Home-brew roof rack
12-15-2008, 07:47 PM
#19
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I'm gonna second the question..
What is the floor made of? the pic makes it look like plumber's wire.
And you don't need a huge amount of metalworking machines or fab skills to build cool stuff.... Here is my old one.. I have about $6 in spray paint in it. The rest is stuff I salvaged, scavanged or found along the road. All made with a sawzall, a grinder, and a $99 110v flux core welder from Harbor Freight.
What is the floor made of? the pic makes it look like plumber's wire.
And you don't need a huge amount of metalworking machines or fab skills to build cool stuff.... Here is my old one.. I have about $6 in spray paint in it. The rest is stuff I salvaged, scavanged or found along the road. All made with a sawzall, a grinder, and a $99 110v flux core welder from Harbor Freight.
12-15-2008, 10:33 PM
#21
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Year: 1989
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I'm gonna second the question..
What is the floor made of? the pic makes it look like plumber's wire.
And you don't need a huge amount of metalworking machines or fab skills to build cool stuff.... Here is my old one.. I have about $6 in spray paint in it. The rest is stuff I salvaged, scavanged or found along the road. All made with a sawzall, a grinder, and a $99 110v flux core welder from Harbor Freight.
What is the floor made of? the pic makes it look like plumber's wire.
And you don't need a huge amount of metalworking machines or fab skills to build cool stuff.... Here is my old one.. I have about $6 in spray paint in it. The rest is stuff I salvaged, scavanged or found along the road. All made with a sawzall, a grinder, and a $99 110v flux core welder from Harbor Freight.
12-16-2008, 12:19 AM
#22
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You have inspired me, good sir.
12-16-2008, 09:11 AM
#24
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I gotta agree on the metal pipe idea. I carry a canoe and a kayak up there all the time so PVC wouldn't work, though for lighter loads it's a great budget idea! Seems like this thread has gotten alot of creative gears turning, I think I'm gonna head to Home Cheapo! 
12-16-2008, 10:31 AM
#25
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It's 3/4'' x 20 PVC. I agree about using the metal piping, but it was 3x as expensive and I could have done the eBay route for $200. Thanks for clarifying Rich. Sorry to get real defensive.
The bottom is garden fencing. It's thick so it doesn't bend easily and yes, there are cross bars on the bottom of the rack to hold it all in place. Between buying the tools and stuff I could have spent the $300 to create the rack and had the tools, but I gotta spend money on xmas gifts
To all the naysayers or those
: tested the rack today in the rain with some gear and it holds up just fine. I'll post pics next weekend once it's painted and doesn't look 
.
as for building it, decide how large you want it on paper. Calculate where you want cross bars and vertical bars and count out how many T sections to get. Remember that each T section adds about 1''-2'' per cut so take it in to account when calculating overall length. I didn't and wound up with a bunch of extra pipe (haha bull bar? no way...KIDDING). Build it before gluing anything and put it on the roof to see how you like it. Cut/Adjust as necessary. Then glue it all together with PVC glue. Also take in to account that when you bang in the pipe pieces all the way you'll shorten each length a little bit having not shoved it all the way in to begin with. The fencing was easy, just measure width and height and lay it down lengthwise and attach it. Then you can either do that again widthwise or just attach sides...laying it down again adds rigidity to the bottom layer over the cross bars. Scratch it up, primer it (if you're so inclined, but as a temporary solution it's meh), and then paint it whatever color. I suggest pink. JOKES!
The bottom is garden fencing. It's thick so it doesn't bend easily and yes, there are cross bars on the bottom of the rack to hold it all in place. Between buying the tools and stuff I could have spent the $300 to create the rack and had the tools, but I gotta spend money on xmas gifts
To all the naysayers or those
: tested the rack today in the rain with some gear and it holds up just fine. I'll post pics next weekend once it's painted and doesn't look .as for building it, decide how large you want it on paper. Calculate where you want cross bars and vertical bars and count out how many T sections to get. Remember that each T section adds about 1''-2'' per cut so take it in to account when calculating overall length. I didn't and wound up with a bunch of extra pipe (haha bull bar? no way...KIDDING). Build it before gluing anything and put it on the roof to see how you like it. Cut/Adjust as necessary. Then glue it all together with PVC glue. Also take in to account that when you bang in the pipe pieces all the way you'll shorten each length a little bit having not shoved it all the way in to begin with. The fencing was easy, just measure width and height and lay it down lengthwise and attach it. Then you can either do that again widthwise or just attach sides...laying it down again adds rigidity to the bottom layer over the cross bars. Scratch it up, primer it (if you're so inclined, but as a temporary solution it's meh), and then paint it whatever color. I suggest pink. JOKES!
12-16-2008, 11:14 AM
#26
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It's 3/4'' x 20 PVC. I agree about using the metal piping, but it was 3x as expensive and I could have done the eBay route for $200. Thanks for clarifying Rich. Sorry to get real defensive.
The bottom is garden fencing. It's thick so it doesn't bend easily and yes, there are cross bars on the bottom of the rack to hold it all in place. Between buying the tools and stuff I could have spent the $300 to create the rack and had the tools, but I gotta spend money on xmas gifts
To all the naysayers or those: tested the rack today in the rain with some gear and it holds up just fine. I'll post pics next weekend once it's painted and doesn't look .
as for building it, decide how large you want it on paper. Calculate where you want cross bars and vertical bars and count out how many T sections to get. Remember that each T section adds about 1''-2'' per cut so take it in to account when calculating overall length. I didn't and wound up with a bunch of extra pipe (haha bull bar? no way...KIDDING). Build it before gluing anything and put it on the roof to see how you like it. Cut/Adjust as necessary. Then glue it all together with PVC glue. Also take in to account that when you bang in the pipe pieces all the way you'll shorten each length a little bit having not shoved it all the way in to begin with. The fencing was easy, just measure width and height and lay it down lengthwise and attach it. Then you can either do that again widthwise or just attach sides...laying it down again adds rigidity to the bottom layer over the cross bars. Scratch it up, primer it (if you're so inclined, but as a temporary solution it's meh), and then paint it whatever color. I suggest pink. JOKES!
The bottom is garden fencing. It's thick so it doesn't bend easily and yes, there are cross bars on the bottom of the rack to hold it all in place. Between buying the tools and stuff I could have spent the $300 to create the rack and had the tools, but I gotta spend money on xmas gifts
To all the naysayers or those
: tested the rack today in the rain with some gear and it holds up just fine. I'll post pics next weekend once it's painted and doesn't look .as for building it, decide how large you want it on paper. Calculate where you want cross bars and vertical bars and count out how many T sections to get. Remember that each T section adds about 1''-2'' per cut so take it in to account when calculating overall length. I didn't and wound up with a bunch of extra pipe (haha bull bar? no way...KIDDING). Build it before gluing anything and put it on the roof to see how you like it. Cut/Adjust as necessary. Then glue it all together with PVC glue. Also take in to account that when you bang in the pipe pieces all the way you'll shorten each length a little bit having not shoved it all the way in to begin with. The fencing was easy, just measure width and height and lay it down lengthwise and attach it. Then you can either do that again widthwise or just attach sides...laying it down again adds rigidity to the bottom layer over the cross bars. Scratch it up, primer it (if you're so inclined, but as a temporary solution it's meh), and then paint it whatever color. I suggest pink. JOKES!
Also, maybe some non-threaded pipe soldered together would work?
12-17-2008, 10:49 AM
#28
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- Dimensions: 8'' high (aimed for 6'' but forgot the T sections add space), and about 4ft x 4ft. So I'd cut your support bars for the walls to be 4'' and it should be a better slimmer height than mine.
- The number of pipes isn't as important as the overall piping length. You buy it in 20ft lengths. I'd say you could buy 2 - 20ft lengths and be good (I bought 3 and had about 20 ft leftover). Then the lengths of individual pipes all depends on how many cross bars and support bars you want...so you can do more, but I wouldn't do less than 3 on the bottom like mine...I should have put 4 or 5, but oh well.
- 22 T Sections - again, only based on my design (you will prob need more if you do more support bars)
- 8 - 90 degree bends (L joints) (If you can get the 3-way ones to add a corner support bar, do it...they didn't at OSH at the time)
- Fencing - thick gauge, but it comes in a roll that was 4' wide and however long you wanted. I bought 7ft. leaves plenty to double up on the bottom with single layer sides.
- the smallest can of blue PVC glue (I got the medium sized because I'll need for future, but you can save $3 here by going smaller)
I think that about covers it. Shouldn't cost more than $50...probably less. Just write it all out on paper and think it out.
12-17-2008, 11:55 AM
#29
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I once built a roof-rack (short-notice, while on the road) out of 2 x 2s and 1/4" plywood. Real easy to do.
You could make a bolt-together steel or aluminum easy enough, if you just thought about how to do it.
Bubba is alive and well, man....
You could make a bolt-together steel or aluminum easy enough, if you just thought about how to do it.
Bubba is alive and well, man....
12-17-2008, 12:33 PM
#30
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Year: 1992, 2- 1998 (All 3, 4 Doors)
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This actually gave me the idea of using conduit instead of PVC... I gonna mess around with that at work today...