Velocars and other interesting vehicles.
- Thread starter Intrepid Wheelwoman
- Start date
I agree with Steve, welding is all about practice making perfect Silverbear 
At the moment my own welding skills have gone rusty from lack of use so come the better weather I'll be zapping at pieces of scrap to get my hand back in too. A decent welding helmet is on my shopping list as well as the one I have at the moment is very basic and is more of a nuisance than being useful to me.
I've had a picture of a Raleigh Light Van on my bedroom wall for some years now Steve and something in that style has been a dream of mine for a long while. By combining the best features of the Raleigh and the Ratcatcher trike I very much think we will be onto something.
Fortunately I have some curved tubing from a junked exercise machine which I think will be just perfect for my needs, but finding a source for off the shelf tubing bends would certainly make life easier for me all round.
As an aid to keeping the brain cells working I found a picture of a boat made by covering a wire frame with duct tape. I'm sure such a method would lend itself very well to the building of lightweight cyclecars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnILEXnRHP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjL6WOgwzbY
At the moment my own welding skills have gone rusty from lack of use so come the better weather I'll be zapping at pieces of scrap to get my hand back in too. A decent welding helmet is on my shopping list as well as the one I have at the moment is very basic and is more of a nuisance than being useful to me.
I've had a picture of a Raleigh Light Van on my bedroom wall for some years now Steve and something in that style has been a dream of mine for a long while. By combining the best features of the Raleigh and the Ratcatcher trike I very much think we will be onto something.
Fortunately I have some curved tubing from a junked exercise machine which I think will be just perfect for my needs, but finding a source for off the shelf tubing bends would certainly make life easier for me all round.
As an aid to keeping the brain cells working I found a picture of a boat made by covering a wire frame with duct tape. I'm sure such a method would lend itself very well to the building of lightweight cyclecars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnILEXnRHP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjL6WOgwzbY
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Someone said also to get one of the minor light and put on your helmet to help see....................Curt
That's a very good idea. Along with lots of practice I should be able to improve well enough to get things to stick together.
SB
I did find a source for bent tubing. I'll have to look it up and post it here tomorrow. The 1", 90 degree angle tubing I looked up quickly to see what the wall thickness was was 11 gauge or .120. Heavy wall 1" tubing is 1/8" or .125. With a short length of 3/4" round steel rod inside with some rosette welds to hold it in place and the joint welded it should be indestructible.
If the 1-1/4 tubing has the same wall thickness the 1" tubing should fit inside it and could welded or brazed in place. I was thinking that you would need two 90 degree bends for the tubing across the top of the frame where it mounts to the forks and two for the rear corners. Two 45's for the to forks to floor transition and maybe four T's to go from one side to the other under the body to tie the frame together.
Steve.
If the 1-1/4 tubing has the same wall thickness the 1" tubing should fit inside it and could welded or brazed in place. I was thinking that you would need two 90 degree bends for the tubing across the top of the frame where it mounts to the forks and two for the rear corners. Two 45's for the to forks to floor transition and maybe four T's to go from one side to the other under the body to tie the frame together.
Steve.
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Hello Curt,
Wide depends of people size! For me and my wife, we need 90 cm ~ 3 feet just for seating, but somehting more if want to have comfortable space for shoulders and ellbows! If narrow vehicle is necessity, then seats staggered a little (passenger's seat some 5" behind driver's), should be good, as in vintage racing cars... Make some simple test with CAD (cardboard) testing with full-size models of seats for two of you (or garden chairs, or whatever you want). I was testing tandem-seating, which is more complicated, but system is the same...
And, a few ideas for cheap welding-mask!
Here we could buy good mask with photo-sensitive glass: quite clear until start welding, then become quite dark... I didn't buy one - more expensive than welding aparatous...
Ciao, Zoran
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I was going to say just what Zoran said. Three feet would be the minimum and if you have a 36"/38" rear axle it shouldn't be to hard to recess the wheels into the body to get an extra 6 to 8 inches in width. If there is no suspension in the rear it would be easier to do.
The staggered seats would be another excellent idea. Of course the chances are excellent that you'll be sitting in the Rat Catcher answering questions while your wife shops.
Steve.
The staggered seats would be another excellent idea. Of course the chances are excellent that you'll be sitting in the Rat Catcher answering questions while your wife shops.
Steve.
Anne,
Thank you for the side view of the Rat Catcher. That gives a better idea of how it was built. Would you be allowed to use something like this on the streets where you are if you were to stay to the curb side?
Steve.
Thank you for the side view of the Rat Catcher. That gives a better idea of how it was built. Would you be allowed to use something like this on the streets where you are if you were to stay to the curb side?
Steve.
Silverbear,
A vehicle like this could be built using the Villiers set up. The motor could be sitting low in the frame so it gets cooling and have ducting aimed at it to help get additional cooling to the motor while you drove.
I'm thinking that an L shaped handle could be coming out the side and be attached to the kick starter. This way when you push down on the handle it will in turn push down on the starter pedal.
This in turn will result in the pleasant sound of a 98cc Villiers roaring into life.
Steve.
A vehicle like this could be built using the Villiers set up. The motor could be sitting low in the frame so it gets cooling and have ducting aimed at it to help get additional cooling to the motor while you drove.
I'm thinking that an L shaped handle could be coming out the side and be attached to the kick starter. This way when you push down on the handle it will in turn push down on the starter pedal.
This in turn will result in the pleasant sound of a 98cc Villiers roaring into life.
Steve.
Here is the link to the angled tubing. You will have to search through it for the angles and tubing size you want.
Steve.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...3v4B_y5hqEf4TpLEQ&sig2=ihaCU_tuJb4ER8i8hjtyQQ
Steve.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...3v4B_y5hqEf4TpLEQ&sig2=ihaCU_tuJb4ER8i8hjtyQQ
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That's cool have to save that link.
He! He! hidden away is a go-kart differential that is at least 48" if not longer,my son ordered one for his project and didn't come so called the supplier and they sent another,ended up with two,called again they said to keep it. But one could make bushings like the wheel hubs like i sent SB and splice on more axel,with bearing close to the end,splice in between.
Thanks for the idea on staggering the seats going to have do the cad and see were i end up................Curt
He! He! hidden away is a go-kart differential that is at least 48" if not longer,my son ordered one for his project and didn't come so called the supplier and they sent another,ended up with two,called again they said to keep it. But one could make bushings like the wheel hubs like i sent SB and splice on more axel,with bearing close to the end,splice in between.
Thanks for the idea on staggering the seats going to have do the cad and see were i end up................Curt
I think so long as it's built using bicycle type technology I should be fine Steve. My old Hercules trike has had various utility type tray attachments of various shapes and sizes fitted to it over the years and the local Police guys and girls have yet to 'officially notice' it. Mostly they just grin and wave whenever they see me so I would say that moving towards a more weather resistant bodyshell on a trike shouldn't change anything.
Here is another tubing company. They have an interesting connector that allows you to join the two pieces of tubing and then you hammer a wedge into it to tighten everything up and it leaves you with a slight gap between the two tubes and something to weld against.
Look at the 1" tubing listing and scroll down to the bottom to see the connector.
Steve.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...QQR7uXJVOPzdAO6rg&sig2=X2OX97WK5JeBZsbwh73O4A
Look at the 1" tubing listing and scroll down to the bottom to see the connector.
Steve.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...QQR7uXJVOPzdAO6rg&sig2=X2OX97WK5JeBZsbwh73O4A
Propeller-powered vehicles are kinda cool, and all that, and I guess the breeze could be nice on a hot day, but wouldn't clouds of bugs or a low-flying bird really ruin your day?
... and: pedestrians, dogs, cats & bicyclistes!
Seriously: as there were a lot of such systems used on small and big prototypes: could it be more efficient than using transmission and power on wheels?
Ciao,
Zoran
Zoran