I came up with these to go on my bike. There will be some made for the sidecar to help tie the two together. I drew them up and milled the ends a couple weeks ago. I still have to do the finish work on them and bend them to match the contour of the saddlebags.
Later, Wes
I'm back out in my shop today:o) Last Sunday, I cut my thumb pretty bad on my metal cutting band saw while I was preparing some tubing for my project. As the blade went through the metal I lost balance and instinctively reached forward to catch myself. My thumb shouldn't have been in front of the blade to begin with. I got stupid for an instant and am paying now. I didn't get any of the ligaments so I'm pretty lucky there. It could have been much worse.
Today, I am making the threaded inserts for the inside of the tubing. The Hiem joints will thread into these. I also plan on installing the axle and wheel:o)
Be Careful, Wes
Glad to hear your thumb is okay. I Cut tendons in mine a couple of years ago...not a good thing. Those tools don't even slow down for human meat.
Keep the info coming..thanks for sharing with us.
Yeah, like Claude says. We're glad to see that you didn't hurt yourself too badly. Take it easy and keep your hands in your pockets. LOL.
I have a 14" Delta wood cutting bandsaw and a 7 X 12 Enco horizontal/vertical metal cutting saw. I've had close calls on both of them. I always wear gloves now since I almost got my thumb a few years ago.
Keep up the good work. we want to see the nice results!
My dad lost his index finger to a table saw before I was born. He always got a chuckle when I tried to count to five on his hand. Myself, after 30 years in my blacksmiths shop, I still have 10 fingers. It's a miracle.
Mark,
Those two 50# boxes of 6011 I was bragging about turns out to be 1/8" 6010 fast freeze rod.
I used to use it in damp conditions since no oven was needed. Good for pipe and out of position welding.
For $50. a box it'd make cheap ballast.
Lonnie
I got a lot done yesterday:o) One of my buddies came over to give me a hand. Before he got there I had made the threaded inserts that the hiem joints thread into. I then cut the tube to legnth and drilled it for a plug weld and beveled the end.
Here is what they looked like after I welded them up. I pluged them first then ran a bead in the V that I had made on the lathe. I am very happy with the way my welding is coming along.
Back to the lathe, I cleaned up the welds.
I tacked those two pieces to the frame. I made sure they were straight and square with everything.
I tacked the hoop that my Buddie Big John bent up for me. We then cut the rectangular tube for an axle mount. I marked it for the axle and drilled the holes to match the axle.
Here she is with the jacks removed:o) It's starting to look like something now.
Now for a question. I'm having troubles with the back mount. I'm thinking of welding a piece of tube to the rear of the bottom mount. Then I can come down to the frame from it? Here is a picture to help.
Let me know what you think? I can add some gussets to it to strengthen it. Being here It won't be in the way of the passenger's feet. I still have to get the gussets cut out for the corners.
Later, Wes
You are definitely going to need some top and bottom triangular gussets where the tubes meet at a 90 degree angle. There is a great deal of strain on the joints in a sidecar frame in a turn.
Harley-Davidson and others use cast fittings into which the tubes are swaged and either brazed or welded.
Gussets aren't going to add much weight and they will spread the strain away from the weld joint.
After all, you did ask....LOL
My thoughts Wes are when the mount you are holding is welded the side forces will be triangulated and if you gusset the lower Hime mount tube fore and aft on the main frame most of the forces will be nageated with the mounting of the down tube to the main frame.
I have another suggestion and that is that you make up a photo album so when you stop somewhere and the questions start about the mounting system that is verging on eye candy that you can hand them the album for show and tell, your doing one Hell of a job on this project Wes.
I do have one question, is the main frame as big as it looks?, compared to my Calf. sidecar frame it's almost twice as big, but then my tubes are at least twice as big as yours are so maybe it's just a illusion on my part,,,if it is as big as it I'm sure it's that big for a reason.
Could you explain the top and bottom gussets? I was going to add a triangular gusset in the corners. Are you saying that I should have two in each corner?
So If I weld the tube that my Buddie is holding and gusset it side to side and then gusset the joint on the frame front to back it should work fine?
I like the idea of a photo album. I'm sure It will get lots of looks. My 1977 KZ650 gets lots of looks and I'm not finished with it.
The frame is big. I am going to try and set the car on it today for better perspective. The frame is wider than the body because of how the suspension is. That might be making it look bigger than it is? It measures 35" from tube center to center. I had found an old brochure on the net that had sizes of some vintage cars and used those measurements to design mine around.
Thanks, Wes
You could use one triangular gusset at each joint. I was thinking one on top and one on the bottom.
I was going to use one in each corner and cut some decorations in them with the plasma cutter at work:o) Thanks.
The way your sub-frame is designed it seems you could go to a free leaner with a bit more separation between frames and a front mount mod. (a lateral move from the direction you've been heading).
It would eliminate any upper strut problems.
Happy Easter,Bud,
Lonnie
Well we were able to place the body on the frame. I'm glad that I waited to build the spring mounts they need to be taller than I thought they would need to be. The frame also got smaller when the body was place on it?:o)
Here is a close up of the springs. I had to space them up a bit to get clearance underneath.
Here is a shot from the back:o)
So, what do you think?
I think you might consider some frame reinforcing to keep from it racking and flexing.
Lonnie
