r/nextfuckinglevel 17h ago

The Transformation of a Van

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u/Thorfax117 17h ago

Tbh this is quite modest as van conversion builds i,ve seen go, other than the van itself and the rooftop tent, everything else can be made by hand relatively cheaply, or sourced cheaply like the sink

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u/AlexHimself 7h ago

You're ignoring the equipment used to make this van. All of that woodwork takes expensive machinery to cut like that. The garage they're working with is pristine and high end too.

You can make a ghetto version of that van for cheap, but at that level, everything around it is expensive too.

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u/Thorfax117 7h ago

The equipment wouldn't actually be too expensive, especially if you marked out all your cuts and only rented what you needed for that time frame.

For example a skill saw, all you really need for the wood cuts, can be bought for $150 on the cheaper end.

I agree that the garage looks nice, but that doesnt mean the build was super expensive (outside of the van and tent lol)

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u/AlexHimself 7h ago

The equipment wouldn't actually be too expensive, especially if you marked out all your cuts and only rented what you needed for that time frame.

For example a skill saw, all you really need for the wood cuts, can be bought for $150 on the cheaper end.

You're explaining the "ghetto version" of the van that I mentioned.. Those wood panels are cut using a CNC router table with some CAD. The moment you see this panel, it's obvious - https://imgur.com/PHEGx28.

The amount of custom cuts needed for the entire project means you couldn't reasonably rent a machine for this either. Then they probably used a 3D scanner to get the interior van profile too.

Lots of expensive, non-typical equipment went into making this van.

Using a "skill" saw would lead to TONS of things not aligning, requiring tons of tweaking and wood putty and you'll end up with a ghetto build.