Dan's Chariot #7 - Modifications.

Started on some of the modifications. Took it all apart, took some measurements, and hacked the tongue off:



Took a big chunk out of the middle and tightened up the bend.



I will have to straighten the back end of it just a bit, but the theory is the tongue will plug into the trailer "stinger" style, but 90 degrees to the direction of travel, sorta like this:



Although it will be much shorter and have several gussets. Couldn't find a really tight fit for the square, so the tongue will have a gusset / spacer plate on the top and front where it plugs into the trailer to get a good fit. Holes drilled / pins installed so the tongue can be unplugged and eventually a castor wheel of some sort plugged in so they can use it as a stroller. We'll see where it goes from here!

FINALLY got my wife to stay home from school long enough that I could dedicate some time on this project. Crazy first year teachers... She gets home after 8:00 on average.

Cut the receiver down, drilled some holes, and cut some gussets out.



Start welding!



Tongue installed.



Made it a BUNCH shorter. Hope the curve is big enough to clear the tire!



Set it across two tables, and bounced my wussy 175 lbs up and down pretty good at the joint- it flexes a teensy through the tongue, but the receiver and back half of the trailer is RIGID.



While I was doing some welding, I cut the plastic sheet out and got it warming up to do some bending.







In between all of that, I made a few more brackets.







Whew. Makin progress. 

Boxed in the back of the tongue for some extra strength(?).



Stuck it back together...



The frame as it sits so far.



And with the seat and leg pan kinda sitting in place.



Plan on making some aluminum sides for the leg pan to match the fenders.

Left to do... Hmm. Finish the fenders, make some extensions out the back for them, sides for the leg pan, bolt it on, thread the new axle, get all the misc nuts and bolts I need for the seat belts, TEST IT OUT! and then paint. I think. Probably missing 3 or 4 steps still.

Well, now you're all caught up.  RREEALLLY need to get this thing done.  Lego League is going already, so that eats into a big chunk of my time and it seems like all the "extras" I get to participate in this year just because I'm a teacher are adding up quick.  It WILL be done.  Shall I make a goal? 

End of October.  Or else.

Dan's Chariot #6 - Test fitting.

Dan came down for a test fit!



They are impressed so far, but I'll be making some changes.

We got the leg pan figured out, came up with a plan for fenders, and worked out a way to shorten the tongue up substantially. In addition, they decided to make the tongue detachable from the rest of the trailer for ease of storage and also possibly in the future make it easy to convert to a stroller. Will be adding some blocks to the back also, so we can build a stroller handle for it later if we want to. When I cut the tongue, I'm also going to stand the seat up a little straighter as well.

Started on the fenders one evening after school. Did some measurin, and drew this up.



Traced it on to some aluminum and added room for attaching it to things / strengthening with hems,



and cut 'em out.



I'm really starting to love my edge forming machine. Picked up some new Harbor freight tools that really compliment it as well. Here's one fender with one edge rolled so I can rivet it to the top:



Curled it up pretty badly. No problem- take it over to the shrinker/stretcher and straighten it out!



Way better! Time for a test fit.



The top piece was just a test- it will be longer to match the side cover and I still havent decided if I'm going to do the little rooster tail on the end. The front curve will blend in to the side piece, and the beads in the top will change- have to leave room for the rivets.



I will make a straighter version for the back side, and they will get holes punched so they fit over the axle. Will have to add a bracket and some support to the back side but with the bends its already pretty stout!






Punchin holes the old fashioned way!









Still have to rivet the top on to the other side and make both inside pieces.

Dan's Chariot #5 - A "test" run!

I've been working on the bike trailer off and on over the summer, but have neglected to post much of it here so it's time for an update!

So I got kicked out of my shop for the summer so they could redo the floors. Over the last couple of weeks I've been working on pulling things back out and setting the shop back up.
 
The next step is seat mounting and seat belt mounting. I drilled a couple of holes for the seat and got it set in place. Did some measuring and bending and came up with this:



It goes around behind the seat and gives me a spot to mount 4 of the 5 points on the harness.

Marked some angles, cut it down, and tacked it on.



With the seat attached...



I would have liked it to be a little closer to the seat, but this should work great. Still need to finish weld, and I've got an idea for some gussets at the joint that can double as fender mounts.

I set it all up, climbed up and sat in it, then had my 9 year old try and lift the tongue- he lifted it easily. This is with me laying totally back. Dan's a bit lighter than me so I'm not sure how that will translate to tongue weight- almost think since theres less of him to counterbalance there might be MORE tongue weight. Guess we'll see.

I'm pretty happy that the balance seems to have worked out- that was one of my main concerns. So far the frame is still super light too. Have a few gussets to add and still need paint, leg holder, windshield (?), fenders, and a few other odds and ends but its starting to shape up.

Started going through the scraps I picked up at a local machine shop- scored a perfect chunk for a new axle so I began re-making it.

Makin' some HOT chips...



Also made some gussets for the seat belt frame out of more of the scraps.





And welded 'em on.








Spent the doing some "detail" work- little odds and ends that suck up the time.

Made another set of gusset plates for the frame.



Tacked 'em on,



And welded them solid. Will probably make one more set of gussets to go up on the sharp bend at the end of the big loop coming from the hitch.



Started figuring how to mount the seat belt.



What you don't really see here is I also made some brackets for the rear seat mounts and tacked them in place. 

Been hemming and hawing about how to attach the seat belts. At first I thought I would just drill some holes through the frame but decided that holes will probably weaken it, so I made up a few brackets.



Tacked 'em in,



Welded them and then cleaned everything up with the wire wheel.

.
 Test fitting the harness.





Yeah, I think that'll do nicely!




Did some figuring,



Laid it out,



and made a mock up of the foot pan.





Still thinking about options for this. Would be cool to build a framework and then lace it with straps, but I will probably build the pan out of aluminum and have some steel framework underneath for reinforcement.

Fender ideas...



Dan's coming over for a test fitting.  That will help me know where the leg pan needs to go, whether or not I need to shorten the tongue, and also if I need to bring the fenders down on the outside of the wheel to keep fingers out.

Hope they like it so far! 

Pluggin' away...

The first week of school has come and gone, and things are going pretty well.  Aside from having NO internet access and being unable to put grades / attendance in with any regularity, the year didn't start out as rough as I thought it was going to.

Couple of rambling thoughts I've had bouncing around in my head as I introduced a new batch of students to the IGSBEP (design process... see last post) and had parents in for a back to school night:

Failing to succeed, OR- Failing, TO succeed.   There is a billboard here in town that has random quotes on it.  One of the more recent ones was "The road to success is paved with failures" or something along those lines.  Seems like students get conditioned to doing things one way, and if it doesn't work out just the way it's supposed to they get frustrated and give up.  I know I was that way in school, particularly when it came to math.  If I did it the way I was shown and it didn't work- so what.  Move on to the next problem and hope the teacher explains it again tomorrow!  I hope in my classes to get the kids to be able to realize that there is more than one way to skin a cat (wow, both my cats just got up and left the room...).  The way I show them how to do something is the way that works for me, but it might not necessarily be the way that works the best for them.

The most important part of that lesson- and this took me a long time to figure out- is that you WILL fail.  You'll get a wrong answer, things won't come out quite the way you had planned.  And thats okay!  Adapt, be flexible, try it again from a different angle.  Thomas Edison came up with something like 3,000 different ways to (re)invent the light bulb- I think only two of them worked well enough for him to use them.  I don't know that I'm that patient.  No, I *know* I'm not that patient.

Anyways, enough random thoughts.  So many things going on right now.  I feel a mass-unloading of projects / junk in the near future.  On the other hand, I have been managing to get a lot done.  Even managed to fire up the TIG welder and get a little practice in on aluminum.  Still have a long ways to go.



Had a nice faculty meeting, in which I stayed awake, paid very close attention, and came up with the nifty sketch too!  It was pretty interesting, we got to have a short little lesson taught to us in Romanian to give us an idea of what ELL students go through.  Kind of an eye opener.  Also got a few items checked off on Dan's chariot, more coming on that in a few days.