WHO HAS MADE THEIR OWN PANELS?

[misplacedinnebraska]

looking at building my own panels similar to what the Folks from Ambition Strikes (forget their portal name) did. Curious if anyone ever thought of using RV Filon sIding. Or what other ideas and experiences you have had. Thanks in advance

 

[Ramdough]

looking at building my own panels similar to what the Folks from Ambition Strikes (forget their portal name) did. Curious if anyone ever thought of using RV Filon sIding. Or what other ideas and experiences you have had. Thanks in advance

I considered using flat sheet metal (the kind steel buildings are made from). You can get them as flat metal, already painted. Then just doing it like ambition strikes.


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[ITTOG]

looking at building my own panels similar to what the Folks from Ambition Strikes (forget their portal name) did. Curious if anyone ever thought of using RV Filon sIding. Or what other ideas and experiences you have had. Thanks in advance

I haven't done it and haven't seen anyone do it but I continue to think about it for my truck camper I am building.

 

[S2DM]

As a guy that has built lots of panels, I will say the learning curve for making them strong, light and inexpensively is pretty tough. I generally advise new builders that in the end, you will save money buying pre-fab.

 

[jwiereng]

I think I recall from the comments on the youtube channel They use polyurethane based, moisture-curing adhesive.

They misted the panels with water prior to sticking the components together. Seems like a good way to go, Andreas et al and his competitors sell very good panels and products - but might be out of reach financially for the home builder on limited budget.

I'll be interested to see what you come up with, also look forward to seeing what you use for joining the panels at the corners.

 

[Ramdough]

I think I recall from the comments on the youtube channel They use polyurethane based, moisture-curing adhesive.

They misted the panels with water prior to sticking the components together. Seems like a good way to go, Andreas et al and his competitors sell very good panels and products - but might be out of reach financially for the home builder on limited budget.

I'll be interested to see what you come up with, also look forward to seeing what you use for joining the panels at the corners.

I think it is PL Premium fro Locktite. Yes, they did mist water. I think they said in the comments it was one large sausage per side of a 4x8 panel.


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[Herbie]

There's a maker in Hungary who's just embarked on a project to basically scratch-built major components to restore an '80s camper for his VW Single-cab. He got plans from the original camper manufacturer and is building sort-of to original spec, but with some improvements. His opening salvo was building the roof and floor panels:



I already subscribe to his channel for his other wood/metalworking stuff, but this project would have pulled me in.

 

[Rebuilder]

I made sandwich panels similar to theirs for my flatbed camper. I used PL Premium and yes I also found you need to mist with water to get it to cure thoroughly. I used 5' wide aluminum and aluminum composite because that's as wide as I needed for a pop up but if I needed wider seamless panels I'd definitely consider Filon. I made panels by myself but definitely have some helpers if making anything larger than 5'x10'. Definitely get a battery or pneumatic caulking gun and use the 28oz tubes because you'll need way more adhesive than you'd think you would.

 

[jwiereng]

Please describe the details of making your panels.

How did you evenly spread the glue? Notched trowel? How did you clamp the sandwich panels? Many bricks?

Any de lamination?

What foam did you use? Would foamular 250 work well? Seems to be available to the common man in retail

 

[Rebuilder]

Please describe the details of making your panels.

How did you evenly spread the glue? Notched trowel? How did you clamp the sandwich panels? Many bricks?

Any de lamination?

What foam did you use? Would foamular 250 work well? Seems to be available to the common man in retail

I used Foamular 250 and a small v groove trowel (1/8" grooves I think). The v groove should help eliminate big air pockets but I think I'd experiment without it next time to see if I could get a thinner layer of adhesive to save some weight... and adhesive I guess. I used the aluminum camper frame as weight to sandwich the panels because it was available and it was sitting in the same flat spot in my shop that I needed to put the panels. Landscape blocks would work also but that gets to be a lot of blocks for larger panels.

Here's what the adhesive looked like before applying it to the foam. Ignore the VHB tape around the edge, this is a ceiling panel so it got applied to the outside of the frame unlike the other panels which were installed from the inside. See "My Home Depot Flatbed Build" in my signature for more info...

 

[misplacedinnebraska]

I have reached out to Total Composites but haven’t got a response yet. Just exploring ideas at this point. Thanks for the input and conversation everyone.

 

[ebnelson]

I sent an inquiry to the Total Composited dealer, Overland Adventure Trucks, a couple of month ago and never heard back.

 

[Canlib]

I'm glad there is still interest in diy composite panels. I did a lot of research before I built my camper and couldn't get any solid, encouraging advice. Total Composites only sell their kits, not individual panels. I think its worthwhile checking out Foamie Builders on Facebook. I'll be following this thread.

 

[Herbie]

I sent an inquiry to the Total Composited dealer, Overland Adventure Trucks, a couple of month ago and never heard back.

Same.

 

[ScottReb]

Look at Henkels/Loctite UR 8431 and the other 843X series of moisture-cured polyurethanes. I spoke with Styromax in AU several years ago, one of their larger manufacturers, and they were using a similar Henkels product. It was 2 part poly not available in North America. After speaking with Henkels tech for some time they spec'd the UR series of polyurethanes for XPS to FRP. According to Veterosina, an FRP manufacture located in Europe and the US, this is one of the most widely used adhesive types for those type panels.
This product pours out easily and can be hand trowelled or metered and rolled out. The caveat with them is they require pressure during the setting time. We had a 10'x20' vacuum table that we used for our panel construction. I'm sure you get adequate pressure with weighting as well for small runs.
Henkels/Loctite tech support is super helpful.
FYI talk with the folks at Veterosina for FRP, their products are light years ahead of "filon." Plus they offer dozens of weights and finishes.