Lockdown Camper Van Build - not even slightly LR, but potentially useful bits!

[simonr 281]

On 1/12/2021 at 6:28 PM, Jon W said:

When you have the van sizes sorted and cnc templates you could produce x-eng self build camper an kits. There is a big market for self build camper vans at the moment, but appreciate your time is probably rather taken up by your other work already

My Head of Dept actually suggested the same thing!  I don't think he was trying to get rid of me? 😉.  He lives (at weekends) in Truro and I think fancies the idea of using some of his land for some kind of 'Glamping' by building self contained camper pods that could be mass produced on a small scale, maybe in a 20' Shipping container with external cladding to make it look nice.

If we ever end up with a (planned) decent gap between films - it might happen!

I think you're right though.  There are plenty of companies who do CNC Routing but not many people who can design the bits.  I could maybe supply a kit as a set of profiles you get cut in your preferred material and assembly instructions.  Any idiot with a screwdriver could put the above together!  I had all the screw holes pilot drrilled so it guaranteed everything would be square.  The main problem I encountered was the van not being perfectly square!  The width at roof level is 12mm wider than at the floor - and a few other small errors.  It's plenty accurate enough for it's intended purpose - but it was an error to assume it would be spot on.

[ThreePointFive 223]

Just read this all, absolutely amazing stuff. I wish I had a tenth of your skill/intelligence.

[cackshifter 144]

I do like the stealth camper idea. I suppose if you wanted a 'window' you could always have a teeny camera and a screen inside. 

[FridgeFreezer 2,029]

51 minutes ago, cackshifter said:

I do like the stealth camper idea. I suppose if you wanted a 'window' you could always have a teeny camera and a screen inside. 

We've found with the ambulance that if it's nice out we just have the back doors open and if it's not... we're not missing much

Also windows (esp. glass ones) are incredible heat-sinks, I'm planning on double-glazing the ambulance with some perspex sheet shoved in the window recesses.

[simonr 281]

I have 6 teensy cameras and one chunky reversing camera to give pretty reasonable situational awareness outside the vehicle.  What I'd really like to do is figure out how to stitch the images together such that I can look outside with VR Goggles.  There's bound to be software for it somewhere!

The old van had one window for which I made an insulated (foam board) insert to block it off.  It still leaked a load of heat though and I only used it once with it unblocked.  I put the window in, because Sarah wanted a window.  This time round, she can look out of the 'Window' that looks remarkably similar to a TV Monitor.

Si

[Badger110 146]

It's bad enough you try to make a suitable living area out of a metal box, some bugger includes windows in it which condensate when the dog gets in and let all the warmth escape in the winter or heat the place up in the summer.

 

I loved my dormobile roof which had 2 big windows and 2 grp vents which opened to allow fresh air in....that was until i spent any time in the truck and now the grp vents are being boarded up and insulated and the windows will probably go the same way.  It's not as if i spend anytime in the truck looking out of them...they point to the sky when the roof is closed and i'll give myself a hernia looking out of them when the roof is up

 

 

[HoSS 118]

On 1/8/2021 at 4:13 PM, simonr said:

 

Here's actually one of the Land Rover bits!  The bed sits on Disco 3 anti roll bar bushes.  These give enough flexibility that they take up the length difference when the bed pitches or rolls.  

Are you planning the bed will see a lot of pitching and rolling?

Lead screw mech looks interesting, i need to find a system to do lifting roof, and struggle to find commercial actuators with enough travel at sensible prices. 

[simonr 281]

5 minutes ago, HoSS said:

Lead screw mech looks interesting, i need to find a system to do lifting roof, and struggle to find commercial actuators with enough travel at sensible prices. 

I used a worm reduction motor from AliExpress

A flexible shaft coupler - IIRC 10mm to 12mm

The ball screw was 1605 type from eBay

I was unable to find an off the shelf actuator which would do the job in the way I wanted.  The motor has a (low resolution) encoder built in.  I've used RobcClaw 15A controllers which will use the encoder plus limit switches to give you closed loop control.

In your case, you could just use the limit switches to disable further movement in that direction (using Diodes) - it doesn't need to be closed loop.  I used Worm Drives so they would hold position even when the motors were not powered.  They can be back-driven but it requires a lot of load on the ball screw.

Although my motor was quoted as 250rpm (the ball screw is 5mm pitch which gives 1250mm per min), in practice they are a bit faster than that.  The Motor and RoboClaw drive are 24V - so I've used a boost converter to increase the 12V to 24V

[HoSS 118]

Thanks will make a note of that.

Useful that they have an encoder. I think i'd need to use it as limit switches only sync at the end of travel, and the roof wont tolerate too much de-sync, it would jam.

[Ed Poore 423]

21 hours ago, simonr said:

I have 6 teensy cameras and one chunky reversing camera to give pretty reasonable situational awareness outside the vehicle.  What I'd really like to do is figure out how to stitch the images together such that I can look outside with VR Goggles.  There's bound to be software for it somewhere!

Ask and ye shall receive.

https://www.pyimagesearch.com/2016/01/25/real-time-panorama-and-image-stitching-with-opencv/

[simonr 281]

34 minutes ago, Ed Poore said:

Ask and ye shall receive.

https://www.pyimagesearch.com/2016/01/25/real-time-panorama-and-image-stitching-with-opencv/

Thanks Ed - that's perfect!  I've followed a few of Adrian's OpenCV & TensorFlow examples.  This looks fairly straightforward.

I have a Khadas Vim3 board that was just waiting for something like this!

Si