forward bracket mounts out of a Jeep TJ, but this will cost me about $125 for a pair of them, so I'm back on hold until I can find and purchase a pair of these.

    Also, My fabric arrived, I like it. look forward to getting started on this project, but will need the foam and thread and would rather have my seat mounting infrastructure sorted out before I start on the seat covers...


    [​IMG]
     
  16. Mar 26, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    looking at that roll you have plenty,practice on some strips to get the feel of the foam and seams. it gets tough when you have two layers of fabric backed with foam...
     
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  17. Mar 26, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    10-4 thanks. We have an industrial machine that should handle it pretty well, we’ve done some shade canvases and it gobbles 4 layers of it like it’s slurping up spaghetti. We’ll for sure do some testing first. My wife’s over there sewing up a storm on one of her own projects right now, and I was about to order some heavy #16 and #18 denim needles for the machine. She tells me that we will most likely have a broken needle or two at some point in the my project and that is just part of the deal sewing heavy fabric. That’s been my experience as well when sewing heavy leather, but it’s much less tragic when you plenty of extra needles.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2018
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  18. Mar 27, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    Check and make sure the needle has the right point for the fabric I believe I used a ball point, the pointy one would cut the fabric.
     
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  19. Mar 30, 2018
    masscj2a

    masscj2a Member 2023 Sponsor

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    Awesome job, keep posting, because apparently......we have become like family.
     
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  20. Apr 2, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

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    Only one small project with the jeep this weekend, but if it works out like I expect it to, I'm guessing some folks here on the ECJ-5 would consider it a worthwhile "Hack" as the kids say these days.

    I'd been talking about improving the way the tailgate latches closed. I hate the tensioning latches that are OEM, and mine are worn out and they need to be pinned closed every time, and it's a pain.

    This is what I came up with. I'll have to build some strikers that mount on either side of the tailgate. These will replace the tensioning latches that are mounted there now. With the way I've designed these, they should not interfere (or be interfered with by) the tailgate molding that seals the tailgate when closed.

    I had a heck of a time figuring out how to get the tailgate hinge hanger bolts pulled free. I was avoiding just going oilfield on them (with a set of channel locks) but that's what I ultimately did, and I was able to pull them off without too much damage.
    [​IMG]

    I then built a 1/4 plate that used the same mounting bolt pattern as the old gate hanger plate but was big enough to mount the slam latch to.

    [​IMG]

    The plate is drilled and tapped to mount the latch to using 10x32 (stainless) bolts, and I bought some flat head (stainless) bolts for mounting the plate to the gate.

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    had to countersink for the flathead bolts.

    [​IMG]

    the gate hanger mounts in the same place, but is about 1/2' higher, meaning the gate hangers may have to be shortened in order to get the gate to hang level. I'll likely replace the gate hangers with a cable version anyway. I already pinched my finger once on these old hangers, and I subsequently hate them.

    Yes, that is the remnants of a tap in the upper middle hole below. I broke 3 of them on this project. 2 bolts top and bottom is all these latches need, so EFF it, this is how she's going to roll.

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    I've got all this stuff in primer and set aside. I'll likely install everything at least once (when designing and building the strike plates), and then set it all aside until paint day. I'll probably blast these mounts and powder coat them some time between now and then. I have new rubber molding for the tailgate and hatch area, but don't plan on breaking that out until after the truck is painted, so I just hope the tolerances don't change too much. This latch system has quite a bit of adjustability built in to it, so I don't worry that that will be a problem to make this gate latch tightly closed.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2018
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