Cookies Van - Furniture Build LWB Narrow (1200 Mobiframe)

[Touchwood]

Hi all, I thought I would document my Furniture Build in case it helps others, its been in progress for the last few weeks and getting ready for our annual Le Mans 24hr lads week away.

I could not find anything suitable off the shelf for the 1200 wide mobiframe, I wanted full lenght, no projections to give me full flexibility where I park the bench on the rails, and a small fridge in the units as opposed to the drawer fridge under the mobiframe seat/bed. As a time served ex Bench Joiner (CITB YTS back in the 90's) I decided to dust my tools off and treat myself to a saw guide, new circular saw and all router. Do it Myself (DIM )

I picked up the 15mm lightweight plywood boards 1200 x 2500 from Lamitech, very helpful people and made my selection after getting loads of samples, they manufacture to order and takes about 5 days from payment. Got the iron-on edging from Veneers Online to match as close as I could.

 

[Touchwood]

The palm cordless routers are really good and smooth and with a good grip you can go freehand to follow a pencil line with reasonable accuracy, 7,5mm trench for fixed shelves with Gorrilla Glue PVA

 

[Touchwood]

I used 15mm plywood for the splash back (don't know what else to call it as not having a sink) securely screwed into 25mm softwood battens riv-nutted top and bottom, as I plan to hang the upper mug units directly to the splash back


I bough the cheapest iron i could find, I cannot iron at the best of times especially round corners, so used a heat gun to soften the glue and then applied a cold wet microfiber with pressure till the glue cooled, first tried using my thumb first but it got burnt!


Put some dark carpet on the rear if the panel so you cannot see the white through the window and used the original vanshades perspex as a router template, and the refitted the blind back on some new 25x25mm battens, the hardest bit was getting the tension back on the strings as they were cut flush when factory fitted to the perspex. Added some fake suede (known round these parts as mouse skin) and built a narrow box with some hidden 4000k LED cob light strips, not warm or cool and perfect, will put in a dimmer when all cupboard lighting is finished.

 

[Touchwood]

Fixed the lower units to the splash back with some 2mm galvanised brackets from Screwfix below worktop level, annoying but they weren't 90 degrees out of the pack so put in a vice and persuaded with a hammer and engineering square.

I kept the wood a few mm away from the splash back to avoid potential squeaks and contact patches (I have RCD rattle compulsive disorder) and applied a little bit of Sika behind each bracket for extra measure, where the brackets are visible I used some mordant solution and sprayed either black or white (still thinking around painting the gold screws

The slimline RV fridge will eventually sit behind a matt grey cupboard door. Due to the opening swing, I found the need to notch out the adjacent panel to allow the door to open past 90 degrees to be able to open the ice box!

And to mount the hinges on a vertical panel, I now have a 57mm tray space. All I have found to fit in here so far is the collapsible washing up bowl. Did add a small pull out shelf, just cause I had some space, so why not.

The fridge sits about 15mm away from metal panel skin in the cavity void behind the carpeted hardwood panel, it has high and low vents (plastic soffit vents) either side which should be sufficient.

Also added solid ply panels to the back face of the shelves, looks neater and stiffens it all up for when the doors are eventually hung.

 

[JumpShip]

Looks spot on
Well done

 

[Touchwood]

Doors now cut, lipped and fitted, got a 4k LED cob light under the worktop edge, really impressed with this Dimmer off Amazon, manual adjustment and also through the remote control, it's got an on master switch with dimmer knob and remembers last mode too. Top unit doors and switch column hopefully in the evenings this week, and maybe the rear high level bulkhead next weekend.

 

[Vwcrazy]

Im waiting for my sliding stide seat and want the same as you have done. Looks nice. I want low units full length with two blinds on my lwb. Did you make the doors too

 

[Touchwood]

Thanks, yes they are cut from the same 15mm plywood. Grey one-sided, white the other.

I cut the laminate with a circular saw on a guide rail, get a clean cut on the underside, but some breakout on the top. So where it matters, I've learnt to cut about 5mm over size and then trim with the router using a bearing guide cutter to trim against an aluminium straight edge G clamped to the board.

As for the hinges, to get 2 doors hung off the same 15mm upright I'm using Blum half overlay hinges with the full overlay at the cupboard ends and top cupboards.

Just working on the top cupboards and have decided to go bottom hung, thinking this will help prevent things falling out when opening, but the downside is the hinges take up as shelf space. Always a compromise

 

[Vwcrazy]

Cracking job. Looks I think I’m going to go with a line of draws across th top. Was going to go off the shelf but this has changed my mind

 

[Skyliner33]

Amazing work.

I wish I had the skills to do something like this.

 

[Touchwood]

Thanks, it's more of a rewarding hobby with lots of trial and error. I believe anyone can do anything given the want and time.

 

[Skyliner33]

Thanks, it's more of a rewarding hobby with lots of trial and error. I believe anyone can do anything given the want and time.

I think you are right. I suppose a big part of it is having the tools and somewhere to do it. I took ages selecting my furniture. I now realise if I were building it there are quite a few things I would change.

 

[Touchwood]

Bit of an update....spend the day (28 degrees ) working on the rear bulkhead for the speakers, fitted Audison AP8 woofers and AP1 tweeters, will still be a while before I get them wired up to an amp.

As I have the Mobifloor bench on rails I needed something slim for when the bench is fully slid back so passengers don't crack their heads, also did not want to make the rear view mirror redundant. Zero storage as a result!

Used the 38mm square battens I have been using on the patio to cut up the big sheets of plywood with my circular saw (as i don't have a workshop its all done on the patio or a trusty B&D workmate) and got a good fixing into the 18mm poptop bed plywood (foot end).

Used a solid pair of battens in the middle to try to create separate compartments for the Left and Right channels so they don't fight the same air space.

The AP8s are quite heavy, so I face fixed the plywood with some black drywall screws to the softwood battens countersunk flush, solid and not too visible.

Also grooved in an LED strip up lighter 4000k which is wired into the main dimmer for all the other furniture LED strips

 

[JumpShip]

Looks great!
Maybe carpeting it will make it look more integrated?