E-Trike Project

[AussieJester]

You're a better man than I am , Gunga Din.......... I woulda used a dutchman on that space and filled the hole with auto filler! I hate doing things over!

LoL... I'm rather pedantic type, things have to be done right i'm never happy until they are which will explain the next update somewhat

Update

3 hours was the duration of cursing Miles 7 hours was the time it take to complete this bloody rear end alteration...I went through 3 meters of pipe bending cutting throwing away re-doing grrrrr.. i think Miles might have heard me swearing all the way over in England LoL... Anywayz.... I had this idea come to me ::cough:: Miles ::cough:: suggestion ::cough:: to shape the rear to somewhat match the front tube lower curve, so after much frustration and 6 attempts here's what will be THE FINAL frame design <---take note Miles

Getting everything level/square/lined up etc was nothing short of hair pulling frustration (next frame i will build a proper frame jig for sure) In the end though I got it to where i'm happy with it and will start on the swing arm...

Parts have been ordered from ChoppersRus...twin disk front hub, 2xtrike hubs and the trike axle adapter that the freewheel screws onto...

Back with another update shortly...

Kim

EDIT:

Forgot this pic-->

This was a major pain to get lined up i give you the tip :-S

 

[AussieJester]

I went out late this afternoon (as if i didnt get enough grinding and cutting this morning ::sigh:: ) and got a little start on the rear swing arm mock up by cutting the plates that will bolt to the pivots.

Cut from 4mm steel plate with a 1mm (wide) cutoff disk on 4in angle grinder. After the 'rough' shape was cut, i bolted all 4 together and again using the angle grinder and a grinding disk matched them up so all exactly the same. Shall continue where left off tomorrow gents (and ladies)

ciao for now

Kim

 

[Miles]

3 hours was the duration of cursing Miles 7 hours was the time it take to complete this bloody rear end alteration........... here's what will be THE FINAL frame design <---take note Miles

Looks good to me

 

[AussieJester]

Looks good to me

Yeah have to agree Miles was a good idea i had wasn't it

Thanks mate was a good suggestion glad i took the time to implement it

 

[TylerDurden]

I'm rather pedantic type, things have to be done right i'm never happy until they are

Things are looking up for y'all... the U.S. supremo-court says we can't execute pedantics anymore.

Looking good, BTW.

 

[AussieJester]

haha cheers TD

Update

I had to go out today for supplies before the weekend as such didnt get as much completed as I would have liked, never the less I am happy with what got done-->

I fully welded the front of the swing arm, cut a half circle from it and welded half round tube in place to seal the end of the swing arm prior to tacking the plates in place, position as is is looks correct, I shall wait however until the bolts are in place and axle aligned before it is fully welded juuuust in case it needs a 'love tap' with the persuader (hammer) to bring it into alignment. Are we happy with this Miles ? well...cept for drilling holes in the swing arm to make it look like some form of expensive swiss cheese

More tomorrow...

Kim

 

[Miles]

Carry on

 

[paultrafalgar]

Just intuition from one ignorant of chopper bikes, but....
The angle of your head-tube (and hence forks) suggests to me that when you turn right or left you are going to get a large positive feedback force on the handlebars?? As you lay that front wheel over won't it destablise the bike because of the slope of the wheel? I expect you know MUCH better than me.

 

[AussieJester]

Just intuition from one ignorant of chopper bikes, but....
The angle of your head-tube (and hence forks) suggests to me that when you turn right or left you are going to get a large positive feedback force on the handlebars?? As you lay that front wheel over won't it destablise the bike because of the slope of the wheel? I expect you know MUCH better than me.

It would if trail wasn't factored into the equation...this will be running ~45 degree rake and 2-3 inch trail heres a lil diagram-->

The general rule is in between 2 and 4 inches of trail is required or you will get some nasty flip flop happening...

 

[paultrafalgar]

Thanks for putting me straight, Jester.

 

[AussieJester]

Update

Sunday morning about to go get some more done on the frame, thought i would post a few pics i took last night of a lil work a mate an I did yesterday.

note* steel plate motor is sitting on is for picture purposes

The swing arms are bolted in place with 12mm high tensile steel bolts, there was a lil bending and twisting required to line the swing arms up perfectly straight to the frame, the two cross tubes that will brace the frame and support the motor mount were then welded in place.
I have taped the axle tube temporarily to the swing arm to get an idea of how she is going to look...the tube i will mount through the swing arms today, before supporting braces and shockie tube & mount are welded in place Shes all niiicely lined up and square now, thanks to my boiler maker friend Flavio for his assistance in that too...I like the way its looking thus far, angles look good to me, looking forward to working on the shock placement today.... Back soon fellas

Kim

 

[AussieJester]

My friend and I were just mocking up the bike to see where the mounts for the shocks will need to go, thought it would be a good pic opportunity to give those with lil less imagination as to where the direction/look i am going for with this build-->

back to work...

Kim

p.s wheelz forks and bars will not be used in final assembly as previous gone through springer forks and 20x 4inch rear rims will be used.

 

[Link]

Pimpin'. :wink:

 

[docnjoj]

Thats some pretty sculpture!
otherDoc

 

[Drunkskunk]

Daaaaaamn

 

[Lenk42602]

very nice Aussie!

Len

 

[AussieJester]

Cheers for the comments fellas


I have had a lil change of direction with the rear swing arm due to not being able to get all the grinding marks out of the metal, if i was painting the swing arm assembly this wouldnt be a problem (i could bog [bondo] it up) but seeing the plan is to have it nickel plated it needz to be mirror finish to start with, with all the grinding for the last few days work on it it made the whole assembly too thin for my liking, soooo shall be heading down to pick up some more steel hopefully tomorrow. I'm thinking i might try a design similar to this after market swing arm available for the Ducati-->

Hopefully have some more in a day or so to show those following the build

 

[Miles]

Excellent idea. I was a bit worried about your present swing arm - it wouldn't have been very stiff in torsion...

The Ducati design looks great. You could use the same sized tubes for the upper part that you have for the rest of the frame - that would give coherence to the overall design. Because you don't have to work around a large central tyre, you can triangulate the structure properly.

 

[TylerDurden]

FWIW, I notice most chopper frames use gussets at the headtube, I presume to handle the "tork from da fork" (my next pseudonym?).

A split at those tubes would be somewhat undesirable.

Yer pal,
Gussetbreath.

 

[recumpence]

I am excited to see this build come together. I really like the look.

That swingarm is very nice looking. Are you planning on doing the truss arrangement like that?

Matt

 

[AussieJester]

FWIW, I notice most chopper frames use gussets at the headtube, I presume to handle the "tork from da fork" (my next pseudonym?).

A split at those tubes would be somewhat undesirable.

Yer pal,
Gussetbreath.

Yeah i was a lil concerned at first then i had a look around at the production chopper frames on ChoppersRus didnt see any with a gusset. I also have and have watched every ep of American Chopper and 99% of there frames dont have the gusset and they do more sever rake than i have on the trike frame. The large amount of contact area of the top tube on the head tube (~1/2 of the tube is connected to top tube) IMO is the key to the strength of the connection. I have also run 3 fillet welds along the join to ensure there is good strength. I think also with a springer front end there will be less shock/stress on the joint...guess we shall have to wait and see...You can be the first to say 'i told u so' if and when it breaks though TD ;-P

matt not sure what the 'truss arrangement' is exactly sorry im not too technical LoL if you mean the round tubing yes, i want to try to get as close to that as possible with the exception of slightly lower profile. There will also have to be 3 more supporting tubes as i have the axle running across (through) the swing arm. This might be a lil difficult to picture however-->

note* above image is of production trike conversion 'kit' from choppersRus

The bars connecting the axle tubes on both sides will be a part of my design also to ensure there is no twisting, bending and flexing of the axle...hope that makes a lil sense, if not i guess you shall have to wait a couple days to i have it knocked up hehe

Thanks fellas

Kim

 

[Lenk42602]

Aussie,

what kind of welder are you using? How long have you been welding? I have one that I have not spent much time with.....


Len

 

[AussieJester]

Aussie,

what kind of welder are you using? How long have you been welding? I have one that I have not spent much time with.....


Len

130amp gasless mig has 8 wire speeds and 4 heat settings...I'm using 0.8mm wire for this job... I started welding fulltime when i was 19 (39 now) (worked as a welder in the construction industry for several years) Theres alot of tutorials on the net (video tutorials) if you need some pointers alternatively technical colleges offer partime classes (well... they do in Australia) What makes the welding a little 'easier' and of better quality imo is knowing how to setup the welder for the particular job your doing ie. wire speed v's heat setting. If you run to hot you will blow holes too cold you will get a 'cold' weld, no penetration equaling a weak weld. Once you have the settings correct though it really comes down to practice imo... Best of luck anywayz mate, welders are a damn handy tool to have in the workshop definitely worth taking the time to learn how to get a half decent weld happening

 

[Miles]

Hi Kim,

Miss out one of the vertical struts of the Ducati design's upper structure and bring the frame to a tight curve, or vertex, around the remaining one (moved to the centre). This will make things more rigid. Just a suggestion, of course.... :wink:

 

[docnjoj]

Hey Aussie! The "truss arangement" mentioned is the triangles between the upper and lower tubes or beams. It makes stuff real strong and light. I used one on the roof of my addition to my home, cause we couldnt get a crane to lift solid 30 foot beam! The Warren truss was able to be lifted by 4 of us! This was a while ago, of course!
otherDoc