It's time

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:45 pm

The rear bedroom. Two bunks for the kids. A giant mattress for the adults.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:53 pm

Dave's bus. It is a Prevost H-3. You see in the foreground some cabinets that have been made and now awaiting installation in the bus.

Often, we removed the windshield to get larger pieces onto the bus.

MORE PICS OF OTHER BUSES COMING SOON.

Stealth Camper · Post by **Stealth Camper** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:34 pm

Got any more back story? Did you work on cabinets, flooring, etc as well as the countertops? (They are gorgeous, by the way!) Was this a place you worked, or your own place? Were you in TN?

I see a 2008 date on one picture. Recent events. Still doing that work?

Stealth Camper · Post by **Stealth Camper** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:50 pm

Well, I have spent the last few minutes looking for more bus info for Dave Matthews and its all about the Chicago incident. Found one little 10 second clip a fan took as the band drove away.

Wow. We got some concerts coming to Tulsa! Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Lady Gaga, and Def Lepard! I'm gonna be in concert heaven. If I get to go to any of them...

Standaddy · Post by **Standaddy** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:29 pm

Rudy, that's some beautiful work.
Stan

Dennis The Bus Dweller · Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:56 pm

Rudy, When you laminate 2 different colors or a translucent is glued or is there a heat process that you do?

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 12:47 am

The material comes in 3 foot by 10 foot pieces. It is 1/2 inch thick. The Avonite brand is made from polyester resin. We did not make the material. The Avonite headquarters is in New Mexico. We ordered our stuff from a distributor in Nashville. A 3 by 10 sheet weighs about 90 lbs.

Gluing: The surfaces are sanded and then cleaned with denatured alcohol. Then a 1/8 inch bead of glue is run down the center of the strips. then it is clamped every inch with 2 inch metal spring clamps.

The strips make up the perimeter thickness. The glue is a two part methacrylate. When the glue starts drying (10 minutes), it gets hot to the touch.

After it is glued, the edges are routered with a straight bit and sanded. Then I come back with a 1 inch roundover bit for the top edge. The strips I glued are only one inch wide. It is on the inside of those strips that I put the rope light.

Then the whole thing is sanded with palm sanders (180 then 400 grit). Then polished with Milwaukee 2400 rpm buffers. I used rouge whose brand name is Sattex. First the brown, then the purple.

In the photo of the shop room where I worked, you can see the tubes of glue (white tubes). The glue itself comes in different colors to match the solid surface material.

You also see the Porter Cable palm sanders, and the buffers.

It is 12 volt LED rope light. I silicone the plastic track to the underneath of the table and snap the rope light into the track.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:09 am

Stealth Camper wrote:Got any more back story? Did you work on cabinets, flooring, etc as well as the countertops? (They are gorgeous, by the way!) Was this a place you worked, or your own place? Were you in TN?

I see a 2008 date on one picture. Recent events. Still doing that work?

I did only the solid surface work. The shop did all the work in-house with the exception of mattresses and blinds. Those were ordered.

It was NOT owned by me. It is in Tennessee. I no longer work there.

There were three table saws. Two of them had 12 foot by 6 foot tables. The third table saw was an Altendorf with a sliding feed table.

There was a drum sander, several drill presses, band saw, three miter saws, laminate heating table (for bending the formica around the cabinets),two spray booths for gluing the formica to the cabinets.

There was a belt sander with a 6 inch wide belt and 2 foot table. About a dozen hand routers. Many hand held belt sanders and many palm sanders, and many jig saws.

There was a complete upholstery shop and a complete metal shop.

The metal shop had a giant brake and a giant bender. It had a large band saw, hand-held band saw, mig welders, plasma cutter, oxy acetylene tanks, drill press, and many hand tools.

There was also a machine in which you dipped dashboards to cover them. Kinda like they dip accordions to get that mother of pearl look.

The generators that got installed in the bays were Newage brand. 24kw with 4 cylinder diesel motors. Big inverters (Xantrex brand) were installed.

If you have any more questions, please ask.

Dennis The Bus Dweller · Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:16 am

Hmm, nice

graydawg · Post by **graydawg** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:56 am

I found a company that has the equipment to change colors in the led lights that I was asking about, so it can be done, I was hoping someone had the supplies to have a spectrum of different colors to install and not just a one color you are stuck with, I have never had any experience with leds other than buy a 10' legnth and color and plug it in. well here it is.

http://www.ledworldlighting.com/led_controllers.html

Jones'n4chrome · Post by **Jones'n4chrome** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:06 am

Amazing stuff Rudy!

But I have a question, being that you are in TN, did you ever work on Dolly Parton's bus-

Jones'n4chrome · Post by **Jones'n4chrome** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:07 am

-T...?

Headache · Post by **Headache** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:21 am

HAHAHAHA!!

William Biffwinkle · Post by **William Biffwinkle** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:27 pm

Rudy....amazing craftmanship!

They should start a reality show with you as the star called "Pimp My Bus"!

Stealth Camper · Post by **Stealth Camper** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:47 am

Nice stuff, Rudy. Really enjoy seeing it.

NOMADICISTA

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