Field Pack Build From the Garage of Scootch

[Scootch]

Hi Guys;

Enough people liked my first field pack build I decided to keep track of the process better here as I build pack #2.

I will begin with a few items such as seed trays, faucet covers, and bottles. Most already know "Wet Ones" tapered bottles make nice pack parts. I find them at Target for $2.14 a piece. I usually empty the contents into a zip lock freezer bag and let my girl take em to the office. Faucet covers are a good one since you can find them in most DIY and Hardware stores. Best of all you can carefully remove the red plastic cover and still have a functioning styrophoam faucet cover! Seed trays can be found at gardening supply places. Here's a link where I get mine:

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=96373 Plus if you like gardening they have lots of cool stuff.

NOTE: Check the MEPD Supply Depot for field pack parts. You will find a wealth of information there. New and better products are coming out frequently!

Okay so first day of pack making should be getting the boring "work" part of it out of the way. What I like to do is clean and sand all the parts I plan to prime. Utilizing a Citrus based cleaning agent I begin by getting the stickers off of stuff:

Best way is to saturate a folded up paper towell with cleaner and then use it to saturate the sticky paper stuff. Walk away and let it soak for a while.

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Now we can begin sanding our seed trays and bottles. For initial sanding I like to wet sand with 400 grit paper. It's important to remember to sand WITH the grain or in this case paralell to the work. (no circular motions or crossing the patterns on the trays) we don't want to have extra work later.

When sanding at this stage we just want to dull down the entire surface to be primed. go ahead and do the underside of the lip too, we won't paint it but we're sanding anyway and we'll need it roughed up later for final assembly. As you can see my work sink has seen a lot of wet sanding action! I should really clean that up!

When sanding the bottles you want to go with the radius of the bottle and not from the base to the lip. It's not necessary to erraticate all of the label on the bottle so don't worry if you are left with a little.

I'm getting stuff ready for four more packs so some of the photos will have extra parts.

First hour of sanding complete. The faucet covers were washed and sanded after the bottles and trays giving plenty of time for the cleaner to loosen up the sticky stuff.

I'll be using Rustoleum Primer for Plastic in white and priming only the parts to be painted Blue (my blue isn't for plastic). It is important to use paints and primers made for plastics. When colors are only found in standard type paints, a good primer for plastic should be used first.

Next time I work on these I will build the frame while I wait on the primer to set up.

[Scootch]

Next We'll use our Rustoleum Primer for Plastic and shoot our parts we prepped earlier. Do this in a well ventilated area or outside.

Primer re-coat intervals are about 12 minutes apart in good conditions with this product. Use the primer to cover seams, logos, and fill gaps.

On you're satisfied with the initial prime job, mov the pieces to a safe place and allow them to set up for around 24 hours

[Scootch]

Seth B. came up with a nice CPVC pack frame build a while back. We're going to use his methods but with 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe and fittings.

First let's cut our pieces.............

Cut two lengths 17-1/4" long, two lengths 10" long, and two lengths 3-1/2" long....

Are you guys going to want measurements translated to metric?

Utilize your most familiar cutting tool:

The 17-1/2" lengths may be adjusted later. The 10" and 3-1/2" lengths work perfectly with the "Park Seed" seed trays which are a bit smaller and deeper than trays in similar tutorials.

Let's mark the center of each 17-1/4" pipe.........8-5/8" is our center line. This is where we are going to concentrate some heat and bend our pipe to a 30 degree angle!

[Scootch]

I picked up this heat gun in the paint department of Home Depot. Best tool I think I ever bought besides my church key

We want to heat the center of our piece of pipe evenly so work the heat (high) around the center of the pipe's radius. You will know it's getting ready to work into our angle because the pipe will begin to droop at the end you're NOT holding. It may take a couple tries to get the 30 degree angle, just remember to pull the pipe ends away from eachother gently as you bend so as not to crease the pipe. Water will cool the pipe quickly and aid in getting through this step faster.

Once you've got one done, the second one can go very easily.

I clamped the hot one to the cool one after I got it close and let it cool naturally. Afterward I just heated and tweaked until I got a perfect match! Once you're sure you like your two bends, it's time to move on to assembly!

[Scootch]

First we'll talk about glue. PVC glue varies from fast setting to medium to low setting. If you're not used to using it I would advise the blue glue (dark blue) or even E6000 or some other slow setting adhesive. I'm using wet or dry PVC glue here because I had it in my sprinkler fixing goods.

I'm only gluing the inside of the fittings so I don't end up with a bunch of it on my finished product.

First things first, bevel the pipe ends with a file or sandpaper to make things slide easily! Next let's glue a 3-1/2" piece into one of our 90's. Glue this assembly onto a 10" piece of pipe. Now we have a nice base to work from for keeping things square.

Glue another 90 and 3-1/2" piece and check to ensure they are identicle in overall length.

Remember to make sure these pipes are sliding "home" all the way into the fitting cups or we could end up being a bit out of square!

Let's get cookin' on this thing now shall we? It's time to glue the other 3-1/2" assembly in place. Here you have options. You may use your "shootin' eye" or a flat workspace to get these lined up just right. I use the flat space first then the shootin eye for verification. Here's a shootin eye view!

Here's where I'd like to point out that cast fittings have seams and markings at 90 degree angles on them and thus may be utilized to help ensure a square assembly!

Let's line up our next fittings by utilizing these markings...........

Lean your bent pipes against your glue can or other sturdy thing, stand them up so they're facing up perfectly with only a portion of the pipe ends touching your table. Mark the Center line of them. Mark center of your 3-1/2" pipe ends too. Now you can glue your 90's onto the 3-1/2" pipe ends nice and square, then the bent pieces into the 90's and use the markings on the pipe and the fittings to align everything.

[Scootch]

We're jammin' now! Almost done with the PVC! After looking our assembly over and tweaking it into shape we're ready to finish up.

Let's glue that last 10" piece into a 90! Now glue that onto one of our 17-1/4" ends and line up the last two ends to be glued. It's a good idea to lay the assembly flat at this point and insure three finished sides are touching the table (something I never think about until it's too late ).

Now let's glue the last 90 on one piece of pipe at a time or all at once, personal preference!

Next we wil make our cross members. They are the supports for our boxes and the reinforcement for our frame.

First thing we want to do is check our measurements. We should be roughly 12" end to end as seen in the photo. This pack is 11-7/8" so we're good.

For the cross members it's personal preference. Many guys have access to thick plastic or some other material, I use 1-1/2" x 1/8" Aluminum found at Home Depot .

Let's transfer measurements to our Aluminum and make nice square marks at 11-7/8" (12" is okay too).

Now here's a trick for getting square cuts:

Pull your sawblade along the line toward you several times until a nice little groove is formed, then you can cut away without the blade getting off course......or just use a power tool!

[Scootch]

Next we'll clean up the edges with our grinder or ******* File. Don't want any sharp edges or burs. Here you see one cleaned up and one on deck.

With the pack frame lying Trooper side down on the table we can begin preparing to install the cross members.

To make things easier I drew a line with my Sharpe on the seam of each of my 90's so I can see where top center of the pipe is,

Next we want to measure and verify we've got the piece of Aluminum even on both ends. I came up with 3/8" from end of Aluminum to center of pipe. The cool thing is 3/8" is also one fourth of the width of the Aluminum! So we can measure in 3/8" from each corner on our Aluminum strip and mark it for our mounting holes.

When working with Aluminum I like to drill a small pilot hole first. But before that.................................................

I put on my safety glasses!!

Don't worry if your bit walks on you, as long as you're within 1/8" of the target you're fine.

With the pilot holes drilled we will now be ready to up-size to the type of fastener we're going to utilize. I've got a surplus of 3/16" Aluminum Rivets and nowhere to use them so I'm using them here. (Overkill). When using rivets make sure the holes in your cross member are nice and clean and that the rivet slides through easily.

Once the cross members have been drilled out we are ready to establish where to mount them! Let's begin with the top one first..........

For this frame, center is about 4-1/2" down from where the end of our pipe would be, or "Butted to" the fitting hub as seen in the photo.

We already know we're 3/8" off center with our holes so mark a hole 3/8" off center just like the photo above. For this frame, center is about 4-1/2" down from where the end of our pipe would be, or "Butted to" the fitting hub as seen in the photo.

[Scootch]

We're working on one side at a time for this next move even though we've transfered our measurements to the oposing side of the frame.

Drill a hole for your rivet in the PVC frame.

Place your strap over your hole all centered up and ready to go, rivet it in place.

Now line the strap up on the oposing side and measure both sides. When you're sure you are square and even drill and install the remaining three rivets. Work in a crisscross pattern so that your crossmember stays square. Top strap is done!

The process is the same for the bottom only you work from the bottom up when laying out your mounting holes.

Now we have a frame with a sturdy platform for our boxes. As I stated before, utilize what you have and also what you're familiar with, Aluminum is just one way of making these members.

[Scootch]

Beginning with our main seed trays we will choose two trays to be our "Base" trays.....meaning these will attach directly to our pack frame cross members!

Once two have been selected we will want to remove the "speed bump" or ridge from the center of the tray. Utilize your fav cutting type tool. If using a razor just scribe along the edge of the bump, go back over your scribe line a few times until you penetrate through to the other side. Use a scizzors to cut the piece you want to remove in the center of it's length, then snap it out. Whittle out the excess at each end so that you have a flat center to your tray, and a groove in the middle. Don't worry about being perfect, only worry about having a flat surface to meet up to the pack frame with.

Now with some 600 grit sand paper we can wet sand our primed pieces! Knock down as much of the runs as you are able, sand everything smooth in the fashion we discussed earlier.

Let's begin with the BLUE! I'm using Rustoleum #7722 Harbor Blue. Shoot the stinger, bottles, and trays with a nice fatty coat. You can see that the white primer really makes the blue easy to get on in one coat!

With the Blue shoot done we can now concentrate on our Black shoot. We're using Rustoleum Gloss black Paint for Plastic and shooting directly onto plastic we previously sanded. I tried to get a shot of how I do it, pretty much I shoot from about 6 to 8 inches away and I do it the same as a guy with a gun would........ on and off the trigger as needed.

Kinda ""foggin it on" allowing the paint to adhere to the workpiece and blend together.

Here we are, a whole bunch of pretty pack parts! Now all that sanding and prep work is paying off!

[lordvader74]

'Bout time you brought this excellent tutorial over here. I just wrapped up my pack today (still gotta add the stinger and straps) and I used this tutorial to do it. You're the man. No...you're the Pack-Man!

[nice-biscuit]

Nice tutorial Scootch. I was looking at my box of bits for the backpack and thinking how on earth will I attempt this now I have an idea.

[dutchy]

'Bout time you brought this excellent tutorial over here. I just wrapped up my pack today (still gotta add the stinger and straps) and I used this tutorial to do it. You're the man. No...you're the Pack-Man!

Amen to that!!

[Scootch]

Thanks bro's.

Now that we've painted and are waiting on that to set up nicely, we can concentrate on some of the smaller projects that make up all the cool stuff which eventually attaches to the main boxes (seed trays). Let's walk through the "Bullet Box" Exhaust Port.

First we will select a small rectangular box.......in this case, a 0.22 Magnum cartridge box. Clean all the adhesive and sticker residue off the box. At the center of one end we want to drill a pilot hole.

Next we will open the hole large enough for our plumbing fitting to fit, we're using a 3/4" Aquapex coupling on this pack, it has a very nice little flange which will provide a good glue joint.

A "Uni-Bit" is a great tool for this, so's a dremel or even a razor in steady hands!

For the next few pieces we're using a two part plastic epoxy, This one's Super Glue but it's basically the same stuff as Devcon Plastic Welder.

Let's epoxy our 3/4" coupling into our box! As you can see, the flange really makes a great base for our fitting to rest against the box. Once epoxied in place it will be very strong!

Next we will cut a couple strips of 2mm thick plastic (or equivellent) about 1/2" wide by about 3-1/2" long. These will be our "Feet" for our little bullet box.

We want these "Feet" to rest on two of the "Speed Bumps" on our seed tray so we want to measure the seed tray. Our Park seed seed trays are 2-1/4" Center to center bump to bump!

We're going to establish where to mount our "feet" so that our bullet box looks natural, This box is about 3" in length, so I find center of the box and make a mark. I then divide 2-1/4" in half and come up with 1-1/8" so from center we measure out to each end of the box 1-1/8" This 1-1/8" measurement will be center of our "feet".

We can epoxy the sliding portion of our box so it's stationary, then epoxy our "feet" in place.

Now cut a strip of our 2mm thick plastic aproximately 1/2" to 3/4" wide and around 3" long. We'll cut some nice little triangles out of this which we'll use to dress up our "Feet". We're going to need 8 triangles. If some differ from others don't worry, we can clean it up with the dremel later on.

The triangles are a breeze, utilize a pair of tweezers to help with this job. Mix some epoxy, glue one side of a foot and one side of a triangle. align the triangle with the bottom edge of the foot and let the other side of the angle rest on the box. Repeat for side one of your box. Allow these to set up adequately then proceed with side two!

[Scootch]

We'll come back to this bullet box later, for now we want it to cure unmolested.

Let's work on our Burger Stacker assembly now! We'll be using a lot of things to make this assembly, unlike the originals, the only Plumbing items we're using are a toilet ball **** float and some PVC pipe. Let's get started with the easy stuff!

For our lower "Mushroom Cap" we're going to use half of a toilet ball **** float. Using a razor we'll cut the float in half so that we end up with this...................

Let's drill a hole through the end of this guy about 1/4" because for these assemblies we will be using 1/4" Carriage bolts.

Let's put four burger stackers together and drill the center of these too!

Next we'll make some cuts on our burger stacker assembly for the float to fit. A nice 2" hole in the bottom stacker, and a nice 1/2" hole in the next one up. This will allow the float to fit nice and snug! TD252 saved one of his 2" cut outs for his white dial pack, very nice!

At this point we can epoxy the stackers together. Just put a small bead of epoxy on each stacker lip beginning with the bottom (#4) and working your way up to #2 stacker. Just press each one together as you go!

with the stackers glued together, we want to drill a small hole in the #2 Stacker down from the top just large enough for a #12 Machine screw to fit.

In the top of #1 Stacker we want to cut a slot directly above the hole we just drilled. this is how we'll insert our machine screw.

[Scootch]

We are now ready to work on our bottle mounts! Remember the field pack we're doing has two bottle and mushroom cap assemblies. They mount using the same principal. We will need to cut a couple pieces of plastic to reinforce our bottle lids. The one's I've cut here are about 1-1/2" long by 1" wide.

Let's go ahead and drill these pieces for a 1/4" bolt!

And the bottle lids too!

Now we'll select a carriage bolt long enough to make it through all of these pieces! In this instance my carriage bolt is 4" long.

Using a small jeweler's file I made a square out of my round hole in stacker #1 (Top) so my carriage bolt snaps snuggly in place.

Now with the bolt installed through the stackers I slip my float half in place.

[Scootch]

Next comes the bottle lid......................

Next we place our piece of plastic followed by a nut.....

This will keep the bottle lid from coming loose in the field.

Let's install a #12 machine screw in stacker #2 and a nut outside to hold it in place for now. You may use a washer inside if you like.

Now let's get our pudding cup mushroom cap going!

We'll cut the little piece off the top of our cup, then drill it's center for a 1/4" bolt.

We'll use our jeweler's file to square up our hole, then file and sand the markings off the carriage bolt too.

Now we can insert a 1/4" by 2" carriage bolt!

Next we'll install our bottle lid, piece of reinforcing plastic, and 1/4" nut just as before.

Let's use Hot Glue to secure our bolts. coat the threads, nut and allow a little hot glue to run down onto the reinforcing plastic in the cap assemblies.

[Scootch]

After that cools, we'll fill the #2 stacker with hot glue totally encasing our little machine screw so it's solid! Don't be shy here, this is going to be our only connection to the seed tray and this syphon assembly is the most involved intricate piece on the pack! Fill it well!

[Scootch]

Let's start the Funnel part of the siphon assembly next! It's easy, fun, and we get to use some stuff we haven't used yet!

First cut a piece of 3/4" PVC Schedule 40 pipe about 14-1/2" in length. Next we'll sand all the markings off of a 3/4" box end slip cap.

With a razor or snips, we want to cut the wide end of our funnel to about 2-1/2" in Diameter.

We also want to use some plastic from a sign or some other source. Styrene signs can be purchased at most hardware stores for around three dollars.

Okay Let's trace out the wide end of our funnel onto a piece of that sign plastic!

Cut this circle out and then we can center our piece of 3/4" PVC and trace again!

Cut this center circle out so we're left with a plastic flat washer looking piece!

Next we'll slide our 3/4" pVC pipe into the funnel and see where we need to cut the funnel tip so that it fits snuggly over the pipe.

This is what we want our funnel to look like!

Now let's begin assembling the pieces...............

[Scootch]

Sorry about the Green Bottles........it was Saturday night.....

slip the "washer" over the pipe, then glue the 3/4" cap onto the pipe end. slide the pipe up through the funnel far enough that you can still epoxy the pieces before pushing them together.

Place a bead of epoxy on the funnel lip then slide the assembly together and wipe the excess. Be sure you are happy with the final assembly here before allowing it to set up.

After the epoxy sets up we can do something about that pipe / funnel transition up top! We're using Bondo Body Filler to erase that funky seam.

Play it safe and use a latex glove on your "swipin' hand".

Also mix your Bondo components conservitavely, you don't want a super fast setting mix, we need to work it a bit before it cures. The color we want is just greyish-pink so not too much of the red stuff!!! Utilize a piece of cardboard for all of your epoxy mixing antics.

Using a stick, wipe a nice bead of Bondo onto the joint. Cover the entire joint then lick your finger and smooth the Bondo out as seen in the photo!

Once satisfied the Bondo is looking good enough, we can set this babey aside for a while and work on something else.

Once the Bondo Joint is cured, we may clean it up with a rasp, some sandpaper, and get it looking smooth and ready to shoot with a coat of primer. Any blemishes may be filled with spot putty and sanded again before the final coat of primer. Here's our Bondo transition. Looking good

[Scootch]

I want to post a couple measurements here for a visual since we jammed through a lot of stuff without these:

The things I'm refering to as "Speed Bumps" are the ridges on the bottom of the seed trays, here's the center to center measurement of 2-1/4" for the Park Seed seed trays.

This is the ridge we removed, About 8" long. We'll use this again soon when we lay out our mounting holes on the pack frame cross members.

Let's get back into the "Siphon Assembly".

The parts we'll be using are made by Crashmann and I will try to give the names of each part so that anyone interested may contact him with correct info. Unlike the UK toilet siphon which is an obvious plumbing part, the Crashmann system consists of enough od pieces to give a specific "Sci-Fi" appearance to your pack. we're using the Crashman stuff my pal Dutchy sent me. I think these parts have been all around the free world! This particular piece is known as the "Pipe" or "Siphon Assembly Pipe". First we trim and sand the parts.

Next we use some of the trimmed off pieces to make tabs for attaching the two halves together. Sand these then epoxy them in place.

we can epoxy both halves together with these strips and let the assembly cure.

Depending upon personal preference and also how well you may have assembled this piece, you may choose to rock it "as is" or "clean it up" a little more by hiding the seam with Bondo and Putty Before Priming it. Here you see I've opted for the cleaner look.....

[R2Dan]

feels a bit like deja-vu here, but it doesn't make it any less awesome! Great job Scootchster

[Scootch]

Next we'll wet sand our seed tray halves with 600 grit sand paper and knock down that "new Paint look". We want a "used" look for our pack.........besides, Who wants to be patrolling the streets of Mos Eisley looking like a Greenhorne?

That's better............

With the four seed trays sanded we can rub them out, I like to use a damp piece of terry cloth and a rubbing compound made by Turtle Wax co. Rub the trays well. And remember to rub just like we talked about sanding, along the grain or parallel to the shapes of our trays. No Circular motions please this isn't Karate Kid.

Once satisfied that our trays are good and smooth..........and dull...........................

We may clean them with a damp paper towell, then dry them, then We'll wax them! Any kind of automotive wax should work. I've had this Blue Coral stuff for fifteen years.......talk about shelf life!

Here are our trays, shiny and sweet looking but kind of used looking too!

[nice-biscuit]

I'm enjoying this scootch. Can't wait for the next installment

[Scootch]

Okay let's get these puppies ready to mount! We are serious about troopin' so these trays MUST be reinforced. We'll do these with some 3-1/2" wide by 1/4" thick Oak found in the DIY store by the cabinet lumber.

First let's measure our two trays which we'll attach to the frame.

About 9-1/2" should do it.

We'll cut two pieces 9-1/2" in length.

Using Hot Glue we'll install our pieces Center inside the trays. First lay a little in for the Oak strip to stick to................

After installing the Oak strip build up and over each corner with hot glue and also in the center as shown in the photo....................

We can set these trays aside for a few and move on to the top trays.

[Scootch]

Top tray Backing!This time our Oak pieces need to cover most of the tray. We're going with 6-1/2" in length. We'll need two and a half pieces to do one tray.

First let's doublecheck our over-all measurement..........

To make things easy let's find center of the inside of our tray and lay out a space 1-3/4" wide for that half piece of oak.

Now we can mark and cut our Oak strips. We may trim the corners off of the end pieces to fit the contour of the seed trays better.

Begin with the 1-3/4" strip in the center of the box and then glue the two end pieces in.

Again build up some glue on the edges, but be careful and not go too far in on the oak because some of the parts will mount near the edges of these!

These strips are great for mounting things later on after the pack is built too! All you need are wood screws!

Always measure your seed trays and cut your backing to fit YOUR trays, this tutorial works for several types of trays but the measurements will vary depending on which trays you use!