It is made of square steel tubing, the wheels rear axle and front fork thing all bolt onto the seat frame. This will be achieved by welding 4 nuts together and welding them into the tube, then the bolt will go through the wheel/frame and into the nuts. Also the ground clearance is about 5 inches, how can I increase it without adding bigger wheels? I am going to use 12" wheels.

Any help is great!
Nick
NPW

My clearence is less than an inch.....aj

Some quick comparison measurements on my Flexi:

Rear axle tube = 53” (it’s the wide axle model)
56” center to center on rear tire tread (they are the wide tread tire)
The seat length is about 20-22” from backrest to front of seat
The backrest sits 20” ahead of the rear axle
From front of seat to center of steering head bolt is 14”
Ground clearance with my little bitty 160lbs is 6” on factory 16 x 6.50 – 8 tires (I don't get enough pie)



Good luck, have fun!

here's a link for drawings to build a PL clone...

http://www.racekites.com/reviews/getReview.asp?reviewID=1132

I'm a licenced machinist, I can weld, I have access to all the right metal working tools, band saw, welder, tube bender and I can get material at wholesale prices and I wouldn't build my own buggy.
The mass manufactured bugs that are available now are so inexpensive and well built that it's really hard to justify building your own.

Well yeah but when you are 15 and your job pays $6.91 an hour. $500 for a buggy is alot, versus a day of labor and $60 you have a fairly nice buggy, at least a ton better than my current one. I will try the clone one.

K new design based off of some pics.
Note the changes:
Frame "peaks" by the seat
More clearance
Facing right
And larger gap between wheel and seat, enabling attachment for a buggy bag.

I will take pics and post instructions if all goes well.

if you build it out of junk, it is very cost effective. my roommate and i spent about 40 bucks on our buggy, and it is sweet. we have been beating it up about 3-4 times a week for a couple of month and it is holding up like a champ. we built it off of the geometry for a "basic buggy" on popeyethewelder's site.

geometry is more important than the materials, provided they are strong enough of course. (we usea 2x4 for our rear axle)

being able to sew helps too, we made some nice rail covers and a seat out of a backpack and a junk windsurfing sail.

the side rails are pretty important, we made ours out of some steel fence post and used our machine shop pipe bender for precise bends.

making them http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=33349545

ones I have made http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=33348430

ones others have made http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=41859403&cr=7

and

http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=17244836

that should give you some ideas...

PTW's buggies are works of art, but they aren't the kind of thing a teenager is going to build in one day on a limited budget.

Maybe something like whats pictured in photo #118 in the third link could be built without bending any tubing.

gerd1022, does the $40 include the wheels, tires and tubes? If so manybe you could let Nick know where to source them.

it does include the wheels... i got them off of www.freecycle.org, which is a local yahoo group in which people post either things they are getting rid of for free, or things that they want. within two days of posting someone offered me 2wheelbarrow wheels. one of them goes flat quickly, but i just pump it up before every outing. (the front wheel i found in my garage)

i spoke too soon on the buggy not breaking. i just had a 2 hour session in 15 mph winds gusting to 20 with my new frenzy, and the from wheel bearing imploded. its ok tho, that was the weakest part of the buggy, now i have an excuse to improve it.

my buggy is #121 on the third link, however that is an older version... the newer version has a backrest, better foot pegs, better padding an a much improved seat.

hey NPW, I have tried to weld nuts together,to make a threaded sleeve. doesn't work too well. the nuts shrink together and you can't run a bolt through. even if you put bolt in first, it shrinks and seizes the bolt. But kudos to you for working with your hands,not many youngsters will even try anything that close to work. good luck and remember every discarded attempt, is a lesson learned. oh yeah I'm #127 on the second list.

When I was a kid me and my brother built a very fast, not so safe go-kart in my dads shop. It had a 400cc Rotax engine that we scavenged from a wrecked snowmobile. We had fun building it. I took most of the winter to build it and a couple of weeks to wreck it.

If you need long nuts to secure the wheel bolts you can get coupling nuts at most industrial hardware places. They're just really long nuts for splicing readi-rod sections together. The commercial heating and plumbling guys use them all the time for hanging pipe and HVAC equipment.

http://www.calfast.com/catalog.html#

If you can scavenge an old bike with steel cranks, the bottom bracket would make a pretty solid base component to fabricate a headset.

I second what Weldngod said...kudos to Nick for the enthusiasm.

Thanks guys. Yeah building is my life! Aside from kiting. I am looking at picking up a flux core welder to actually start welding myself. And stop taking advantage of my friend. LOL! And I know the nuts you are talking about, those would work rather well. And I'm not going to bend any tubing, on my chopper other buggy and ATB we just cut a sliver out and bent it and welded it back toghether, not the prettiest thing ever but it holds. Oh and I am using steel square tubing as it is easier to work with and cheap, but will still hold up. And my front tire is a wheelbarrow tire I have and I will get 2 simmilar wheels that match for the back. For now I wil use 2 old 16" bike tires and a 13" wheelbarrow in the front. But I want wide closer in size tires later, It just looks odd. Oh also my old buggy has a 2X4 with a ready rod axle, the nuts are stuck tho unless i cut the rod ends off, as the bearings chewed into the thread. Also a backpack is a great idea for a seat, I have a ton laying around. Thanks gerd!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://webhome.idirec...

WOW that is a huge link! K so I was thinking maybe something like that, looks a ton easier than mine.

Just bought a wire feed flux core welder, works off a standard 115 volt 15 amp breaker, I think it likes a 20 amp but I haven't managed to pop anything on a 15 amp. welds up to 1/8th inch on a single pass, cost was about $130 can after taxes. I think they may have a couple left if you're serious about getting a welder, nice little unit. easy to use. complete barrow tires with the cheapo barrow rims and bearings are $14 can complete.

The one at Ace by me is $210. Where is the welder you are talking about? Is that a hobby welder? The one I was looking at is a step up from a hobby welder. The tires sound good, do you have a link? And I guess my link is busted, oh well.

http://www.princessauto.com/PAcountry.cfm?CTRY=CAN&INF=h...

The site's a bit of a pain to navigate, but the prices are dirt cheap. Yeah I got the hobby level welder, main reasons are it works on up to 1/8 no problem and it works on a standard wall outlet, so no need to rewire your garage. If you have a 30amp breaker in there then it won't be a problem running a larger welder, but be sure to check first. I got this one because a larger one wouldn't work on my house wiring.

I had no problem whipping together a buggy rack to hold a 100lb buggy with it though.

I made my buggy out of scrap metal and black iron pipe fitttings...al in all it cost about $130...the pipe is nice because all I had to do was screw them together adjust everything for the shape and then weld it soild...althought I had to make a custom swan neck for the front out of larger stronger pipe.....check out the pic on PTW page..#106....there is one thing to know though..its called pad point...it deals with the angle of your forks, the rake and the trail....this page it super rad for calculating all of the above...this page saved me from asking many questions when it came to fork geometry....

CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/advchoppercalc.html


oh and one more very helpful thing...I bought a minibike axel...it is about 8 bucks..plus all the right washers and nuts with extra..came out to be about 19 bucks with shipping......this is a really nice snug fitting 5/8 inch axle with medium/fine threads.....it fits like a glove in the wheel barrow wheel..for my buggy I got the 10" one but there is also an eight inch too..depending on the size of that particular wheel's hub

http://www.mfgsupply.com/

hope this helps

DQ

YAY finally settled on a design, will start construction on it Monday. The fork I am making a 45' angle as that is the angle my front tube thing comes off the seat so we will just weld it right onto that. And for my axle I am just going to weld long nuts into the some square tube and bolt the wheels on. Easy enough, and for the front axle I will get some steel rod and have them thread the ends.

Thanks for your help, and expect an instructable soon!

Peas!

Well I started it today and got all the steel cut and the seat welded. And I learned how to weld today. Did pretty well actually. Its tons o fun and I am looking at a welder. Of course It's probably not the best idea to learn on my buggy but oh well.:o

Here are some pics of it just layed out

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

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

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

They don't work unless you copy and paste:ticking:

That's looking a lot better, one suggestion though, for sure, move the foot pegs down so one comes off each side of the forks, With your feet down lower it'll be way more comfortable to ride and probably a bit more stable when you get moving.

I am going to see if it works like that and if I need to I can always weld on some pegs. And the downtube angle is really harsh, it is only going to be at about a 15degree angle. It's just sharper because the seat isn't up on wheels.

another thing I learned right away....with the foot pegs up like that.....I know because my original design used a kids bike handle bar upside down for foot pegs.......the front wheel can spin like a freestyle bmx bike...and that sucks when you are going twenty and one of your feet comes off the pegs...so I suggest you figure out a way to make stops for the fork so it can't travel 360 degrees...
otherwise you bug looks great....I just came up with a great design for a seat if you want it?

DQ

Yeah sure a seat would be great. I'll get some measurements when it's all welded up. I am thinking about taking off that bar and using upside down BMX handlebars with the crossbrace cut out. They would hit the tube and stop, and the pegs would be lower. And thanks for all the help guys!

Pic # 113 in the list others have made looks similar to the one I was thinking about...Looks like steering is done with the left hand..?

Quote:

Originally posted by popeyethewelder making them http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=33349545 ones I have made http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=33348430 ones others have made http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=41859403&cr=7 and http://pic7.piczo.com/Popeyethewelder/?g=17244836 that should give you some ideas...

I GOT MY WELDER!!! So I started work again. Here are some pics.

K so I can't find the answer to this question in the manual. The welder has a high/low setting or 15/20 amp. To put it on high can I have it in a normal outlet, or do I need to plug it into a 20 amp outlet? If it needs to be 20 how can I tell?

Welder

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

What is done as of now

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

links don't work unless you copy and paste

by the way I found a better fork calculator

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/elenk.htm

this one is way easier

DQ