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Main entrance door swing.....

I thought I might as well spend some time while the THIX cures by scoring the surface with 800 grit abrasive pads. It will be washed tomorrow to get all the grit off and ready for paint I think Monday.

Been a looooong road, or at least it feels like it but the box is ready for a wash down and then top coats, which means that next week some time I will crown my truck with a new camper shell.... Whoooooheeeeee. Gas struts works amazing. This time there is no flex at all so this was definitely...

An illustration of how abrasive the Kevlar/Aramid is. After trimming just the two pieces the saw blade went from looking like the one on top to the one on the bottom. Crazy really, but that is why we love it.

One of the best things about making your own piece, is that you know how it is constructed, and how to improve and add things as you feel. After mounting the gas struts, I was not a fan of how much everything flexed. The brackets were ok, but the interface with the layup did not amuse me, so I...

A bit of catch up here as were readying the ship for a quick hop to the Ozarks and back this Friday. Door striker plates bonded in place. Then holes were drilled like aforementioned to bond both inner and outer layer of the matrix. This time for the liftgate gas struts. Holes were then...

Yeppers. I found that heavy-duty serrated shears will last the longest. Also the auto scissor that I used in the video earlier will work well if you go slow. Simply because it is self sharpening. On the positive side...... I have almost mastered how to sharpen scissors.... Ha.

Absolutely. It is crazy really how resilient it is. Cutting through the pieces I made for the bracket, I wore through a high TPI metal jigsaw blade. Just a few cuts. Done. So anywhere I have flanges that will touch something else, I give it a layer or two of Kevlar. Sanding it is also an...

So as I aforementioned you should always arrest the edges and corners when you cut Composite/foam construction. If you done and torque It will eventually work itself loose. It is a privilege you have as a DIY project. Cut out holes.... Everything lines up nicely so its time to bond...

Snug out to the hanger for a couple of hors before the Lady's woke up.... Bwaaaaamuuuhahahaha. Latch hardware cut in half. Then came the measuring for the position of the latch bracket. There are really no particular way you do this. Whatever works for you. I positioned the latch on the...

Hardware was then trimmed. I need to prepare you to the land of K-39 Aramid (Kevlar) By just cutting this piece with a high TPI metal blade it is now gone. The teeth are warn smooth. It is crazy really but thats why we use it. Latch brackets before being cut in half. I am now building up...

That is really cool. Unfortunately I cant add a much deeper perspective, but if you want to dive deep, I would encourage you to reach out to Garald @ Polymer products in Ontario CA. He is the chemist/alchemist who is creating these blends. I'm sure he would be delighted to explore this very much...

The Max Bond HTE is typically used in applications that is exposed to high heat. The 1618 is good up to around 250 deg, whereafter it begins to behave more like plastic. All polymers has the same Achilles heal or should I say kryptonite. Heat. As a particular polymer reaches its max temperature...

Out of the oven now cooling down.... Then onwards to the Gas strut brackets. Here are the new hardware ready for trimming tomorrow.

It was however time for the hardware for the gas struts and latch striker plates. Onwards to hardware fabbing. There are again so many different ways to do this. Mine no better that anyone else's. We switch gears and please let me introduce you to Max Bond HTE. It is an epoxy that requires post...

Well it has come down to broom sticks and mop's. Amazon has once again proved to be difficult to predictably order from and here I am still waiting on the latches and gas struts. This will have to do for now.

It is a bit hard to illustrate via pictures, but I thought I give it a go anyway. Remember the lower corners of the door that was trimmed to facilitate the wiper seal.... Perhaps this will give you an idea of the setup. Remember the routing and sanding to make this...?? Here it is from the...

Thank you sir.

Door hinge hardware came in yesterday. Hinge mounted.... From the inside.... Then as we are getting close to mounting the cap It is time to focus on the top coat. The latches wont be here till Monday along with the gas struts and forward window......But it was time to prep the...

Now to a bit of a change in the landscape. As the main pieces has been fabricated and bonded, now we turn our focus on the hardware. The Stainless hardware for the hinge is delayed via USPS but I suppose that was to be expected. Looks like Wednesday for the door mount now. Anyway, no need for...