A new Glad. start and some ramblings

[greywuuf]

Greetings all and thank you for the sight the plans and the inspiration.

I originally came across the site several days ago in an seemingly unrelated search ( more on that later) and was imeadiately hooked. I decided that me and the guys here in the hanger really needed a Glad as a "pit" bike here in the shop. I bought the plans package did the reading and the combed my scrap pile. Still deciding if I should sacrifice the 50's truck rims I have ( no longer have the truck and nothing else I have is 5 lug ) or if I should hack two of the 7 wider white spoke 6 lugs I have . ( ok I admit i am realy more of a car guy )

Anyway .. the pillow blocks and the axle shafts will be purchased on the way home tonight, and last night I broke down a mongoose mountain bike. managed to salvage the realy odd Fat oval ( aluminum look I imagine ) top tube and am musing the ways it could be incorperated into my frame.



My work week will be over soon and I plan to assemble the wheel and axle section of the frame this weekend and hopefully answer for myself some of the questions I am going to ask. First task is to finish up the frame of my TIG weldernator ( the original search that lead me here ) it is not my first weldernator but will be my first TIG unit. I have in the distant past used a tig machine before but never scratch start should be interesting.

On to the plans for the trike. I admit to being more of an engineer and less of an artist, and as such my vision seems to be "harsher" and less "organic" than many. I also admit to apreciating radical custom chops though not realy being drawn to them. My vision of a street fighter is more pourpose built, stripped down raw, less of a 60's carefree easy rider and more of a drag bike.
in a hurry and less comfort. Anyway my personal ride has always been a sportster with go fast mods with a lusting after original lowriders and liking the big baggers

So has anyone seen a Glad with a more upright steer tube and drag bars ( think low and flat or "clubman clip ons" )trying to think it through but hopefully i will be able to come up with a seating and BB position that will allow me a front set that is not a pull back but wont result in a total wedgie style leaned forward ride.

As much as it pains me I have kinda decided that it will be a rigid, though the suspension pieces are too good to toss out.. might use em in a suspended seat.


Anyway unless someone can convince me other wise .. watch this space for some build pics of a Bagger inspired "rat ride"

One other question that just occured to me, has anyone thought about using the reaction arm of a coaster brake to activate a master cylinder ? I imagine the arm lengths and ratio's would take a little juggling but i think I will attempt that too.. to allow a multi speed mid tranny and still no cables and funky levers

Thanks for the space

Dan in Alaska

[savarin]

Sounds like some new frozen goodies will be coming out of Alaska in the very near future.
Sounds great.

[greywuuf]

It looks like I need to refrain from posting in the early AM before my brain kicks in. never mind the coaster brake thing I did not think that through enough. Secondly .... NEWS FLASH...
my legs are longer than my arms, there does not seem to be anyway to get the pedals out ahead of you and the bars close to you with out a serious amount of pullback ( or rake and a really long head tube ) looks like my drag bars are a bust too. oh well basicly we are going to have a cookie cutter Glad pretty soon. I do have some idea's for the forks but I dont think I will even try to implement them on the initial build.

Dan

[greywuuf]

Well,
I thought it was a rather productive day at the Dump. Scored me a used 16" bike all working and an old pair of ford pickup wheels.

Elation turns to frustration, My grinder wheel is worn out ( down to the nut ) I cant find the cool spanner for removing it
and on closer inspection the rims are not identical... ie the inside contour is not the same. *sigh* also the white spokes I was thinking on sacrificing to this project are 10" wide and as cool as that would look I actually want to ride this around and I think that might be a bit much.

At least i got a coaster brake and crank to use now........

[greywuuf]

Ahh thats better, 100 bucks later I have a pound of welding rod, some grinding wheels, cutting wheels 4 3/4 pillow block bearings suitable washers and a matching set of wheels. I got the wheels gutted and am thinking about turning towards the welder soon. I will try to have pictures up later tonight.

I went with a nice set of 5.5' wheels thinking a nice wide whitewall type trailer tire would go well on these. Nice upright springer and maybe a suspended tractor type seat ... finge maybe ? kinda a post war Indian look

Dan

[Radical Brad]

Welcome dude! Hope to see your photos as things progress.

Brad

[greywuuf]

more progress but nothing worth taking pictures of yet.
my supplier was out of 3/4 rod so it will be next payday before i assemble my wheels. I did follow the DIY page and the PDF instructions and managed to make a set of usable
Washer/hubs. i have a small drill press so it is not difficult just a little frustrating. Used the paper template method on the first one and it worked ok just my initial punch marks varied a bit. I tried to use the first as a template for the second and that proved worse than the first . not bad but noticeable if you look closely. I think for the next two I am going to drill one small pilot hole and then spin the washer on a shaft over the other washer to give me a base circle so that i can adjust my punch marks by eye a little .

now a Question for Brad, why 56 spokes ? I don't seem to be able to find any wheels with that number to use as a guide for marking my rims. This could prove to be the most challenging part to date .

[greywuuf]

Long weekend and not much done, i got my hubs finished just waiting on the axle stock. i did score some very nice tubing from an old bunk bed though, lots of large diameter thinwall steel tubing with pretty mandrel bends. Maybe have some photo's for you all next week.

Still trying to figure out how to mark and drill my rims .

[greywuuf]

Well still looking for a 20" donor Bike for spokes
but I did manage to weld up the rear trident for the frame.
Hopefully my axle will be in in the morning and I can get my bearings mounted. Anyone else notice that welding in bright sunlight can be really annoying ?

[GregLWB]

Well still looking for a 20" donor Bike for spokes
but I did manage to weld up the rear trident for the frame.
Hopefully my axle will be in in the morning and I can get my bearings mounted. Anyone else notice that welding in bright sunlight can be really annoying ?

Yep, I found that annoying too. They make covers for the back of your helmet or you can get some canvas and make your own. Really helps to not flash burn the back of your neck if you have short hair and weld inside the garage (low ceilings) too!:jester:

Greg

[greywuuf]

Thanks for the advice, I have often flipped my coat tail up over my head but never got around to a more permanent solution. i think my welding is on hold till i borrow my bud's helmet ( smaller glass higher quality and auto dark )

Another question, is anyone interested in pictures as i go... not much to look at yet, rear pitchfork and axle with pillow blocks.

I could include a shot of my Lawnmower powered car alternator TIG welding set up.

Should verify it is working sometime this week.

Dan

[SirJoey]

Another question, is anyone interested in pictures as i go... Dude, we're always interested in seeing some pics!
They give us ideas & (in my case, anyway) inspiration! :)
:thinking2:


http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7131/sirjoeysigmedij1.gif

[GregLWB]

Another question, is anyone interested in pictures as i go... not much to look at yet, rear pitchfork and axle with pillow blocks.

I could include a shot of my Lawnmower powered car alternator TIG welding set up.

Should verify it is working sometime this week.

Dan

Dude.....On this site pics are almost mandatory!:jester: Pics help those of us who are visual learners to pick up new ideas.

Greg

[greywuuf]

uploaded some photo's just reading to see how to link em

[greywuuf]

Ahah they need to be hosted somewhere else..... I'll see what i can do. Oh no wait ... Sigh I got the dimensions right but they are still to large. I guess maybe I will stick em on a web page somewhere.

[GregLWB]

Ahah they need to be hosted somewhere else..... I'll see what i can do. Oh no wait ... Sigh I got the dimensions right but they are still to large. I guess maybe I will stick em on a web page somewhere.

Many of us use Photobucket or Flikr. Both are free and allow you to use the larger pictures you see alot of us use.:)

Greg

[greywuuf]

ok they can be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/40438990@N07/?saved=1

[greywuuf]

One last shot I finally found the tutorial

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/3721835653_594611caa5.jpg?v=0

And the welder ( not wired or tested yet)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/3722631360_1d1b5ff9ff.jpg?v=0

the link below still works and there are additional views there.
Sorry i am so slow to get the hang of things

Dan

[greywuuf]

nothing new on the glad tonight but I fired the welder off, Charging my camera gonna try for pics tomorrow.

no cables attached to it yet but no load at full field ( semi dead battery booster ) I am hitting 120 Volt DC (approximated high freq ripple rectified 3phase)
and can dial it smoothly back to around 30.

and the dang thing runs ok piped into a 2" car Turbo muffler, decently quiet to be around. pretty stoked actually.

I should be practicing my TIG welding this weekend, and if that sux I can always go back to a straight rod burning arc machine. :jester:

[greywuuf]

Don't have a suitable regulator for my argon ...but i did try straight arc and it burns the crap out of 1/8" rod nicely controllable and i think i will be using this welder on the rest of the frame as i think th high frequ makes thinner material a bit easier.

Dan

[greywuuf]

TADA,

I have a TIG welder now. I actually welded up some of the spare mounting holes in the very thin wall tubing that were there from when it was furniture. after i get the rest of them taken care of i will post some pics ( my welds are a bit embarrassing right now) I also scored a 20" bike so I have 72 of the 112 spokes i need. this weekend is looking up.

I find it hard to believe that there is not more interest in this home built welder. Seriously it takes about 40 bucks worth of parts 100 if you start with a parts store alternator,

A pair of jumper cables and you have a really easy to use arc welder that you can build this project with. even if it only lasts through one project alternator cores are pretty cheap in the junkyards. its worth a shot. when I am done with this one it is getting mounted under the hood of my 4wheel drive truck.. in case I break another trailer spring mount on the trailer somewhere on the road.

Should be pictures of good progress by late this weekend.

[Odd Man Out]

TADA,

I find it hard to believe that there is not more interest in this home built welder. Seriously it takes about 40 bucks worth of parts 100 if you start with a parts store alternator.

It's just conjecture but I think most people are not as electrically adventurous as you. BTW what max amperage are you at and how do you switch from AC to DC???

[greywuuf]

It's just conjecture but I think most people are not as electrically adventurous as you. BTW what max amperage are you at and how do you switch from AC to DC???

To the First question.. i honestly have no idea, the Alternator was rated at 160 amps but i don't have any meters anywhere near heavy enough to check,

As to the second question i am not sure what you are asking exactly So i will answer both of the questions i think you could be asking.


uhm i dont have an AC/DC switch I can not switch it from one to the other. the alternator produces 3 phases of AC and i feed that into a bridge rectifier (diode pack)
and get the reverse ( bottom half of the sine wave ) portion of the cycle 'inverted" to the top or positive side in effect doubling my freq AND approximating DC the 3 phases being 60 degrees out of phase and overlapping smooths the dips pretty well but it still leaves a very high freq "ripple" and without a large capacitor smoothing circuit (like you would find in say a high quality audio amplifier) to take the ripple out it acts pretty much like a high freq pulse arc starter. So I have a DC only welder

the bridge rectifier I am using is rated to 200 volts and 200amps and is the gold finned looking thing in the pictures with 3 wires going into it. i bought it at the local electric rebuilder it cost about 20 bucks and I believe it is a part from a semi truck alternator

the bridge and an old alternator is all you need ... drive the thing from a compressor motor or a spare belt off the front of your car, or even from an old lawn mower it is a pretty simple device.

Dan

on re reading that I feel I should say I am certain that you understand how a bridge rectifier works and were in fact asking me how I switched from ac welding to dc welding. I will leave my explanation as not everyone is familiar with what I am doing and how it works .. I just want to be sure I do not offend anyone by saying things they all ready know ... or looking like I am assuming to know anything about any one else's level of experience with anything.... I'll just leave it at that.. please take everything I say as enthusiastic and excited and just talking to much, I never intend to talk " down" to anyone

I am way to ignorant for that to even be possible but sometimes I don't seem to get my point across with out sounding obnoxious

anyway
thanks for the interest
Dan

[Odd Man Out]

To the First question.. i honestly have no idea,
As to the second question i am not sure what you are asking exactly Dan

Dan

I don't expect you to answer my silly a55ed questions -- I pose them as a kind of joke. I am intrigued by your frankenstein project though. I wish you a safe trip through your TIG welding adventures.

P.S. are you doing the "big hammer test" on your AL welds to check for correct penetration? TIG welding AL can be deceptive. The weld will look good with little to no penetration

P.P.S. I just reread your last post about having a DC only TIG... so disregard my P.S. above. Too bad about the lack of AC capability.

[greywuuf]

Actually have only made the few test passes on steel, have not had a chance to do any aluminum welding yet. I will keep that in mind though. my Al welding experience has been simply building up material on cylinder heads to later grind back off in the porting process, so not really structural. Also i do not have a foot control and i am noticing that as the material heats up i can not "back off" on the control easily and I have to be very careful. I imagine AL would be more sensitive in this regard. AL will have to wait i am afraid.

For now my plans are this bike and as I mentioned mounting it underhood on my truck just so I have a welder with me.

Brackets tabs and fenders breaking loose from the trailer are my usual welding requirements. This thing is all ready working better than the cheap portable 110v MIG running form a barely big enough portable generator ;-) which is my usual somewhere out in the middle of nowhere answer.

I understand your safety concern... i will be enclosing the electrical components and I am using oversize high quality (silicone insulation) wiring with soldered and crimped connections ( I am an aircraft/radio technician ) I have a healthy respect for electricity and and am in NO WAY recommending that any one who does not undertake such a project. In my humble estimation my finished product will be no more hazardous than ANY high powered electrical device. I will refrain from posting anything more about it until I have a completed control panel and enclosure.

Dan

[Odd Man Out]

Dan
I am not trying to stiffle your creativity. In fact if you can test it and document it well enough, you may have just created a small garden industry for yourself with selling plans. By all means more power to you. (Sorry for the bad pun...)

[John Lewis]

Interesting little welder greywuuf. They sell something like that here. It replaces the vehicle alternator with a heavier unit and some circuitry and allows you to use it as a welder as well as for its normal use. Never thought of doing my own. Think I have an old popular Mechanics mag somewhere with a welder from an old generator but yours would be way in front .

John Lewis

[GregLWB]

I've been intruiged by your project and have been following it's progress. I don't know enough about it to even know what questions to ask. Please keep posting and showing pics as it is interesting to learn how to do new things.:1eye:

Greg

[savarin]

can you post a drawing/diagram of the circuit with values?
Thanks

[greywuuf]

Thanks guys,
i would suggest doing a web search for "weldernator" several good web pages out there about it (pirate fourwheel drive) and there is a fellow who does actual circuits for a solenoid and a foot pedal. i will try to find and link it.

It is REALLY easy though. there are no circuits, no boards, and the only Value you need to know is for the "3 phase bridge rectifier" 200V 200 amp is plenty... E-bay usually has several.

Depending on the alternator you start with removing the diode and the regulator may be tricky or really easy.

if you start with the one I did ( late model chevy truck with sepentine belt) the regulator and diodes are external. you dont even need to open the alternator.

all I have done is taken the 3 output leads from the alternator(they originally went into the alternators diode pack) and run them into the new bridge rectifier.

Ground one of the brushes and then run 12v from a battery through a variable resister ( dash light dimmer part of an old light switch ) to control the"field current".... the other brush on the alternator.

Thats it. The welding leads connect to the positive and negative sides of the bridge rectifier.

I left my camera at work otherwise i would get some pictures up right away. Tomorrow i will make a point of it,
and the kid has a video Cam i may try to get some of it in action.

Dan
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2673/3727568028_a09b4f59c1.jpg?v=0
this pic shows my test wiring. the green goes to the frame ( ground ) red white and Black are the 3 phase's and the other reds are going through the light switch dimmer, the black thin on the back of the alternator is the original Diode pack, it is disconected.. the gold finned looking thing is the bridge rectifier i speak of and the knob is a light switch out of a '82 chevy suburban.

[greywuuf]

Here is a Site I came up with after a yahoo search for DIY welder,

I have not tested any of the circuits on this page and hope that since I found it with an open search it is ok to link to

http://myweb.cableone.net/rschell/TIG.htm

Also interesting thing about TIg welding, it absolutely requires argon. you electrode burn up and your arc sux without it. Another interesting thing, a 20 cubic foot bottle only last for about one bead with a flow rate of 15 cubic feet per minute. LOL I am back to straight stick, and happy with that for now.


I have cleaned up my mounting brackets and am installing a "control" panel and will picture the completed project here very shortly.

Please do not get the idea that this is my idea or new in any way. There have been manufacturers of these for many many years in many shapes and forms.
I am just posting it as a possible cheap alternative for bike projects!