Bakfiets

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I finally got around to building my bakfiets cargo trike prototype:

http://www.smallsolar.org/BTH/bakfiets/

In short, it's about 1/20 as good as one of Tim's cargo bikes, for
1/40 of the price. ;-)


BTH

"BT Humble" <bt_humble@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:5f201f08-c13c-48f2-86b0-22426cabe904@e23g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I finally got around to building my bakfiets cargo trike prototype:
>
> http://www.smallsolar.org/BTH/bakfiets/
>
> In short, it's about 1/20 as good as one of Tim's cargo bikes, for
> 1/40 of the price. ;-)
>
>
> BTH

Nice piece of bodgy welding there. I reckon that I know a way for you to
address your gearing, braking and lack of reverse problems........go
fixed!!!!

Seriously....I reckon that a very low ratio fixed gear would be ideal as you
probably only ever want to go slow anyway and the fixed gear would give you
a lot more control when fully laden. Get yourself a nice 22T granny ring
from a standard mtb tripple and then get a nice big screw on cog for the
rear that you could always loctite or weld to ensure no slippage when you
brake or select reverse.

You would also have the added bonus of instant street cred!!!

Gags (yes, I rode the fixie to work today!!!)

BT Humble wrote:

> In short, it's about 1/20 as good as one of Tim's cargo bikes, for
> 1/40 of the price. ;-)

Very nice first effort.

On Mar 11, 10:12 pm, BT Humble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> http://www.smallsolar.org/BTH/bakfiets/

Love your work, BT.

Tried any high-speed slalom action yet? ;-)

You know where to find me when you decide to get a real one.

tim

tim wrote:
> On Mar 11, 10:12 pm,BTHumble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> >http://www.smallsolar.org/BTH/bakfiets/
>
> Love your work,BT.
>
> Tried any high-speed slalom action yet? ;-)
>
> You know where to find me when you decide to get a real one.

Hey, I had to at least *try* a trike before I decided! ;-)


BTH

Gags wrote:
> "BTHumble" <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
>
> >I finally got around to building my bakfiets cargo trike prototype:
>
> >http://www.smallsolar.org/BTH/bakfiets/
>
> > In short, it's about 1/20 as good as one of Tim's cargo bikes, for
> > 1/40 of the price. ;-)
>
> Nice piece of bodgy welding there.

That hurts, mate. I was doing my best with the equipment I had
available... *sob!*

> I reckon that I know a way for you to
> address your gearing, braking and lack of reverse problems........go
> fixed!!!!

Well yes, I would like to fix the problems.

> Seriously....I reckon that a very low ratio fixed gear would be ideal as you
> probably only ever want to go slow anyway and the fixed gear would give you
> a lot more control when fully laden. Get yourself a nice 22T granny ring
> from a standard mtb tripple and then get a nice big screw on cog for the
> rear that you could always loctite or weld to ensure no slippage when you
> brake or select reverse.

Oh. Well, OK, I'll consider it. I think that sorting out the
handling issues would be priority #1 though.

> You would also have the added bonus of instant street cred!!!

What?! You expect me to just throw away my hard-earned reputation as
a grouchy old git at the drop of a hat? Pah! ;-)


BTH

BT Humble wrote:

> What?! You expect me to just throw away my hard-earned reputation as
> a grouchy old git at the drop of a hat? Pah! ;-)

You have a hat? :)


G-S

BT Humble wrote:

>>Nice piece of bodgy welding there.
>
>
> That hurts, mate. I was doing my best with the equipment I had
> available... *sob!*

He hasn't seen mine yet. Looks loverly so long as I build everything out
of 10mm thick stuff.

< dab hand on the angle grinder to "fix" any weld {:-)"
>

On Mar 12, 7:03 pm, BT Humble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Gags wrote:
> > Nice piece of bodgy welding there.
>
> That hurts, mate.  I was doing my best with the equipment I had
> available... *sob!*

Don't listen to that nasty Gags, I'd be perfectly happy with welds
like that. As Terry said, you can hide a lot with an angle grinder and
maybe a skoosh or two of spray primer.

Graeme

Graeme Dods wrote:
> On Mar 12, 7:03 pm,BTHumble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> > Gags wrote:
> > > Nice piece of bodgy welding there.
>
> > That hurts, mate. I was doing my best with the equipment I had
> > available... *sob!*
>
> Don't listen to that nasty Gags, I'd be perfectly happy with welds
> like that. As Terry said, you can hide a lot with an angle grinder and
> maybe a skoosh or two of spray primer.

I'm a better welder than my dad, but not by much. Those rusty 1"
pipes came off a stock crate that he welded together 30 years ago, and
you should have seen some of *THOSE* joins!


BTH

BT Humble wrote:

> I'm a better welder than my dad, but not by much. Those rusty 1"
> pipes came off a stock crate that he welded together 30 years ago, and
> you should have seen some of *THOSE* joins!

Scariest welder is my uncle. Claimed that going to TAFE was a total
waste of time. Uh Uh. So now I ask "who welded this up" whenever I have
to climb up anything on the farm.

It was seeing a door hinge that just simply peeled off a metal frame
that made me wary. They had been heated up (stick) just enough to come
together, but not enough to fuse. Oh Oh. I have visions of trailers, etc
simply disintergrating.

On Mar 13, 7:40 pm, BT Humble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Graeme Dods wrote:
> > On Mar 12, 7:03 pm,BTHumble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> > > Gags wrote:
> > > > Nice piece of bodgy welding there.
>
> > > That hurts, mate. I was doing my best with the equipment I had
> > > available... *sob!*
>
> > Don't listen to that nasty Gags, I'd be perfectly happy with welds
> > like that. As Terry said, you can hide a lot with an angle grinder and
> > maybe a skoosh or two of spray primer.
>
> I'm a better welder than my dad, but not by much. Those rusty 1"
> pipes came off a stock crate that he welded together 30 years ago, and
> you should have seen some of *THOSE* joins!

My dad's a pretty good welder, it was him who taught me, well, more
like "showed me" and then left me to my own devices after checking a
couple of trial welds. That technique usually works for me, but not
for welding it seems. He had a decent oxyacetylene welder and an arc
welder as big as a tea chest and decent equipment really makes things
easier. I borrowed a little $100 arc welder off a friend when my dad
was over last year. He tried to get some decent welds out of it after
seeing my bodgy job. His were about 100 times better but when he
finished he told me to buy a decent MIG set. I would love to, but if I
could afford one I could afford to pay for someone else to do my
welding jobs!

Graeme

Graeme Dods wrote:
> He had a decent oxyacetylene welder

Drool, personally I think oxy is far more useful for bicycle bulding
than any other unless you are a very good welder, then tig. Only problem
atm is gas bottle rental. Not found a way around that yet.

Graeme Dods wrote:
> My dad's a pretty good welder, it was him who taught me, well, more
> like "showed me" and then left me to my own devices after checking a
> couple of trial welds. That technique usually works for me, but not
> for welding it seems. He had a decent oxyacetylene welder and an arc
> welder as big as a tea chest and decent equipment really makes things
> easier. I borrowed a little $100 arc welder off a friend when my dad
> was over last year. He tried to get some decent welds out of it after
> seeing my bodgy job. His were about 100 times better but when he
> finished he told me to buy a decent MIG set. I would love to, but if I
> could afford one I could afford to pay for someone else to do my
> welding jobs!

I've got a couple of CIG Easywelder stick welders, about 50kg of iron-
cored transformer. The second one cost me nothing, I picked it up on
hard rubbish day in Dandenong last year:

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/236/freewelder.jpg

It's good for about 140 amps, if I recall correctly. I never need to
go that high, as I only use 2mm/2.5mm rods.


BTH

BT Humble wrote:

> It's good for about 140 amps, if I recall correctly. I never need to
> go that high, as I only use 2mm/2.5mm rods.

Very robust. Our TAFE has a few of those.

The real question (for bicycle building) is how low does it go?
Unfortunately, my decent quality home welder will not turn down enough
to do 1.6(?)mm rods.

Terryc wrote:
> BTHumble wrote:
> > It's good for about 140 amps, if I recall correctly. I never need to
> > go that high, as I only use 2mm/2.5mm rods.
>
> Very robust. Our TAFE has a few of those.
>
> The real question (for bicycle building) is how low does it go?
> Unfortunately, my decent quality home welder will not turn down enough
> to do 1.6(?)mm rods.

The gauge on the front says it'll turn down to 40 amps, but I've never
had small enough rods on hand to try it out.

The 2mm rods were a bit of a challenge on the thin tubing, you might
have noticed that I arranged the parts so that at least 1 component of
each weld was a thick piece.


BTH

On Mar 14, 9:42 am, BT Humble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Graeme Dods wrote:
> > My dad's a pretty good welder, it was him who taught me, well, more
> > like "showed me" and then left me to my own devices after checking a
> > couple of trial welds. That technique usually works for me, but not
> > for welding it seems. He had a decent oxyacetylene welder and an arc
> > welder as big as a tea chest and decent equipment really makes things
> > easier. I borrowed a little $100 arc welder off a friend when my dad
> > was over last year. He tried to get some decent welds out of it after
> > seeing my bodgy job. His were about 100 times better but when he
> > finished he told me to buy a decent MIG set. I would love to, but if I
> > could afford one I could afford to pay for someone else to do my
> > welding jobs!
>
> I've got a couple of CIG Easywelder stick welders, about 50kg of iron-
> cored transformer. The second one cost me nothing, I picked it up on
> hard rubbish day in Dandenong last year:
>
> http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/236/freewelder.jpg

You lucky bugger. I must admit I hadn't thought of welders being
thrown out (it's sacrilege!) and I tend not to look to closely at
battered metal boxes. I will now though!

Graeme

On Mar 14, 1:34 pm, BT Humble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Terryc wrote:
> > BTHumble wrote:
> > > It's good for about 140 amps, if I recall correctly. I never need to
> > > go that high, as I only use 2mm/2.5mm rods.
>
> > Very robust. Our TAFE has a few of those.
>
> > The real question (for bicycle building) is how low does it go?
> > Unfortunately, my decent quality home welder will not turn down enough
> > to do 1.6(?)mm rods.
>
> The gauge on the front says it'll turn down to 40 amps, but I've never
> had small enough rods on hand to try it out.

That's the same as my cheap Ryobi arc welder, 40-140A.

> The 2mm rods were a bit of a challenge on the thin tubing, you might
> have noticed that I arranged the parts so that at least 1 component of
> each weld was a thick piece.

I once had some 2mm rods (might have been smaller, I don't recall),
but I think that's as small as I've ever gone. Thin stuff is
possible, you just have to be very careful about speed, angle of the
rod and of course current.

Terryc wrote:
> BT Humble wrote:
>
>> It's good for about 140 amps, if I recall correctly. I never need to
>> go that high, as I only use 2mm/2.5mm rods.
>
> Very robust. Our TAFE has a few of those.

I've had mine for 30 years.

Theo

On 2008-03-14, Graeme Dods (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> On Mar 14, 9:42 am, BT Humble <bt_hum...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>> Graeme Dods wrote:
>> > My dad's a pretty good welder, it was him who taught me, well, more
>> > like "showed me" and then left me to my own devices after checking a
>> > couple of trial welds. That technique usually works for me, but not
>> > for welding it seems. He had a decent oxyacetylene welder and an arc
>> > welder as big as a tea chest and decent equipment really makes things
>> > easier. I borrowed a little $100 arc welder off a friend when my dad
>> > was over last year. He tried to get some decent welds out of it after
>> > seeing my bodgy job. His were about 100 times better but when he
>> > finished he told me to buy a decent MIG set. I would love to, but if I
>> > could afford one I could afford to pay for someone else to do my
>> > welding jobs!
>>
>> I've got a couple of CIG Easywelder stick welders, about 50kg of iron-
>> cored transformer. The second one cost me nothing, I picked it up on
>> hard rubbish day in Dandenong last year:
>>
>> http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/236/freewelder.jpg
>
> You lucky bugger. I must admit I hadn't thought of welders being
> thrown out (it's sacrilege!) and I tend not to look to closely at
> battered metal boxes. I will now though!

A couple of enormous ones were thrown in a skip at Swinburne just
before I left. Two problems: too heavy to rescue without a car. And
the truck had already left with my belongings.

--
TimC
As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.