I have been looking into fiber glass cover for my truck I just bought. and at 1000$+ price tags Im thinking about designing one and building it my self. I really think it could be made for under 100$. Plus I have a buddy who does car painting so I can get it painted for free to match my truck.

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I have been working on cad alittle bit today to try and come up with some ideas. Im thinking it would be best to go with a interlocking box design with 1/8" sheeting covering it all. here is a pic of what I have came up with so far. I figure after i get it all put together and stuff I would putty it up and sand it smooth and then Have my buddy paint it silver to match my truck.

The only thing so far I cant figure out how to make it the ribbs in the design. They are longer than my machine has travel so I think I am going to half to find some way to make them out of multiable peices and glueing them together. I am unsure what kind of wood I want to use. But I would like to keep it light weight. Any suggestions on the best type of wood to use?

Thanks Eric,

....more pic

file if anyone can open dwg and wants to check it out.....

Very interesting idea, I have wanted one for my Stepside Chevy, but the price tag, is high, I will download the file and see how it looks maybe tonight, I know i can get it cut out of some sort of plastic material (which will resist warping in heat), because here in Texas the Heat will warp it if not careful. a plastic toolbox is a no no here, you have to have metal.

Possible alumn. cross pieces.

Joe

Ya I never really though about the warping problem. We dont have as bad of heat in ohio but that would still take a big tool on the wood. I bought this picnic table made out of this plastic wood stuff. Suppose to not warp. Ya it warped on it. Top of it looks like a banana !

Why not machine a mold and use fiberglass to cast the cover, you can get creative and even machine a logo or the truck logo into the top of it, then just bondo the voids if needed, you can even machine the cross support pieces in one solid top. (or lay in alumn .cross pieces and bold and cast as you go).

Joe

I have never really did anything with fiberglass. I dont know really want goes into making a mold and fiber glassing it. I am open to tring it if I can figure out how to. Know any good links or got any suggestions?

I have a ton of partical board I got for 2$ a sheet. I could mill a mold into that. But I am unsure how you go about getting the fiber glass to not stick to the mold. Maybe I could just make the cover like 1/4" smaller than I want and then just fiberglass over it.

I dont know if that would warp or not.

But i do really like your logo Idea. Put a big Chevy thing in middle. Would look sweet.

coat the mold in wax the fiberglass will not stick to it. i've use cheep candles on smaller peices.
or you can melt wax in a pot and pour it on or brush it to the mold.
if the mold is large drill small holes in to it so you can use air to "pop" the glassed peice out.

There's a fiberglass guy next to my shop and he uses regular wood as stiffeners, since it's being encased in fiberglass you don't get alot of problems with rot.

And as he suggests don't use the blanket looking fiberglass, use the fiberglass mat that looks like random fibers stuck together. He says the sheet fiberglass doesn't fuse together well when applying multiple layers.

smackre,

Don't worry about the learning curve of fiberglass and molds, it is really pretty simple (if you need help I am in Dayton). And as far as the stretchers go, why not go for a monocot (sp?) design where you rely on the strength and stiffness of the skin rather than an internal structure. Basically this would have you filling the inside with structural foam (big blue sheets at HD for $15) and reinforcing hinge mount points and lock points with wood the same thickness. In fact, if you did this you could just vacuum bag the whole thing and not even make a mold. If you make a strong straight fiberglass/foam/fiberglass sandwich you can add shaped trim around the edges - followed by bondo - and some paint - and get exactly what you are looking for.

I built 3 fiber-composite recumbent bikes with full fairings back in college and used both the mold and the vacuum bag methods. For your geometry, I think the bagging method is far more practical.