a productive day(?)

[gfish]

vixyish had the car today. And I wanted to do yet more forging on some of the struts for the Kalamazoo project, but the propane was pretty low. So I did what any sensible person would do in that situation: I made a bike trailer!



It's made entirely of stuff I had on hand. Two 2x4 sections, bolted together with a metal plate. The wheels I only just picked up recently for use on the Kalamazoo, held on with some L-brackets I forged using the last of the propane. The A-Team theme was playing in my head the entire time.

And it worked! Of course, by the time I finished, got to the hardware store and back (biking at much lower speeds than normal, due to the instability issues), and was ready to actually start forging, vix was back with the car. And it's not the best design in the world -- the curved mount off the bike rack is really springy, leading to some very unpleasant oscillations. And the connection from that to the trailer (tie wraps) tended to break if it twisted too far. Which tended to happen a lot, since the bike doesn't have a kick stand. The L-brackets bend a bit too easily. And strapping the tank on was a very delicate process, with a lot of weird CG issues to worry about. But it worked!

(You get even more odd looks riding in a recumbent while towing a prominent cylinder of explosive gas. Some small kids in a yard I passed got very excited.)

Comments

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Despite there being a picture of a propane tank right there, as soon as you said "A-Team" my mental image was of you towing a rather larger tank. Possibly with a recumbent aircraft carrier.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo that's awesome! I particularly like the different-color tires.

Okay so how'd you attach the axles to the l-brackets? I keep running into issues with trailers and trike designs because that's such a weak point, and I've broken so many axles loaded in double shear that I'm terrified of trying a cantilever.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

>recumbent aircraft carrier.

Aren't they already? Every version of an upright aircraft carrier I construct in my head makes me start snickering.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was quick and dirty. Just simply L-brackets with a notch cut in them, so each wheel is only attached on the one side. Definitely not for heavy loads, high speeds or longterm use.

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

Suddenly my recumbent tricycle seems so conventional!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

This is so cool!

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

The kids know where it's at. Nice job!