So I’ve got a project… a camper. Not completely sure on the design, but it has to be more comfortable than the ground and have air conditioning with 2+1 sleeping capacity. My wife is the ± comfortable meter on this build so things may change. . I have a Maslow 4 coming + printed anchors, so hopefully I’m ready. Surprisingly the long rail cuts came into 0.3mm equal lined up.
Tig is easy… So nice to work with. Just make sure to clamp everything in place and don’t get things too hot.
I’ve been thinking that I want to do a trailer too so keep us posted on how it turns out and any lessons learned that we could benefit from!
Not to be a naysayer, but I’d personally be a little worried about your first TIG project being something that has a high cost of failure. Maybe just tack the frame together and drop it off for a pro to do? If they’re just throwing beads down, I’d expect it to take no more than an hour or two. Might cost less than $100.
If not TIG, maybe MIG? it’s a little more beginner friendly.
Good luck on the project!
I suppose I shouldn’t say it’s my first time TIG welding steel. I’ve welded up a frame for my brewing setup and a solar panel array frame that have held up so far lol. I bought plenty of steel to practice on before taking the first real welds on the frame.
I might tag my father in as he welds professionally putting together those big rock crushers you see on gold rush, though that is MIG. He will tell me if my practice ones are crap.
Some progress on the frame and the welding. So far it seems to be going well. Started on the stretchers, which should be fully in this weekend.
The whole thing seems fairly square so far. 1/8" to 1/16" across 10’. I weld something, then check and ratchet strap if out to bring back before doing the weld on the opposite side.
The 4 corners are elevated by 123 blocks which is probably not super accurate as the concrete isn’t perfectly flat, but it’s probably good enough for this?
Welding at 130A with a 30Hz cycle to 90A. 10% peak on
I think the weld penetration is good. Here is an example weld and the view from the back. Once I flip the frame again I’ll weld that side too.
Didn’t get as far today as I would have liked. Big chunk tacked in at least. This beam serves as the main support for the tongue on the bottom side.
If you have 2 pieces of 12’+ straight material around you can construct a triangle with a base the width of your frame. Support it at the three points of the triangle and the resulting plane will be dead flat (though not necessarily level) within the limits of the straighteness of the material. Set your frame on it (which is probably fairly floppy at this stage) before you construct the box and assuming you make the walls square to the floor you’ll end up with a nice square shell without any twist.
Project update. All the gussets welded in and ready to flip to put the tongue on the bottom. The axle has been ordered, so it’s moving on the right direction.
All welded up and ready to bolt the axle on. First to recruit some friends to move this to the garage stall
Moved it out to the garage bay today and put some truck bed liner down where the axle bolts onto the frame. I really need the Maslow calibration to start working… 4% accuracy just isn’t going to cut it.
Spent some time to model up the first decking layer. Using 1/2" AC2 plywood and 1" Foamular R5. The stretchers are 1"x2" pieces of 2x8’s cut down to fit to the foam. Guessing this will be strong enough?
plenty strong 
You think I could get away with 1/4" on the top? After purchasing the 6 1/2" green treat panels I’m worried about out weight. Perhaps they will dry out, Menards kept them outside so I sticker stacked them and put some fans in the room.
I once used 6mm birch ply to span 500mm, in a stage scenery. Birch is tough, I don’t know the AC ply.
If you could glue the foampanels to the plywood, create a sandwich, it is probably ok to use 6mm on top
Flush trimmed, but still noticed some problems. Lines are not straight… Overall the 3/8" holes lined up over the steel support structures so that’s good. This will require some manual rework. The biggest gap is quite significant at 7.1mm or 0.28".
you are one of the first people to really test the overall accuarcy of the M4
like this. As such it’s not surprising that you are seeing this sort of problem.
Hopefully as we progress in improving calibration, etc we can reduce the amount
of errors like this.
David Lang
