LJ70 Build Thread!

[Ben]

[emoji106]

Yes we will be having eaves mate. [emoji6]

The attention to detail is what is really going to make this tree house great! [emoji3]

The eaves are also a little functional as they help keep rain water off the walls.

The house I've built so far looks huge, but once the veranda roof is built it will effectively cut the building in 2 visually. As well as the eaves, both roofs will have a reasonable amount of over hang from the house and the decking.

The timber were using is all new but we will be using used tin sheets on the roof so it should have all the character of the American inspirational one. [emoji106]


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[clivehorridge]

Great! You have the added advantage of it being high in a tree in terms of perspective as well. What I mean is it can be styled quite "top-heavy" which may look a bit odd if it were at ground level, but way up in a tree it will look more in proportion.

 

[Ben]

The Treee House Project!

Another fun week working on the tree house!!

Started off machining the cypress pine posts.

First all to the same length with nice square cuts on each end.

The top needed notching for the wall plate for the veranda roof and the bottom needed notching to fit snugly over the edge of the deck.

The cheap Aldi saw made quick work of notching.

The flakes of wood could then be knocked off with a hammer.

And a razer sharp 2" chisel made light work of getting it nice and flat.

Both ends notched.

I then put the saw on an angle and took the corner off each post on the bottom, purely for cosmetic reasons.

All done.

We picked up more materials.

1/4" ply to line the inside of the tree house with.

And 6" x 1" treated pine boards to clad the outside in.

Cut and nailed the ply to the inside of the tree house frames.

As it was impossible to make all the joins of the ply fall on studs or noggins without adding a lot more timber I stuck off cuts of ply over some of the joints with adhesive and weighed them down while the adhesive dried.

Roof next.

Cut all the hardwood roof rafters to length with a plumb cut on each end.

Being able to work it out with the gable wall flat on the floor made it a lot easier.

So plumb cut at the top.

Then I could mark another plumb cut angle where it meets the wall plate, and then come square off the plumb cut, to mark out the birds mouth or seat cut as its sometimes called.

I could then transfer these marks to all the other rafters.

Managed to set the saw up for one side of the birds mouth.

But had to do the other cut by hand as the saw wouldnt go to the angle required.

They fitted perfectly!

As I'm building the rafters as trusses as it will be easier and quicker to fit them on the tree house high in the air, rather than a traditional cut roof with a ridge.

The 2 rafters would need bracing together lower down. I had thought of using timber and jointing it in to the rafters but my boss suggested using metal and I liked that idea!

Its great to be able to combine my metal and woodworking skills on projects!

Cut some 4" x 2" steel.

Marked and drilled the centers.

Cut the seemed end off.

Tacked some pieces of metal to the bench to make a jig up to ensure I welded all the sections together identically.

Cut some 25mm tube and clamped that in position with the end sections.

All welded.

Hit them all with the grinder to distress them a little.

Hung them up and sprayed them satin black.

To help the metal brackets fit snugly onto the rafters and to make the rafters look even better I planed a bevel along the bottom edges.

All electric planes have a V groove on the bottom for just this purpose and it works great to keep the plane sat nicely on the edge of the timber.

I could now glue and screw the rafters together.

4" bugle headed wood screws.

I picked up some M10 black bolts and nuts.

Bolted the steel in position.

All done.

This is the 17th century English made church bell that my boss bought from a burnt down church over 20 years ago.

Cut and machined some timber for a bell tower.

This will extend out through the main house roof and will have a little pitched roof on top of it.

We picked up enough alluminium tower scaffold to go 7.5 meters high which should get us high enough, off the ground to the top of the tree house.

Next came loading the panels onto the trailer.

In hindsight maybe we've made the house a bit too tall, but oh well.

It just fitted out of the factory and should just clear all the overhead power cables on the way.

We loaded all the scaffold in between the panels so we can use the other trailer for all the timber that needs to come up with us.

If the panels safely make it the 200km to the farm, then weve got to try and lift all the panels 20ft in the air and onto the platform in the tree, bolt them all together, bolt them down, fit the roof, clad the roof in corrugated iron, fit all the windows and doors and then clad all the walls in the timber boards.

Next week is going to be another hard week, but it should be fun.

 

[Ben]

A Little Work & LJ Update......

A few normal work pics...............................

I knocked up some Jimny caster correction drop boxes.

A few car manufacturers have just released new models, so in order to keep our position as the biggest auxiliary battery tray manufacturer in the Southern hemisphere and possibly the world, we have to keep making trays for the new models.

So I needed to design and make a prototype for the new Nissan Navara.

Theres a lot I like about this new model!

I like the fact it has a nice 4 link suspension setup on the rear with more road friendly coil springs instead of cart springs!

I also like the fact it has a shaved axle casing under the diff as standard for increased ground clearance!

Anyway........................

Back to designing and building the battery tray.

As theres no room under the bonnet, the next obvious place was on the chassis rail in front of the fuel tank.

But the 2 leading long range fuel tank manufacturers in Australia, Brown Davis and Longranger have both designed and built replacement fuel tanks for this new model, which extend forwards of the standard tank for increased fuel capacity. So building a tray for that spot would have meant people couldnt use it if they had a long range fuel tank fitted.

So we chose a spot above the exhaust nearer the rear axle.

Made a template and prototype.

When this tray goes into mass production it will have a heat shield bolted to the underside of it to help reduce the heat from the exhaust.

Toyota have just updated the 150 series Prado with their new 2.8 TD D4D engine, the same engine that the new Hi-lux has just been released with.

This meant a new tray was needed for the Prado and new Hi-lux as even though the Prado is very similar to the old model they have changed the inner guards in the engine bay.

The new engine.

Obviously some markets must get twin batteries and have a battery in this position as standard.

The old tray which just doesnt line up with anything!

The new tray that I designed and built. This will be a huge seller, we will sell thousands of this tray over the next few years!

I did a tiny bit more on the Solar Suzuki.

I finished making the weld in ends for the tube, free standing solar panel, support poles.

Cut and drilled some channel for the other end.

And finally LJ..........................

I wanted to mount a volts gauge so I can monitor the batteries more easily, this will also be useful to pick up on any alternator issues nice and early!

After much thought and deliberation I decided to mount it on the end of the dashboard.

Cut and bent some 2.5mm alluminium.

Fusion welded it together, so no filler rod, just melting the 2 metals together.

I folded up another section to weld to the back.

Smoothed all the welds down.

Drilled some mounting holes in the back.

After removing the little switch pod thats mounted to the side of UK model 70's.

Marked where the holes needed to be, drilled and rivnuts inserted.

Bolted it on.

Cut a piece of thin 1mm alluminium to go in the top.

The top is the perfect position for my phone to sit snugly in.

Took it off so I could fit the gauge.

Wired up the earth connection.

Re-fitted it.

Found an ignition live for the positive feed.

Nice healthy charge voltage with the engine running.

I also needed to fill in the sides of the auxilary fuel tank in the back and above the tank where my waffle boards live.

I folded up some alluminium for just this purpose ages ago.

After a slight trim they fitted nice and snugly.

Found some speakers to fit behind them.

Marked the alluminium.

A bit of drilling with the step drill later...................

Added some rivnuts to the pieces of flat I welded to the tank during construction.

I folded up some more alluminium. A new mount for my UHF radio as I wasnt happy with the position of the radio using the standard plastic mount, 2 cover pieces to cover the gap between the fuel tank and false floor and a strip for the very back to cover the edge of the false floor.

I cleaned up the fuel tank sides/speaker mounts with the air tool.

And the volts gauge mount.

1 last trial fit in LJ so I could drill through the checker plate alluminium into the speaker mounts for where a bolt and rivnut would go.

Sent it all for powdercoating and the next day it was ready!

Inserted the 2 rivnuts.

Found some acrylic spacers which would work perfectly to space the speaker away from the panel.

Fitted the volts gauge and fitted the mount to LJ.

A tiny smear of silicon to help hold the 1mm alluminium cover plate in position.

Alluminium cover plate on next.

Followed by a piece of rubber mat.

Speakers next.

Followed by top cover trim.

I decided to re-do the piece of alluminium trim I bent up for the back as I wanted it to cover the ends of the 2 pieces of wood that are below the false floor.

UHF mount fitted.

I've got a busy few weeks ahead!

This week I'm at the farm building the tree house Monday Tuesday. Wednesday I've got training and the theory test for my truck license.

Then Friday were off to the High Country for a weekend of 4wding, camping and I'm going to try my luck at gold panning in one of the areas that saw a huge gold rush over a hundred years ago! Who knows, I may find a bit!

Then we fly up to Byron where we will be spending a few days before heading North in a hire car to look at properties and potential jobs ready for the big move in December!

Then when we get back I will have half a day of truck training followed by the practical test.

 

[clivehorridge]

Excellent Ben, looking forward to seeing the next stage of the treehouse going up, on site.

As for me ever building one, it has to wait for the house extension to be finished (at least) it's only taken us 5 years (thus far) and there's a way to go yet.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Are you driving the trailer with the tree house on it? If so, just double check if it needs oversize labels etc on it... for 200km, there's a bit of a chance of seeing the police somewhere along the way...

If not, leave the boss to it!

 

[Pat]

At one stage a few years ago,I had a short wheelbase TK Bedford tipper and my mate asked me shift a garage onto his place one Sunday.He was a laid back sort of bloke and wanted to wash his car first but I told him to can that idea as we had to get the truck under this thing and shift it and the traffic cops if they were awake could actually see what we were doing.Well I backed the truck into this garage and only the front bumper was sticking out,used the hoist and some 4x2's to lift it and then nailed them into the wall studs until we had it about 18inches off the ground,made sure I had my St.Christopher medal in the truck.Then waited until the cops came in for lunch and set off with no signs,fingers crossed and shifted about 2 miles away and backed it up his drive,settled on its new foundations and swore I would never do it again.Everyone for miles around watched the progress but we didn't see one cop.

 

[StarCruiser]

Fantastic story Pat. Your eyes must have been out on stalks!! [emoji4]

 

[Pat]

They were sticking out like sore balls.

 

[Ben]

Fantastic story Pat. Your eyes must have been out on stalks!! [emoji4]

X2!

 

[Ben]

Day 1, Transporting & putting up the frames and roof of the Treehouse.

Monday morning at 6am we finished loading the trailers and got ready to leave Melbourne.

After a very uneventful journey we made it safely to the farm with the panels still intact and no overhead power lines damaged!

After saying hello to the very curious locals.

We got back to the treehouse build.

My boss had oiled all the decking boards.

Our first job was to unload all the panels.

All unloaded and ready to be lifted up into the tree.

The only machine we really had that would sort of lift hire enough was Dug.

With the first panel up and ratchet strapped to the digger.

We could attempt to lift the second panel with the forklift, the only issue being the forklift could only lift to the height of the deck, so we would have to lift the panel with the forks underneath it rather than through the window like the first panel.

That went quite smoothly and we soon had it tied, clamped and wedged in position.

Next panel also went smoothly.

Then it was the final panel...........................

It was almost up when the wind caught it and down it went with a bang!

Thankfully no one was hurt.

We lifted the panel off Dug and assessed the damage.

We decided to continue with the build and repair the panel later.

This time we lifted it up with the forklift which was much safer.

We glued and clamped the broken upright.

Bolted all the panels together.

And bolted the whole lot down.

I then started fitting the roof trusses.

And the bell tower.

I ran some 20mm x 3mm flat steel from all the corners of the roof up to the center to stiffen and strengthen the whole structure.

Amazing views from this height.

By 8.30pm it was starting to get dark and we called it a day.

Day 2 to follow, possibly later today.

Got my truck training and theory exam to go to shortly.

 

[Pat]

You are doing nice neat work in all your various trades.great to see.Pat

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate.

I'm seriously tempted to go back to my first trade and do carpentry work again. But really I want to stick with welding/fabricating for another couple of years and increase my skill level, especially with my TIG.

Anyway........................

I'm back from the truck license, theory training and test, which I passed!

The practical test will be in a few weeks when were back from our Queensland holiday.

OK..................................

Day 2 of the tree house build.

We were up nice and early for another 6am start.

We were using my bosses Jeep golf cart this time as the other one was at work getting the brakes done.

This is a cool thing!

Powered by a 2 stroke Yamaha engine. The engine starts and rotates the other way around for reverse and the starter motor is also the alternator/generator.

I spent a few hours in the workshop adjusting the 2 second hand windows, hanging the doors in frames and making the roof rafters for the bell tower.

Back on the roof.

I got the bell tower rafters fitted.

We also fitted a length of rope to the bell.

My boss and I started screwing the battens on to the trusses.

While my work mate cut timber to length for us.

I clad the sides of the bell tower with treated pine boards to match what will be going on the walls.

I started cladding the roof in reclaimed tin sheets.

And thats as far as we got.

No more treehouse work for a while now as I've only got 2 days left at work this week, then were off to the High Country for a few days 4wding and camping, then were off to Queensland for 8 days! Cant wait!!!

 

[Victor]

Biggest question, HAVE YOU RANG THE BELL YET?? Good work!

 

[StarCruiser]

They were sticking out like sore balls.

Made Lynn laugh!!

 

[clivehorridge]

This is great Ben, shame the bell is hidden so much though, I like the look of the bell.

The house looks fablious...

 

[Ben]

Biggest question, HAVE YOU RANG THE BELL YET?? Good work!

[emoji23]

As if my crazy boss could resist! [emoji106]


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[Ben]

This is great Ben, shame the bell is hidden so much though, I like the look of the bell.

The house looks fablious...

Thanks mate. [emoji106]

The bell should still be reasonably visible looking up at the roof and bell tower, hopefully. [emoji3]


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[Beno]

Ben absolutely Awesome.

Top stuff mate.

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate.

I did a little bit more work on the Solar Suzuki last week.

Now that the frames are finished with all the solar panels mounted to them on the roof, I could pull the cage off and finish welding it.

I wanted to add a sheet of 2mm steel to the front to help secure and locate the panels on the roof.

So I thought it would be cool to get a piece laser cut with our logo in it.

Added some folds for strength.

And welded it on.