How to build overheads/upper cabinets for your van conversion | Vanlife Conversions

[Music] hello everyone it's ollie here from van life conversions in this video i'll be showing you the method that i use to build overhead cupboards for your own van conversions i like using this method because it's lightweight and it's a strong structure if you look at the items in front of me these are the component parts that you'll need we use two by one plain square edge pine this will form the structure for the overhead cupboards and then for the baseboard and the dividers we'll be using nine mil mdf i like to use dot paper to create a working drawing and cut list when planning to build cabinetry first i draw in the structure of the battens and work out the lengths of timber that i need to cut i then include the baseboard and side pieces for the sketch this process allows me to visualize the cabinets and produce an accurate list of the components to then assemble i start to assemble the outer frame using a pocket hole jig and screws to fix the battens together at 90 [Music] degrees [Music] so now that the main frame has been built using the pocket hole method i'm going to mark on the area that i want each of the dividers to be located we're going to have three cupboard fronts on this van and because the length is one meter at 26 i'm going to draw a line uh a third of that so we're going to have 42 centimeters and 84 centimeters for each of the dividers so now that i've got the guide for each cupboard i'm going to put the vertical dividers in and i'll just do this like so and i line them up with the pencil line and one thing to bear in mind is where there's a bit of tear out i have that facing inside the cupboard um so that the um neater edge is on show when you open the cupboard door so i line them up with a pencil line and then what i'm going to use is a pilot hole my drawer i'm using a drill bit that is slightly bigger than the screw through this top piece of timber because i don't want it to bite into this top piece i'll have it bite into the bottom piece and get pulled up i put one screw through each of the buttons and i sink it about a millimeter below the surface so that it's not protruding i uh offset them slightly from one another and draw the pilot hole at a slight angle that's opposing one another just to prevent them from being able to twist [Music] i'm now going to cut this 9mm mdf baseboard to length which is one meter 26 i'm going to do that using a plunge saw and this track [Music] so for the next phase of the build we're going to fix this 9 mil baseboard onto the bottom side of the frame and we're going to do this using 25 mil self tapping screws so i'm just using my index finger and thumb to flush the mdf baseboard to the edge of the frame [Music] now in the citroen relay there's a pillar which makes the wall stand out slightly at a bit of a curve so i've cut this baseboard slightly longer than i intend it to be it's 38 centimeters currently and i'm going to do a three centimeter scribe to bring the width of the baseboard down to 35 centimeters so i've temporarily fixed the overhead cupboard to the roof i've just drilled through and screwed using 40 mil screws and these fix into the horizontal 12 mil plywood strips that are on the ribs of the van what i want to do now is i want to scribe the back of the baseboard to fit the curve of the wall and also i will bring the frame back in line with this vertical wall here to do this i'm going to cut myself a scribe and i'm measuring how big that scribe needs to be and it's 27 millimeters i'll do that now so when i need a scribe of a certain length i'll go into my scrap bin under my chop saw take out a piece of sheet material and cut it to the desired length of the scribe so for this one it's going to be 27 millimeters [Applause] run a pencil line along the baseboard using the scribe as a guide to match the profile of the wall here is the cut line made by the scribe you can see how the shape is not a perfectly straight line but it's curved i will now cut this with the plunger [Music] so now that i'm happy with the scribe of the baseboard i'm going to prepare this fixing button to fix through the baseboard and into the wall which will secure that back edge onto the van so to do this i'm going to use a four mil drill bit and a countersink to sink the screws so i'll now place this piece of timber onto the back and start to fix it through the baseboard okay so now that the overhead is secured into the van i want to now make the dividers and the end pieces to separate each of the cupboards from the inside to do this i'm going to cut a square of mdf and then scribe the back edge to the shape of the wall and to get the size i measure the front by the length what i've done is i've cut this sheet material here to 30 centimeters by 37 centimeters um this length here is longer than the actual length that i'm going to need for my final scribe but it allows me to make adjustments and a need to scribe after a couple of passes so what i'm going to do is i'm going to measure the distance at the widest part which here is 12 centimeters and i'm going to go slightly less than that to get myself uh enough um room to make a neat scribe once i've got the initial cuts made so i'll cut a scribe piece now at 10 [Music] centimeters okay so you see i've made the first cut which has allowed me to move the piece closer to the wall i can now start to get a more detailed scribe you can see at the top edge there's a gap at the front and no gap at the back you don't need to cut a scribe block for this you can just run your pencil along and then it gives you a cut line once i make that cut it will sit flush against the roof okay so now i've made that flush to the roof i'm going to make my final scribe which is using this 25 mil block but now the final neat scrub is done i'm happy with the fit and i'll use this as my template for the other three pieces so now that the two end pieces are scribed and put into place i will now amend the template so that it will suit the inner divider pieces this sits inside the frame so i need to take nine millimeters off of the bottom of the template take a batten width off the front of the template and then cut a 90 degree notch in the back corner which will be where the horizontal beam [Applause] [Music] [Applause] passes [Music] to fit the internal dividers i'm going to be using these small 90 degree brackets a pilot hole drill bit and some 10.5 mil hinge screws to ensure that the dividers are at a 90 degree angle i'm using a framing square just to mark the line that i want these dividers to sit on so you can see that i've attached the 90 degree brackets into the pine using 16 mil screws and i've just basically put the panel up and to ensure that it's 90 degrees to the base i'm using my framing square to run a pencil line to then put the screws into the mdf i'm going to be using a pilot hole and some 10 and a half mil hinge screws so for some additional strength along this bottom edge i'm just going to run some 15 mil brad nails uh through the plywood and into the mdf base there's a slight lip of this bit of plywood i'm just going to run my flush trim route a bit just to bring that level with the mdf baseboard you can see now the internal dividers have been put in i'm really happy with the scribe and that little notch at the back has worked out nicely it's advisable to have this painted whilst it's outside just to help seal the edges of the cut timber in the two center dividers you can see i've cut a small notch this will serve to feed a small cable through which will enable a couple of led touch sensitive down lighters to be fixed through the baseboard of this kitchen unit overhead

Channel: Vanlife Conversions

Views: 261,177

Keywords: van conversion overheads, van cabinets, vanlife, self build, van conversion tips, upper cabinets

Id: FVxq2M0Nwjo

Length: 10min 41sec (641 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2020