Egg Crate Module Construction
Here is an alternate module
construction design from Bruce Smith of Auburn, AL
with comments by Bob
Schrempp. |
Bruce's concept is to build an
light weight egg crate (honey comb) module. Bruce is replacing the
standard 3/4" plywood sides with 3/8" plywood with some ribs for
strength. He is adding a piece of 1/8" luan (door skin) to the bottom to
create an enclosed box for strength. His design allows for a piece of 2"
foam on the top.
|
| I started with my lumber mostly cut to
size already. The 3/4" oak plywood
ends were 23 2/8" (to compensate for a sheet of 3/8 ply at each end) and
the rails were 3 3/4". I cut a stack of 1 x 1 glue blocks to 3 5/8" and
10". |
| I laid out lines on the sides to show where the ends overlapped, every 12"
for the vertical small glue blocks and 1" beyond the 12" mark for the 10"
glue block. I applied glue to the 5 small glue blocks and stuck them to
the side, holding them with clamps. I flipped the side over and tacked
them through the ply with 1" brads in my nail gun (eat your heart out
Norm!). I then flipped it back over and added the long glue blocks.
Because I only had 8 gripper clamps, I did this in 3 sections. Figure 1
shows one complete side, and the second side ready to have the second set
of glue blocks nailed. |
Click on image for a larger view
Figure 1 |
I then glued and tacked the rails to the ends, making sure that the ends
were square vertically (the "box" is VERY flexible right now, so done
worry about that right now). See figure 2 and figure 3
for details. I should have quit here for the day and let the glue dry,
but I was anxious to make more progress.
Notice in figure 2, the sides are
shorter then the ends, this is to allow for the foam top that will be
added later.
|
Click on image for a larger view
Figure 2
Click on image for a larger view
Figure 3 |
| I laid out lines every 12" side to side, as well as a centerline. I then
used a chalk line to mark 1" on either side of all of these lines and 1"
in from the sides. I then marked a circular cut-out with a plant dish I
had handy <G>. I cut the end ones out, cutting straight in from the end
to create appropriate access for clamping modules together. The rest will
be cut out once the module is completely assembled. See figure 4
for a photo of the box, upside down, with the bottom skin sitting on it.
I went ahead and glued and nailed the skin to the bottom, but ran into
problems because the brads didn't have a lot of holding power and the glue
wasn't dry, so some pieces didn't stay together. I have repaired all of
the areas that pulled apart, but a little patience would have gone a long
way. |
Click on image for a larger view
Figure 4 |
| I also measured the top skin (which was cut at 6' originally) to fit
between the ends, as well as another longitudinal stringer which will go
down the center. More soon
Regards
Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL |
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Page Last Updated
04/27/2005 |
