Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?


	Already a member? Login here. If not, Register Today! \| Help

Newest | Active | Popular | RVing FAQ

Forum Rules | Forum Posting Help and Support | Contact

Open Roads Forum > Class A Motorhomes > Restoration & Vintage RVs

Reply to Topic | Subscribe | Print Page | Post New Topic |

Bruce Brown

Northern NY

Moderator

Joined: 06/01/2001

View Profile

Good Sam RV Club Member

Posted: 08/30/17 04:47pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

^^^ That's good stuff. More places are now bonding instead of welding. 3M makes a bunch too, that's what I normally use. Years ago I "glued" a new dogleg into our Explorer. The bond was stronger than the metal - ask me how I know. [emoticon]

There are 24 hours in every day - it all depends on how you choose to use them.
Bruce & Jill Brown
2008 Kountry Star Pusher 3910

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/30/17 05:31pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

Bruce Brown wrote:

What did you do????? Lol.....

If you want to do something, you will find a way.
If you don't, you will find an excuse.

-------------------------------------------------

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of experience, comes from bad judgement.

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/31/17 06:32pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

Ok, next is a test of the strength of aluminum, which is screwed to plywood. I wanted to see how it would hold up to weight being put on it.

So, I looked at the side of the motor home, and found that the rivets that hold the bottom of the siding onto the motor home were about 4 1/4 inches apart.

Pic below.

[image]

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/31/17 06:35pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

So, I built a box out of 2" x 3" lumber, and about 20 inches square.

[image]

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/31/17 06:42pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

And then I screwed the aluminum to the wood frame. I used aluminum screws, and spaced them 4 1/2" apart.

The aluminum is about .010" thick. That is 10/1000 of an inch thick. Not very thick by any means.

You can see the white heads of the screws in this pic.

[image]

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/31/17 06:45pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

And the bottom of the box, with the aluminum screwed fast.

[image]

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/31/17 06:55pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

So, it's time to put some weight on this little puppy......

[image]

Putting the same 350 + lbs on the aluminum, that I put onto the blueboard insulation.

[image]

You can see the screw heads, all around the edge of the aluminum.

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

Senior Member

Joined: 12/14/2003

View Profile

Posted: 08/31/17 06:58pm

Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator

And BAM. Fifteen seconds later, we have this failure.

[image]

As you can see, the screws remain in place, and the aluminum pulled through the screws.

I know, I know, what do you expect out of such thin aluminum?

Tomorrow, I plan on having a test of using another piece of aluminum from the same roll, but gluing it to the same frame.

I will be using the Norton speedgrip structural adhesive, that was shown in an earlier post.

We will see how that holds up, compared to the screws.