Tuesday, April 27, 2010

the bunk

The last couple years I slept on a folding camp cot. When I needed room for a large load of freight, I stored the cot and slept on the floor. Sometimes there was hardly enough room to sleep on the floor. The solution was a storable bunk that folds into the wall shelves that I made by modifying components of an ikea shelf system. The shelves are shallow enough that pallets that can clear the wheel-wells can clear the shelves, and the bunk is narrow enough that three pallets will fit whether the bunk is folded away or open.

The follow sequence shows the unfolding steps without the clutter of the van.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

modification 1

The panels ride lower but still have the airspace between the panels and roof.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

summer vacation



This is what I did on my summer vacation. I did most of the work during the last week of July and managed to finish the heavy work before freight picked back up. Now it's a matter of rearranging and adjusting the final fit.

This project involved two parts--installing auxiliary batteries that are powered by solar panels and rearranging my storage.

The power system gives me electric power to run my computer, ventilation, electric cooler, and heater (yet to be installed) without having to use the van's battery. It consists of two solar panels mounted on a ladder rack, two agm batteries, and assorted charge controllers, fuses, and circuit breakers. The jury is out on how well this system will work, but it does produce electricity when the sun is out, and there is power available when I connect to the battery bank. More to follow as I get more photos and rearrange the controllers and wiring.
Where I lose almost three hundred pounds of cargo capacity with the solar panels and extra batteries, the rearranged shelves give me more than two extra feet of cargo space. I took the ikea shelves I installed previously and cut them in half, so their depth is less than the depth of my rear wheel-wells. Any freight that can get past the wheel wells will get past the shelves and can be pushed as far forward as the driver's seat.

All I need now is an auxiliary air conditioner that weighs nothing and requires no power.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

another project

This is a different unrelated project.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

doing it

People ask me how I manage both an over-the-road career and my art. For the most part I can manage it because it is all one interwoven, tightly knotted mess. Much of art is mindless, mind-numbing nothing with the occassional spark of something useful. I have chosen to use the road to channel the nothing part. The road even allows me an income and something to focus on outside a studio.

The doing-it part then becomes framed by the road part. A lot of studio time involves piddling about. I save the piddling for when I'm on the road and try to do as much piddling on the road, so that when it comes time for the quality studio time I can get the job done in an efficient manner. All the planning, designing, and inventing is done ahead of time. By the time I get to the studio (many times it's just a kitchen table), I have thought through all my construction methods and proportions, and can go right straight to work. If new ideas come about during the implementation phase, I'll ad lib only so far that it doesn't interfere with completing the project. If the new idea calls for a major redirection, I save the idea for the next project.

Technically, I could make my little books entirely in my vehicle. In reality I end up working more efficiently by only taking care of small repetitive jobs like stitching together pre-stacked signatures, or making small wire parts for mechanical projects. I save clumbsy and messy jobs like tearing paper and gluing things for when I can work outside the vehicle. I have small stashes of supplies with a few family and friends scattered across the country who then allow me a place to work when I come off the road or when freight gets slow.

I am in high production when freight is low. I'll park at one of my supply points and work on projects taking care to only take on projects that I can dump at a moments notice, because when a load offer comes in I have to be ready to roll. I'll route myself back to the supply point until freight picks back up and then I'm back into the road mode. I save my home time for when I want to take care of more involved work and for work in the gallery. Inspite of what could potentially be a great detractor from a driving career, I still manage to keep all my driving statistics like load acceptance, on-time, and in-service time at a high level.

tim's work

Tim's work from the Guardrail Damage Ahead show at 500X Gallery is also on display at his website--www.timcbest.com. See his listings under Guardrail Damage Ahead aka the American Abstraction series, Efficiency Deficiency, and Wall (the red Jolly Rogers sculpture).

Friday, April 3, 2009

show highlights

Book highlights from the Guardrail Damage Ahead show.