Up next in 10
80/20 wood enclosure panel fabrication
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May 2, 2025
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View Video Transcript
0:04
hey guys welcome back to vild HQ live
0:08
filming on the phone because I have a
0:10
quick tip that I wanted to go through it
0:12
has to do with fabricating wood panels
0:14
for
0:15
8020 so we're going to flip the camera
0:18
around here and this is a panel that
0:22
we're getting ready to put in our van
0:26
build if you guys missed out on live
0:28
stream we installed the following
0:31
vanco rear tire
0:34
carrier but today what we're finishing
0:36
up is this
0:38
system I've already fabricated this
0:41
panel and this panel as you guys can see
0:44
and I'm thinking that uh doing a quick
0:48
lesson on how I get all this stuff to
0:50
line
0:51
up would be helpful so if you're
0:54
constructing anything out of 8020 you're
0:56
eventually going to get to the point
0:58
where you need to
1:00
make panels so you can finish it off
1:02
make it look professional enclose
1:04
everything and so this is the steps that
1:07
I take so first what I do is I make sure
1:11
that the cage or the frame that I make
1:16
is you know what it needs to be um and
1:20
then I do that first and then in my
1:22
drawings I will build out this section
1:26
so that if I have something like this
1:28
pull out tray when I end up I have my
1:31
8020 here my panel with whether it's a/
1:35
in or
1:38
3/4 half inch Gap here so that the or
1:42
actually this needs to be more than that
1:46
um and then whatever device I have
1:48
that's permanently mounted it could be a
1:49
tray or anything like that but let's go
1:52
over here
1:53
and get our
1:56
little teaching tool so this is just uh
1:59
angle bracket just for visual
2:02
purposes but for example let me put this
2:06
in
2:09
here and then I'm going to get a tape
2:11
measure that way you guys can actually
2:13
see the
2:17
uh the next steps
2:28
here
2:32
NOA says
2:34
hi all right let's see here so we've got
2:40
this is our
2:43
setup trying to get that in
2:49
Focus anyway so we have our ad20 behind
2:52
here so behind the scenes you can see
2:54
why this vent is in its location because
2:58
it's pretty much the only place I I can
3:00
vent the air out so kind of keeping
3:02
those uh those things in mind is what
3:05
you should
3:06
consider this is 3/4 in panel so we got
3:10
3/4 in as you can see right there
3:13
plus we've got one
3:16
to exactly 3/4 for it to move in and out
3:21
which it doesn't need that you know you
3:23
could do a quarter you just need enough
3:25
room for this panel to move out after
3:27
you've unbolted it I've actually
3:29
designed this so that when you take the
3:31
six bolts out you can just slide it back
3:33
and take it out you don't have to take
3:35
it out this
3:36
way you know in case you have
3:38
something uh in front of
3:42
it this is a little bit of a odd
3:45
situation because this is more for
3:47
showoff purposes so you guys can
3:49
actually see the interior of the
3:51
system um and if you guys are just
3:52
seeing this for the first time we have a
3:55
600 amp hour power system we got our DC
3:58
todc charger from Renegy the acrylic
4:02
lets us see the
4:04
lights the status lights and then over
4:06
here this is something pretty cool um
4:09
it's more just a nerd outon but it's a
4:11
circuit board that controls a
4:13
thermostatic uh thermostatically
4:15
controlled switch that turns on these
4:17
fans to cool this whole box down if it
4:20
gets too
4:21
hot and then we've got our indicator
4:24
window so we can see our updates on our
4:27
inverter and then we got our fuses in
4:29
stuff like that so that's kind of what
4:31
that's for you know just to show off
4:35
but getting back to this this is how I
4:38
map out you know where this goes before
4:41
I even build the power system so before
4:43
I built the power system this tray is
4:46
actually bolted through the van right
4:49
here you see the bolt that's through the
4:51
van
4:52
chassis and through the van chassis so I
4:55
had to find out those uh hole locations
4:59
before this whole entire thing even
5:01
happened so this was first and then I
5:04
just kind of reverse engineered the
5:06
measurements going back how MA big this
5:09
box could be based on our width of our
5:13
batteries so we have our Renegy
5:17
batteries in here and so we've got a
5:19
width on the batteries that is a
5:22
standard width um which is from here to
5:28
here
5:30
so let me get the tape measure out
5:37
again okay so the battery I think
5:40
was I think it was 11
5:44
in little bit and then I'm using the
5:49
panel Edge to hold in that first battery
5:52
and then the the batteries at the end
5:54
are all held in by this back panel
5:57
that's not the front to back movement
5:58
they're locked front front to back with
6:01
brackets but the side to side is this
6:04
panel and then the adventure wagon panel
6:06
on the
6:08
interior so we first map out the frame
6:11
we got that checked off we have our
6:13
distance from a fixed component this can
6:16
be anything from a pullout tray you may
6:19
might have a fridge here you might have
6:21
gear storage uh mountain bikes are
6:24
pretty popular so those that's your
6:26
fixed measurement and then you kind of
6:28
go backwards
6:30
based on your power system how you want
6:32
to line everything up and go from
6:36
there all right so we have all this set
6:40
up you guys can see with this bracket
6:43
behind the scenes how why everything is
6:47
in this location because it's impossible
6:50
to go anywhere
6:52
else um and
6:55
then that's all that's what we
6:58
got
7:00
all right so we're getting ready to go
7:01
back up to the whole point of this this
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panel back here is for the uh gasoline
7:07
heater Outlet in the back we got our 120
7:11
volt breaker that's going to go
7:15
there and then this will this whole
7:17
entire system will be complete so next
7:21
to the
7:23
panels so for the panels you're going to
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make sure that you need to make sure you
7:26
pre-drill these holes before you wrap
7:29
them or paint them uh because you need
7:31
to make sure they're in the right
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location it's impossible to do this
7:34
after the fact so you need to have
7:36
precise measurements and then you also
7:39
need to take consideration the thickness
7:41
of your Fabric and then you'll need to
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uh you'll need to remove that thickness
7:47
of your fabric from your overall
7:51
measurement so let's get into this top
7:53
panel so this top panel is what we're
7:55
finishing up and this is going to be a
7:57
short stream this is just to capture
7:59
this
8:00
idea um not idea but this kind of
8:03
tutorial that was in my head I thought
8:05
was important before I move on and you
8:07
guys don't get to see
8:10
this so how do I locate where these
8:12
screws go to bolt everything down so
8:14
that they're nice and
8:16
neat and look good so I'll show you how
8:20
I do it so we need this
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bracket
8:31
okay so we're going to come over here to
8:32
our piece of
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wood so down
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here me flip this
8:54
around okay so right here is where we
8:57
have
8:58
our
8:59
intake vent for the
9:02
inverter so it's going to go just like
9:06
that and what we've done here is we've
9:10
measured so we've measured the center to
9:14
get this in there
9:15
visually and then we have our on and off
9:18
button for that cool LED light that's in
9:21
there I'll show you in a second but then
9:23
notice how these are
9:26
offset now this extra part right here is
9:31
because we have that 3/4 inch
9:34
panel so if we take this and we place it
9:38
right here you can kind of visually
9:40
see uh where our our tolerances come
9:43
into play so I'm going to move this so
9:47
that I
9:49
have
9:52
3/4 of an inch and then on the back side
9:55
we're going to make sure we have half
9:58
inch
10:00
so this is
10:03
where this is where we have
10:08
our uh panel
10:10
Gap so we got 3/4 in panel here that we
10:13
need to take in account and we got a/
10:15
inch panel here that we got to take into
10:18
account so our center line for the 8020
10:21
as you guys can see is obviously in the
10:23
center
10:25
line and then over
10:27
here we're using this
10:29
channel so if you wanted to put a screw
10:31
here you couldn't do that so you need to
10:33
make sure find out what you're using so
10:36
we're going to keep this long piece of
10:38
8020 as what we bolt in for this panel
10:42
and then on this side we're going to use
10:44
this which is half of an inch and a half
10:47
which is this 15 series and this is
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going to be 3/4 of an inch off the
10:55
side now this sounds like double work
10:57
but this is the way I do it so I cut the
11:00
panel to the exact width of the box and
11:04
exact depth of the Box including these
11:07
side panels I do that
11:09
first then I'll come through and I'll
11:11
measure all my offsets for my holes that
11:14
I bolted down with so this is
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3/4 and then I know this sounds like
11:20
double work but then I'll get my
11:22
tracksaw back out and I'll come through
11:25
and I'll just remove the the thickness
11:28
of the tracka blade from one side and
11:33
uh from each side well actually from one
11:36
side on the
11:38
front I'm sorry one side on the back
11:40
I'll leave the
11:42
front and that's going to take away my
11:46
thickness of my
11:49
upholstery I've tried in the past where
11:51
I triy to get this lined up and I do 3/4
11:53
of an inch minus an e and for whatever
11:56
reason it's just not as accurate so it's
11:59
okay to take off a little bit more but
12:02
your home location here for this hole is
12:04
always going to
12:05
be where the 8020 is it needs to be
12:08
perfect so if you take a little bit
12:11
maybe an eighth of an inch off of this
12:12
side eighth here eighth here and eighth
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in the back for your
12:16
upholstery the upholstery thickness is
12:19
going to take up that difference and
12:21
you'll still be
12:23
accurate so that is my recommendation
12:26
for locating these holes
12:32
so here you can see I've got
12:39
my when I line this hole up you'll
12:42
notice that we're not at 3/4
12:44
anymore we're an eighth behind and we're
12:47
doing that because of our upholstered
12:50
panel so we have two things that are
12:53
working against us we have a 3/4 inch
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panel that's upholstered on the front
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but then it lips over the back so
13:02
instead of a 3/4 inch panel we have a
13:04
3/4 in panel plus a 16th on the front
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and a 16th on the back which means we
13:09
have to
13:10
remove an eighth of an
13:13
inch from this and uh hopefully this is
13:18
not hopefully this is clear so we are an
13:22
eighth of an inch
13:27
back and you just going to have to play
13:29
with that because when you get
13:30
everything
13:32
finished for over here you have an
13:34
eighth of an inch that's taken off 16th
13:36
on the front panel 16th on the back cuz
13:39
it's wrapped over the panel on this side
13:43
you have the wall of the van so this
13:46
cannot be the exact width of the box so
13:48
you have to take off another eighth here
13:51
then you have a panel that's wrapped
13:52
front and back here that's a 16th on the
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front 16th on the back with a/ inch
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panel
13:59
so you kind of see how the reasons why
14:02
I'll do a
14:03
full measurement of the Box just cut
14:06
this out rough nice and clean I'll line
14:08
up all my holes and then I'll come back
14:11
and I'll shave these edges off because
14:13
it's just the easiest way I've found to
14:14
do
14:16
it uh this is our vent
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plate and we want to make sure that we
14:21
Center that so that
14:24
it's perfectly Center over the intake
14:26
for the inverter that way it co P it
14:29
better but what you're going to do is
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you're going to take this uh kind of
14:33
what I taught you
14:35
here and then you're going to apply that
14:37
to the rest of the panel so right here
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we've measured the center of the panel
14:42
and we've got two
14:43
holes and we just kept the same
14:47
offset as our back hole and then we've
14:51
offset had this offset the same and what
14:54
I'm using to mark my holes is this punch
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down tool
15:00
so you just find your little x marks a
15:01
spot this punch down will make it so
15:03
that when you have your drill bit your
15:05
drill bit has something to follow and it
15:07
won't uh come off the side because if
15:09
you
15:10
miss uh 8020 is not doesn't give you any
15:14
forgiveness so that hole has to be
15:16
exactly in the center of that line or
15:19
it's going to be a pain in the butt in
15:20
the future when you need to take these
15:21
panels out to do any
15:24
maintenance and then last but not least
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we have the back here and no how we have
15:29
it at 3/4 of an inch off the edge
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because that's where our 8020 is
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actually
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um lined
15:42
up so when you do all that you're ready
15:45
to drill your holes after you punch them
15:48
down go ahead and drill them out you
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know move the drill bit around give you
15:51
a little bit more of an opening to uh
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get you some
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movement um but after you finish that
15:57
the panel is either ready ready to paint
15:59
and seal if you're going to do that or
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uh upholster and that way when you get
16:05
to the point of putting the screws in
16:08
you'll just cut these little holes out
16:10
with a little bit of a razor blade and
16:13
then you'll pop it back in you know put
16:15
your pyad cap screws in and you're good
16:18
to
16:20
go so hopefully that gave you guys an
16:23
idea
16:25
of kind of the behind the scenes of how
16:29
this type of um panel is made if you're
16:32
doing 8020 if you guys have any
16:35
questions make sure you put those in the
16:36
comments below I'd be happy to answer
16:38
them for you and uh yeah if you're doing
16:42
a personal build hope it's doing well
16:44
make sure you guys are subscribed to the
16:45
channel like it share the video if you
16:48
know somebody's working on this same
16:49
type of project and also don't forget to
16:52
check out our DIY van build cheat
16:55
sheet Link in the description below and
16:58
we see you guys in the next live
17:08
stream
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