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Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:45 pm

BenT Syncro wrote: Alistair,

Whichever material to chose to use, don't neglect to route some channels to make it the look of a proper threshold. Step the router to about 12mm from each edge to give it that professorial built appearance.

:wink:

I had time at end of workday to knock out a quick and dirty version of what you suggested.

I've shot some black satin paint on to the groove side, I'll sand off when paint dry leaving black in grooves.

OK Ben? Don't dwell on poor job milling the grooves - my equipment is limited (good excuse).

alistair

Tue Mar 05, 2013 6:44 pm

ragnarhairybreeks wrote:

I had time at end of workday to knock out a quick and dirty version of what you suggested.

I've shot some black satin paint on to the groove side, I'll sand off when paint dry leaving black in grooves.

OK Ben? Don't dwell on poor job milling the grooves - my equipment is limited (good excuse).

alistair

It's Alistair-ceptable. Where do I order one after the poor milling issues are sorted? Can you mill Syncro, Westfalia, Vanagon, or my initials instead? :wink:

Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:04 pm

BenT Syncro wrote: ragnarhairybreeks wrote:

I had time at end of workday to knock out a quick and dirty version of what you suggested.

I've shot some black satin paint on to the groove side, I'll sand off when paint dry leaving black in grooves.

OK Ben? Don't dwell on poor job milling the grooves - my equipment is limited (good excuse).

alistair

It's Alistair-ceptable. Where do I order one after the poor milling issues are sorted? Can you mill Syncro, Westfalia, Vanagon, or my initials instead? :wink:

+1

Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:11 pm

how about one that says
"Caution - STEP UP!"

:lol:

Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:25 pm

Alistair,

That is so tasty, but I cannot believe you did not mount an LED in the vertical face that uses facial recognition to illuminate when you approach, and you also forgot the integrated clips for the wine rack!!

Nice work. :D

Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:37 pm

IdahoDoug wrote: Alistair,

That is so tasty, but I cannot believe you did not mount an LED in the vertical face that uses facial recognition to illuminate when you approach, and you also forgot the integrated clips for the wine rack!!

Nice work. :D

I agree. The old boy is slipping.

Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:37 pm

Credit goes to Psyncro, I don't have an original idea in my head.

And dammit, the led idea is a good one too.

alistair

PS Ben - i did think of initials or logo, but then that would mean drawing something up then having it waterjet/laser cut. It was only supposed to be a quick job, avoiding feature creep

Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:53 pm

ragnarhairybreeks wrote:

very nice - now use a 3D printer to make some out of rubber or plastic and sell them

Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:57 pm

No 3D printer, but still fooling around with this project. I did paint the grooved surface and then sanded off, leaving the paint in the grooves. The result would have been fine if I had done a decent job of making the grooves. I needed a better way of hiding my mistakes so I'm trying some casting polyurethane I had on the shelf.

Mixed a batch up and poured it on the grooved surface.

Then squeegeed most of the excess. The angle is sitting on a battery warmer to help speed the curing (ambient temps around 4 C).

I don't know how well the traces of excess will sand off after the polyU has cured. I'll wait a day or two before trying.

alistair

Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:01 am

I like it. When you make mine, can you machine a VW logo in the middle and cut the groves so they end with a circular space for the logo? Thanks! :wink:

Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:37 pm

Update: The polyurethane did not cure (even though expiry date later this year). So I ended up painting, and re-painting, then painting with bed liner.

Then again with bed liner after I grabbed it as if fell off the painting blocks.

At that point I was cursing Psyncro for posting his work :)

Then I cursed Doug for suggesting led lights.

Finally, I have it installed, but not finished. I have to find a way to blacken the stainless screws and washers, and I have to wire into door switch circuit.

But here it is.

and leds on

The leds light up the area more than I had imagined. Pic was taken while still daylight.

I've finished cursing Psyncro, I thank him again for this idea.

alistair

Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:30 pm

^ Very nice! =D>

I'll be happy to purchase the next one so you can acquire the capital needed to ramp up production to meet the anticipated demand.

Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:41 pm

ragnarhairybreeks wrote: Update: The polyurethane did not cure (even though expiry date later this year). So I ended up painting, and re-painting, then painting with bed liner.

Then again with bed liner after I grabbed it as if fell off the painting blocks.

At that point I was cursing Psyncro for posting his work :)

Then I cursed Doug for suggesting led lights.

Finally, I have it installed, but not finished. I have to find a way to blacken the stainless screws and washers, and I have to wire into door switch circuit.

But here it is.

and leds on

The leds light up the area more than I had imagined. Pic was taken while still daylight.

I've finished cursing Psyncro, I thank him again for this idea.

alistair

What spray-on bedliner did you use, from a can or the real stuff?

Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:50 pm

Psyncro - you think I went to the trouble of buying and applying real bed liner? Who are you, the devil? :) No, I bought a can of Dupli-Color aerosol can bead liner. At the point I was at, I had no more patience.

Photodave - the milling of the recesses (as poor a job as it is) is the time killer. If you stuck on some no skid grip tape to mimic then the effort of making more would be cost effective.

I just tried the lights in the dark, they really do a nice job of lighting up about 1/3 of the floor.

alistair

Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:08 pm

Allistair - tipping a beer in your general direction! Very nice. That's a great night light for the van, and if you want it off for some reason (urban camping, someones walking near the van) all you have to do is toss a shirt on it from the bunk. Or your wife's garment, or whatever :p

So, I have to possibly add to someone's future product. I never admitted to this publicly on Samba but when I finally decided I was going to paint the van in the garage as a fun project, I researched wild paints. What did he find, you might wonder? Well - military grade glow in the dark paint. Yep, you can buy the stuff and make an entire car glow in the dark. Believe me, I was this close but wimped out. Anyhow, a glow in the dark step would be something nobody's kids would ever forget. You can mix the stuff with bedliner, auto paint, epoxy to fill those cool slots you machined, etc. Mebbe BenT needs a gently glowing epoxy VW logo in his......

Beautiful step, and the LED's bring it up to your level of "better than what you started with" functionality. Bravo!

DougM

Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:34 am

DougM, I'm still hoping Alistair would machine the VW logo top and center. Then LED's can be installed below it.

Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:04 pm

you could sell those!

now, where are the pics of the ones routered out of sustainably harvested jojoba wood?

Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:27 pm

Randy - a wooden version would be really nice, better in some ways than aluminum.

Ben - you have to be kidding :)

Doug - I'll put in a switch so the lights can be independently activated. Thanks again for the led idea.

Psyncro - sorry I mistook you for syncronoid in the bed liner question.

Syncronoid - vice versa ditto :)

cheers

alistair

Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:49 pm

Psyncro = Syncronoid. I'm one in the same (or insane... depends who you ask). :)

Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:57 pm

ragnarhairybreeks wrote:

Ben - you have to be kidding :)

cheers

alistair

Think about it! It would be the "coolest thing" in your van.