You never cease to amaze me with your skills......I would not have had the patience for such a complicated system. Its smooth in operation. I still like my hydtaulics.....lol
there is nothing wrong with hydraulics, that was my first choice as well, however I think these are going to work just fine and now that everything is above the floor line it is all servicable
What Guillermo said. I agree. Seriously. It seems my slideouts were much less complicated, but I didn't have to scratch build them. Good job, sir. Good job. Regards, Solomon
Congratulations James. I think this video was a significant step towards a completed project. It was wonderful to see the sliding mechanisms work and so effectively. Us viewers, don't normally see your face in the videos, but I bet it now has a smile 'welded' on permanently! (Edit: see what I did there?) Your work is informative and inspiring to watch. I'm looking forward to what comes next, but I felt I should comment here, on an accomplishment that was a big deal. P.S. Perhaps I shouldn't write a paragraph, but instead just use one word: "WOW"!
Ha.... I did see that :-).... yes it felt good to have it working after failing the first time, now the last slide is just a matter of building the components and installing, I don't have to change anything in the design, Thanks for your kind words :-)
He has 3 cracked ribs, but he's doing better..... we drink rum here so I'm keeping him gooned on Captain Morgan :-), doesn't make me feel any better about it though cause it was my oversight
All I can say is why??? All you needed was 2 small hydraulic cylinders, a small electric motor pump combo, a solenoid, and a switch. Orrr a couple of linear actuators. I built my bus using the actuators 4 years ago and haven't had any trouble with it at all.... simple is always reliable. Complicated use of cables means trouble not to mention all the slapping the cables will be doing while driving.
Great work allot of Detail how will this be serviced if something happens such as cable stretching or something go's bad ? will you hav e access panels ?
This is really a solid build. As in the framing alone looks like something that we would build to put die fixtures on for the automotive industry. The cables work great. I'm really , really new to the RV world from tent camping from a kid up. BUTT the very few lite weight models I've looked at had a 2 gear rack with one long pinion shaft and two pinion gears engaged in the racks that drove the slide in or out. Is there a reason y'all went with the cable and pulley over the rack and pinion??? I got excited below describing my own project. But is there anything wrong with the other driving mechanisms??? My neighbor just bought a trailer frame with the rack and pinion still in tact. He is going to use the frame for farm work. I'm sure he'll let me have it. I'm asking because I'm building a BlueBird flat face at the moment. Got the roof raised 16inches , debating on doing a couple slides or just framing the openings now. Have totally stripped all the siding off to go back with slick fiberglass , also adding two and a half inch Styrofoam insulation to the outside of it's skeleton frame. Gonna add a fake skeletal frame to attach the fiberglass siding to.
The cable mechanisms were recommended by a friend building a bus in Florida... hes been an RV repait tech for 30 years.... theres nothing wrong with any of the other slide systems... they all work fine...I was originally going to use hydraulics but these came up on ebay and the price was right... hope your project goes smoothly
Man this is crazy. I fantasized doing this on a school bus. Could it be done? If you did this for some one for money how much would it cost? Where are you located? Did you do this kind of work prior to this project? I know, lots of questions lol. Its just im overwhelmed. Keep up the good work!
Ha.... that is a lot of questions... I'll try to answer the best I can..... yes it can be done, there are shops in the US and Canada that do it, it's around 1400.00 a foot, so a 10 ft. slide would be around 14,000.00, I have never done it for anyone but I have plenty of experience in this kind of thing over the last 25 or so years, a roof raise would also have to be done to be practical as the slideout height would be too low otherwise, a hi-way bus may be able to get away without raising the roof as they are higher already but I think you would still be happier with the roof raised, I know of a guy in Florida doing an MC-9 and not raising the roof and doing slideouts, I am in Vancouver B.C. Canada, my feeling is for the vast majority of D.I.Y. bus conversions the cost would be too high for most people, which is why I am doing this series, so if anyone wants to tackle it themselves they can get some ideas from this, my way is certainly not the only way this can be done but it works for me, if someone wanted me to do this for them I would be more than happy to do that, I just think it is beyond the scope of what most people are looking for in this kind of conversion to have someone do it for them as it could easily turn into over half of the cost of converting the whole bus, hope this answers your questions, don't hesitate to ask more questions if you have them
Also have another question. That pretty siding these and other busses have down low with the corrugated look. Where can a person find it? I LOVE those silver sides. My roof raise will have a different blend back to the rear and to the windshield. It will be more rounded like the older Grey Dogs. But still flat faced and flat rumped . Anyway would really love to have some of those silver sides for the bottom sides of her. What exactly is that stuff called when I look for it? I do thank you in advance. Oh super videos BTW. 👍👍👍👍👍😃
Theres a place in Florids that reproduces the stainless skins but they are really expensive which is why I went with the smooth skins... I can't remember the name of the company right now
Didn't realize that you had such an extensive video collection of this bus. Just watched the one of of skinning the front and mirror mounts. Great work👍
hi found your videos a few days ago and have really enjoyed them, you my friend are a master. I had a thought that i wanted to ask about related to this video. could you have used a set up like they use for a garage door opener? An idler sprocket at one end of the travel and a driven one at the other, with the slide attached to the chain. Would this work? Great work
Yes, it probably would have, the advantage of this system is there are 2 drive points, one on each side of the slide so it can be steered by adjusting it, a single drive point does not allow that, I was initially going to use hydraulics but they have the same potential issue, you need to build something to keep the slide from getting cocked in the opening which is easy enough to do, just more components to build, this solves that issue
True, i guess you could run an axle between the two slides, this would drive both chains from one motor. that would also give you the ability to play with gearing. i wish i had a tenth of your skill, great job, cant wait to see end result:-)
That's exactly how it is done, an axle with a gear on each end.... it's unpowered and runs in and out with the slide, just keeps it square in the opening as it travels, it's just more components to fabricate
You never cease to amaze me with your skills......I would not have had the patience for such a complicated system. Its smooth in operation. I still like my hydtaulics.....lol
there is nothing wrong with hydraulics, that was my first choice as well, however I think these are going to work just fine and now that everything is above the floor line it is all servicable
What Guillermo said. I agree. Seriously. It seems my slideouts were much less complicated, but I didn't have to scratch build them. Good job, sir. Good job. Regards, Solomon
Well.... good thing you could understand him :-) , hydraulics would have been much simpler but where's the fun in that :-)
Congratulations James. I think this video was a significant step towards a completed project. It was wonderful to see the sliding mechanisms work and so effectively. Us viewers, don't normally see your face in the videos, but I bet it now has a smile 'welded' on permanently! (Edit: see what I did there?) Your work is informative and inspiring to watch. I'm looking forward to what comes next, but I felt I should comment here, on an accomplishment that was a big deal.
P.S. Perhaps I shouldn't write a paragraph, but instead just use one word: "WOW"!
Ha.... I did see that :-).... yes it felt good to have it working after failing the first time, now the last slide is just a matter of building the components and installing, I don't have to change anything in the design, Thanks for your kind words :-)
It's looking great, sorry to hear your old man took a fall there, better buy him a good bottle of whiskey as a "woops, sorry dad", hope he's oke man.
He has 3 cracked ribs, but he's doing better..... we drink rum here so I'm keeping him gooned on Captain Morgan :-), doesn't make me feel any better about it though cause it was my oversight
looking good. keep up the good work.I'm sure your ready to start skinny the out side.I'll keep watching .
Well.... comments like these help keep me motivated, thanks for your support, I appreciate it
looks very sturdy this way,
hope your secondant will be on his feet very soon!
Thanks.....He's still pretty sore.... thinks he might have cracked a rib :-(..... which sucks but I guess all this stuff heals eventually
una "tonelada" de trabajo !!! muy bueno por cierto .
All I can say is why??? All you needed was 2 small hydraulic cylinders, a small electric motor pump combo, a solenoid, and a switch. Orrr a couple of linear actuators. I built my bus using the actuators 4 years ago and haven't had any trouble with it at all.... simple is always reliable. Complicated use of cables means trouble not to mention all the slapping the cables will be doing while driving.
Great work allot of Detail how will this be serviced if something happens such as cable stretching or something go's bad ? will you hav e access panels ?
Yes, I'll have small removable panels to service the pulleys under the floor
This is really a solid build. As in the framing alone looks like something that we would build to put die fixtures on for the automotive industry. The cables work great. I'm really , really new to the RV world from tent camping from a kid up. BUTT the very few lite weight models I've looked at had a 2 gear rack with one long pinion shaft and two pinion gears engaged in the racks that drove the slide in or out. Is there a reason y'all went with the cable and pulley over the rack and pinion??? I got excited below describing my own project. But is there anything wrong with the other driving mechanisms??? My neighbor just bought a trailer frame with the rack and pinion still in tact. He is going to use the frame for farm work. I'm sure he'll let me have it. I'm asking because I'm building a BlueBird flat face at the moment. Got the roof raised 16inches , debating on doing a couple slides or just framing the openings now. Have totally stripped all the siding off to go back with slick fiberglass , also adding two and a half inch Styrofoam insulation to the outside of it's skeleton frame. Gonna add a fake skeletal frame to attach the fiberglass siding to.
The cable mechanisms were recommended by a friend building a bus in Florida... hes been an RV repait tech for 30 years.... theres nothing wrong with any of the other slide systems... they all work fine...I was originally going to use hydraulics but these came up on ebay and the price was right... hope your project goes smoothly
allways thought they done slide outs using hydraulics , looks a lot simpler
adjusting it to slide smoothly prolly going to take some effort though
Man this is crazy. I fantasized doing this on a school bus. Could it be done? If you did this for some one for money how much would it cost? Where are you located? Did you do this kind of work prior to this project? I know, lots of questions lol. Its just im overwhelmed. Keep up the good work!
Ha.... that is a lot of questions... I'll try to answer the best I can..... yes it can be done, there are shops in the US and Canada that do it, it's around 1400.00 a foot, so a 10 ft. slide would be around 14,000.00, I have never done it for anyone but I have plenty of experience in this kind of thing over the last 25 or so years, a roof raise would also have to be done to be practical as the slideout height would be too low otherwise, a hi-way bus may be able to get away without raising the roof as they are higher already but I think you would still be happier with the roof raised, I know of a guy in Florida doing an MC-9 and not raising the roof and doing slideouts, I am in Vancouver B.C. Canada, my feeling is for the vast majority of D.I.Y. bus conversions the cost would be too high for most people, which is why I am doing this series, so if anyone wants to tackle it themselves they can get some ideas from this, my way is certainly not the only way this can be done but it works for me, if someone wanted me to do this for them I would be more than happy to do that, I just think it is beyond the scope of what most people are looking for in this kind of conversion to have someone do it for them as it could easily turn into over half of the cost of converting the whole bus, hope this answers your questions, don't hesitate to ask more questions if you have them
Also have another question. That pretty siding these and other busses have down low with the corrugated look. Where can a person find it? I LOVE those silver sides. My roof raise will have a different blend back to the rear and to the windshield. It will be more rounded like the older Grey Dogs. But still flat faced and flat rumped . Anyway would really love to have some of those silver sides for the bottom sides of her. What exactly is that stuff called when I look for it? I do thank you in advance. Oh super videos BTW. 👍👍👍👍👍😃
Theres a place in Florids that reproduces the stainless skins but they are really expensive which is why I went with the smooth skins... I can't remember the name of the company right now
Didn't realize that you had such an extensive video collection of this bus. Just watched the one of of skinning the front and mirror mounts. Great work👍
Were did you find the parts for the slide motor
hi found your videos a few days ago and have really enjoyed them, you my friend are a master. I had a thought that i wanted to ask about related to this video. could you have used a set up like they use for a garage door opener? An idler sprocket at one end of the travel and a driven one at the other, with the slide attached to the chain. Would this work? Great work
Yes, it probably would have, the advantage of this system is there are 2 drive points, one on each side of the slide so it can be steered by adjusting it, a single drive point does not allow that, I was initially going to use hydraulics but they have the same potential issue, you need to build something to keep the slide from getting cocked in the opening which is easy enough to do, just more components to build, this solves that issue
True, i guess you could run an axle between the two slides, this would drive both chains from one motor. that would also give you the ability to play with gearing. i wish i had a tenth of your skill, great job, cant wait to see end result:-)
That's exactly how it is done, an axle with a gear on each end.... it's unpowered and runs in and out with the slide, just keeps it square in the opening as it travels, it's just more components to fabricate
If you can show more detail about the used of cable
Hi
Could you tell me where to buy the slide system to mount it on my project. Website
Thank you, I will try to find something similar for Spain.
Electricity is like women...I really try hard to understand but still struggle.
Hi, Are you on Facebook?
No.....no Facebook. ...just you tube