DIY Cab - Finally decided it was time

[mjncad]

When siliconing, try running a length of masking tape each side before applying silicone - then run finger around, remove tape & you get a perfect, uniform edge, looks great & easy to do in kitchens & bathrooms, maybe not so much on a tractor!!

Great idea, I'll have to remember that one. I hate caulking as I make a mess that rivals my use of a grease gun. My brother-in-law is an artist with a caulking gun. I've never seen anyone who can run a perfect bead with minimal tooling and mess like he can.

For silicone and other caulks a DIY trick that I read and tried is to use an ice cube to push/spread the caulking.
It works!
Sure better than wetting the finger tip.

That's a new one to me.

 

[chim]

I stopped at the shop yesterday afternoon for the remedial work on the caulking for one window. While there I experimented a little with scraping the excess caulk from the glass. It looks like it'll work OK but it will take some patience. The heavy plastic I used as a tool for smoothing the silicone gave it a nice fiinish. I (partially) used geko's masking tape tip - I used tape on the metal frame side and not the glass. When I smoothed the caulk it pushed a bead up onto the tape and that part was easily removed. On the glass side, the squeegee action of the plastic created a very thin film of silicone at the joint and pushed the excess into a windrow on the glass. In retrospect, a piece of 2" wide tape on the glass side may have been worth the effort. Depends on how difficult it is to get the glass cleaned.

Here's a picture of the joint on a door section. The butyl window adhesive (aka schmootz) has not been trimmed on the other side of the glass, as it is only now getting to the point where it can be worked on without making black deposits on the fingers. When trimmed back it will create a clean straight black line on the back side (inside) of the glass. That will make variations in my silicone joint less noticeable.

 

[geko]

Best silicone tip ever...never lick your finger twice! Eurgh!

 

[ENG18LT]

Best silicone tip ever...never lick your finger twice! Eurgh!

^^^^^^^^
Oh my god! I have done that more then once, and each time I say DON'T DO THAT AGAIN FOOL! Then the next time I use silicone caulk, I lick my finger.

 

[chim]

Awsome cabin build Chim - like a real pro. Just thought though, when looking at the metal on the lower back part of the cab that it may obstruct your view of the linkages when connecting machinery?

Made some real progress the last few days and have the cab sections done and back on the tractor. I hopped in this evening for a look at the 3PH arms. I can see about the last 6" of the hitch arms and if I press my nose to the glass I can see around a foot of them.

Here are a few pics I snapped tonight. The first one is the inside of the one side section. It's difficult to see it but there's a heavy clear plastic strip sandwiched between a stainless strip and the curved wheel opening. It just kisses the bottom of the fender opening on the tractor to seal the gap. The sides of the cab are parallel. The cab side doesn't angle in like the fender does. The gap that created goes from almost nothing at the rear to about 3" in the front. My first attempt was using finish washers directly against the plastic. It looked great when I did it and ugly a day later. The finish washers applied pressure in spots and the plastic developed a scalloped appearance. One of the weldors suggested the stainless strip and it looks a lot better. The plastic is a little hard to see in the picture. You can pick it up where it crosses the Visegrip jaw. This also shows the spatter-finish trunk paint I used on the interior.



Here's a better shot of the spatter paint on an interior section. It also shows the closed cell insulation I'm gluing to the inside of all the sheet metal.



This is what it looked like earlier this evening. After this shot I installed the front lights and spent time wiring things, installing the wiper, completing the heater installation and started closing the areas under the windshield. I'd almost guarantee it would be possible to plow snow wearing shorts and a tee shirt with the heater running. Not very much remains till it's "done done". A piece of cow mat needs to be cut for the right side. Doors and weatherstripping need to be installed. Hope to have her home and do a few finished photos by the end of this week.

 

[BIG DOOLEY]

Looking very nice!
Tom

 

[mjncad]

You're coming down the home stretch now, and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[chim]

Re: DIY Cab - ALMOST DONE!

Made a little more progress today. Two different guys at the shop said "Hey Jim, we renamed your tractor The Sherman". A retired employee stopped by today and gave it his seal of approval. All that remains is to have my bud in the sheet metal shop bend a few pieces to trim out the area below the cab and conceal some wiring. The clear plastic strips (material used where forklifts drive through openings) are already there, but there is one tricky spot on each side that needs some support. Here's what it looks like at present:





The interior came out nice with the gray speckled trunk paint and armaflex insulation:



This is how I am keeping the doors from whacking the loader:



This is the inside of the door latch. The latches are stainless paddles as used on utility bodies. I think they were around $13 each at the hardware store and they work well in this application:

 

[triangel]

Where can you buy this stripping? Is it only available in US or is it handled by a chain retailer? just what I am looking for;

 

[tcartwri]

Man that looks good.

 

[Bladehauler]

I'M ENVIOUS !!!!!

 

[wmonroe]

Nice job!

 

[chim]

Where can you buy this stripping? Is it only available in US or is it handled by a chain retailer? just what I am looking for;

I forget where I bought the material but would think it would be easy to get in Canada. 8 or so years ago a customer wanted to experiment with reducing air flow out of a building by using the strip material to make curtains at their exhaust hoods. I'm pretty sure it was an internet / credit card purchase in lieu of one of our regular vendors. If you google "plastic strip doors" you'll get a bunch of hits. My material is 8" wide and I don't know what gauge. I just did a quick google and found material up to 48" wide. If I recall correctly, it was cheaper for us to buy a bulk roll instead of multiple precut pieces. The roll I cut from has been languishing on a dusty shelf since then. Every now and then a piece comes in handy for something.

This build has been quite an experience, and I appreciate the positive comments. Cost wasn't appreciably above the target, but it took at least twice the time than I figured on. The people at work helped when they could without interfering with work for "paying customers".

One thing I'd do differently is the glass installation. The regular butyl glass glue is a large pain. I'd do silicone for both bedding the glass and caulking it.

The shape of the cab did two things:

1. It satisfied my desire of having made something with character and matched the mental image I had of the cab.
2. It added a degree of difficulty and increased the labor needed for the build.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Very nice design and craftsmanship.

 

[triangel]

Yes I agree, the cost came in about where I figured but the time it is taking was double what I thought but still worth the effort. will look for that door stripping on line. great job on your cab especially the design impressive to say the least. I am amazed at the number local people who do such work and yet there seems to be very few companies willing to make these cabs when there is such a demand or the ones that are out there how overpriced their product is. My cost and labor were less then half of the cheapest one out there which was a sims cab

 

[irvingj]

Both the stripping and the Armaflex should be available through a refrigeration (or perhaps restaurant) supply house; I used to work with the stuff all the time (previous lifetime).

Armaflex insulation is very good stuff, available in both tubes --for piping-- and sheets. Here's what I did to my extra-large domestic water pressure tank, to keep it from sweating in the summer; worked very well:

 

[chim]

Finally got her home and put in some seat time today. We had a project at the church that involved taking wheelbarrows of clean stone and dumping them into an areaway. There was no machine access, but the guys welcomed the big orange shovel to load the 14 tons of stone so all they had to do was drive the wheelbarrows and not shovel the stone into them. It only took about 1-1/2 hours start to finish and about 10 minutes drive time each way.

Whe I got back home I washed her and took a few shots. One problem I discovered is that the trunk paint I was so happy with is WATER SOLUBLE! Splashed some water around the inside of the doors and it loosened the speckled paint. Looks like a little scrub-off and touch-up work will be done in the spring.

Anyway, here is the finished product:

 

[Marveltone]

You have some serious fabrication skills. Well done!

Joe

 

[triangel]

Great Job, looks great, there is nothing a like a plan that comes together and turns out right.

 

[triangel]

I want to live where you do if the grass is that green now, 25 below and 2 ft of snow where I am and 2 and half months more to go.