Mini Bike

[stevehuckss396]

My first was pretty rough. I paid 20 bucks for it (1974ish) and rode it home. Ruttman was popular here in the north. Ruttman was right here in Dearborn Michigan.


First try! Not happy. I got the rear fender bracket wrong and the seat bracket is cocked a little. The 2 upper tubes at the neck are not even. Other than that it's perfect.

 

[tvoght]

I guess a lot of us have mini-bike stories to tell. This is a fun project idea!

 

[stevehuckss396]

This is a fun project idea!

Thanks! I saw a go-kart at NAMES once but it had a hobby shop motor on it. I have never seen a mini bike so I thought it was time.

 

[steamer]

That looks awesome Steve!

Dave

 

[dsquire]

Steve

Seeing this reminds me of the mini bike that my son had back in the '70s. More than once the cops chased him home but their cars wouldn't fit down the back alley between the streets. As usual I'll be watching over your shoulder as another masterpiece comes together. :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[stevehuckss396]

Made a test sprocket today. 72 tooth for the .1225 pitch chain. Going to spend next week making another frame.

 

[Foozer]

HMM Steve's V8 in a mini bike. . .

OOPS time for my meds

Robert

 

[stevehuckss396]

Haahah! Not sure it would fit.

I forgot to mention that the sprocket was made using a program called Sprocketeer 2.0. It is free. Put in the chain pitch and how many teeth and it spits out the DXF file or with a few more pieces of info it will give the Gcode.


http://idleamusements.com/Software/sprocketeer2.htm

 

[tvoght]

He has been suspiciously quiet about how he intends to power it.

 

[stevehuckss396]

He has been suspiciously quiet about how he intends to power it.

See reply #7

 

[dreeves]

WoW You keep doing great builds. I will be following this one


DAve

 

[VO4454]

Steve, Cool build I will be following along. This brings back memories of the ads in the back of comic books and Popular Science in the 70's when I was a kid, How to build your own mini bike as well as the mini spy cameras and x-ray glasses.

Vic

 

[b.lindsey]

The sprocket looks great Steve, thanks for the link to the software too, already have it bookmarked for an upcoming project. Even though the frame doesn't suit you just yet, it looks good and I'm sure you will get the kinks worked out in try#2....still following along here!!

Bill

 

[stevehuckss396]

Even though the frame doesn't suit you just yet, it looks good and I'm sure you will get the kinks worked out in try#2....still following along here!!

Thanks Bill!

I always try to show all my progress good or bad. I think it's important that everybody knows that not everything works every time. We all struggle now and then but we keep our heads down and creep forward.

Where did you have your cover made? Was that printed? I'm going to have to have a cover made and the only thing I can do myself is machine one from billet. Seems like an aweful waste of material.

 

[b.lindsey]

Steve,
I haven't done anything as to that on the Briggs yet either. My choices are either billet or formed and solderd brass sheet 0r possibly fiberglass but that would require a mold or a form and I want to do something that others could more easily duplicate if they so desired.

I am fortunate in that we have 2 3D printers in the RP lab which falls under my area. In some cases to finish out a material cartridge, or otherwise "test" one of the machines, I will run something useful even if somewhat personal. IIRC the direct material cost was something like $15 and at 1/3 scale like your model even less. As long as you can draw it in 3D and save it as an .stl file it can be run. When you get to that point let me know...I may be needing to do some more testing. I find that the commercial sites are still really costly especially for one offs.

The beauty of the process was that I ended up having to scale up the drawing by 1% which can be easily done on the RP machine without having to modify the drawing itself. While 100% was tight 101% fit like a glove!! Contact me offline when the time comes.

Bill

 

[stevehuckss396]

Thanks Bill! I will do just that when I get that far. Thank you!

 

[stevehuckss396]

Instead of making another frame I repaired the first one. All 3 issues fixed. Moving on to the handle bars and forks. Need to make yet another fixture so it's going to be a while.

 

[stevehuckss396]

I have finished the fixture to assemble the handle bars. It will hold all the brackets in the proper
place and hold the bars at the correct angle for assembly. I will also be able to drill the holes for
the front axle thru the blocks to correctly locate them.

You can see why it's going so slow. My fixture to mini bike ratio is pretty low.

 

[steamer]

Niiiiiice! That was some fixture build session!

Dave

 

[b.lindsey]

Steve, with all those fixtures, you could go into production. Still a great build to watch and I look forward to your progress updates.

Bill