Dogman Dan's Trashrunner longtail

[amberwolf]

Though I do love the tiny wheel, I am still concerned about the weak radial lace.

Get a good quality wider 20" rim, like the ones Ypedal has (had?) and good spokes (mine are Sapim from Grin), lace it up radial, and I doubt you'll have any issues with it.

I havent', on CB2, since lacing it up radially (instead of hte half-radial with some bends before the threaded part that Justin had suggested, which didn't work out), and I'm probably working it harder than you are.

FWIW, this is the post from the relacing
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12500&p=819422
and this is where I finally got driven to finish and use it
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12500&p=909040

So I guess it's been in-use a little more than half a year--less than I thought, but so far still doing fine.

Though maybe not harder than you *would* if it were offroad and hardtail, but use a fat enough tire and it will still probably be ok.

I'm using the Maxxis Ringworm at something like 50-55PSI. If you don't care about power usage you can lower that to 40-45PSI and it'll ride softer.

As big as your frame is around it you an probably use a wide 2.5 - 3" moped (pirelli, shinko) tire.

 

[dogman dan]

Yep, I'm sure just a better rim would be the key. The one I have now is the same cheap one I sent you. But with less weight, and street only riding, it's doing fine so far. Maybe as much as 100 miles on it now. No creaks or signs of weakness in the back either, even though I never did put in any true diagonal braces. I did add another vertical brace on the rack, connected to the extension.

If I spend a lot of money on a good rim, I'll just have to lace it to the 5304. That's been sort of my original plan, put a moped tire on that motor. But never enough money to do all the dreams that are strictly for fun. Like you do, I'll be mostly just playing with what comes over the transom, free, or nearly free.

If I had much cash, I'd just love to build a badass boardtracker with a cromotor, and take it to the track in Tuscon for some laps. Motorcycle everything on it, particularly brakes!

 

[aaronski]

Wow, this bike looks great. I mean, it looks ugly as sin, which is great! If I was riding this around SF, I wouldn't have to worry about anyone stealing it, and I'd be the fastest rider in the city.

You've inspired me. I want to weld up a super people carrier bike now.

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, ugly bike is good for keeping it.

 

[emmetbrown]

I think it's time to found the ugly bike club, just for fun, and for letting print some "ugly bike owners club" or similar stickers and / or patches.

 

[amberwolf]

I've already got the "half-assed racing team" sticker on mine.

 

[neptronix]

I like it, dude!

 

[emmetbrown]

I've already got the "half-assed racing team" sticker on mine.

That's a great one for sure .
You would get a sticker for free, CB2 puts you on top of the owners list :wink:
Or the mad-max medal of bike-ownership...

 

[docnjoj]

Hey DDM. My grandson finished welding school and is about to start his job at a shipbuilder. He says, no matter how fast the darkening glass turns, it's not fast enough. You apparently still need to start the weld with your eyes shut. I gave him my old HF wire feed welder and he says it is not too bad.
otherDoc

 

[dogman dan]

Yep. I'm still using the old school helmet, so essentially starting the weld eyes closed. The wire feed makes that easy, I could never start a weld blind with a stick welder.

The cheap welder hangs up some, but likely I just need to keep my tip cleaner, or replace it by now.

 

[amberwolf]

The cheap welder hangs up some, but likely I just need to keep my tip cleaner, or replace it by now.

If it's the HF lowest-end wirefeed, I never fully figured out what caused the problem with my first one (blue), but I originally suspected a problem in the feed mechanism itself, or it's little motor control. Later on I bypassed the thermal cutoff and it helped with the stuttering that seemed to be a feed issue. I also ended up bypassing the power switch after that, and it was even better.

Then I found the guide spring tube around the wire inside the curved part of the gun was broken, and seemed to be causing further problems, but only sometimes. When once I used the spring out of the 220V big version, it definitely worked better than it had..but it still dint' work quite like it should. I'd even upgraded the powercord and run it right to the breaker but it didn't fix it. That welder is presently just for parts, in one of the sheds.

I have another slightly better version of it (black) bought whiel at the apartment to fix CrazyBIke2 in an emergency, cuz I had no place I could use the 220V welder I already had). This one works way better than the blue one, so far, but it also has a fan. Mechanically it seems identical to the blue one, but it probably has a number of improvements that arent' obvious to me.


Still, replacing the hollow electrode tips on any of these can fix feed and stutter issues under some conditions, though so far cleaning them has never done anything at all. :/

 

[dogman dan]

Seemed to me like it was worst when I welded upside down, dripping slag and spatter on the wand tip. At one point, I actually got the wire jammed in the tip by a blob of hot spatter. Taking the time to flip the work piece over seems to be worth the effort.

It doesn't seem to be a problem with the overload, or a poor plug. I have a nice 20 amps plug in the garage, and a short 12g cord. It's definitely just jamming in the tip. Could be cheap wire is, well cheap.

Lots yet to learn about the wire feed, but it sure beats that 80 buck arc welder. Broke it out to weld some thicker metal the other day, Uggh. I used to have a nice miller arc welder, but let the brother in law have it. ( it was his dad's welder)

 

[aaronski]

I have that welder, open the top, and see the rollers that feed the wire? once sides a motor and the other is a bearing? take a c-clamp and put a little extra pressure there, it fixes the slipping problem.

 

[dogman dan]

Just needs more tension on the feed rollers then? I think I do have it screwed about as tight as it goes. And the spool tension light, but tight enough to not make a bird nest.

It seemed to get worse when I put the new roll of wire on it. So I suspected maybe that has an effect too.

 

[amberwolf]

oh, that's something I forgot--using HF welder wire i have more problems with uneven feed/stuttering/spattering.

Using even the stuff from lowes/homedepot (lincoln electric?) works better by far--but you only get half the amount on the roll for the same price.

so I still use the HF stuff and live with the problems. :/

 

[BLUESTREAK]

HI DOGMAN, Tis an nice job just keep practicing with the welder and you will get good after awhile then you will be ready to do something with that blue meridian that you have. maybe this will give you some ideas, with rear suspension. keep it up DAN.

 

[aaronski]

Yea, I first had that problem when i put a new spool on it. also, the roller ceramic thing wears a bit.


If your welder looks like mine, the arms that hold the rollers are plastic, and they stretch over time. no amount of tightening will help. I'll take a picture to night that might help explain what I'm talking about. Had huge problems with uneven feed/uneven bead until I did this, now it actually works.

 

[dogman dan]

Actually, starting to plan on possibly building a long trike more or less from scratch. Chopped up old bikes for wheels and steering, but the long frame would be home built.