Barn Door for JK factory hardtops
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I finished the first part of the sewing of the roll-up soft sides. The side panels attach to "zipper strips" that attach to the top and sides of the opening. The zipper strips are held in place with retainers that bolt to the same places that the hard side panels bolt to.
This is the same design that I used for the LJ Safari Cab soft sides; over many miles of use the design has proven to be weathertight, and quiet on the highway.
The same design would also work well on the factory hardtop modular conversion (https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...g-a-factory-jk-jku-hardtop-to-modular.160775/):
All that's left to do is sew the side panels and paint the c-pillars Spice.
This is the same design that I used for the LJ Safari Cab soft sides; over many miles of use the design has proven to be weathertight, and quiet on the highway.
The same design would also work well on the factory hardtop modular conversion (https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...g-a-factory-jk-jku-hardtop-to-modular.160775/):
All that's left to do is sew the side panels and paint the c-pillars Spice.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Time to put a finish on Donny's barn door, this morning I shot it with epoxy primer. I used black epoxy since Donny wants the finish coat to be black.
I'll be doing the inside in SEM Trim Black (a good match for the black interior plastic of the JK) followed by matte 2k clear coat. The outside will be done in EZ-Liner Bedliner, which should be a decent match for the bedliner on the outside of his Ursa Minor top.
I'll be doing the inside in SEM Trim Black (a good match for the black interior plastic of the JK) followed by matte 2k clear coat. The outside will be done in EZ-Liner Bedliner, which should be a decent match for the bedliner on the outside of his Ursa Minor top.
rubicon91
Explorer
Time to put a finish on Donny's barn door, this morning I shot it with epoxy primer. I used black epoxy since Donny wants the finish coat to be black.
I'll be doing the inside in SEM Trim Black (a good match for the black interior plastic of the JK) followed by matte 2k clear coat. The outside will be done in EZ-Liner Bedliner, which should be a decent match for the bedliner on the outside of his Ursa Minor top.
That looks great Jeff!
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thank you. I'll be doing the final paint over the next two days then all we're waiting for is the darker tinted glass to be done.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
One of the finishing details I applied to the Safari Cab is a Safari logo decal on the rear quarter panels, it's visible in this photo taken just after I finished building the hardtop:
Having finished the soft side attachment components the other day, I'm getting ready to sew the soft side panels themselves. I'm going to add Safari logos to the soft sides so I had a local place embroider the logos on soft top fabric. I had them embroider a pair lighter than the fabric and a darker pair, I haven't decided which color I'll use yet.
Having finished the soft side attachment components the other day, I'm getting ready to sew the soft side panels themselves. I'm going to add Safari logos to the soft sides so I had a local place embroider the logos on soft top fabric. I had them embroider a pair lighter than the fabric and a darker pair, I haven't decided which color I'll use yet.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Update on Donny's barn door... painted the interior of the barn door with SEM Trim Black and shot it with several coats of 2k matte clear coat.
And as long as I was mixing up clear coat, I painted the Safari Cab soft side c-pillars Spice and shot them with matte clear at the same time.
The glass company made a new piece of tampered glass with dark tint to replace the light tint one they made by mistake. Here it is next to a factory hardtop tinted window, it's a bit darker.
Tomorrow I'll shoot the outside of the barn door with bedliner and Monday I plan to install the window.
And as long as I was mixing up clear coat, I painted the Safari Cab soft side c-pillars Spice and shot them with matte clear at the same time.
The glass company made a new piece of tampered glass with dark tint to replace the light tint one they made by mistake. Here it is next to a factory hardtop tinted window, it's a bit darker.
Tomorrow I'll shoot the outside of the barn door with bedliner and Monday I plan to install the window.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
The finish on Donny's barn door is done, this morning I did the exterior in bedliner to give it a texture and color to match his Ursa Minor camper top.
All that's left to do on the barn door is install the glass. Probably will do that tomorrow.
Also painted yesterday, the finished Safari Cab c-pillars, shown here with the soft side zippers attached.
All that's left to do on the barn door is install the glass. Probably will do that tomorrow.
Also painted yesterday, the finished Safari Cab c-pillars, shown here with the soft side zippers attached.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Yes. There are two ways it could be done.
1. When I mold the barn door parts I usually mask off the window area of the mold and don't lay up fiberglass there, but parts could be made with solid windows. In this photo I'm molding an inner shell without laying fiberglass in the window opening but in the background the outer shell has fiberglass laid up across the window opening.
2. Instead of a window, a solid panel could be installed, as in this photo:
Either one could look something like this rough concept image...
Last edited:
02rangeredge
Adventurer
The finish on Donny's barn door is done, this morning I did the exterior in bedliner to give it a texture and color to match his Ursa Minor camper top.
All that's left to do on the barn door is install the glass. Probably will do that tomorrow.
Also painted yesterday, the finished Safari Cab c-pillars, shown here with the soft side zippers attached.
Make sure you get pictures of that Ursa Minor with the barn door, I always thought it should at least be an option given how practical it seems- that one I can't attest to but you never went back to the oem for a reason I'd assume
ChesterCopperpot
New member
Hi Jeff,
thanks for all the design and build related posts here in this forum.
Nowadays someone like you is called an influencer. I think you're the prototype version of it, to describe it with in a designers vocabulary ;-)
I am currently also in an building project and have some questions:
You did a lot of molle panels with sheet metal. Can you describe this process more detailed? Especially how to cut all the holes accurately. I thing you mentioned, that you use a jigsaw? Do you have sheet metal brake for your bendings?
What is your experience with metal molle panels: do molle straps wear out on the metal edges?
The second topic with a lot of questions ist "sew a softtop", but I think, that I will open an own thread and invite you giving feedback, so I don't highjack yours...
thanks for all the design and build related posts here in this forum.
Nowadays someone like you is called an influencer. I think you're the prototype version of it, to describe it with in a designers vocabulary ;-)
I am currently also in an building project and have some questions:
You did a lot of molle panels with sheet metal. Can you describe this process more detailed? Especially how to cut all the holes accurately. I thing you mentioned, that you use a jigsaw? Do you have sheet metal brake for your bendings?
What is your experience with metal molle panels: do molle straps wear out on the metal edges?
The second topic with a lot of questions ist "sew a softtop", but I think, that I will open an own thread and invite you giving feedback, so I don't highjack yours...
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Glad you find my posts useful. I do hope I influence people to try their own projects, most of what I do isn't hard if you do a thorough design and break down the project into small steps, each of which is easy to complete.
To make a Molle panel, I first draw the design on my computer and print it out. Usually the designs are larger than a sheet of paper, so I print it across multiple sheets and tape it together. Before I do anything in metal I mock up the paper/cardstock printout in place, in the two photos below I'm mocking up the overhead/swing-down Molle panel (soon to be released as a product BTW, a company has picked up the design).
Once I'm happy with the design I tape the printout to the sheet metal and I centerpunch all holes and hole centers for the larger holes - I always include center marks on the printout of all holes to be drilled. I can then remove the printout and drill 1/8" pilot holes at all center punch marks. Even if the hole is to only be 1/4", I still drill a 1/8" pilot hole because a small drill has much less tendency to wander and I want to keep everything as accurate as possible.
I then drill all holes to their final size; for the Molle slots I drill the ends of the slot with a hole saw and then cut out the middle with a jigsaw with a metal-cutting blade. A template and the final product (which has already been through the bending brake in this photo) are shown in this photo:
The jigsaw and a hole saw (this is a different panel than the one above):
I do have a bending brake, it's home made and is capable of 30"-long bends in lighter sheet metal but for a long bend in heavy sheet metal I go to a local fabrication shop and do the bending on one of their brakes. There's a shop in town that's very friendly to my projects and they let me use their brakes whenever I need to bend something big. If you don't have a friendly shop around, you can probably pay a shop a few dollars to do the bending for you, the bending is the only part you may not be able to do at home, assuming you have a printer, drill and jigsaw to do the rest. Another thing I occasionally do at the fab shop is use their Metalworker to punch the large starter holes for the Molle slots rather than hole saw them at home. The end result is the same but if there are a lot of slots sometimes it's quicker for me to drive to their shop and punch the holes than it is to drill them all at home.
I haven't had any issues with Molle straps getting worn by the edges of the metal slots, but I'm pretty careful to remove any sharp edges.
Happy to give whatever advice and help I can with that project, just point me to your thread when you''re ready.
ChesterCopperpot
New member
Thanks for your detailed description.
You use aluminum for these kind of panels. Which thickness is at least necessary for its stiffness?
I never worked with sheet metal, so I'm trying to reduce my fails
You use aluminum for these kind of panels. Which thickness is at least necessary for its stiffness?
I never worked with sheet metal, so I'm trying to reduce my fails
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks for your detailed description.
You use aluminum for these kind of panels. Which thickness is at least necessary for its stiffness?
I never worked with sheet metal, so I'm trying to reduce my fails
I use both aluminum or steel. For a large panel where strength is important as well as keeping weight down I'll use aluminum, typically 1/8" thick. For the panel below I used steel, it's shown here unpainted. I'll use either 16 or 14 gauge, depending on the size, strength requirements and availability of metal (I also drop by the fab shop to buy pieces of metal, they more often have 14-gauge cutoffs than 16-gauge. I do more work in steel than aluminum just because of availability of materials; the overhead panel I posted about earlier is aluminum that I picked up at a surplus place at a good price.
