2. Workshop

The Bus

Read More
So I've toasted a couple of controllers for my LED light strips by wiring them wrong, but eventually I kind of figured out how not to do that. I did wind up finding a hot section in my wiring as well though, so I just went ahead and redid everything I had already done with higher guage wire. I used crimp connectors that time insead of re-soldering all 70 joints for the second or third time.
104 / 185

So I've toasted a couple of controllers for my LED light strips by wiring them wrong, but eventually I kind of figured out how not to do that. I did wind up finding a hot section in my wiring as well though, so I just went ahead and redid everything I had already done with higher guage wire. I used crimp connectors that time insead of re-soldering all 70 joints for the second or third time.

  • I'm a little uncertain about the integrity of my shelf brackets here, but this is plan A and I'm going with it until I prove them a failure. I boxed in the air vent that runs air to the driver's seat, and extended the frame members to support a shelf over the entire length of this side of the bus.
  • Building faces on my cabinets takes a bunch of time tooling up, so I try to do a lot at once. I threw a bunch of mortises in a bunch of properly sized boards, and then trimmed the tips of some down to tenons, and then cut some plywood to fill the gaps.
  • Here's a couple of this batch of cabinet faces getting glued up. These will be painted, so the quality of the wood isn't super important. I'll round all the edges, paint them up, and slap them on the faces of my cabinets, on the right.
  • So I've toasted a couple of controllers for my LED light strips by wiring them wrong, but eventually I kind of figured out how not to do that. I did wind up finding a hot section in my wiring as well though, so I just went ahead and redid everything I had already done with higher guage wire. I used crimp connectors that time insead of re-soldering all 70 joints for the second or third time.
  • Here's one batch of cabinet faces assembled and getting ready to paint. I still have a few more to do, so there'll be another batch coming as well.
  • This is a fun one. I've got a void in my bathroom wall that will neatly fit paper sized things, so I'm building the whole wall into a sort of concealed filing cabinet with five push-latched doors that will hinge open.
  • The wood around the fridge is already showing wear, so I beefed it up with a little alluminum edge protection.
  • Here's a close-up of the finished ceiling around one of my LED strip lights. This setup went really well, with the lights winding up flush with the cedar planks so there's nothing to bump into with my head.
  • With my light wiring finally finished I spent a couple days putting up my ceiling planks. Since my lights are all over the place pretty much every piece was custom cut so it took a little longer than I figured, but I'm super happy with the beautiful finish and the visual progress.
  • Just another angle showing the embedded LED light strips.
  • Here's the finished ceiling! Toward the front there's a couple sections that had to be fitted around door panels, and above the sink I also added planks to my shelf.
  • Here's the shelf along the whole length of the kitchen side of the bus.
  • I got the current batch of cabinet faces all painted up and installed, and added the pulls to a few of them as well. There's still a few left to build, but these ones are all finished!
  • Things took a big leap visually this week with the cabinet faces and the ceiling going in.
  • We realized that the slide-out pantry makes a great door, so I threw on the extra ceiling planks and made it official. Didn't plan it this way, but now we can pull out the pantry for privacy in the bedroom and hallway.
  • My drawer boards for my closet drawers were a little thick, so I borrowed my dad's planer and cut them down a touch before cutting the lengths.
  • Stacks of drawer pieces ready for some dovetailing.
  • Here's a stack of drawer sides ready for a bottom and some assembly.
  • With the drawers assembled I routed and sanded all my edges and corners and then coated them with finish.
  • Here's the closet drawers installed, minus their faces.
  • No Comments
  • Photo Sharing
  • About SmugMug
  • Browse Photos
  • Prints & Gifts
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Owner Log In
© 2023 SmugMug, Inc.