hello, as some may remember i already have a thread here about the first aerocap i made for my pickup truck.here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ocap-6889.html
and after lots of thinking and observing i decided to start building a second improved version. my first cap works well though it has some drawbacks, mainly its heavy weight, no rear visibility and has to be dismounted if you want to load things taller than the tailgate.
my new cap is meanth to eliminate those problems, it will be open-able, be verry light and hinder rear visibilty as few as possible.
here is the new model i made in sketchup:
i use that model to measure all the parts i will need to build, i could print out proper plans but i know how relative the value of such plans are. especially when you are building with scrap wood without any standard sizes. so i use it as a base to help me, but the more the construction advances, the more i get away from the plans.
here is the base i made:
entirely made of scrap wood that i "saved" from a roof-builder company that gives their scrap away as heating wood. a reason why i now started making this new cap is that i bought a second hand bandsaw wich allows me to cut out with ease any shape or form. for my previous cap i had cut out all the round parts with a table saw, what a nightmare...
here it is on its host :
you can see the opening part of the cap opened, about 3/4th of the top opens, i left the remaining 1/4th solid with the structure to give the whole a minimal structural solidity.
as opposed to my first cap, this one doesn't go down all the way, but ends above the tail, and even slightly further back. this is partly for "looks"
and also because i suspected that my old cap may have had a to steep downward end-curve wich could have caused the airflow to separate prematurely.
and here is the latest development:
added sideway and upper support beams, and you can start seeing what will be the most crazy and "WTF??" feature about this cap, there are two flaps inside the opening part of the cap (show in opened posistion) that will open and close electrically. when opened these "should" give me a 80% rear visibility. they look verry low, and initially i wanted to make 3 flaps, but i tested and with these two i can more than enough. it's the best (and coolest
) i could come up with, as transparent plexiglass wouldn't let you see through at such an angle.
i have no real idea yet of how to make the opening mechanism for the flaps, it has to be simple and cheap. any suggestions are welcome. i had in mind using a small 12 v motor i have and making a wooden mechanism that would pull or push to open or close the flaps with a button probably placed on the gear stick.
and finally suggestions are welcome about what would be the best way to cover the cap, im gonna paint the wooden structure with a product to protect the wood and render it watertight. and then i was thinking of covering it with aluminium sheets. the top and sides would be no problem, but the problem is the corner where the top goes over into the sides, that place is bent in 2 dimensions. and only a bodyworker can bend such parts.
i bought 3 aluminium sheets of each 3 sqaure meters at €10 each, but i made a big mistake by taking too thin ones (0.8 mm) wich basically reacts like paper. i also think i will put plexi windows to the side on the passenger side only, so i can see to the sides aswell.