Hey, now that's pretty neat!

Just need the rear tires and I am set to go. Anyone know where to get cheap buggy style wheels, besides wheelbarrow, at $30 a pop that hurts.

Well, you could give PL or Libra a shout and get a set of proper rims with the nice durable 20mm bearings.

I've gotten standard barrows complete with cheapo bearings and rubber for $15 a peice for other projects from Princess Auto. I think they do mail order as well.



Just a sidenote, if you're going for Ghetto Cheap, I remember seeing a large number of bmx bikes and tricycles being scrapped in the recycling pile at the local landfill while dumping some stuff off. You may be able to come up with something like that locally, We also have a local "Freecycle" program where people list stuff they're willing to give away to someone who needs it.

You can't hardly tell a 20 amp outlet from a 15. The thing to know is the size breaker that feeds the outlet. The amps will be written on the breaker when you find the one that supplies your outlet. 15 amp breakers can use #14 wire and 20 amps uses #12. If you run the welder set at 20 amps on a 15 amp breaker, it will trip eventually if not right away.

Edit:
Lots of times even if most of your outlets are on a 15 amp circuit, you can find a 20 amp in the garage for freezers, garage door openers and typical garage stuff. Worst case, you could have an electrician run a new circuit on a 20 amp breaker just for the welder. That would be ideal.

Well I gave the welder a whirl on the 20 amp setting on the 15 amp circuit, and hasn't tripped even after a good combined 3 hours use, I think I'm fairly safe. And it penetrates alot more. And as far as bike tires, my current buggy has them and I just don't like the feel and the look of them, wider ones are nice. I will look at a couple places by me that has that kinda stuff cheap. There is a junk lawn equipment yard thing by me that will let you take stuff for free. There is a tractor with a set of 15" front tires out there that should go rather nicely with a 13" wheelbarrow. I'll give that a go. :cool2:

Remember, any tire that fits a 8" rim will fit on a standard barrow, so you could always hit up the junk yard for some barrow rims with the cheapo bearings, then either hit up the local golf course for some used turf/slick tires and mount them on the rims. Anything up to 12" wide will fit a standard barrow rim. 2 ply is best, but 4 ply will work, may need innertubes.

Not to hijack..but I'm looking into making my own snow/land buggy, but I have no welding experince. What kind of welding are you guys using? Are the cheap electric arc welders enough to keep a buggy in one piece? Is it difficult to do itself?

Mig or gasless mig (flux core) is super easy to learn, took me about 10 mins but I had a good "teacher" and an auto darkening helmet. If you want to start get a mig, you can get a decent one starting at about $200. DO NOT TOUCH STICK UNLESS YOU WANT TO MAKE YOU LIFE HARD. It is much easier to burn through with stick and much harder to learn. And my welder is producing some very nice welds on 20 amps, I welder to ends of a rod together and stood on it over a gap and it held up fine, just look for a welder that will do at least 1/8 inch steel 1/4 inch is better, and if you can get one that runs off both gas and flux wire. (Here comes popeye) He can answer better.

Buggy update! Welding done except for a the rear wheel axle nuts. Seat is still in experimental stages tho.

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

^Frame

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

^Me In Buggy

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

^Packed Down Buggy

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

^Seat Installed

Looks amazing! I love the handlebar method, the same way I was going to try it. The packing method it a great idea. I have no where to store a buggy, and no way of getting it to the beach in one piece. Nice work!

I'm going to head over to the hardware store and talk to them about it. I'm low on funds right now with the holiday, but I'll probably start building in the spring.

Your my age, what do you do to afford the kiting addiction?

Wow , that is coming along well.

My early generation flexi buggy has straight ( low ) rails on the side like yours and I see now why most other designs have the side rail swoop up. If you find your welds don't hold up through the center you could add a rail gaining side support and structural support ?
Once your done pool noodles are a good cheap way to finish + add padding.

Prop's on the stearing method

Thanx guys, and another update! Wooooo, its done now. Yeah I was thinking pipe insulation, as it has adhesive, and I am going to add some side rails on still, just need some more steel. And I love how small it packs up! Ah that's why its sick to design your own buggy. Next is to sew some type of back pack carrying device that it straps onto, so I can ride my bike to the field.

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff86/Powerkitetime/?actio...

Good job!
Let us know how it works out!:tumble:

Well uhhh...the rear wheels exploded going up wind, so need some proper ones though, other than that the 2 min run was fun. Does need some side rails though, that will be tomorrow as well as a trip to the store for a set of wheels.

yep gotta get the barrow wheels...they are 20 bucks a pop at home depot....they have a 5/8 axle...and they need to be painted a cool color ....and can you lower your seat to make the side rails higher?

Yeah, I was thinking the first good side load is gonna drag you right off your buggy. After my extensive 25 minutes of buggy experience, I realized after getting out of the buggy that I had bruised my leg from wedging it against the side rails. I'm sure I would've been skittering across the sand without the side support.

I tried pipe insulation. While it's better than nothing it doesn't provide much padding. Pipe insulation is a place to start but I think you'll end up going noodles !

Quote:

Originally posted by snowbird I tried pipe insulation. While it's better than nothing it doesn't provide much padding. Pipe insulation is a place to start but I think you'll end up going noodles !

Ditto. I tried pipe insulation and then found some pool noodles. The pool noodles were much puffier - cheap too!

Yeah I guess I will go with noodles. And it will be easier to add side rails so I don't lose any clearance. I'll just throw a towel over the seat and weld a piece of tubing down from the backrest to the front. And then throw a noodle over it and maybe a piece of fabric from the rail to the seat.

Pool noodles is the way to go for padding. They come in different sizes other than it is off season for pool supplies at Walmart now. I guess a pool supply store would keep them in stock all year round. Just wrap them up good with duct tape and them make some covers and then you are set to go.

Susan

I did see some REALLY thick pipe insulation laying in my garage (only like 3 feet but if I can find some that might work, and it would look OK without covers. I also have a noodle so I will compare them, maybe put one on one side and one on the other and see which one works better.

Basiclly, a rolling foam pit. Sounds fun to me!

WeeeEEEEE!!!! lol no wind today so I think I will pick up some wheels and weld on those crossbeams, and no noodles in the *almost* dead of winter so I'll have to go with foam insulation for now. Hey barnes, where are you located? I really want to meet my clone!!! :frog:

How snug are the side rails, noodles and pipe insulation do well for most buggies, if you want a snugger fit, roll bar padding from a car parts shop has the hole inside off centre, so you get 1/4 inch of padding on the outside of the rails, but you get 2" of padding on the inside, effectively snugging down the buggy.

noodles will be just about right, pretty snug right now. About 3 inches either side.

Quote:

Originally posted by NPWfever Hey barnes, where are you located? I really want to meet my clone!!! :frog:

I'm in the Philadelphia area. If your anywhere on the east coast, theres a chance we can meet up and go fly. :tumble:

I got my first bugging experince today, and now I'm looking more into building a buggy. I'm tempted by a PVC buggy. No welding, and easy to make collapsible to fit in my Ford Tarus. Not sure how stable or pricey it will be.

OMG YOU ARE MY CLONE!!!!!!!!! I swear by PVC!!!!! I don't think it would work too well unless you used like 2.5" and the whole thing would have to be glued together. You would be far better off getting a welder and some steel. Bummer i live in colorado, but I go out to long island once a summer for like 2-3 weeks, and I am seriously looking forward to kitesurfing this summer. I would be happy to measure my buggy and send you "instructions" if you want to clone mine. How tall and how much do you weigh? If you make mine it comes apart into 2 tires an axle a seat and the downtube and frontfork. Fits in our sonata fine. Expect to spend about $50 on steel bolts nuts and such. And then where ever you get wheels the cheapest. should cost about $100, not bad at all. :singing::singing::singing::singing::singing::singing::singing::singing::singing:

Its like looking in a mirror...but if the mirror only said words!

Let me know when your in Long Island. I'll be there. I'm super excited for kite surfing too. Have you gotten lessons or anything yet? If not, let me know. I'll hook you up with the best teacher in Jersey. (Lessons are more important then I thought...but good news is, since you've flown kites before, you can probably condense the 3 lesson system into 1 or 2...I did.)

I don't want to copy you too much. I'll design it from scratch. Start CADing it up. I'll look into other PVC buggies, see what they did, and start looking for an Arc welder on craigslist.

I'm 6' 150 pounds I think...

Dunno if there's ever been a decent PVC pipe buggy. I originally bought a stick welder for $50 and you can get enough metal to make a bug for another $40, So I'd stick to proven materials. Even my new wirefeed welder only ran me $130 new.

My buggy shud work for you, the front connection would need to be a bit stronger tho. But if you don't want to copy, at least copy the rear axle fold up and front fork fold up design. Never kitesurfed before, but I no a guy there who is in NZ doing it everyday off of his yacht, LUCKY BASTARD!!!!! He is there untill feb and has been there since oct. This guy shud be able to get me going, then I will go out on a directional and maybe with an ARC i may be getting soon, or be balzy and use my ace. I would probably be the first person to use a pansh for KS. lol And as far as an ARC unless you have welded before, stay away. Drop the extra 100 and get a wirefeed, I learned in an hour. Any Q's you have about welding PM popeye or me.