Fabricating an aluminum floor for dummies

[panFried]

Ok, I scanned the forum and I read about templating and attaching aluminum decking but I need to be convinced a weekend warrior like me can cut and bend aluminum sheeting in a general garage of tools. I am planning to go the marine plywood route but I am slowly being swayed to aluminum. Please help in decision. Keep in mind I don't have metal work experience other than riveting and tin snipping.

 

[JGibson]

I cut out an aluminum floor for my boat. I used the old wood floor as a template. I used a Jig Saw (Slow process) with a metal cutting blade and a flat file to smooth out the rough spots after it was cut, pretty easy. There was no bending done. I did however make a FF/DF stand and it involved bending...I broke the first one while bending it, I'm guessing that if I had of used heat to bend it it would not have broke. The second one I made I just curved it til I got it to where I wanted it, no sharp bends.

 

[PSG-1]

Guys, you can cut aluminum sheet with a regular circular saw. Use a fine tooth blade for thin material under 3/16" and use a heavy framing blade for thicker stuff.

As for bending, you can make a crude metal brake using some bottle jacks, 2 pieces of heavy angle to form the ram and die set, and then a framework for the ram and die and the jacks to do the bending. Something like this:






Made from some used motor grader blades, angle iron, and I-beam, using a 20 ton air-hydraulic jack



You get the idea....





I've also seen it done by clamping the material to the edge of a heavy table, and using a dead-blow hammer to form the bend.

 

[BigTerp]

If I can cut my floor out of a 5' x 10' sheet of aluminum, you can certianly do it. Now for bending, that's another story and something I'm staying away from in by build.

 

[Ranchero50]

panFried » Yesterday, 13:34[/url]"]Ok, I scanned the forum and I read about templating and attaching aluminum decking but I need to be convinced a weekend warrior like me can cut and bend aluminum sheeting in a general garage of tools. I am planning to go the marine plywood route but I am slowly being swayed to aluminum. Please help in decision. Keep in mind I don't have metal work experience other than riveting and tin snipping.

Make your forms out of cardboard or kraft paper, then cut your panels with your choice of saw. Drill your inside corners with a 3/8" drill bit. I like a worm gear circular saw for long straightish cuts (less kick and it's heavy enough to cut smoothly). Short cuts with a jig saw on slow speed. Metal cutting is loud so wear your ears.

If you have bends, cut your metal and take it to a fab shop to get bent for a couple bucks. Just take a small piece scrap so they can set up the machine for your thickness. Tell them your story and most folks will do the work for little or nothing unless you have a lot.

 

[Restrained]

I have some 3/16" aluminum flooring I would part with if anyone is interested let me know.

 

[turbotodd]

My old grumman boat had marine plywood.

It was heavy.

I didn't realize how heavy it was when I first bought it. It was good enough for me. Little while later, I wanted to strip the faded green paint off of it and then camoflage it, inside and out. I removed the plywood and insulation under it, painted it and then during the painting process a guy I worked with at the time had some leftover .100" thick diamond tread. I got it from him for under $20 for 2 4x8 sheets, only used one and a half. That boat with the aluminum floor was probably 40-50 lbs lighter than the plywood was, and it will never rot. I just riveted it onto the ribs, on top of the closed cell foam insulation.

For a pattern, I used stiff cardboard. A flat bottom is easier than a semi-vee because the center doesn't have to be bent. Just cut the cardboard to fit exactly like I wanted it to, then cut the aluminum. Big cuts with a skil saw (wear ear protection AND eye protection...). Smaller cuts with either a hack saw blade, a hack saw, sawzall, or a body saw. The body saw saw more action than anything else, and I still use it for other projects. They are awesome. It's like a mini sawzall that reciprocates the blade about 10x faster than a sawzall.

I bent the outer edges downward, which helped stiffen up the floor. That was the only bends I had to make. Initially I didn't bend them down, but the first time I stood on the floor, I noticed flex around the edges, and because I have seen War Eagle's floors (which are all bent downward at about a 45° angle), I decided to try that, thinking at least all the junk that lays on the floors would stay around the edge. The bend stiffened up the entire floor as a whole. I just did it on the edge of some 2x4's with a soft face hammer, a little at a time. I put one 2x4 underneath and another one on top and clamped them with the floor in the middle and hammered it out. Worked good, just took forever it seemed. Thats where a brake would come in handy, would make the bend a LOT faster.

Friend of mine did his Waco 1448 same way but left it a polished finish as opposed to painted like mine is, and his is only .075" thickness (IIRC). Lot thinner than mine is, but it works fine. It flexes a little more though.