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These are the steps that our team The Trailer Park Boys used to construct our bicycle trailer. The components below include a wheel chair, a conduit frame, a road sign tub, a cover, the tongue, and hitch. Instructions are listed below for each component.

Preparing the Wheelchair[edit | edit source]

Team Poster TrailerParkBoys 215.jpg

The wheelchair is an essential item in our design.

  • Disassemble wheelchair into individual parts.
  • Determine which parts of the wheelchair frame will remain.
  • Remove excess material from wheel chair frame.
  • Grind and file cuts
  • The wheelchair frame will be the starting point from which the rest of the frame will be constructed.

The Frame[edit | edit source]

The primary material of the frame was galvanized 3/4" conduit. Small sections of standard water pipe where used as well.

  • After acquiring conduit, sketch a rough layout for the frame
  • Using a conduit bender, bend the conduit appropriately based out your layout. (Note practicing with the conduit bend beforehand is good idea)
  • Cut the water pipe into eight four inch sections, these will be used to attach the conduit to the wheelchair frame.
  • Braze or weld the water pipe to the wheelchair.
  • Cut eight six inch section of conduit and cut parallel half circles in the end, these will separate the two horizontal loops of the frame
  • Tack weld the frame together and check for general fit before permanently welding the frame together.

Street Sign Tub[edit | edit source]

The tub was constructed entirely out of two aluminum street signs.

  • Measure dimensions of your frame to sketch dimensions of your tub.
  • Use a jig saw to cut the signs to your dimensions.
  • Two sections of angle iron clamped to a table can be used as a solid base to make the appropriate bends in the sign.
  • Use a large round object if rounded bends need to be made.
  • Using extra sections of your sign for backing strips, pop rivet the tub together. (It helps to place the tub in the frame before riveting)

Cover Installation[edit | edit source]

We used Kokotat material supplied by SCRAP Humboldt for it's great defense from the elements

  • Take measurements of the tub dimensions for a rough cut. Add additional length to drop down the sides for snaps and for vertical slack (in case payloads are taller than sidewalls).
  • Once the cover is rough cut, lay atop the tub to fold, cut and trim as needed for a more finished fitting.
  • Acquire snaps and separate female and male parts.
  • Drill holes through the tub and pop rivet the male snaps in place.
  • Use a proper punch to secure female snaps to Kokotat.

Tongue Instillation[edit | edit source]

We used conduit to construct the trailers tongue as well for maximum stability.

  • The first bend you want to make is a 90 degree bend that lies parallel with the front of the trailer
  • Next the pipe will need to be bent so that it has a lift from the ground, rotate and make another bend so that the desired section of the pipe is ten inches off of the ground
  • The tongue needs to be attached to the frame. Our solutions was to mold some of the excess road sign into a shell that fit around both the frame and the tongue and bolt road sign shell and tongue together.

Hitch Construction[edit | edit source]

The primary components of the hitch are an aluminum slug, heim joint, angle iron, and hitch pin.

  • The aluminum slug was fitting to the inside of the open end of the tongue.
  • The aluminum slug was then drilled and tapped appropriately for the already acquired heim joint.
  • Next the slug was fastened to the conduit via machine screws.
  • A nut with a lock washer was threaded onto the heim joint prior to threading heim joint into the slug. This allows the heim joint to be fixed in a horizontally position
  • The receiving end of the hitch is simply a small section of 1/4" angle iron that has be shaped and drilled to fit the rear axle diameter and the hitch pin.

Discussion[View | Edit]

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