Weekend Project 1951 Spartan Imperial Mansion
A Very nice lady asked if I could help with her camper project, she needed a new air conditioner installed in place of a non working much older unit. The Catch it is not a bolt in... the vent hole needed to be modified... opened up to 14x14 from 12x16 the victim in this surgery was a 1951 Spartan Imperial Mansion Travel trailer, pretty much untouched. has had a blackwater tank installed and the toilet relocated for more shower room...
interior wood still intact...
Tools used:
Star Lab CNC Plasma Table Hypertherm PM65
Dassault Systems Draftsight
Milwaukee M18 Drill
Generic double Ended Drills .125
Milwaukee Inksall Marker
Stanley 12' Measuring Tape
RedBox 2x Rivet Setter (air)
Generic AOH blind rivet setter
48" 12Ga Grizzly Box and Pan Brake
52" Grizzly Jump up and down on the MFer Shear
Cleco Pins and Cleco Pliers...
Caulking Gun
Air Body Saw... Crapped out after 12" of cut...
New in Box Never used Rockwell Sonicrafter Oscillating offset saw thing...
Toyota 3500# Fork Truck
Materials Used and suppliers
4'x12' .050 5052H32 Aluminum Sheet from Airparts inc (local family owned aircraft supply house)
AN-470 4-4 Rivets from stock probably Aircraft Spruce and specialty
Cherry BPSQ 42 self sealing blind rivets
Sikaflex 221 Flexible Panel Adhesive Aluminum Gray
Roughly 3 hours total work time.
Air Saw Crapped out, finished job with Rockwell Sonicrafter... which was surprisingly versatile! Never used one before found new in box in the shop and decided to give it a whirl...
Previous owner had mounted the AC unit on a frame of 2x4s that were GLUED to the roof with I don't know what But that sonicrafter was able to get under them and cut the adhesive without damaging the roof. then when the air saw gave up... literally LOCKED up... no warning just BUZZZZZZZZZ............... nothing... oiled every day like clockwork, nothing I tried could get it to go again...
Designed the ring in CAD then cut it on the plasma table... used the table to center poke all the holes, sanded all the edges quickly drilled out the holes to size peeled the vinyl then went back to the roof and installed drilled first two holes to hold the piece square then started drilling and installing Clecos until all was done... with sealer (gotta work fast so the sealer doesn't setup and F up the Clecos)
Sheared some alu strips and broke them up into C channel to replace the strength members I cut out. fitted them in place after the main rivet line was set, then installed these as they would have precluded access to the rivets for bucking, installed them and tied them into the strength members with the inner line of rivets.
Still have to make and install a panel on the front of the trailer to patch 3 holes punched in from the front and fabricate a patch panel for the curb side under door panel where someone at the storage facility she had it at hit it with a mower and tore the panel and dented it in, will have to be done with blind rivets since we can't remove the wood on the inside and no way to get to the back of the rivet line. won't be a big deal because there is not a leakage area there. the Masonite belly pan has been removed...
Client Provided some examples of the work to be accomplished from others who have done the same modification....
I kinda like my solution a lot more...
My solution
A Very nice lady asked if I could help with her camper project, she needed a new air conditioner installed in place of a non working much older unit. The Catch it is not a bolt in... the vent hole needed to be modified... opened up to 14x14 from 12x16 the victim in this surgery was a 1951 Spartan Imperial Mansion Travel trailer, pretty much untouched. has had a blackwater tank installed and the toilet relocated for more shower room...
interior wood still intact...
Tools used:
Star Lab CNC Plasma Table Hypertherm PM65
Dassault Systems Draftsight
Milwaukee M18 Drill
Generic double Ended Drills .125
Milwaukee Inksall Marker
Stanley 12' Measuring Tape
RedBox 2x Rivet Setter (air)
Generic AOH blind rivet setter
48" 12Ga Grizzly Box and Pan Brake
52" Grizzly Jump up and down on the MFer Shear
Cleco Pins and Cleco Pliers...
Caulking Gun
Air Body Saw... Crapped out after 12" of cut...
New in Box Never used Rockwell Sonicrafter Oscillating offset saw thing...
Toyota 3500# Fork Truck
Materials Used and suppliers
4'x12' .050 5052H32 Aluminum Sheet from Airparts inc (local family owned aircraft supply house)
AN-470 4-4 Rivets from stock probably Aircraft Spruce and specialty
Cherry BPSQ 42 self sealing blind rivets
Sikaflex 221 Flexible Panel Adhesive Aluminum Gray
Roughly 3 hours total work time.
Air Saw Crapped out, finished job with Rockwell Sonicrafter... which was surprisingly versatile! Never used one before found new in box in the shop and decided to give it a whirl...
Previous owner had mounted the AC unit on a frame of 2x4s that were GLUED to the roof with I don't know what But that sonicrafter was able to get under them and cut the adhesive without damaging the roof. then when the air saw gave up... literally LOCKED up... no warning just BUZZZZZZZZZ............... nothing... oiled every day like clockwork, nothing I tried could get it to go again...
Designed the ring in CAD then cut it on the plasma table... used the table to center poke all the holes, sanded all the edges quickly drilled out the holes to size peeled the vinyl then went back to the roof and installed drilled first two holes to hold the piece square then started drilling and installing Clecos until all was done... with sealer (gotta work fast so the sealer doesn't setup and F up the Clecos)
Sheared some alu strips and broke them up into C channel to replace the strength members I cut out. fitted them in place after the main rivet line was set, then installed these as they would have precluded access to the rivets for bucking, installed them and tied them into the strength members with the inner line of rivets.
Still have to make and install a panel on the front of the trailer to patch 3 holes punched in from the front and fabricate a patch panel for the curb side under door panel where someone at the storage facility she had it at hit it with a mower and tore the panel and dented it in, will have to be done with blind rivets since we can't remove the wood on the inside and no way to get to the back of the rivet line. won't be a big deal because there is not a leakage area there. the Masonite belly pan has been removed...
Client Provided some examples of the work to be accomplished from others who have done the same modification....
I kinda like my solution a lot more...
My solution
Last edited:
