This afternoon, I started in earnest on the aluminum frame. I had pre-chopped the crosspieces too long, and from calculations, I cut them at 44 inches. That would make the outside of the frame 47 inches. The casket is 28”. The fenders will rise up about 10 inches, and these measurements were so that my 13 W shoes could step in between the fenders and the casket if I needed to go there. More on this later.
I used my chop saw with a carbide tipped wood blade, first, to true up one end of the channel, and then to cut them square to length. All the drops will be used.
I took the drops and cut them just shy of 4 inches, and then split them to make the corner bracing to attach the crossmembers to the long frame members.
Then I took one of those pieces, and I drilled it in the right locations for the connecting bolts. I’m planning on using those self tapping 1/4-20 bolts I picked up. I drilled these holes way too small, and I’m going to use this angle piece as a guide, to drill the holes in everything else, way too small.
On most of the connections, the bolts will go through the side/long frame pieces, and tap into these angled pieces. I drilled the holes too small, and I will do so as I lay everything out. The aluminum is very easy to drill. Then, when I go to assemble it, I will open up the holes that are to be tapped to the right diameter, and open up the pass-through holes to just enough to let the 1/4-20 bolts slide through. After I put that together, I’m going to put backing nuts on the back side. I’ll use the E 6000 stuff on everything threaded as a thread locker, and I also plan on bonding those angle connecting plates to the cross pieces and long frame pieces.
After I did all that, I took one of the cross pieces and a couple of 2x4s, and I mocked up how the casket will be sitting on top of them. I also got a spare tire, to estimate the wheel width and fender height, as well as one of the springs I’m going to use. A picture is worth 1000 posts. That led to another redesign.
My original design thought was to have this all sit low, but be able to step in between the fender and the casket to be able to reach inside the casket. When I mocked it up, the trailer would’ve been as wide as the step trailer, and the casket would’ve looked skinny down the middle. When I mocked it up, it was obvious that if the fenders were close to the casket, you could simply reach over them and pick anything you wanted out of the box.
With that knowledge, I am going to narrow up the cross pieces with the thought of simply reaching over the fenders into the box.
The Jenn Air gas grill is 55 inches wide with the two wings. It’s a shame to cut anything from that, since that Jenn Air is built like a brick outhouse of very high-quality stainless steel. I’m going to set the outside of the wheels/fenders to match that 55 inches.
Now all I have to do is cut it and assemble it.
Before I quit, I took all my oxygen tanks out of the Missing Linc, and I couldn’t help my curiosity, I took one of the empty ones and sliced it just to see what I was dealing with.
They have about a quarter inch wall thickness. My juices are flowing on what to do with them, all but one are still full.
I was planning on proceeding on with the frame this evening, and then I ran up on this in my music room, something I had forgotten about. Neighbor is coming over to help me figure out what it is…
Plenty of time tomorrow to proceed…