donkpow Posted December 19, 2019 Author Share #51 Posted December 19, 2019 I'm not going to modify the tongue. I'd have to practically rework the whole thing. If I were making a second one, I could apply lessons learned and make it come out right. The next area for work is the rear 'triangle'. I've been thinking about it. Working on some numbers and general layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted December 19, 2019 Share #52 Posted December 19, 2019 5 hours ago, donkpow said: Your handwriting stinks, but your drawing skills are great! Keep up the good work on this project!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share #53 Posted December 23, 2019 Today's morsel. I went out this AM to set up the legs for the wheel. I'm switching over to a 27" wheel. I got a couple and I won't have to buy a tire or tubes. It's only an inch or so more. You see here a layout including the trailer bed (to the left) and the dropouts in mock up. I'll be fastening the legs to the trailer bed frame. Welded underneath. I need to target the dropouts which are about 7 1/2" in and 5" above the trailer. Those numbers will give me about 9" of ground clearance (more or less). I need to be able to bend the tubes and both tubes need to be the same. I bend it to the form. Rotate the leg such that I have 5" of lift. Objective realized. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share #54 Posted December 29, 2019 Lots of work this week but not much of it picture worthy. Just some grinding and looking and thinking and looking and thinking. The bushings for the tongue pivot came in. Bushing are bearings. Ball bearings are considered anti-friction bearings since the balls rotate. I guess you could call the bushings friction bearings. They are made of oil impregnated bronze. The oil seeps out during operation and then returns to the bronze when motion stops. In order to press the bushings into place, the tube needs to be perfectly round. I made a tool for that called a swage. I cut off the threads and tapered the end. Now I'll work it into the tube to force the tube into roundness. Another tool I made, something to clean up the inside of the tube. Cut from a 3/8" bolt and slit the end with a hacksaw. This allows me to insert the emery cloth into it, chuck it up in the drill, and sand the inside of the tube. The bushings are 'press fit' dimensions so are slightly larger than the tube ID. The tube needs to be perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share #55 Posted December 29, 2019 A little treat. I attached the wheel and legs to the trailer temporarily. Checking the fit and some additional dimensions. After I do some welding, some tweaking will have to be done. Speaking of welding, the welder broke down today. It took a couple of hours to troubleshoot and get the parts. It will take a week for the part to come in. That's a monkey wrench in the works for you. I had planned to do quite a bit of welding today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Wheels Posted December 29, 2019 Share #56 Posted December 29, 2019 Making things with metal looks fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted December 30, 2019 Share #57 Posted December 30, 2019 17 hours ago, donkpow said: I made a tool for that called a swage. I recommend coming up with a catchier name next-time. "Swage" ain't gonna catch on, and you'll never make your millions! Great set of posts, though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share #58 Posted January 18, 2020 I put the failed part in the welder. This is the welder. It is a Hobart 140. You can plug it into a 120 volt 20 amp outlet. It's not too expensive and can be used in a garage, barn, attached to a generator, ... Handy little thing. The part that failed was the wire feed speed control potentiometer. Really easy to replace, cost $30 for an OEM part. I did some welding after the repair and it works fine. Now I don't feel completely incompetent. The failing part was giving inconsistent wire speed so I could never get a handle on the welding. One minute too fast, another too slow. On 12/29/2019 at 6:25 PM, Square Wheels said: Making things with metal looks fun. I knew an old guy who went out into his attached garage and made little things out of empty food and coffee cans. His tools were just a couple of pairs of snips, some files, and a propane torch. Reminded me of the WWII POW's who made utensils and whatever they needed out of whatever they could find or scavenge. Metal working doesn't necessarily take a lot of big money tools. You can if you want but not necessarily. I think that a person could start with an investment in a good oxy/acetylene torch. You can do a lot with that; cutting, welding, bending, heat treatments. Just tons of stuff with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share #59 Posted January 18, 2020 I did a bunch of stuff while the welder was down. The weather was good so I put a lot of time into the landscaping project I am working on. Got all the dirt moved and a rough grade in place. Now i just need to do the final grade, create a seed bed and plant it. On the trailer, I remade one of the rear triangle legs and created some other pieces. Once I get set up, I'll be able to get some final dimensions and put that stuff together. Future post. Here, I show the work I did on the center pivot. There's a ton of handwork here. The flat metal pieces get welded to the trailer frame. They are attached to an axle type thing within the pivot tube. The axle rotates inside the bushings. This allows the trailer to swing following in an arch during slow speed turn. This is the axle type thing with the plates attached. It's a piece of thick wall tubing that I cleaned up, the same stuff I am using to backup the butt welds on the frame. There is a flat part filed into the end so that the plates key to the shaft. This ensures the axle pivots inside the bushings. I have threaded the inside of the tube to accept the retaining bolts. The plates ride on the flange of the bushings. I've built in the ability to adjust plate to plate dimension to compensate for wear. That's why you see the additional washer under the bolt. It allows the axle to stick out of the plate just a little. Sort of like the hollow axle on your bike. The bolts aren't heavily torqued. If they were, the plates would squeeze the bushing flanges and keep the axle from rotating. So what we do here is put some special thread locker on the bolt threads and just turn the bolts in until proper contact of the plate to the bushing flange is achieved. Normal thread lockers like "Loctite" depend on the bolt thread inserted into the nut and tightened to the point that air cannot get to it. This stuff gets put on the bolt threads before the bolt gets put in. Just let it dry and run it up to where you need it and walk away. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share #60 Posted February 5, 2020 Tweaking. I need to get the wheel centered up, running straight, and plumb. It's a bit of twisting and levering. Also considering how the rest of it is going to go together. I don't have many more pieces to fabricate. Mostly just the final assembly and some bracing. I am a little worried whether the legs can hold the wheel in place. I have concluded that the tongue on the front of the trailer is more than strong enough to do the job. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share #61 Posted February 10, 2020 I'm having the thought that the legs of the wheel may be too flexible to steady the load. I am using modified bicycle dropouts for the wheel, primarily for the rack braze-ons. That gives me three attachment points to the trailer frame; The equivalent of the chain stays, seat stays, and forward rack mount. Unfortunately, two of the attachments are in a single plane, leaving only the legs to counteract sideways forces. I may need to brace. Thinking I'll wait for the trial runs to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 17, 2020 Author Share #62 Posted February 17, 2020 I worked on the trailer this weekend. I welded the three major components together; the fork, the trailer bed frame, and the wheel stays. It looks like a trailer now but can't carry any weight. Working on the equivalent of a seat post in the rear triangle design, I had to rework it because I drilled some holes out of position. Razor's Edge was right, this thing is long. It is actually longer, end to end, than the bike. I hope it doesn't wag. I am trying to cope with the idea of complete failure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted February 18, 2020 Share #63 Posted February 18, 2020 On 2/16/2020 at 7:09 PM, donkpow said: I am trying to cope with the idea of complete failure. It can't be a "complete" failure if you learn something along the way. Either this "version 1.0" is gonna work well enough you are satisfied, or you'll have lots of lessons learned to help you if you ever do a version 2.0! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share #64 Posted February 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Razors Edge said: It can't be a "complete" failure if you learn something along the way. Either this "version 1.0" is gonna work well enough you are satisfied, or you'll have lots of lessons learned to help you if you ever do a version 2.0! It's definitely "the journey" type situation. I could get a properly engineered, designed, and manufactured trailer for way less than the value of the time I've spent on this one. I was out there this morning having a look at the project up on the table. I'm not too far off the mark. Some parts of the table are coming together better than others. If I were seeking extreme quality, I'd end up scrapping the project every time I advanced on a segment. The totality also resides in speculation at this point. Aesthetics are not in a good place for me overall. If I place all my eggs in the performance basket, I'll need the thing not to wag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share #65 Posted February 23, 2020 Hit a milestone: This whole thing started for me because I couldn't find a tub to fit my little trailer. Eventually, one came on the market and it fit the bed of the trailer. It's not so much that I need more hauling capacity but I can now fit a more commonly available tub into the trailer. Here I've set up the trailer with accessories temporarily. There are some details to finish and I need to fit the floor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Wheels Posted February 23, 2020 Share #66 Posted February 23, 2020 That's huge, I had not idea it was that big. Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share #67 Posted February 23, 2020 3 hours ago, Square Wheels said: That's huge, I had not idea it was that big. Cool. Indeed. This trailer is 62", axle to axle. My small trailer is 48", axle to axle, and the bike is 42", axle to axle. It seems to me, most of the single wheel trailers are suited for off road use. This one is not. Generally, I can't see that excess length is a big problem. There are folks hauling enclosed camping trailers behind a bike, albeit on two wheels. Tracking around curves may be an issue to consider, I saw this video about another DIY single wheel bicycle trailer a few years ago. This guy improves handling by steering the trailer wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share #68 Posted February 23, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share #69 Posted March 2, 2020 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted March 4, 2020 Share #70 Posted March 4, 2020 TWO BOATS! A cute CAT! And a great video! Good work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share #71 Posted March 4, 2020 None of that crap is mine. Even the cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted March 5, 2020 Share #72 Posted March 5, 2020 On 3/4/2020 at 10:39 AM, donkpow said: None of that crap is mine. Even the cat. If you're feeding that cat, the you HAVE a cat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share #73 Posted March 6, 2020 15 hours ago, Razors Edge said: If you're feeding that cat, the you HAVE a cat. When I open the garage door, they come running, hungry or not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted March 21, 2020 Share #74 Posted March 21, 2020 Two weeks of testing ought to have revealed something! Any news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share #75 Posted March 22, 2020 17 hours ago, Razors Edge said: Two weeks of testing ought to have revealed something! Any news? You are an evil task master. You understand I almost died of a virus recently and yard work has to be done and I have to worry about distancing myself from others and the stock market crashed and to top it all off, there is a toilet paper shortage. Give me a break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted March 22, 2020 Share #76 Posted March 22, 2020 2 hours ago, donkpow said: You are an evil task master. You understand I almost died of a virus recently and yard work has to be done and I have to worry about distancing myself from others and the stock market crashed and to top it all off, there is a toilet paper shortage. Give me a break! I was giving you an excuse to got putz around on the bike trailer and report back to us! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share #77 Posted March 22, 2020 I looked at it the other day but didn't feel like crawling around looking for a piece of steel. I considered that I could take the pivots apart to open them up but dismissed the idea for cause. 'Cause I didn't feel like it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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