Van Ply Lining plans????

[ahe_1990]

Hi,

Mechmate nearly done interested in cutting van ply lining kits, Could any one help me with getting hold of the plans/drawing/templates

Adam

[sailfl]

Adam

Have you done a google search?

[ahe_1990]

Hi sailfl

Yes spent hours on google nobody seems to have anything, must be around somewhere???

Adam

[Gerald D]

Adam, welcome to the world of CNC routing . . . . . . . if plans make lots of money, they are not shared! :D

[Jan de Ruyter]

My son did this for the boot of his car, a major oomf-oomf/doef-doef installation. He took many hours carving ply with a jig saw which kept him out of mischief for many hours.

Try cutting +/- 150mm strips of thin ply. Free-hand cut as close as it gets. Then use a steady hand and a pencil and scribe a line while following the curves of the van. A drum sander or even a belt sander is useful for the small gaps.

It will take a number of iterations to get this right. Stick the pieces together and there you have a template. Try not to tackle this in one big piece but rather like a puzzle. Then lay out the puzzle on the required material and trace it off. Not sure how you are going to digitize it, maybe someone else can help.

[max.elliott]

take a picture with a digital camera and trace it?

[jehayes]

Use the old boat builder's method of a scriving board used to do boat interiors (much more complicated and irregular than the inside of a van.) The scriving board system is very simple, cheap and effective plus - if you do it right - you can create an table of orthogonal values in Excel to digitize the results.

I will try find a web example and post it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

http://westsail42.blogspot.com/2007/01/advanced-tick-stick-techniques.html

http://www.lackeysailing.com/daysailor/sidebars/tickstrip.htm

Joe's right, the van is simpler. Erect a vertical reference board in the cargo area some distance from the wall where you intend to build the bulkhead. Draw horizontal lines 10cm apart on the vertical board. Place a yardstick on the line, perpendicular to the vertical board (measure precisely horizontal). Measure to the wall and note the distance on the board.

If the van's cargo area is irregular in shape front-to-back, repeat as necessary for each bulkhead.

When complete, you have an array of y-z coordinates.

[Gerald D]

Those methods are okay for a flat bulkhead, but vans have curved sides and the linings have notches at the wheelarches. Van ply linings is a huge business in the UK, see http://images.google.com/images?um=1&rls=com.microsoft:en-za:IE-Address&rlz=1I7IRFA_en&tbs=isch:1&q=van+ply+lining&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20 An extension of the business is storage shelves & bins.

[sailfl]

You could also do like counter top guys measure the counter tops. Have small boards that they lay out and glue to get the initial shape. The you could add measure the other variations in the shape. I hope that makes sense.

[Johannescnc]

You could also do like counter top guys measure the counter tops. Have small boards that they lay out and glue to get the initial shape. The you could add measure the other variations in the shape. I hope that makes sense.

I saw this very often... Granite tops were very popular in my area of Florida (Jax) strips of thin ply hot glued to make templates. the strips were thin enough to cut with heavy shears or snips. here's a Video of this for a better description. not exactly what your wanting to do but the concept is similar..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4sY1dEuOcs

[lumberjack_jeff]

The boatbuilding technique I described is useful for making bulkheads for storage shelves and bins such as this.
http://www.protectavan.co.uk/files/imagecache/293x293_big/files/2PlyLining.jpg

Now that I have a better understanding of what "ply lining" is, a modified technique suggests itself - clamp a thin piece of ply vertically against the midpoint of the van's wall and measure fore and aft to the various obstructions. Alternately two strips, one on either side of the wheel arch.

[jehayes]

Jeff: You got it right. Those links are just what I was looking for. The system will work well for the ply liners as well, just need to use the correct axis (fore and aft, side-to-side, up and down) to get the complete set of numbers.

I must comment on the popularity of van lining as shown in Gerald's post #9. This is not something I have seen much in the US. I wonder why it is so popular in the UK and not so much in the US?

Joe

[Gerald D]

I think it is because the vans in the UK are not fitted with any lining from the factory and are easily damaged by stuff moving inside.

[Jan de Ruyter]

They don't have bakkies, which are double sided, so if you're a builder, you load everything in this thin-skinned vehicle. After a week there are these funny shapes protruding from stuff falling around inside.

Almost like going to war in a Hummer.

Builders and farmers need bakkies!

[jehayes]

Hey! Here is a good business opportunity! Measure all the different types of vans and license the DXF files for cutting the panels to anyone who needs them. What do you think.:D

[max.elliott]

Anyone else notice that there are only 4 or 5 different pictures of van lining, cropped, cut, flipped and/or recoloured? I would assume that there are only one or two companies in England offering panels that other companies install or that the affiliates send vans to one or two companies to get panels installed.

That said, I saw a link at hackaday that you guys might like. It's about cheap and easy 3d scanning. They use it to scan the inside of a room, so it might be able to scan the inside of a van.

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/18/ditch-the-lps-and-build-your-own-3d-scanner/

[jehayes]

Tres cool! That's what I'm talkin 'bout!:D

[metpolbob]

Just found this thread I used to be involved in plylining and owned 4 shopbots.

We used to get lots of enquiries about the drawings and we wouldn't have had a problem selling them on but nobody wanted to pay a fair price for them.

To make the templates for say a ford connect would take upto 10 sheets of 8 x 4 ply to make the initial templates for everything, this includes scribing then cutting by hand and then cutting again to get a decent fit. Then the templates would be Cad drawn or probed and even probed files need tidying up. Then the kit needs to be tested and altered. A year down the line the manufacturer of the van may change the door shape or move a tie down on the floor and you have to realter your drawings. The hole process can take weeks for quality drawings of one model of one van.

In total there is 3 years + work for every van combination on the market.

[Gerald D]

Bob, are you the one I met in Exmoor September 2005?

[metpolbob]

Hi Gerald,

I hope you are well and enjoying retirement.

Yes its me.. I can't believe its so long ago.

You and mike have done something truely amazing with the mechmate.

I really wish I could see a fully working mechmate near me.

[Gerald D]

Retirement from MechMate only...my day job is still as busy as ever! MetPolBob, does that mean you've gone back to the police?

There was a MM in Darwen, near you. See http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1701. Possibly a few more lurking around.

[metpolbob]

Youve got a good memory... No I havent gone back... I weigh more than a MechMate!

Are you still running the refuge trucks?

I've quite enjoyed reading this thread.... I took about 25% of the pictures in the google images link... I could never get the staff to take any pics when we did a new van.

The van lining business is still in the family but I'm no longer involved or an owner. I now run approx 20 Online Ecommerce websites.

From what I've read and seen about the MechMate it seems to be on a par with the Prt Alpha. I am always amazed when I see the show and tell.