But it’s also an exercise in extreme organization. Getting it right can save you time and energy on the jobsite—both of which lead to increased productivity and profits. I’m a lead carpenter—if it’s wood, I do it. From framing roofs to trim carpentry, kitchens, cabinet making and housed string staircases. My van racking system must carry any subset of tools.(Note: Click any image to enlarge)The make and model of a van is immaterial to the process of van racking. The van in this article is an LWB Trafic—slightly smaller than a standard Merc Sprinter. Racking a moving toolbox is typically done with ply, 2x and 1x. You might want to consider fitting deadlocks on the cargo doors. Bulkheads between the cab and cargo area can also increase security, as well as provide wall storage. This van will eventually get a limo tint, and an internal security cage on the rear tail lift—bricks can open windows! Everything in the cargo area is subject to shake, rattle, and roll. Tools and toolboxes must be secured so they don’t fall out. Simplicity is always the key. There is nothing more annoying than a squeak you can’t locate. The design and build should take these matters into account. Ply Lining Kits: A No Brainer. I replaced the wheel arch covers with 3/4- ply. A ply bed in the van reduces drumming and provides a fixing surface—something solid to which other components can be secured. Your vehicle represents an ni. The Ford Transit has been the biggest selling commercial vehicle in the UK for over 40 years. With the release of the all new Ford Transit the commercial vehicles. Ply lining to the walls protects the panels from being dented from the inside while also providing another fixing surface. Re- sprays are expensive; ply lining kits are cheap. It’s a no- brainer. This van came lined, so my first job was to replace the wheel arch covers with 3/4- ply to take weight, and to act as a fixing surface. I’d recommend rebuilding the wheel arch covers in smaller vans with 1x and 1/2- in. Roof ribs are far more useful. Ply sides are fixed with self- tappers, so they won’t take any weight on their own. Adhesive/sealants like Sika EBT (an elastic polyurethane adhesive/sealant similar to DAP Polyurethane) are the best choice when incorporating ply linings as a monolithic part of the racking. They also significantly increase the load- bearing capacity, and they take paint if you want to spray the racking. Additional Information. To cover a VW T4,T5, Renault Trafic, Vauxhall Vivaro, Mercedes Vito you will need 18-20 square meters for a SWB & LWB. The make and model of a van is immaterial to the process of van racking. The van in this article is an LWB Trafic—slightly smaller than a standard Merc Sprinter. Don’t use silicone as a cheap alternative—the joints will fail after a couple of years of constant shaking in a van. Tools Dictate Layout. Long, relatively delicate tools are the greatest challenge for racking layout, since they have to be carried flat. If you plan carefully, you can also build slots for door- hanging levels. Long saw tracks are another matter—they can only be stored down low or high up, and they’ll need protection (see photo, right). The size and weight of chop saws and portable bench saws means they’ll want to sit on the bed, against the bulkhead. This is also the best place in an emergency stop. Plus, the sliding side door will make for easy access. Other heavier items, like dust extractors or portable thickness planers and compressors, are compact in size and easier to lift. You can be more flexible in their placement. To avoid stressing your spine, consider positioning them so that you can lift them in and out without bending forward or twisting sideways at the same time you’re lifting. Wormdrives, heavy sidewinders, and transformers should also be placed with careful attention to your back. Today, the bulk of carpenters’ tools come in boxes—and good boxes, too. The more regular the box sizes, the more compact your racking can be. The remaining space is for everything else. Measure the Van. The van you have may be the right size for the work you do, but before building any racks, measure it carefully. This van revealed a floor length that will take a 2. Festool track. The rear lift tailgate makes loading plywood vertically—on its long edge—a bit complicated. However, I had just enough room between the wheel wells—4. I opted to transport plywood flat. Building a false floor (see below) made it easy to store my long guide rail, and it made it easier to load and unload plywood. For this kind of project, you don’t need drawings. I’m no good with 3. D drawing packages anyway. Use the tools themselves—draw around them with duct tape on the ply lining. Identify Fixing Points and Layout Boards. The bed can be a stable, fixing point, as are the now- strengthened wheel covers. The steel bulkhead between the cab and cargo area invariably sports a rib or two. Screw a piece of 1x as another fixing point and leave it long for the moment—you’ll know when it’s time to cut it to length. If there is no bulkhead, consider installing one! All Items latest adverts first. 1940 results found in All Equestrian Items (not horses) Carriages for sale, carts for sale also harness and other carriage driving. Free classifieds on Gumtree in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Find the latest ads for apartments, rooms, jobs, cars, motorbikes, personals and more for sale. I bought my Scudo in 2008 and it has covered 50,000 miles as a sort of business / leisure vehicle so while it has been driven quite hard, it does not carry much weight. If you use 3/4- ply, it’ll provide more storage space and increased security. Most vans have nuts spot- welded to the wall and roof ribs. If they are available, and in the right place, they make good mounting points. Fix ply layout boards to the roof ribs for transferring layout lines from bed to roof, and then longitudinally down the van. Occasionally, they will become a permanent part of the racking. The Trafic’s roof ribs have 6. Most of the time, the best direction for layout boards is across the van. If you spend some time getting the layout boards parallel to the van bed, in both directions, it’ll make things even easier. First Item: A False Bed (if required)I used 2x. Lay the tools on the bed set 2x around them, and screw the lumber down to the existing ply bed. I used screws long enough to fix into the existing ply bed, no further—if you minimize the number of screws used in the metal beds, you’ll reduce the risk of water penetration and rust. Laying a 4. The slamstop is constructed from 3. I made mine tall enough to stop 1. MDF stacked flat in the truck. I was in a van crash once, and the load acted like a dead blow hammer when it hit the metal bulkhead. I wouldn’t want to be driving a truck if the lock came through the bulkhead! Hence the slamstop: it’s meant to fail in an accident, which will hopefully absorb some of the dead blow effect (like a crumple zone). I secured the slamstop framing to the ply floor with dominoes. I installed the false floor ply in sections, which allows for future (and easier) alterations, and provided removable panels for easy- access to other tools. All corners and edges of the ply here—and anywhere else in the racking—should be beveled. Since the Festool track has neoprene anti- slip runners on its underside, it has to be transported upside down. A length of UPVC soffit board on the ply lining bed allows the track to slide in easily. A second piece, ripped narrower and glued to the first, prevents the track from sliding sideways and damaging the guide edge. Bulkhead Storage. Bulkheads tend to follow the shape of the seats in the back of the cab—down low will provide space for larger, longer items, and high up will provide space for smaller items. Bulkheads often have ribs that make for useful fixing points. I attached two different battens to the ribs, one above and one below the viewing window, which gave a vertical fixing area. I then temporarily screened a 3/4- in sheet of ply with a cut- out for the viewer. This became the back panel to a face frame/box beam cabinet. I couldn’t put any ribs down low, so I found that bonding a 1/2- in. Before installing a face frame, I bonded shelves for Kapex extension legs and the Festool crosscut system to the raked bulkhead ply below the unit. I then installed a 1/2- in. However, once finished it didn’t feel right! The Kapex extension legs are an irregular shape, both on plan and side view. Sliding an irregularly shaped object into place requires a regular oblong space, built to the maximum dimensions of the item. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to live with something that doesn’t make your job easier. I decided the solution was to face- load the extension legs, which gave me more room and increased the shelf sizes around the viewing panel (those bugged me the most). Unscrewing the face frame was easy—that’s why screws should be the first option for mechanical fixings for racking; besides, nails loosen within weeks in a moving van. I extended the box beam to get more useful shelf sizes by gluing and pinning 3/4 x 3/4 with 1. Since the box beam takes a good deal of weight, I fixed the new face frame with longer screws so the 1. PVA glue. Around four hours spent on a rebuild is nothing compared to years of frustration loading a van with a poor detail. Maximizing Storage Capacity. Having drawn around the Kapex on its stand with duct tape, it can be left until later. After laying out enough space for the Kapex,I installed vertical supports for the tool box shelving. Tool Box Storage. Now, on with the quick part of a racking job: the carpentry tools that come in boxes! The regular footprints of systainers make them ideal for maximizing the storage capacity of a van. But other makers in the European market use the same boxes, like Metabo. All toolmakers buy boxes from Tanos. Hilti’s HIT chemical anchor system is sold in a different box, but the footprint is the same. Accommodating half a dozen boxes from several makers feels slower than accommodating Tanos boxes—you need to spend time coming up with a standard footprint that suits the boxes you have. I rack sections for these other tools in separate vertical racks to those for the Tanos footprint. Removing the innards of a Festool box means that more than one tool can be transported in a single box. One of my boxes now carries three sanders, and the other two didn’t go to waste! One has both a Fein Multi. Master and Metabo die grinder—both tools always get used on the same types of work. Another box, with suitably modified innards, holds a 1. Paslode gas nailer (this means I have one less awkward- sized Paslode box to worry about). Biscuit joiners fit into systainer boxes, and even Lamello ditched their trademark wooden boxes in favor of Tanos. All 4- 1/4 inch angle grinders will fit with plenty of room for spare blades. All of these space- saving and storage techniques translate directly into your shop storage, too. No shop is ever big enough!
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June 2017
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