Dad Rambles
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Post by Dad Rambles on Sept 1, 2016 16:24:36 GMT -8
Looking for thoughts here. I preface this with my only experience with travel trailers as coming from building my teardrop(ish) design trailer in my profile picture. I glued (PL premium) and screwed, and nailed everything together. Its' solid as a rock. I realize thought that those aerodynamics are quite a bit different that a flat front, high vintage TT. In many of the builds here and other places it seems that most people don't use glue (at least not that I've seen) in the framing 1x material connections. Is this normal for vintage trailer repair? I know (at least I think) that the originals weren't built with glue as the seem to come apart rather easily, part-from-part. Is the lack of glue add to the "give" that is necessary to pull a box down the road at 60-70mph? OR Would it be better to tighten things up a bit by adding glue to the pocket hole joints when I replace the ends/sides like I'm going to have to do? OR leave it as is. mobiltec you got me thinking about this in one of your last videos where you talked about all the engineering that goes into trailers. I don't want to screw with that, but I do know there are some shortcomings that can be addressed when repairing things. Having said all that, I've never seen you use glue mobiltec, so I figured there must be a reason. Thanks, Brian |
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Sept 1, 2016 16:48:10 GMT -8
For me and the way I understand how these things were built, glue has it's places in the canned ham designs. For instance the curbing or edging as it's usually called. Great place for glue. The framing joints not so much. I have used glue but for joints that don't involve framing pieces to framing pieces. They are going to move anyhow and rightly should have a little give. The old chassis' on these trailers were not rigid. So you can't put a rigid box on them or the box will break. The newer trailers are built on solid, rigid frames and you could build just about anything on them without fear of flex.
So it just depends on where you are talking about and what you are gluing for. In the cabinets I use glue all the time. I back it up with screws though. Then there's the edge board or edging. (curbing)
Oh and lately I've been pre-fabing the ceiling panels by gluing the frame boards to the panels before installation. I also shellac them before install. Makes putting them up easier because of the lack of sag in the middle and pre-shellac means no shellac running down your arm. You have to make sure to use something that will hold and not bleed through the paneling though. I've had good luck with Tite-Bond. I need to make videos on that subject.
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Dad Rambles
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Post by Dad Rambles on Sept 1, 2016 16:58:33 GMT -8
For me and the way I understand how these things were built, glue has it's places in the canned ham designs. For instance the curbing or edging as it's usually called. Great place for glue. The framing joints not so much. I have used glue but for joints that don't involve framing pieces to framing pieces. They are going to move anyhow and rightly should have a little give. The old chassis' on these trailers were not rigid. So you can't put a rigid box on them or the box will break. The newer trailers are built on solid, rigid frames and you could build just about anything on them without fear of flex. So it just depends on where you are talking about and what you are gluing for. In the cabinets I use glue all the time. I back it up with screws though. Then there's the edge board or edging. (curbing) Oh and lately I've been pre-fabing the ceiling panels by gluing the frame boards to the panels before installation. I also shellac them before install. Makes putting them up easier because of the lack of sag in the middle and pre-shellac means no shellac running down your arm. You have to make sure to use something that will hold and not bleed through the paneling though. I've had good luck with Tite-Bond. I need to make videos on that subject. The framing joints are mainly what I am concerned about, and I think you answered my question precisely. I figured they might need a little give in them. I can see the curbing too.. seems like it would help to hold the lamination together so the screws in the J rail will bite into it. I'm thinking I will probably do my ceiling panels that way too. I really believe in finishing all that you can before you install it. I did everything that way on the TD i'm currently finishing up. It's great to assemble it and look up and it's all completely finished. Thanks for help.. I haven't done much on my trailer yet (well almost nothing), but I enjoy the research and planning, and asking questions here. That's half of the fun for me, the research and construction methods and how it all pieces together. Brian |
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Sept 1, 2016 17:32:47 GMT -8
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Sept 1, 2016 17:55:25 GMT -8
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bev
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Post by bev on Sept 2, 2016 3:21:59 GMT -8
some finer points on glue:
glue can be stronger than wood itself. gluing wood face to face or edge to edge can easily be stronger than the wood itself, that is why table tops and door panels can be glued and be very strong.
glue applied to the end grain of wood is very weak...minimal benefit.
as mobiltec rightly suggested it's useful in cabinetry due to the wood orientation when it's glued together.
i suspect, i could likely be wrong, that the reason the factories didn't glue the framing together was bc the added strength benefit of end grain gluing was minimal to nil and as we can see 50 years later it wasn't needed.
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