Shiny
The new floor continues to get layers of gloss sealant. It’s getting shinier and shinier. We continue to take care of small tasks as we move towards the next phase of the interior design and construction.
Kicking the bucket
No, we’re doing fine. But we are kicking around the idea of a low-cost composting toilet. As we draw up on the deadline to design and install our water system, we just can’t bring ourselves to loop in a black water or septic system. It flies in the face of reason.
We haven’t landed on this solution, but it is in the mix. The five-gallon bucket composting toilet.
Like we said, we haven’t landed on this as a solution, but we do like the sustainable aspect of composting, as opposed to flushing. We’re not alone in our thinking. Bill Gates also wants to reinvent the toilet…
The plan for April/May
We thought we’d share the basic shape that the work will take over the next six (or so) weeks:
Storage: The under-bus storage space is now under construction. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll cut doors, and install the boxes. If you’re at all interested in welding, and want to join in on the fun, be sure to watch out for an announcement. We’re hoping that this will happen in the next 10 days, but we’ll see.
Paint: We’ve got a great plan for the first iteration of the bus exterior. We’ll hold an ‘all are welcome’ event one evening in mid-May where you can watch it happen. We won’t say more on this for now, but keep an eye out for an announcement.
Interior: As soon as we have the 3-D scan, we’ll begin the work on the interior layout. We’ll post drafts of the plans as they evolve. Once we have the design locked, fabrication will be a snap as we’ll use CNC and other digital-into-analogue means to manufacture components. The pieces should just slot together…
Sounds easy on paper. We think the execution will follow suit, as we’ve got a great group of volunteers.
Interior scan, night
We finished the interior scan of the bus last night. In this picture, you can see the green laser as it identifies plot points across the ceiling and walls. We should have a highly accurate 3-D model of the bus interior by the weekend. This model will go into Rhino, where we’ll design the interior space. Once we’re done, we’ll manufacture the components using a CNC router.
Now we have to borrow time on a CNC router, somewhere…
“I know what you looked like last summer!”
We ran across this image taken from the first days of the bus. It’s shocking to see how dark and cramped the interior looks. It’s easy to lose track of progress when you’re caught up in the day-to-day of putting one foot in front of the other.
We read that we should let the new floor cure for 4 days before we treat it to a light cleaning, and several coats of “wax” sealer. Fours days is nothing, but the temperature in Houston is already getting up into the 80s during the day. It’s just a prelude to the coming the blast furnace that is the Houston summer. We need to pick up the pace a bit.
The new floor is here
With an exciting title like ‘the new floor is here,’ how can you resist reading this post?
However titillating, it’s a very apt description. The new floor is installed, and we think it’s gorgeous. Thanks, Carpet Giant!
We have to stay off it for 48 hours, so don’t expect much more news until Thursday.
3-D Scan, Day 1
Here’s Ali checking out the scanning equipment. We had gorgeous weather for a 360 degree scan of the bus exterior. Tonight, we’ll scan the bus interior. We’ll use these scans in designing and fabricating the bus interior, as well as some exterior modifications.
Also, Carpet Giant is coming today to install our new floor. It’s a busy day on the bus.
Smart GeoMetrics
It’s happening! We’re getting a hi-rez 3-D scan of The Cargo Space courtesy of Smart GeoMetrics. They’ve done some amazing work, including documenting the Space Shuttle Discovery. Pop over and see what else they can do!
We’ll post some pictures over the weekend of the process, and of course you’ll see the model here when we have it.
The scan will be immensely helpful in the design and construction of the interior space. Once our designs are finished, we’ll be able to use CNC, laser and maybe even a little rapid prototyping to produce the interior components. Goodbye old construction techniques, Hello plug-n-play construction techniques. The New comes with its own set of headaches, but for now we’re imagining a future where we eat our food in pill form and fly around with personal jet-packs.
Crown
We’ve been in LA with our students, visiting museums and the like. We spotted this gorgeous creature on the UCLA campus.
The Crown Coach Corporation was the originator of the snub nose bus design, so it’s the grandaddy of our own Blue Bird, in a way. We like our ‘birdie, but the Crown’s 1930s Art Deco lines are hard to ignore. Crown also made a line of motorhomes.
The LA trip has bumped the final floor installation by a week. Once the floor is installed, we’re looking at getting a 3-D scan of the bus to aid in the design and installation of the interior fittings. More on that in a later post.
Going through the old archives, we found a newspaper clipping from 1990 Chicago Sun-Times, where Grennan mentions Social Art in the context of The Body, our first, large-scale project. Compare it to this article on Social Practice from the New York Times from March 20, 2013. A little late to the party (about 23 years, give or take a few months), but it’s nice to see the movement is finally catching on…
Coincidentally, the author of that piece, Randy Kennedy wrote about our TV series, Artstar in 2005. It looks like Artstar is in re-runs on Ovation. Check your local listings.
We’re traveling for the next 10 days. When we come back, we’ll have a new floor for the bus!
Carpet Giant!
We took a field trip to Carpet Giant today. After a furious search through a variety of floor options, we landed on Armstrong Vinyl Composition Tile. Specifically, we chose Acrobat Green.
We were blown away with the service we received, with the selection, and especially the price. It would be gauche to say exact what we’re paying, but run, don’t walk, to Carpet Giant for your flooring needs.
To be clear, we’ve received NO compensation for this endorsement. We were really just very pleased with our experience so far. Check back after they install this flooring for us in two weeks. (Our schedule is really terrible for the next 10 days, so the delay in installation was our choice.)
And yes, they’re installing it for us. The price was right, and the flooring is so crucial, we felt having it installed professionally was the best choice.
Field trip!
Here’s Ellen and Jonathan on a field trip to PPL Motor Homes today. We had a blast looking at the luxury RVs. It turns out that this TropiCal had the most relevant information for us, however. We’re definitely going back to PPL, to window shop and dream, if nothing else.
Nuts!
We opened the engine compartment for the first time in a month, and found somebody’s stash of nuts. Luckily, he or she was not ‘home’ at the time.
We’re about five screws away from finishing the subfloor when the drill died. Tomorrow we’ll absolutely finish.
The Subfloor Saga
Maybe ‘saga’ is an overstatement. Work continues on the plywood subfloor. It’s slow going. Not pictured are the dozens of screws that failed to pierce through the plywood, insulation and metal. For each successfully screwed screw, three or four failed to make it.
We’re using self-tapping screws (as we also went through a number of drill bits). Screws are cheaper than drill bits, so we had the bright idea to simply chew through the screws. It’s not elegant, but it works. Eventually.
Fortunately, we’ve only two more sheets of plywood to secure into position, then we can move onto the final layer of flooring.
We’re going through a bit of a cold snap here in Texas. That’s fine with us. If we could have just one more month of weather like this, we’d all be very pleased. It may not come to pass, however.
Floor insulation and subfloor
After a week of vacation, we’ve hit the ground running. We’ve literally hit the ground. Today we installed a layer of insulation and the new subfloor. Yes, it looks a bit curvy in the picture above. Some self-tapping screws solves that little issue. Only about 200 more screws to go, and we’re done.
The layer of insulation is safe, eco-friendly, and will kill a lot of road noise, once we’re on the road.
It’s starting to warm up in Houston, so we hope to pick up a little speed with the next phase of the construction, which will be to construct our under-bus storage boxes and doors. Sooner that you think, the thermomater will start to climb.
