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markdoane · 12-20-2005, 08:39 AM

Mine is supported at the bottom flange. It even had aluminum trim strips used to shim each side. It is a much earlier model stove.

I would guess that if it has a flange at the bottom, it is meant to support the weight of the stove. If the new stove doesn't have a flange it must be ok to hang it from the top.

jcferguson · 12-20-2005, 09:54 AM

Thanks for the replies about the stove. Mine has a flange on top at the sides and back (which is rabbetted into the counter in my picture below) and then a little flange at the bottom too. There are holes for screws in the top flange and a few more on the bottom front flange.

Uwe, have you thought about expansion/contraction with your wood top? I pinned my countertop at the back so it will expand forwards - and used the kreg jig to make a longer slot (by drilling several overlapping holes) for the front. The stove, however, presents another problem... I might just attach it in the back and leave the front hole un-screwed. There might be a pretty sizeable amount of movement for that large a piece of wood - especially in the not-so-climate controlled environment of an airstream.

Carlos

uwe · 12-20-2005, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcferguson

Uwe, have you thought about expansion/contraction with your wood top? I pinned my countertop at the back so it will expand forwards - and used the kreg jig to make a longer slot (by drilling several overlapping holes) for the front. The stove, however, presents another problem... I might just attach it in the back and leave the front hole un-screwed. There might be a pretty sizeable amount of movement for that large a piece of wood - especially in the not-so-climate controlled environment of an airstream.

Carlos

Acually, I did not really think about that so much. I sealed the countertops really well, and am hoping that the metal will expand and contract with the countertop, as it becomes cold and warm.
My mounting brackets are slotted where the screw goes into the countertop, so I am thinking that if there's movement, the screw can slightly move inside the bracket. I am more concerned with movement while driving.
If youdo have provisions for the stove to be mounted on teh bottom as well, than you might take advantage of it. My stove does have a few screw holes down the front, to secure it to the face frame. But the main weight of the unit is carried by the top flange.

jcferguson · 12-20-2005, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uwe

My mounting brackets are slotted where the screw goes into the countertop, so I am thinking that if there's movement, the screw can slightly move inside the bracket. I am more concerned with movement while driving.

It sounds like your mount is the same as mine - the few screws on the bottom aren't so much for support as holding the stove against the frame. I think I will have the flange at the top do the work.

If your screw-hole is slotted, you should be ok - I am planning for up to 1/2 inch of movement on a piece of wood this wide during the most dry and humid extremes of the year. I made a bed a few years ago that had a 30" wide piece of walnut for the headboard and didn't plan for quite enough movement - the wood sheared the screws right off! At least I could fix that, it would have been worse if the wood had split. That piece was well sealed too... here in the midwest the difference between summer humidity and winter heating/drying is pretty extreme. I assume the screw holes are slotted for that reason - mine aren't and I need to come up with some other solution, or just use one pair instead of all four.

uwe · 12-20-2005, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcferguson

If your screw-hole is slotted, you should be ok - I am planning for up to 1/2 inch of movement on a piece of wood this wide during the most dry and humid extremes of the year. I made a bed a few years ago that had a 30" wide piece of walnut for the headboard and didn't plan for quite enough movement - the wood sheared the screws right off! At least I could fix that, it would have been worse if the wood had split. That piece was well sealed too... here in the midwest the difference between summer humidity and winter heating/drying is pretty extreme. I assume the screw holes are slotted for that reason - mine aren't and I need to come up with some other solution, or just use one pair instead of all four.

I was briefly considering the use of threaded inserts to hold the countertops to the brackets with machine screws, then utilizing lock tight to tighten the screws just to the right torque to hold the top securely, but yet allowing some movement for expansion and road shock. But, looking at the overall situation, flexible nature of the structure, I abandoned this idea.

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:35 PM

The two seats for the front dinette have been divided into storage spaces. On the curb side, my electric is in front with a lift-top storage space that will be under the cushion next to the door. The street side has a support under the 1/4" ply seat, but no divider - so I can store long things in there. I am thinking I will get a thin futon or memory foam mattress topper for the bed up there in front.

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:36 PM

The table is 1/4" ply with a "cradled" structure in the center to make it light and strong - basically a gridwork of 3/4" ply. The edge is a strip of cherry. The leg is cherry and mounted with a hinge from Rockler that snaps into the open and closed position.

The bracket is a fairly common table mounting bracket, one part of the aluminum extrusion screws to the wall, the other to the table, they slip together and lock tightly.

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:40 PM

I have a artist friend who "prints" surfaces with a mixture of wallpaper paste and pigment - the finished prints look something like a shadow cast by a object that isn't there. She printed my table top with these prairie seed patterns.

They are almost invisible until the light is just right, I love them!

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:43 PM

This area is front curb side, two agm batteries, a WFCO charger/converter from bestconverter.com (great service!) and a shot of my 100amp circuit breaker that also has a manual trip so I can use it to disconnect my batteries completely if desired.

I have been hooking up that mess of wires to circuits as needed. So far just my one little light bulb for night time reading and my fan/vent.

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:45 PM

Above the table I am making a shelf that will carry my car-stereo and one set of speakers with room for books or my computer between. I am going to put in a stereo with an aux. in jack so I can run sound from my computer to the speakers.

The shelf is made of 1/4" ply on one side 1/8" on the other and a structure of wood for strength and thickness between. I will recess two lights pointing up on the outside edges and two pointing down at the table in the middle.

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:48 PM

These are the recessed lights from lightingfx.com. All metal and 9$ each.

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 08:57 PM

In back I made a large heat shield for the area above my stove. It is soft aluminum with the edges rolled by hand - the standoffs are little aluminum tubes with stainless screws through the center. I am amazed at how well this work to keep the area behind the shield cool.

Beside the stove are more shields with insulation board behind. I will re-do these pieces and roll the edges around the insulation board. This is probably overkill as the aluminum reflects so much heat but better safe than sorry in this matter I think.

I bought the stove from marinestove.com and am quite happy with it, I really enjoy wood heat and I can get my space toasty in no time. The burn time is fairly short though, and I might upgrade to the next larger size of stove, which would fit in my cutout nicely. The guy that sells these stoves is great - he lived in an airstream in nyc for a couple years with one of these stoves for heat. Great service too, he let me try out the tiny sardine and will let me "upgrade" after using for a while for full credit!

air19 · 01-19-2006, 09:19 PM

Great update. I have enjoyed watching your amazing work for some time. The birch walls and ceiling are fantastic.

Couple of comments.

1. How much does each Lifeline AGM battery weigh? Were you concerned at all about having all that weight on one side up front near the tongue? Or are you counterbalancing it somehow?

2. I found a very reasonably priced car stereo with a remote aux input plug so you can mount your stereo head unit up high and have the aux input plug down at table height for your laptop. Check out Crutchfield's Dual XDM6820.

3. Nice idea with the shelf making a sandwich structure. It sounds like a torsion box type construction. Is that right?

- Mike

jcferguson · 01-19-2006, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by air19

1. How much does each Lifeline AGM battery weigh? Were you concerned at all about having all that weight on one side up front near the tongue? Or are you counterbalancing it somehow?
- Mike

Thanks for the comments!

Each is about 60 pounds - I put them as close as I could to the center line and I think they will be somewhat counterbalanced by the stove on the street side and whatever I store in the other dinette seat. I don't really have a great idea of how it will all work out though, so I will just cross fingers when I go to check the tongue weight later on. I have been worried about putting too much in the back so I might not have ENOUGH weight back there. I guess I will move things round later.

I like the idea of the rear jack..

Carlos

NorCal Bambi · 01-19-2006, 09:50 PM

Carlos, I just read through your thread for the first time. Wow what great work. It's nice to see that there still some really fine craftsmen out there. Thank for the input on my condensation thoughts. I will be studying your thread in greater detail in the near future. This forum is really something you can work in your own back yard and let the whole world watch.
Thanks Don

3Ms75Argosy · 01-19-2006, 11:13 PM

I can't describe how beautiful your interior looks - it brings me to tears. The wood and metal set off each other so well! How did you roll the ends of the aluminum - the simplicity of wood and metal work so well - very modern, clean, and classic.
Marc

jcferguson · 01-20-2006, 11:54 AM

Thanks Marc,

I used soft aluminum (I think it was 3003 but I can look if you are interested) and just clamped it between tow pieces of plywood with about 3/4" sticking out, bent it over by hand then unclamped and bent it the rest of the way, then clamped the bent edge between plywood again to really flatten the fold. On the corners I cut a little wedge out so it would fold back nicely, then filed the corners. The soft aluminum is really easy to work, though if you drop a screwdriver on it you will have a little dent...

Carlos

fastrob · 01-20-2006, 07:26 PM

Beautiful work! Thank you for displaying for us.

How are the batteries vented? Is a flammable gas a by product of electrical activity in a cell?

jcferguson · 01-20-2006, 08:13 PM

Hi Rob,

I'm sure there is some debate about this but these AGM batteries are "supposed" to be safer and not require venting according to the research I have done... Though I imagine it is still a good idea. They are also freeze proof and have a lower discharge rate. The trade-off is that they are quite expensive compared to regular batteries.

this is a link to information about them:

https://www.pacificpowerbatteries.com/marinebatts.html

Jim & Susan · 01-26-2006, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcferguson

These are the recessed lights from lightingfx.com. All metal and 9$ each.

Carlos, I finally finished your unbeleivable thread. Man, this is great! I've got a question about the lights. I found them at the link above. $9 is a great deal. Questions is are the 12v dc or 12v ac? We've been able to find lots of 12v AC stuff at the local stores, but we don't want to have to deal with power converters (they usually don't last all that long). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh yea,thanks for the tips on the insulation!

Jim