Beginnings of Another 80 Expedition Rack

[Photoman]

I have started to remake (slowly) my expedition rack out of aluminum. Most of the pieces I have made and/or bent up, just need to decide on a length and final layout.
As can be seen in the pictures I made flip down light covers. I made them for now to operate with air cylinders which work perfectly but for simplicity think I will switch to linear actuators. My thoughts now when I get to painting it, are to stencil the Hella stuff on the cover plates. I had thought of contact cementing the plastic covers on, but in the past I have had to replace the plastic covers because they get beat looking pretty quick. The side toward the lights will be black. Any other thoughts? I have read that some sort of stencil material can be purchased at hobby shops and a computer generated image can be printed on it, then cut out. Anyone familiar with a way to do this?
Pictures - covers closed, covers open, rear view with covers open.


Bill

 

[Photoman]

Fwiw, other details.

Pictures – cylinder lever side view, cylinder lever welded to cover, air cylinder example.

Bill

 

[Beowulf]

Wow!

... stencil the Hella stuff on the cover plates. ...

Have you considered those "Have a nice day" happy faces?



-B-

 

[Brentbba]

I'm sorry to inform you that the internet light police are hereby siting you for not having enough candle power up on your rack. Holy smoke Batman, virtual daylight!

 

[davegonz]

Have you thought about pivoting the lights on a bar instead of the light covers? Might help with air flow/noise...just thinking..

 

[fzj80kidpen]

Someone has too much spare time on their hands.
ONE MILLION CANDLES

 

[Walking Eagle]

I I made them for now to operate with air cylinders which work perfectly but for simplicity think I will switch to linear actuators.

Ya', I can see that linear actuators would be so much simpler, than say, a pin to hold them up and a pin to hold them down? Actually, looks cool, if overboard, but I like overboard. I have 5 air cylinders about that size for a project, and another 4 rated about 2,000lbs each for another 80 series project.....

 

[concretejungle]

Bill, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living that allows you the tooling, time and creative juice to make these project happen?

 

[cruiserdan]

Bill, you remain my HERO!..............


That is just plain cool!

 

[Hltoppr]

Bill, you remain my HERO!..............


That is just plain cool!

I have to second that thought! Way cool Bill!

-H-

 

[reffug]

I have to second that thought! Way cool Bill!

-H-

X3 Bill

you are da man and one of my personal hero's.

 

[MDarius]

That is over the top cool.

For the Hella stencil, what about vinyl stickers?
http://cgi.ebay.com/X10-HELLA-Rally...2QQihZ005QQcategoryZ36677QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Even if you don't want to use the stickers as-is, you could use them as stencils. Just cut out the graphics with a hobby knife.

 

[Photoman]

Originally posted by Beowulf
Have you considered those "Have a nice day" happy faces?

[FONT=&quot]Thanks -B-. Lol my wife suggested the happy faces too.

Bill
[/FONT]

 

[Photoman]

Originally posted by davegonz
Have you thought about pivoting the lights on a bar instead of the light covers? Might help with air flow/noise...just thinking..

That’s some nice thinking out of the box. That is one of the reasons I posted; so that others could see the error in my ways and come up with their own ideas. Keep the juices flowing.

Bill

 

[NorCalDoug]

most excellent!

 

[Photoman]

Originally posted by concretejungle
Bill, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living that allows you the tooling, time and creative juice to make these project happen?

Time I have and don’t have. As far as tooling, yes I have tons of tooling, but the best tooling is my hands. The covers I cut from 3/16 inch plate with a bayonet saw and filed and belt sanded smooth. Same with the cylinder mounts. Hole saw and drill press for the tubing cuts. Sometimes the simplest tools are the best.

I draw my inspiration from you folks.

Originally posted by cruiserdan
Bill, you remain my HERO!..............


That is just plain cool!

Dan,

And you remain OUR Hero.




Hltoppr, thank you.

reffug, thank you.

Originally posted by Lucy
That is over the top cool.

For the Hella stencil, what about vinyl stickers?
http://cgi.ebay.com/X10-HELLA-Rally-...QQcmdZViewItem

Even if you don't want to use the stickers as-is, you could use them as stencils. Just cut out the graphics with a hobby knife.

Thanks Lucy, Something like that might just do it. I will have to take some measurements tomorrow.



Thanks NorCalDoug.


Bill

 

[lx450landcruiser]

i had a similar idea that i will hopfully be able to do before i head back to school. i have a roof top tent that sits 11 inches off the top of the roof so i was thinking of building a triangular box in the front like a air foil so the tent would be more aero dynamic then inside the box would be 3 or 4 lights that would swivel up on an electric actuator. thus on road driving is quiet yet off road i have light. guess ya beat me to the punch. let me know what you end up with when you look into the electric actuators.

mike

 

[Photoman]

Originally posted by lx450landcruiser
i had a similar idea that i will hopfully be able to do before i head back to school. i have a roof top tent that sits 11 inches off the top of the roof so i was thinking of building a triangular box in the front like a air foil so the tent would be more aero dynamic then inside the box would be 3 or 4 lights that would swivel up on an electric actuator. thus on road driving is quiet yet off road i have light. guess ya beat me to the punch. let me know what you end up with when you look into the electric actuators.

mike

Sorry about your idea but maybe this will help you when you do yours. When I first did this I used an aluminum rod through the aluminum tube, drilled and tapped the tube for some grease fittings. In the one picture of the lever example it can be seen where I turned a notch in the rod for clearance for the grease fitting. It worked smooth as silk. Then it occurred to me that I then had grease hanging over my windshield. So I tore the thing apart, and bored it for some bronze bushings. This then meant I had to make some aluminum bushings for the opposite non turning hinge bushings. I devised a way to press the bushings in with all thread and washers (see picture) so as not to screw up the aluminum any more than I already had.
The point of this is, it is fairly important to have a smooth hinge. Another thing is to watch the placement of the lever. Mine is a little over center which causes the piston to work harder, especially on its weaker return side. The cylinders are rated at about 60 lbs. each on return so no problem.
I looked at the actuators at McMaster Carr and the rating for the compact ones was 25 lbs. and $187 each. Coincidently, the other place I looked was in your home town, so maybe you can find out how good they are and let me know since they are much cheaper. The tradeoff on the actuators is power vs. speed.

Edit to include link.

Bill

 

[lx450landcruiser]

thats very intresting bellingham is acctully where i go to school but non the less this is a very good find for me. what lengths were you thinking about using? as well as stroke? (no pun intended) also if you could show how you mounted the actuator in relation to how it will rotate? that site you posted has a acutator that is relativly small (14inches closed) that has no piggy back motor and is designed for out door use and as a 40 pound rating.

mike


....edit... it appears i missed some of your pics........ intresting indeed

 

[mmw68]

Bill,

You need vynal sticker like this for your Hellas..

This is the set I made up for my FJ62 a while back..

link